Björk - Love & Hate

Interview by Roger Morton

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Photography by Andrzej Liguz

Björk - Love & Hate

HEROES



DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

MY HERO as a kid was David

Attenborough. I was brought up

on him. But he's everybody's

hero, isn't he? Have I seen Once

More Into The Termite Mound?

No, I haven't. But apart from

David Attenborough, I didn't

really have heroes as a kid. I

think I had more heroes when I

was older, after 20.

 Before 20, I didn't need

people so much, or I wasn't

conscious of it. But after 20, I

needed people to identify with.

Of course, really, everybody's

biggest heroes are their best

friends, and the people who've

helped you with your work.



KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN

I LIKE him not so much as a

musician, more as a philosopher.

I learned about him at school

when I was about 11. He just

had pretty cool ideas about the

universe. He's just pissed off

with the world's tendency to be

conservative and not allowing

you to go with the flow.

 As a philosopher, he's just a

top person for the century. I

agree more with him as a

philosopher than with any other

person. There are a lot of books

that are on interviews he did and

also collections of his lectures.

It's not like I was sort of learning

about Jean-Paul Sartre and able

to discuss his theories

backwards and forwards, it's just

he had a certain view. Certain

people have a view on things and

they're called phílosophers, I

suppose.

 I get so pissed off with people

that think old times were great,

and old music is great, and the

'70s were great, and they don't

look ahead, they're scared to

tear themselves away from the

past and go forward. He just has

this optimism about his views,

which I like.



TWYLA THARP

I'VE BEEN reading a biography

of her and she's kinda cool. She's

a dancer, and I like her because

she kind of re-invented dance. I

just read the book last week and

what she did with dance was

really cool. She's from America,

from Indiana, brought up in

California, moved to New York

and formed her own dance

company and was her own

person. She just didn't take

anything for granted and kind of

went for it. I've only seen her

stuff on telly, though.

 She's just a brilliant person.

Always questioning everything

and obsessed with sincerity and

originality. People like her that

are dancing are great because

she kind of allows herself to not

know the answers to everything.

She's kind of looking for things.

When you pretend you know it

all, it's downhill from there,

really.



TOM KA KAI SOUP

IT'S A Thai soup. It's really nice.

Soup has changed a lot of

people's lives. you know? It's the

most popular one. What's in it?

Lime juice, coconut and chicken.

Why does it change people's

lives? Well, food is pretty

important. You'd be dead

without it.



JANE CAMPION

I'VE BEEN a big fan since her

first movie, Sweetie. She's from

New Zealand. I can just relate to

her really well, her point of

view. She seems a very down-

to-earth, no-bullshit kind of

woman, but at the same time

quite spiritual, I guess. It all

sounds like clichés when you say

it, but I think I got a certain

comfort from her because I was

just getting pissed off with

women moaning and

complaining about everything,

and she happened to be a

woman director who was quite

happy to be so, and quite proud

to be so, and made a strong film

with feminine strength in it.

  I mean, I hate the majority of

feminist movies. If I had the right

opportunity and could get away

with it, I would easily burn all

that. But Jane Campion's also

pretty cool with guys as well,

'cos another pretty pathetic

thing was women attacking

blokes all the time, like it's their

fault. So that's cool.

  But at the end of the day, I

just like Sweetie and An Angel At

My Table. I've been too busy to

see The Piano yet. I can just

identify with her energy. It's

positive, matter-of-fact, but sort

of spiritual, I guess. A lot of

people have compared her to

David Lynch, which I think is

completely unfair because I think

all his weirdness is done with a

brain, it's all clever and planned.

It's like, 'Let's put a dwarf here,

eating spaghetti'. It's pretty

cheap. I mean, I respea him, but

with Jane Campion, things like

that are so earthy and natural.

You don't think she'll be happy

to be put in the same category

as a soup? No, I think she'll

understand.



SHOTOKAN KARATE

IT'S JUST something I've been

taught. I had a Malaysian teacher

in Iceland, but with something

like that I think the biggest

discoveries you make on your

own. Obviously it's a defense

thing, but it's very focused. It

basically aims to kill in one hit,

but it's a lot about breathing. It

allows you to use oxygen as a

fuel for what you do. It's one of

the few physical things that's

good to teach singers to breathe

and run at the same time. So it's

really good for gigs.



SIMONE

SHE'S A character in Story Of

The Eye by Georges Bataille. It's

basically a book that proves that

you should do what you want,

no matter what. I mean, it is a

book, but the good thing about

books and music and stuff is that

things can happen in them and

you don't have to take the

consequences. Like you can kill

people and you don't have to go

to jail for it. And that book

shows that you can play games

like that with your head. And

anything in the world you want

can happen.

  And it's kind of anti-morals.

It's like there's all these

behaviour patterns you're

taught, and it's saying, 'F- all

them'. And you should just

follow your instinct and your

need, and trust your system.

Because all the little signals it's

giving you all the time are

actually right. It's not just about

sexual obsession, it's about being

obsessed with one's needs and

going all the way, just if you need

it, and that you don't have to

find logic to it.

  Of course, the master in that

category is sex, because the way

your mind works with sex, you

want to have sex with all sorts

of people, but it doesn't make

any sense and that's why you

never do it. Or at least, very

seldom. Because you can't take

the consequences of it. Sex is

like the master of illogical needs,

but at the end of the day, what

this book is saying is that the

needs are logical and real and

you should believe in them -

which is brilliant. I read that

book when I was 17 and it just

changed my life. It proved to me

that I wasn't mad.



VILLAINS



NARROW-MINDED PEOPLE

IT SOUNDS really stupid to say

that, but it's the only way to nail

it down, really. I could say, 'All

banks and politicians and so on',

and institutions just in general.

But being the anti-establishment

person I am, it's too easy. There

are too many politicians and

people like that to choose from.

Because I think it's so typical to

judge politicians as baddies and

nurses as goodies, but when it

comes down to it, it's much

more complicated than that.

  If things were that black and

white it would be easy to live

without making errors. But it's

all much more colourful than

that. Like you get awkward

things like companies that are

supposed to distribute music to

the world, like record

companies, and they do lots of

stupid evil things. And it's just

stupid.



BUREAUCRACY

WHEN IT limits people. I went

to the USSR when it existed and

bureaucracy kept everything

down. I don't like filling in forms.

A friend of mine went to Canada

once and on the form you fill in

as you enter the country it asked

if he had committed a crime in

Canada, and he put, 'Not yet'.

And they threw him in jail.



SMOKE MACHINES

I'M OBSESSED with oxygen. I

just hate smoke in general. And

just basically lack of oxygen in

anything. I just get phobic. Also, I

got in situations when I was

singing on stage with a punk

band when I was 15 or

something and there was a

smoke machine right next to me

and I lost my voice halfway

through the first song because of

it. And they've just freaked me

out after that.

  Fortunately, I was in a punk

band, so you were allowed to

make quite desperate noises in

the microphone. It kind of suited

the music. But ever since that

I've hated them, really hard.



* Björk was just talking and

talking very much to Roger

Morton, you know?