Me Company designed this sperm motif for The Sugarcubes in 1992, starting with the "
Hit" single from the Icelandic pop band's "Stick Around For Joy" LP. Björk herself was occasionally
seen sporting a sperm necklace - so to speak! - throughout the '90s, until "Post" in 1995 at least. During the U.S. tour in support of this album, I was called a "
mass-
murderer" on two occasions because of the copious
masses of
flowers that I threw on stage in jubilant adulation of their incredibly enjoyable performances. Being a staunch
Morrissey fan is not without interesting side effects: for about two years, going to live actions in the greater metropolitan Los Angeles
area afforded me a wealth of opportunities to throw flowers at various bands. The surreality of
sentimentality. John Flansburgh (the fat one) of
They Might Be Giants was not best pleased at the gales of miniature carnations cascading around him during his performance; dispensing ultimately with the flower roadie, he upbraided me directly and was rewarded with an inadvertent bouquet to the nuts. On another occasion,
Pete Shelley of
Buzzcocks made much ceremony of placing flowers carefully on the edge of the drum riser. Ever the romantic, he! Transvision Vamp broke up after I hit the lovely Wendy James at an almost cosmologically precise moment: as she sang "
I Need Your Love," on the word "
love" my carnation hit her square in the mouth. Sorry, Wendy! I sometimes forget what great aim I have - I do in fact have really brilliant timing because during The Sugarcubes' live action at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, I threw my entire lot of flowers on stage just when Björk sang "She's got a chain of flowers" during "
Birthday." If anyone has a bootleg of that Wiltern action, I'd love to have a copy.
Paul White designed this icon for Björk, looking nothing so much as a swan stifling a sneeze, in 1993. Her latest effort is the beautiful and amazing "Wanderlust" video. Shame there's no song to go along with the video, though - the phrase "there's no "there" there" rather comes to mind. So, to alleviate your intense letdown, here's the Swedish Chef. Bjork bjork bjork.
