Björk / Debut (UK / One Little Indian / 1993)

Something must have been infectious about Björk's singles from 1993's Debut, "Crying" and "Human Behavior," because I could still recall the melodies having not heard either for a decade. Plus, the moment I saw this UK pressing of her first record at In Living Stereo, I knew it was part of what I'm calling Core Collection, or the canon of albums I know I have to have, no dithering, no dicking around.

What's funny is that despite owning this on CD as teenager, I'm not sure I ever listened to it all the way through. The singles were great, but I also fell hard for this album cover. Björk was around 27 years old when it was taken, and thank goodness that was then, and that she's not in publishing now. Anyway, I never bought any of her other records, and maybe never will, but I was happy to hear that those dance-y singles sound wonderful on this heavyweight vinyl pressing. The rest of the album is lovely as well; I'd venture to say I grew into it, because I can totally understand why the tracks where she sounds like a French chanteuse didn't quite appeal to my Hüsker Dü / Minutemen-loving fifteen-year-old self.

One thing I find terribly annoying is when record stores have big-dollar records but no listening stations. ILS is kind enough to play what you want to hear in the store, but it still hard (for me) to catch noise and crackle when the speakers aren't nearby and the music is loud. This record turned out to have some quiet tracks where the noise really distracts. In fact, I'm not sure I'll end up holding on to it. Still need to give it a few more listens. One point in its favor, though, is that this particular copy is part of a limited edition 5000-copy run to include a lavish 16-page booklet with lots of fancy pictures of Björk that make me feel fifteen again. All in all, it's a pretty classy object, and as we all know I'm a classy guy.

It's still a mystery to me just why, at the moment when loud, guitar-driven music had the greatest hold on my imagination, I fell so hard for Björk's very danceable tunes. But she must have been doing something right, because along with Radiohead and Beck, she's one of the only respectable mainstream "rock" artists to maintain popularity through the height of the gangsta-rap and nü-metal years. She must've been on the cover of Rolling Stone three times between '94 and '99. Although, to be fair, at some point during that era, Rolling Stone ceased to be any kind of useful barometer for mainstream popularity. It'd be like being on the cover of Maximumrocknroll anytime after 1989. Boy, did they hate it when Green Day blew up. Total free-association, but I recently heard "Time of Your Life" on the radio and I thought, "Wow, these guys really did sell out hard. Just not quite when everyone in the punk world thought they did." Reminds me that I need to add Dookie to the Core Collection list. This has been a useful post, indeed.