Stuff Indos Like #1: Icelandic Musicians
Indos really dig Icelandic musicians. Take a look at their iPods and they will probably have a couple songs by Björk or Sigur Rós. Even if they don’t, they can pretend to by putting it up on their Facebook pages so other people can see and appreciate that they dig Icelandic musicians. This fascination is very widespread despite the fact that Indonesia has pretty much nothing in common with Iceland except for occasionally exploding volcanoes and both countries’ names starting with the letter “I”.
Why is this so? Let’s take a look at Björk to start. Her name is virtually unpronounceable, she wears swans to award ceremonies, and not only is she married to an actual artist, she also makes very artsy music that is normally classified as weird ambient electronica. Indos want people to know that they can appreciate art, the weirder the better; what better way to do that than to like Björk on Facebook? Even though the only Björk song they can stand listening to is “It’s Oh So Quiet”.
Same goes for Sigur Rós. They’re described in Wikipedia as an “Icelandic post-rock band with classical and minimalist elements”, and has a song called “Gobbledigook”. It is important that Indos listen to genres that are not normally played in the radio or MTV, and “post-rock with classical and minimalist elements” kind of fits the bill. No one knows what the lyrics of “Gobbledigook” mean, and no one really enjoys “post-rock with classical and minimalist elements”, but it doesn’t matter as long as people think they do.
