Life's Too Good

The lead single "Birthday" was released on Derek Birkett's One Little Indian Records in August 1987.^[5] After influential magazine NME declared it "Single of the Week", the Sugarcubes, especially lead singer Björk, unexpectedly got the attention of the British music press.^[5] Across the following months, the band reluctantly appeared on the covers of the United Kingdom's most prominent pop magazines^[5] and experienced "massive hype" which generated a wave of interest from the press and the public.^[6] Despite offers by major labels like Warner Bros. and PolyGram, none of these labels were willing to give the Sugarcubes complete creative control, so the band decided to record the album themselves and release it on One Little Indian.^[7] Life's Too Good was finally released in April 1988.^[8] "Coldsweat" and "Deus" were issued as singles prior to the album's release in January and April 1988 respectively, while the Jesus and Mary Chain's remix of "Birthday" (subtitled the "Christmas Mix") was released as a single in August 1988. "Motorcrash" followed as the album's final single in November 1988.^{[citation needed]}

While recording Life's Too Good, the Sugarcubes had befriended Howard Thompson, who worked in Elektra Records' A&R division; he orchestrated a licensing deal and the album was released in the United States.^[8][9] "Birthday" proved to be very successful on American college radio, before crossing over to mainstream radio.^[9] To the band's frustration, the American media also focused on Björk.^[9] At the end of 1988, the Sugarcubes undertook an American tour, which evolved into an international tour catapulted by the album's growing sales.^[10]

Robert Ham of Paste Magazine assessed: "In the hands of this pale quintet from Reykjavik, led by the intoxicating vocals and pixie-ish presence of Bjork Gudmundsdottir, post-punk, jazz and folk were twisted into multi-colored braids of arch pop and seamy revelations about untoward relationships between a bearded gent and a little girl, the joys of sex and gawking at a car crash."^[11]

Paul White of Me Company designed the artwork for Life's Too Good.^[12] The figures depicted in the artwork are derivations of a signature he had which consisted of a character "made up of just a face, legs and a [penis]."^[12] White stuck to using flat-color backgrounds; this discipline was born out of the need to keep printing costs as low as possible, and had previously been followed for the sleeve designs of the "Birthday" and "Coldsweat" singles.^[12] The album was issued in various color schemes, including green, yellow, blue and pink.^[12]

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
The Line of Best Fit	9/10[14]
Los Angeles Times	[15]
NME	50/10[16]
Record Collector	[17]
Record Mirror	4/5[18]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[19]
Spin	[20]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	8/10[21]
The Village Voice	B−[22]

Close

Life's Too Good was released to largely positive reviews,^[8] receiving acclaim from the British and American press.^[23] In his review for NME, Steven Wells gave the album an unconventional score of fifty out of ten, awarding ten points each for "cheekiness", "naughtiness", "sexiness", "silliness" and "scariness".^[16] Nancy Culp of Record Mirror said that while the Sugarcubes' music is not particularly innovative, "their approach is fresh and their energy indisputable."^[18] Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn commented that "Life's Too Good has the feel of an impact album: one of those rare debuts—like the first X or Talking Heads albums—that not only influence the creative underground but stretch the overall boundaries of rock."^[15] John Dougan praised Björk's vocals and the album's "strong" songs in a retrospective review for AllMusic, and considered that the album "lived up to all the advance hype."^[13]

Less impressed was Robert Christgau from The Village Voice, who wrote that the band's "sense of mischief isn't just playful—it's experimental and a little wicked. It's also so imperfectly realized that you have to infer it out from underneath their breathy swoops, willful shifts and starts, and translated lyrics—so imperfectly realized that most of their fans, critics included, barely notice it."^[22]

Life's Too Good is credited as the first Icelandic album "of its breed" to have a worldwide impact.^[8] Robert Ham of Paste Magazine wrote: "For many listeners, the debut by The Sugarcubes was an introduction into the singular universe that is the Icelandic music scene. It’s a place where, at the time, the various strains of influence from Europe and North America collided but were jumbled up gloriously in translation."^[11] In 2014, Treble wrote that the album "[generated] a larger interest towards the country’s popular and alternative music scenes alike."^[24] The album is considered a definite influence on all subsequent Icelandic popular music, and on international acts such as Savages and Florence and the Machine.^[24] Since its release, Life's Too Good has generated a dedicated following, and is nowadays cited as an important cult classic.^[25] The album helped in regarding the Sugarcubes as "the biggest rock band to emerge from Iceland."^[23] "Coldsweat" was covered by the industrial rock band Diatribe on the 1993 album Shut Up Kitty: A Cyber-Based Covers Compilation.^{[citation needed]} In 2025, Radio X included the album in its list of "The 25 best indie debut albums of the 1980s".^[26]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Life's Too Good.^[1]

The Sugarcubes

• Bragi Ólafsson – bass
• Sigtryggur Baldursson – drums
• Þór Eldon – guitar
• Björk Guðmundsdóttir – vocals, keyboard
• Einar Örn Benediktsson – vocals, trumpet

Additional personnel

• Engineering – Brian Pugsley, Gail Lambourne, Gerard Johnson, Ken Thomas, Kjartan Kjartansson, Mel Jefferson
• Production – Derek Birkett and Ray Shulman
• Sleeve – Paul White
• Copyright – One Little Indian Records
• Publishing – Second Wind
• Design – Me Company
• Distribution – The Cartel