1. Björk - Hyperballad
Could this be the greatest love song ever written?
It hits a rich sentimental seam that no other love song (to my knowledge) had mined so effectively before and perhaps since, which is especially striking given that we are talking about a hit here. This was the fourth single (of six) from "Post" - Björk's jarring, experimental laboratory of a second album.
That this album, and its singles, were a serious commercial proposition for Björk and her label One Little Indian in 1995 highlights how the music industry has (or has failed to) move on since the pre-millennial period. Why can't I hear a song this exciting on the radio when I get my haircut? Today's equivalent of a ground breaking hit love song is probably something like "We Found Love In a Hopeless Place".
Yeah, exactly.
"Hyperballad" is a fantasy, or a dream. The speaker imagines throwing things off a cliff ("car parts, bottles and cutlery") and listens to the impact of these things as they hit the rocks below. In the second verse, the speaker fantasises about what her own "body would sound like/ slamming against those rocks".
"Hyperballad" is a fantasy, or a dream. The speaker imagines throwing things off a cliff ("car parts, bottles and cutlery") and listens to the impact of these things as they hit the rocks below. In the second verse, the speaker fantasises about what her own "body would sound like/ slamming against those rocks".
These dreams are a kind of defence mechanism, a way of comprehending the value of love by thinking about its total opposite: meandering, thoughtless destruction. These fantasies (re)assert the value of human relationships as a buffer, a bulwark against the disconnected and wasteful nature of modern life, personified by the garbage Björk imagines tumbling down the cliff.
The garbage is also an expression of the things you give up to make a relationship last. In Björk's own words:
The garbage is also an expression of the things you give up to make a relationship last. In Björk's own words:
To fall in love and be in a relationship for a long time is like giving a lot of parts of you away because the relationship becomes more important than you as individuals. It's a bit of a tricky balance. I think everyone in a relationship needs to know not to forget themselves..."
Hyperballad is a startling and beautiful expression of the certainty of love in the face of millennial change. Hyperballad reminds us of the anxiety that exists alongside the euphoria.
2. My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
3. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
4. U2 - Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
5. Radiohead - Exit Music
6. Suede - Stay Together
7. The Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight
8. Blur - Tender
9. Morrissey - Will Never Marry (Bonus Track - total opposite of a love song)
Hyperballad is a startling and beautiful expression of the certainty of love in the face of millennial change. Hyperballad reminds us of the anxiety that exists alongside the euphoria.
2. My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
3. Massive Attack - Unfinished Sympathy
4. U2 - Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
5. Radiohead - Exit Music
6. Suede - Stay Together
7. The Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight
8. Blur - Tender
9. Morrissey - Will Never Marry (Bonus Track - total opposite of a love song)
(UNFINISHED MORE WORDZ TO FOLLOW)
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