Ágætis byrjun gradually grew into a huge commercial success in iceland, remaining in the top charts for over 2 years. ágætis byrjun would become sigur rós's breakthrough album. but it didn't matter - ágætis byrjun was the album that was played over and over again and over time word of it spread far and wide. typically the band's setlist that night consisted of many songs that weren't on ágætis byrjun - songs for another time. On the 12th of june 1999 at the icelandic opera house in reykjavÃk, the album was launched. (see ási's memories for the inside story on the album's production and release.) they bought themselves some time to fine-tune the record and the release date was changed to june 12th 1999, a date which miraculously stuck. they soon realised they would never be satisfied with the quality of the album in time for the release. Sigur rós began hastily recording ágætis byrjun in august 1998, with a release date set for october 1998. Við munum gera betur næst / þetta er ágætis byrjun (we will do better next time / this is a good beginning) as suggested by a lyric from ágætis byrjun's title track, sigur rós had bigger ambitions after releasing von:
after that the trio became a quartet and they evolved into something astounding.
three years previously they released their debut album, von. Ágætis byrjun, a good beginning, is actually sigur rós' second beginning. ágætis byrjun is that album for a lot of people and today, june 12th 2009, it celebrates its tenth birthday. press play again.Ī lot of people have one album that changes their lives, something that in some way alters everything after the first moment the hear it. Rumbling, pings, tjúúúú, palindromic strings, bjargvættur, the coughing brass intro, bamm bamm bamm, the crecendo, the flute, the simplicity, and it fades out.