Pollapönk

Pollapönk
Pollapönk (2014)
Background information
Origin	Iceland
Genres	Children's music, punk rock
Years active	2006—present
Associated acts	Botnleðja, Dr. Spock, Ensími
Members	Heiðar Örn Kristjánsson Haraldur Freyr Gíslason Guðni Þórarinn Finnsson Arnar Þór Gíslason

Pollapönk are an Icelandic punk-inflected children's music band which represented Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with their song "No Prejudice".^[1]

History

Pollapönk introducing themselves during the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Pollapönk was founded in 2006 by singer Heidar Örn Kristjánsson and lead guitarist Haraldur Freyr Gíslason, both of the rock band Botnleðja. The pair, who were studying to work as teachers, wanted to create music which could be enjoyed by both children and their broader families.^[2] Their debut album, the self-titled Pollapönk, was created as the duo's graduation project from the Iceland University of Education.^[3] The following year, Haraldur's brother Arnar Þór Gíslason and Guðni Finnsson joined the band, playing drums and bass guitar, respectively.^[4] The quartet released a second album, entitled Meira Pollapönk ("More Pollapönk") in 2010. This was followed in 2011 by Aðeins Meira Pollapönk ("Just More Pollapönk").^[3]

In 2014, Pollapönk entered their song "Enga fordóma" in Söngvakeppnin 2014, the contest to select Iceland's entry in that year's Eurovision Song Contest, winning from 297 total entries.^[1] The song is a protest song on the evils of prejudice and bullying.^[5] This song was subsequently translated into English by American musician John Grant, under the title "No Prejudice", and was performed in this form for Eurovision.^[4] Pollapönk's entry reached the Grand Final, where it placed 15th among the 26 finalists.^[6]

Members

• Heiðar Örn Kristjánsson (born September 7th, 1974) is the blue polli (rascals), the lead singer of the band. Outside of the band, Heiðar was previously the singer in Botnleðja and currently works as a preschool teacher and is married and has two children and two step-children.
• Haraldur Freyr Gíslason (born December 14, 1974) is the red polli, the band's lead guitarist. Haraldur was previously the drummer in Botnleðja. His brother, Arnar, is Pollapönk's drummer. Outside of the band, Haraldur works as a preschool teacher and chairman of the Félag leikskólakennara (The Association of Teachers in Preschools), a branch of the Kennarasamband Íslands (The Icelandic Teachers' Union). He is married and has three children.
• Guðni Þórarinn Finnsson (born December 8th, 1970) is the yellow polli, the band's bass guitarist. Outside of the band, he is the bass guitarist for the bands Mugison and Ensími, with bandmate Arnar,^[7] and Dr. Spock, with Arnar and live member Óttarr Proppé.^[8] He is employed at Hljóðfærahúsið - Tónabúðin, a distributor of musical instruments. He is married and has three children.
• Arnar Þór Gíslason (born November 9, 1970) is the pink polli, Pollapönk's drummer, and Haraldur's brother. He is also the drummer in rock bands Ensími and Dr. Spock, alongside Guðni and Óttarr.^[7][8] When he first joined Pollapönk, Arnar performed as the green polli but, as the group found success, discovered this caused problems when recording green screen footage and transitioned to pink. He has spoken of being pleased at the normalising effect his color has had on boys wearing pink.^[4] Outside of the band, he is employed at Hljóðfærahúsið - Tónabúðin and married. He has two children.

In live performances, the band has been joined by:

• Snæbjörn Ragnarsson (born 25th of January, 1978), as the orange polli, a backup singer. Snæbjörn is a member of the heavy metal band, Skálmöld. He has stated that he was initially hesitant to join a band performing at Eurovision but realised his attitude displayed the same prejudice the band's entry railed against and agreed.
• Óttarr Proppé (born November 7, 1968), as the purple polli, a backup singer. Óttarr is a member of Althing (Icelandic Parliament) and the rock band, Dr. Spock.^[4]

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Album details
Pollapönk	Released: 2006 Format: Digital download, CD
Meira pollapönk	Released: 2010 Format: Digital download, CD
Aðeins meira pollapönk	Released: 2011 Format: Digital download, CD

Compilation albums

Title	Album details
Bebebe-besta pollapönkið	Released: 11 April 2014 Labels: Hands Up Music Format: Digital download, CD

Singles

Title	Year	Peak chart positions			Album
		ISL	AUT [9]	UK [10]
"Ættarmót"	2011	24[11]	—	—	Meira pollapönk
"Enga fordóma / No Prejudice"	2014	1[12]	68	70	Bebebe-besta pollapönkið
"Tabula rasa"		—	—	—	Non-album single(s)
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released.

Music videos

Year	Title
2011	"Ættarmót"
2014	"Enga fordóma / No Prejudice"

References

1. Escudero, Victor M. (15 February 2014). "Iceland: And the winner is Pollapönk!!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
2. "Enga fordóma 900-9906". RÚV (in Icelandic). National Broadcasting Plc. 27 January 2014. Archived from the original on May 18, 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
3. Sveinsson, Kristján (21 March 2014). "Iceland 2014: Pollapönk". Eurovisionary. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
4. Spence, Ewan (5 May 2014). "Eurovision Insight Podcast: In-depth with Pollaponk". ESC Insight. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
5. Ragnarsdóttir, Erla (6 February 2014). "Pollapönk vill koma ákveðnum boðskap á framfær". Gaflari.is (in Icelandic). Bæjarfréttir ehf. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
6. "Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Grand Final". Eurovision.tv. 10 May 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
7. "Albums by Ensími". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
8. "Albums by Dr. Spock". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 13 May 2014.
9. Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Pollapönk". Austrian Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
10. "Pollapönk > UK Charts". Officialcharts.com/. Official Charts Company.
11. "Netlistinn viku 34, 2011". tonlist.is (in Icelandic). Tónlist.
12. "Netlistinn viku 7, 2014". tonlist.is (in Icelandic). Tónlist.