Tappi Tíkarrass

Tappi Tíkarrass was an Icelandic punk band which added elements of funk, rock and jazz to their music, marking a difference from other traditional bands at that time. The band is also considered the first serious music project of now renowned singer Björk Guðmundsdóttir. In 1979 Björk was singing in a band called Exodus with guitarists Ásgeir Sæmundsson and Þorvaldur Bjarni Þorvaldsson, bassist Skúli Sverrisson, and drummer Oddur F. Sigurbjörnsson. In 1980 she left the band with Oddur and joined bassist Jakob Smári Magnússon and guitarist Eyjólfur Jóhannsson to form a band called Jam-80 because they were meant to play for just one gig, although they continued playing for a while. They performed a mixture of pop and punk music and never released any official record.

This band came to an end when decided to create a punk band with more serious music. That is how Tappi Tíkarrass came into being by September 1981 with vocalist Eyþór Arnalds, who was replaced a few months later by Björk and a year later, Oddur was replaced in drums by Guðmundur Þór Gunnarsson. The name Tappi Tíkarrass, which in Icelandic means “Cork the Bitch’s Ass” was given after Jakob’s father claimed that the band’s music “fitted like a cork in a bitch’s ass”. Tappi Tíkarrass combined elements of punk and pop music to create an exotic post punk with references to Siouxsie and the Banshees and the first stage of The Cure. They started to record in August 1982 and released an EP titled 'Bitið Fast í Vitið' which went out through label Spor. This 12” vinyl was formed of 5 tracks performed by Björk, who replaced the original vocals by Eyþór. The only song in English was “London”. They followed up in 1983 with their only full-length album, 'Miranda', released by Gramm. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]