Guitarist and vocalist Artur Rojek (born 1972) started the band in 1992 as "The Freshmen", taking the initial name from the movie The Freshman starring Marlon Brando - which indicates a fascination with cinema that would become a characteristic feature throughout the band's career. The early phase was characterised by a somewhat debonair punk attitude, as Rojek admits: "I started Myslovitz in 1992. I was twenty then and I had no idea how to make good music. Surely, I was a big fan of a few British groups (Ride, The Stone Roses, My Bloody Valentine, The Housemartins) but I couldn't play the guitar at all. After several months of rehearsals [...] I decided that I should cover the holes in my musical education by [...] chaos (the bigger the better)." [1].
Even so, they soon caught the media's attention, winning several important competitions for young musicians; this enabled them to make their first professional recordings in the studio of Radio Lodz. In 1994, Myslovitz were signed by MJM Music Polska and recorded their self-titled debut album with British producer Ian Harris, who had previously worked for, amongst others, Joy Division, New Order, and The Exploited. Upon its release in 1995, the album received euphoric reviews and was declared "Debut of the Year" by several music magazines. Some critics compared it to Oasis, who were at the peak of their popularity at that time.
In 1996, Myslovitz were joined by a third guitarist and keyboarder, Przemek Myszor, and released the second album Sun Machine on Sony Music Polska. The album spawned two somewhat beatlesque airplay hits - Z twarzą Marilyn Monroe ("With the Face of Marilyn Monroe") and Peggy Brown, the latter being a cover version of a fellow Mysłowice rock band, with lyrics originally by the Irish "national bard" Turlough O'Carolan (in a translation by the Polish lyricist and translator Ernest Bryll).
The following year, the third album Z rozmyślań przy śniadaniu ("From meditiations over breakfast") was released, displaying a tendency towards a more "polished" sound and more introspective lyrics. Also, Myslovitz's now typical fascination with cinema began to take centre stage with numerous allusions and hints in the lyrics and track titles, and a certain "cinematic" atmosphere in the music itself.
The band's interest in cinema also showed in their contributions to soundtracks. In 1998, they recorded the unconventional track To nie był film ("That was no film") for the Polish movie Młode wilki ½ ("Young Wolves ½"). The lyrics referred to a wave of violent crimes committed by juvenile delinquents, which was controversially discussed in Polish mass media in the mid-1990's. The explicit depiction of violence in the lyrics and the accompanying video clip (which later won a Fryderyk award as "Video of the Year") caused further controversy and led Polish broadcasting networks to boycott both the song and the clip.
Also in 1998, Myslovitz had their first appearances abroad with gigs in Sweden, Germany, and the United States.
The final breakthrough for the band came in 1999 with their fourth album entitled Miłość w czasach popkultury ("Love in The Time of Pop Culture"), which went platinum (i.e. 150,000 copies sold) soon and has by now achieved "double platinum" status in Poland. The single Długość dzwięku samotności ("The Length of the Solitude Sound") became the biggest hit for the band so far.
In 2000 Myslovitz again contributed to soundtracks, writing and recording the song Polowanie na wielblada ("Camel Hunting") for the movie Duże zwierzę ("The Big Animal") by the legendary Polish actor and director Jerzy Stuhr, and the single plus another two (previosly unreleased) tracks to director Waldemar Szarek's movie "That's Us" (To my). In 2003 Myslovitz continued their cooperation with Stuhr, creating not only the title song for his movie "Tomorrow's Weather", but also appearing in walk-on roles - as neophyte monks.
In 2002, the follow-up to Miłość..., entitled Korova Milky Bar appeared; the title being an allusion to Stanley Kubrick's classic screen version of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange. Strikingly, the melancholic elements took over almost completely, with both music and (sometimes sarcastic) lyrics creating an almost depressive overall mood. Nonethelss, the album sold even more copies than its predecessor had in the same time, with the singles Acidland and Sprzedawcy marzeń ("Dreamsellers") repeating the success of Długość... three years earlier.
The reason for the new material's popularity, as some critics surmised, was that its atmosphere closely conformed to a presumed resignative-recessive mood within Polish society at large - which guitarist Przemek Myszor seemed to confirm in an interview for the Montreal Mirror: "For us, the Korova Milky Bar [from Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange'] is a place where something different may happen to your mind. It's a place like today’s Poland. You know, Poland is a place where very strange things happen to your mind. It's a country full of crisis and everything around you is very sad, very dark, very fucked. There is an economic crisis here. People don't have money, politics are fucked. The lyrics on our record are sad because of this. We sing a lot about being in a strange state of mind" [2].
With Korova Milky Bar, Myslovitz appeared at several festivals throughout Europe, including the big, traditional German festival for Alternative acts (Bizarre) and the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival. Also, they supported Iggy Pop and the Simple Minds on their European tours that year. Also, they received an MTV Europe Music Awards in Barcelona for Best Polish Act, having been nominated twice in previous years.
In November 2002 Myslovitz signed a new contract with EMI's Polish outlet Pomaton. The first album to be released on the new label was an English-language re-recording of Korova Milky Bar, which war released in 27 countries (including Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Spain, Russia, Turkey and South Africa). In addition to the Korova... material, this version also included English versions of older tracks. Długość dzwięku samotności now became a single as The Sound of Solitude (an earlier English version had somewhat awkwardly but more correctly entitled The Length of The Solitude Sound had been a Polish b-side). A video clip for this song was directed Janusz Kaminski, the Polish Hollywood cinematographer who had won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography with Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan, and had declined an offer from Martin Scorsese in order to work with Myslovitz. Kaminski declares himself a "fan" of Myslovitz, saying "I only work for Spielberg and Myslovitz [...] Money is not a factor in this. What one doesn't do for one's idols!" [3] The clip got frequent plays on MTV Europe and the album received positive reviews in the European music press, particularly in Germany. However, radio airplay was sporadic and largely limited to Alternative programmes (such as John Peel in the UK), as a consequence, Myslovitz so far failed to enter the upper reaches of the charts outside Poland.
Also in 2003, Myslovitz performed with Travis and Skin (of Skunk Anansie fame) on The Road to Edinburgh, where they received another MTV Europe Music Award for Best Polish Act.
The same year, Sony Music domestically released an obligatory end-of-contract compilation album, entitled The Best of. The lead single Kraków was an older song re-recorded with 1970s Polish folk rock stars Marek Grechuta and Anawa.
In the summer of 2004 Myslovitz were touring Europe again, starting with a concert for the German public radio and television broadcaster WDR on the eve of EU enlargement. Apart from headlining smaller venues and playing festival slots (including the largest Swiss open air event in St. Gallen, they again opened for Iggy Pop & The Stooges on their European dates, as well as for The Corrs in the UK and mainland Europe.
In December 2004, EMI released Myslovitz's most recent album entitled Skalary, mieczyki, neonki ("Angelfish, swordtails, neon tetras") - an out-of-schedule release with outtakes from the Korova Milky Bar recording sessions; longish, psychedelic-experimental and mostly instrumental soundscapes with an utterly melancholic mood to them. On Skalary..., Myslovitz appear about as close to the Radiohead reference as they are likely to get; there are also some tangible similarities with Pink Floyd.
At the time, the band had finished recording of their new album "Happiness is easy", which is planned to appear on 12 May 2006. The album will include 13 new songs and the first single promoting it is "Mieć czy być" ("To have or to be"), inspired by the book of the same title by Erich Fromm.
Myslovitz's success arguably contributed to a revitalisation of the Polish alternative rock scene in the late 1990's and early 2000's, which spawned bands such as eM, Kombajn do zbierania kur po wioskach, and Lili Marlene.
My
Myslovitz Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ja, tak prosto w twarz, kłamię cię każdego dnia
Ale ty, ty mnie dobrze znasz, wszystko o mnie wiesz
Wiem, wybaczasz mi, że wszystko przeze mnie
Ja, jeden z was, uśmiech skrada się przez twarz
Ja, namiętnie gram, wiesz inaczej nie mam szans
Ty, ty mnie dobrze znasz, wszystko o mnie wiesz
Wiem, wybaczasz mi, że wszystko przeze mnie
Ty najlepsza jaką znam, nie trzeba wierszy nam
Nie muszę się już bać, że wszystko przeze mnie
Ty, ty mnie dobrze znasz, wszystko o mnie wiesz
Wiem, wybaczasz mi, że wszystko przeze mnie
Ty najlepsza jaką znam, twój długi czarny płaszcz
I padał deszcz, padał deszcz...
The lyrics of Myslovitz's song "My" speak of a complex and turbulent relationship between two people. The first verse describes the singer as "hard ice" who coldly touches the hand of the person they are with, and who lies to them every day. Despite this, the person they are with knows them well and forgives them for everything they do. The second verse speaks of the singer as one of many, whose smile can be seen through their face and who only has a chance in life because of their passion. The chorus repeats the idea that the other person knows everything about the singer, forgives them for their faults, and is the best they have ever known. The final line, "I went to the end (of your limits) when the rain fell," hints at the idea that the relationship has been pushed to its limits, but the other person still remains faithful.
Overall, the lyrics of "My" depict a complex relationship that is filled with deceit, but ultimately, the other person knows everything about the singer and forgives them anyway. The song speaks of the ways in which people can hurt others, but also how forgiveness and understanding can bring two people closer to each other.
Line by Line Meaning
Ja, twardy lód, zimnem głaszczę twoją dłoń
I am like hard ice, touching your hand with coldness
Ja, tak prosto w twarz, kłamię cię każdego dnia
I lie to you straight to your face every single day
Ale ty, ty mnie dobrze znasz, wszystko o mnie wiesz
But you, you know me well, you know everything about me
Wiem, wybaczasz mi, że wszystko przeze mnie
I know you forgive me for everything that's because of me
Ja, jeden z was, uśmiech skrada się przez twarz
I am just one of the others, a smile sneaks over my face
Ja, namiętnie gram, wiesz inaczej nie mam szans
I play with passion, otherwise I don't stand a chance
Ty najlepsza jaką znam, nie trzeba wierszy nam
You're the best one I know, we don't need any poems
Nie muszę się już bać, że wszystko przeze mnie
I don't have to be afraid anymore that everything is because of me
Ty najlepsza jaką znam, twój długi czarny płaszcz
You're the best one I know, with your long black coat
I padał deszcz, padał deszcz...
And it was raining, it was raining...
Contributed by Riley R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Kamamamama
TEKST
Ja, twardy lód, zimnem głaszczę twoją dłoń
Ja, tak prosto w twarz, kłamię cię każdego dnia
Ale ty, ty mnie dobrze znasz, wszystko o mnie wiesz
Wiem, wybaczasz mi, że wszystko przeze mnie
Ja, jeden z was, uśmiech skrada się przez twarz
Ja, namiętnie gram, wiesz inaczej nie mam szans
Ty, ty mnie dobrze znasz, wszystko o mnie wiesz
Wiem, wybaczasz mi, że wszystko przeze mnie
Ty najlepsza jaką znam, nie trzeba wierszy nam
Nie muszę…
Polski Horacy
Ja, twardy lód
Zimnem głaszczę Twoją dłoń
Ja, tak prosto w twarz
Kłamię Cię każdego dnia
Ale Ty, Ty mnie dobrze znasz
Wszystko o mnie wiesz
Wiem, wybaczasz mi
Że wszystko przeze mnie
Ja, jeden z was
Uśmiech skrada się przez twarz
Ja, namiętnie gram
Wiesz inaczej nie mam szans
Ty, Ty mnie dobrze znasz
Wszystko o mnie wiesz
Wiem, wybaczasz mi
Że wszystko przeze mnie
Ty najlepsza jaką znam
Nie trzeba wierszy nam
Nie muszę się już bać
Że wszystko przeze mnie
Ty, Ty mnie dobrze znasz
Wszystko o mnie wiesz
Wiem, wybaczasz mi
Że wszystko przeze mnie
Ty najlepsza jaką znam
Twój długi czarny płaszcz
I padał deszcz, padał deszcz...
mokrzejmy
kiedy tego słucham przypominam sobie moją ucieczkę z domu... i to niedowierzanie, wrażenie, że to sen, kiedy spotkałam Artura Rojka na dworcu w Katowicach... stał sobie, po prostu, tak zwyczajnie, a ja podeszłam i ostrożnie, nieśmiało poprosiłam o autograf... niesamowity człowiek, w samym spojrzeniu ma coś takiego, co chwyta za serce. skromny, cichy, jakby zawstydzony, ale budzący głęboki szacunek. a muzyka - przepiękna. chwyta za serce jak żadna inna.
kasztan
A ja pamietam jak poszedlem z kolezanka do pana Wojtka, gitarzysty do domu, po autograf... to bylo tydzien temu!! Powiedzial nam "ale jestescie zajebiste" 😆 również super czlowiek!
Daniel Łukasik
Artur bardzo czesto jezdzil pociagiem do WWA z Sosnowca. Przenormalna osoba i skryta.
Adam VeliTheDon
A co był jak się obudziłaś?
Gregor Korus
Wiadomo Slazak
Janusz Kaczyński
A ja Go spotkałam na egzaminach z karate naszych dzieci😊 Tak po prostu patrzę- stoi obok! Poleciałam do auta po CD do podpisu ale zaaferowana zapomniałam o długopisie!😂 Więc jakby nic podszedł do portiera i pożyczył z tym,że nie dało się nim pisać😂 Mam więć autograf na okładce wręcz " wyryty" Jak Jego muzyka w moim sercu...
Ryszard Glowinski
Tego uczucia nie da się zapomnieć 😢😢😢
maggy q
Myslovitz to jedna z najwspanialszych kapel jakie się nam przydarzyły. Te piosenki się nie starzeją, a oczy mi się pocą za każdym razem tak samo. To jest boleśnie piękne.
Adam So
Boleśnie piękne!
Henryk Musial
Super klimat i głos.Te utwory się nie starzeją.