History Music / AgaetisByrjun

It became the group's critical and commercial breakthrough, reaching a platinum status-earning 10,000 sales in their native Iceland. Now routinely regarded as one of the greatest albums of its time, it is currently ranked at #224 on Website/AcclaimedMusic's [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums compilation of critics' lists]], and is the highest-ranking album that has no English in any of its songs.

* {{Mondegreen}}: The most famous Hopelandic word to ever exist—"tjú"[[note]]Fun fact: this is actually an Icelandic utterance equivalent to cooing, especially [[CutenessProximity before a baby!]][[/note]]—has been commonly interpreted as "It's you" or "To you", especially with its liberal use in "Svefn-g-englar".

[[caption-width-right:350:''Við vorum sammála um það/Sammála um flesta hluti/Við munum gera betur næst/Þetta er ágætis byrjun'']]

''Ágætis byrjun''[[note]]''A Good Beginning''[[/note]] is the second studio album by Icelandic post-rock band Music/SigurRos, released on 12 June 1999; it was released in the UK in 2000, and in the USA in 2001.

[[NewSoundAlbum Diverging substantially in sound]] from their TroubledProduction-plagued debut ''Von'', this marked the first album by the group in which they figured out their [[SignatureStyle signature sound]], such as use of Jónsi Birgisson's cello-bowed guitar and a string octet.

It became the group's critical and commercial breakthrough, reaching a platinum status-earning 10,000 sales in their native Iceland. It is currently ranked at #224 on Website/AcclaimedMusic's [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums compilation of critics' lists]], and is the highest-ranking album that has no English in any of its songs.

''Ágætis byrjun''[[note]]''A Good Beginning''[[/note]] is the second studio album by Music/SigurRos, released on 12 June 1999. It was the first album by the group to figure their signature sound, such as use Jónsi Birgisson's cello-bowed guitar and a string octet, for starters. It became the group's critical and commercial breakthrough, reaching 10,000 sales in their native Iceland, scoring it Platinum album sales there. It is currently ranked at #224 on Website/AcclaimedMusic's [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums compilation of critics' lists]], and is the highest-ranking album that has no English in any of its songs.

* AlbumTitleDrop: The above quote in the TitleTrack.

* EpicInstrumentalOpener: The album opens with an ethereal intro that consists of a section of the album's TitleTrack (eight tracks later) converted to instrumental and reversed.

* HellIsThatNoise / LastNoteNightmare: "Starálfur" ends with its lush melodies fading away into almost a solid minute of eerie noises, at which point it [[FadingIntoTheNextSong transitions into]] the next (and considerably more solemn) song, "Flugufrelsarinn".

* LyricalDissonance: "Ágætis byrjun" is a beautiful tune about the bands' disappointment after [[OldShame they found that their first album sounded crappy.]]

* NonAppearingTitle: "Svefn-g-englar" doesn't actually appear in the title of the song, but it comes close with "Svefn-g-engl''um''."

** "Viðrar vel til loftárása" is Icelandic for "Good Weather for an Airstrike", which title-wise is in a completely different universe from the [[{{Gayngst}} song]] [[TearJerker it]][[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments self]]. The band got the title from a weatherman sarcastically reporting "Today: good weather for an airstrike" while NATO was bombing Serbia during [[UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars the Kosovo War]].

# "Viðrar vel til loftárása"[[note]]"Good Weather for an Airstrike"[[/note]] (10:16

# "Viðrar vel til loftárása"[[note]]"Good Weather for an Airstrike"[[/note]] (10:16)

!!Tropes found in this work:

* EpicInstrumentalOpener:
** ''Ágætis byrjun'' opens with an ethereal intro that consists of a section of the album's TitleTrack (eight tracks later) converted to instrumental and reversed.

* HeartbeatSoundtrack: The end of "Svefn-g-englar".

''Ágætis byrjun''[[note]]''A Good Beginning''[[/note]] is the second studio album by Music/SigurRos, released on 12 June 1999. It was the first album by the group to figure their signature sound, such as use Jónsi Birgisson's cello-bowed guitar and a string octet, for starters. It became the group's critical and commercial breakthrough, reaching 10,000 sales in their native Iceland, scoring it Platinum album sales there. It is currently ranked at #224 on Website/AcclaimedMusic's [[UsefulNotes/AcclaimedMusicAllTimeTopAlbums compilation of critics' lists]], and is the highest-ranking album that is completely in a language other than English.

* EpicRocking / MinusculeRocking: All the tracks and "Intro", respectively, except for "Avalon".

* {{Portemantitle}}: "Stara"[[note]]"stare"[[/note]] + "Álfur"[[note]]"elf"[[/note]] = "Starálfur"[[note]]"Staring elf"[[/note]]

# "Intro" (1:36)

# "Flugufrelsarinn"[[note]]"The Fly's Savior"[[/note]] (7:47)

# "Viðrar vel til loftárása"[[note]]"Very Good Weather for an Airstrike"[[/note]] (10:16)

* AlbumTitleDrop: "Hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm)" has not only a title drop for its parent album, but also the two previous ones: ''með '''von''' að vin ég vinn upp smá tíma/leita að '''ágætis byrjun'''/en verð að '''vonbrigðum''''' ("With hope as my friend I make up some time/I look for an alright beginning/But I will be disappointed").
** The liner notes to the album "Ágætis byrjun" also contains the line: ''Ég gaf ykkur '''von''' sem varð að '''vonbrigðum'''. Þetta er '''ágætis byrjun'''.'' ("I gave you hope which became a disappointment. This is a good beginning") The second sentence is also used in the track of the album with the same name.

* LyricalTic: Mostly anything that rhymes with the word "you". "Svefn-g-englar" in particular has a chorus so replete with ''tjú'' that it's become a signature sound for Jónsi.