The Golden Years
The film Rokk in Reykjavik is without a doubt the most legendary film in Icelandic rock history. Documenting the unique Icelandic punk scene in the early 80‘s, it played a part in launching the career of both Björk and the other members of the Sugarcubes, as well as Oscar nominated director Friðrik Þór Friðriksson.
© Gus GusMany attempts have been made to emulate it, such as the 1996 film Pop in Reykjavik, and the more Recent Screaming Masterpiece. None, however, have come close. That is, until this year‘s Reykjavik Electronica. The film in many ways resembles its punk predecessor, although the focus here is on the rave scene of the early 90‘s. And while Rokk in Reykjavik was very much caught up in the moment, Electronica takes a wider historical perspective, drawing on a decade and a half of material.
The Icelandic punk scene reached its zenith around five years after its predecessor in London, but by the early 90‘s the scene in Iceland seemed to be never more than five weeks behind its sources of inspiration. The world had grown so much smaller in course of a decade that Reykjavik could lay claim to being the party capital of Europe. Björk‘s success had a lot to do with this, but the underground electronic musicians of Reykjavik also played their part. And just like the punks ten years earlier, they were hellbent on recreating the world in their own image.
In the early 90’s, while grungers and Britpoppers did their best to emulate their 60‘s and 70‘s heroes, the electronica scene seemed to be creating something entirely new. And just like in the late 60‘s, when every month seemed to bring out a new subgenre such as Acid Rock, Folk Rock, Country Rock, one now had a hard time keeping up with the even the names of various styles; Techno, Drum’n’Bass, Jungle. Much like Rock, however, electronic music went through a revolutionary phase and then seems to have largely stagnated. Most of its early practitioners are now reaching middle age. If the 90‘s were the 60‘s for electronic music, we are now in the late 70‘s, and it is perhaps time for electronica to be entering its punk phase and reinvent itself. Or perhaps it has played that card already, since it was always in some ways inspired by punk to begin with. In any case, the film Electronica Reykjavik is a valuable document of a time when it really did seem possible that Reykjavik would take its place among the capitals of the world. Now we know better. -- Valur Gunnarsson
:: Rafmögnuð Reykjavík/Director: Arnar Jónasson - (ICE) 2008 (55 min)
