[2] The band's name refers to the 1974 German film Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (German: Angst essen Seele auf) by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, where a female character is cooking couscous for her lover, pronouncing it Gusgus.

[2] They have remixed songs of popular artists such as Björk, Depeche Mode, Moloko, and Sigur Rós.

After the group's third album, This Is Normal (1999), the filmmaking arm of GusGus (Kjartansson and Árni Þorgeirsson) split off to form the production company Celebrator, now known as Arni & Kinski,[5] which has produced advertisements and videos.

[6] Its 2015 incarnation consists of four members (President Bongo, Biggi Veira, Urður Hákonardóttir and Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson).

A few former members such as Hafdís Huld, Blake, and Daníel Ágúst have gone solo; Emilíana Torrini provided a song for the soundtrack of Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.