Album Essentials: Sugarcubes "Stick Around For Joy" (1992)
By Dave Swanson - Summit FM Contributor
Issued in early 1992, 'Stick Around For Joy' put a shining bow on top of the pop package known as the Sugarcubes. Their third LP would be their final album after a brief five-year run. The album showcased the effervescent pop from this Icelandic combo with shining, punchy production courtesy of Paul Fox. The album focuses on the Sugarcubes calling card of upbeat, funky, shimmering pop music. It was a sound that was so much of its time and yet has been able to live and breathe over the past thirty-plus years to maintain freshness and vibrancy.
Following the one-two punch of 'Life’s Too Good,' their debut from 19888, including the hit singles ‘Birthday’ and ‘Deus’, and the sophomore offering, 'Here Today, Tomorrow, Next Week!' in 1989, the Sugarcubes had risen fast in the world of alternative sounds and college radio/MTV with the firecracker presence of Bjork front and center, stealing the spotlight with her unique style.
Bjork is truly in top form throughout, especially on tracks like 'Walkabout' and 'Hit,' both released as singles that garnered significant college and alternative radio play. By this point in their story, Bjork had become the notable center of attention for the band, and with the uniqueness and urgency of her approach, its never been any surprise. The press didn't always know what to make of this Icelandic pop puzzle. In an interview for the album, Bjork recalled the initial hurdles concerning their identity with the media.
"We went to England, and because they're very into ideology, they wanted us to save them, to bring them a new ideology that would save their heads from boredom," she said, "So they immediately forced on us some sort of ideology of weirdness, surrealism, blibber blobber...Eskimo intellectualism that we didn't really get." That may be the best description of the Sugarcubes ever!
The album, or band, was hardly a one-woman show, however, as the tight, focused attack of the band, especially the drive of the rhythm section, bassist Bragi Olafsson, and drummer Siggi Baldursson, as well as the guitar style of Eldon Jónsson. Legendary guitarist John McGeoch of Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees fame also lends a hand here. The album helped raise the band's profile as it simultaneously rang their death bell. Though it failed in the mega sales department, it was a hit in the UK, as well as a club hit across America. It helped pave the way for the next chapter, Bjork as a solo artist, which instantly hit the ground running.
“They used to put LSD in sugar cubes and polio vaccinations. It’s used quite often as a sweet medium for taking something medical," recalled Bjork. " I’ve had homemade schnapps in a sugar cube.”