Megas

Magnús Þór Jónsson was born in Reykjavík on 7 April 1945 to the poet Þórunn Elfa Magnúsdóttir and the teacher and writer Jón Þórðarson. He was named after his maternal grandfather, Magnús Magnússon, a labourer and seaman in Reykjavík. He grew up in the Norðurmýri district, the setting of the later book Sól í Norðurmýri. He learned the piano as a child, wrote the song Gamli sorrí Gráni before his confirmation and composed minuets before turning to American and Scandinavian folk music. His early idols were Halldór Laxness and Elvis Presley, and he welcomed rock and roll when it reached Iceland around 1956.

He attended Austurbæjarskóli and Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík, graduating in 1965. At school he painted sets for a centenary staging of Matthías Jochumsson's Útilegumennirnir, illustrated the school paper and published poems and stories in it, and discovered Bob Dylan. He enrolled at the University of Iceland, worked as a cashier at Landsbanki and then studied ethnology at the University of Oslo. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, during a break from music, he graduated from the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts.

Megas published the song booklets Megas I to III between 1968 and 1970 and released his first album, Megas, in 1972, recorded in Oslo with Norwegian folk musicians. Its satire of national icons made it a scandal and kept him off state radio. Key 1970s albums followed: Millilending (1975), Fram og aftur blindgötuna (1976), Á bleikum náttkjólum (1977, with Spilverk þjóðanna) and Nú er ég klæddur og kominn á ról (1978), plus the live double album Drög að sjálfsmorði (1979). After a hiatus he returned with Í góðri trú (1986), Loftmynd (1987), Höfuðlausnir (1988) and Bláir draumar (1988, with Bubbi Morthens). Later records included Hættuleg hljómsveit og glæpakvendið Stella (1990), Þrír blóðdropar (1992), Drög að upprisu (1994, with Nýdönsk), Til hamingju með fallið (1996), Fláa veröld (1997), Hús datt (2005, as Megasukk with Súkkat), Frágangur, Hold er mold, Á morgun and (Hugboð um) Vandræði with Senuþjófarnir (2007 to 2011), Aðför að lögum (2011), Jeppi á fjalli (2013) and Ósómaljóð (2017). About 37 albums appeared under his name and with others up to 2020.

Megas had three sons, Þórður, Gísli and Viðar, and at his death was engaged to Margrét H. Blöndal. He was also survived by siblings, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Icelandic Wikipedia records that he was for a time in a short relationship with a young Thai man who visited him in Iceland and for whom he wrote the love songs Fílahirðirinn frá Súrín and Tvær stjörnur. His life, including periods of heavy drinking and drug use described in contemporary accounts, was often the subject of public talk.

Megas used classical Icelandic literature, the sagas and national history as raw material for satire, writing about Snorri Sturluson, Jón Sigurðsson, Jónas Hallgrímsson and Ingólfur Arnarson in ways that challenged national pieties. At the same time he was a devoted student of the language, set Jónas Hallgrímsson's poems and Hallgrímur Pétursson's Passion Hymns to music, and was credited with a revival of Icelandic in popular song. He was also a draughtsman and painter, illustrating his own booklets.

Megas is widely regarded as the father of Icelandic rock and one of the most influential songwriters and lyricists in modern Icelandic culture. Vísir wrote at his death that his influence on the Icelandic language was beyond doubt. He influenced the punk generation of Björk and Bubbi Morthens, and his songs were covered on tribute albums including Megasarlög (1997), Pældu í því sem pælandi er í (2006) and Magga Stína syngur Megas (2006). His legacy was complicated by the 2021 accusations against him.

Jónas Hallgrímsson Award for his contribution to the Icelandic language, presented on Icelandic Language Day, 16 November 2000. Honorary artist's salary (heiðurslaun listamanna) awarded by the Althing.

Books include Megas I to III (1968 to 1970), the comic Þríhyrningur með afar hvössu horni (1985), Sól í Norðurmýri with Þórunn Valdimarsdóttir, Textar (1991), the novel Björn og Sveinn eða makleg málagjöld (1994), Dagur kvennanna (2010, with Þórunn Valdimarsdóttir), Megas: Textar 1966 to 2011 (2012) and the poetry book Geitungabúið mitt (2017). He played the lead in the 1977 film Ballaðan um Ólaf Liljurós and had small roles in Svo á jörðu sem á himni (1992) and Villiljós (2001). He translated stage works including the lyrics of Little Shop of Horrors (1985). He was the subject of Óttar Guðmundsson's 2015 book Viðrini veit ég mig vera: Megas og dauðasyndirnar and of Spessi's documentary Afsakið meðanað ég æli (dated 2023 by Icelandic Wikipedia and 2024 by Vísir).

His first album in 1972 was considered so offensive to national heroes that state radio would not play it, and the song Litlir sætir strákar on Bláir draumar (1988) caused further outrage. In November 2021 Bergþóra Einarsdóttir told Stundin that Megas and another man had sexually abused her in 2004, when she was 20 and he was about 60, and that his song Litla ljót was about the incident. She said a 2004 police report had been lost; her later complaint was dropped as time-barred, and the state prosecutor did not pursue it further. Megas was never charged. The accusations led to debate in the Althing's committee about his honorary salary and, after his death, to discussion of whether RÚV had stopped playing his music, which RÚV staff denied.

Megas died at the Grund nursing home in Reykjavík on the evening of 6 July 2026, aged 81. The cause was not made public; at his funeral Óttar Guðmundsson said his health had failed in his last years. The funeral took place at Hallgrímskirkja on 30 July 2026, conducted by the Rev. Auður Eir Vilhjálmsdóttir. Singers included Magga Stína, Ólöf Arnalds, María Sól Ingólfsdóttir and Ragnar Kjartansson, with a band of Skúli Sverrisson, Guðmundur Pétursson, Davíð Þór Jónsson, Daníel Friðrik Böðvarsson and Magnús Trygvason Eliassen, a string quartet, a girls' choir and members of Caput.