Viðrar vel til loftárása explained

Viðrar vel til loftárása
Artist:Sigur Rós
Album:Ágætis byrjun
Genre:Post-rock
Length:10:13
Label:Fat Cat, Smekkleysa
Producer:Ken Thomas

"Viðrar vel til loftárása" (Icelandic for "it's good weather for airstrikes"; pronounced in Icelandic pronounced as /ˈvɪðrar vɛl tʰɪl ˈlɔftaurausa/) is a song written and recorded by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós for their second studio album Ágætis byrjun. The song appears as the seventh track on the album. It was also released as the B-side of Sigur Rós' debut single "Svefn-g-englar".

Background

The band named the song after a quote sarcastically spoken by an Icelandic weatherman during the Kosovo War: "Icelandic: í dag viðrar vel til loftárása" (meaning "today is good weather for an airstrike").[1]

Music video

The band recorded a music video for the track. Set in 1950s Iceland, it features a football match between two teams of young boys. As one team scores a goal and celebrates, two young boys on the same team begin to kiss. The kiss is eventually broken up by the boys' fathers. All band members appear in cameo[2] in the video: Jón Þór Birgisson is the soccer team coach, Orri Páll Dýrason is the scorekeeper, Georg Hólm is the referee, and Kjartan Sveinsson is one of the spectators. The fetus design from the Ágætis byrjun album cover is shown on a bottle from which one of the boys drinks.

Production for the music video began in the autumn of 2001. A general casting call was held in Reykjavík,[3] which was also the location for principal photography. The video was directed by Icelandic directors Stefán Árni Þorgeirsson and Sigurður Kjartansson. The video won an Icelandic Music Award for "Best Video" in 2002.[4] Music magazine NME ranked the video 9th on their list of "100 Greatest Music Videos".[5]

The idea for the video came from Sigur Rós' former drummer Ágúst Ævar Gunnarsson.[6]

Accolades

Accolades for "Viðrar vel til loftárása"!Year!Ceremony!Award!Result
2002scope=rowSamtónn Íslensku tónlistarverðlauninBest Video

Notes and References

  1. Web site: sigur rós - trivia. sigur-ros.co.uk. 4 January 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20190323131656/https://sigur-ros.co.uk/band/trivia.php. 23 March 2019. live.
  2. Web site: eighteen seconds before sunrise - sigur rós news » 2001» August» 24 . 4 January 2009 . sigur-ros.co.uk . https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160202/http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/news/?m=20010824 . 6 June 2011 . live .
  3. Web site: eighteen seconds before sunrise - sigur rós news » 2001» July» 13. sigur-ros.co.uk. https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160152/http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/news/?m=20010713. 7 January 2009. 2011-06-06.
  4. Web site: eighteen seconds before sunrise - sigur rós news » 2002» February» 10 . 4 January 2009 . sigur-ros.co.uk . https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160132/http://www.sigur-ros.co.uk/news/?m=20020210 . 6 June 2011 . live .
  5. Web site: NME 100 Greatest Music Videos . 16 May 2016 . www.nme.com . 2 June 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160510091711/http://www.nme.com/list/100-greatest-music-videos/217342/page/10 . 10 May 2016 . live .
  6. Web site: sigur-ros.co.uk interviews georg & orri . sigur-ros.co.uk . 10 July 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101129164627/http://sigur-ros.co.uk/media/intervi/02esbs1.php . 29 November 2010 . live .