Njurmännen (”The Kidney-Men”) is a Swedish band, formed in Linköping, September 1983, although based in Gothenburg for the greater part of its existence. Throughout the years the music of Njurmännen has remained experimental, crossing styles such as electro-pop, old school industrial, techno, synth-punk and psychedelia.

Magnus ”Air” Axelsson and Anders ”Skuggan” (”The Shadow”) Göransson have been the only constant members, while several other individuals have come and left. Prior to the formation, Axelsson and Göransson had been in a group called Mer Kött, which involved various participants throughout its existence between 1981–83. Toward the end of Mer Kött, Axelsson and Göransson were approached by Johan Lindén, however, instead of continuing as Mer Kött, the trio started a new chapter as Njurmännen.

Not long after the formation in September 1983 a fellow by the name of Bosse Davidsson joined in for a couple of live-shows, but he quit prior to the recording of the debut cassette album, Vem är Pavul?, which was done around easter 1984 by the original trio, who had it released on the punk label Spunk. During the remainder of 1984 Stefan Karlsson joined the band, but by the end of this very year both Karlsson and the co-founder Johan Lindén had left the group.

Next cassette in line was Masters 1992, recorded by the duo of Axelsson and Göransson throughout January-February 1985. The second effort was initially put out on Spunk as well, however, during 1985 the group set up their own imprint, also named Njurmännen, where their first two tapes on Spunk were reissued as NJUR 001 and NJUR 002 respectively. These were followed by the retrospective release Fejmert betong aktivator — reliker (NJUR 003), the live-documents Grisfesten i Mjölby (NJUR 004) and Neurolavemanglive (NJUR 006), in addition to a reworked version of Masters 1992 under the title Masters in Space (NJUR 005).

Whilst putting out tapes on their newly established label, the group gradually extended its personell as well — during the spring of 1985 Peter ”Lina” Andersson joined forces, while sound technician Bo ”Bobo” Wieslander was recruited a few months later — initially for live mixing duties, and a little later as producer, though further down road he would be regarded as a full time member. Moreover, a bassist named Jonas Skoglund joined the band during the fall of 1985, but had left already within a year. While not a major presence, Skoglund appeared alongside Axelsson, Göransson and Andersson on Njurmännen’s debut on vinyl, the 12”-EP Cerebral Player, which was produced by none other than ”Bobo” Wieslander and released on Kunduktör Rekords in 1986.

For the remainder of the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Njurmännen would consist of Axelsson, Göransson and Andersson, with the addition of Wieslander as technician. Throughout this period the group put out several recordings in various formats, among which two stand out in particular — the cassette album End of the Millennium on the Linköping-based label Bauta Records in 1988 (Wieslander actually sat out on this one, as it was recorded and produced by Lars Jonsson solely), and the vinyl-LP Reality Adventures on Reazone To Release Records in 1990 (where Wieslander had regained his production duties). The latter has a certain geographical significance, as it was recorded in Gothenburg, where the group had relocated around this time.

While kicking off the 1990s with a 7”-EP and their first vinyl-LP, the remainder of the decade proved less productive. After Peter ”Lina” Andersson had left the band in 1993 to focus on his solo project Deutsch Nepal, Njurmännen mainly appeared as a live-band, though their shows were getting few and far between. In 1997 the band temporarily broke up, but already by the early 2000s Njurmännen had been reactivated — mainly centered around Axelsson, Göransson and a new member named Jonas Ingvarsson, they started a long and fruitful collaboration with UKON (Ulf Karl Olov Nilsson), which has materialized in several shared live-shows and even a couple of CD-releases. As of 2026 Njurmännen are still around and performing live at times.