Swedish pop groups from the 80s. Swedish pop and rock music

I remember this album from my childhood - a worn sleeve with a record produced by Balkanton took pride of place in that modest part of the parental vinyl collection that passed through the department of pop music. Then, however, I did not take ABBA seriously, implying that all this was self-indulgence and frivolity. He was, of course, fundamentally wrong - when he matured, it became clear that there was no better pop group in the history of mankind. ABBA composed golden melodies in some inhuman quantities, turned disco into a universal language for talking about love and beauty, and most importantly, they knew how to create a happy and extremely rare feeling of some kind of endless harmony in the world around. There could be other albums of the group in this place - but a special self-willed absurd joy seizes me personally at the first chords of "When I Kissed the Teacher", so let it be this one. Moreover, my own vinyl collection now begins from that very disc.

2. The Knife "Silent Shout"

The duet of Olof and Karin Dreyer is one of the most important bands of the 21st century: because they managed to translate into sound a serious conversation on significant topics (feminism, economic inequality, exploitation, etc.) in a way that does not make you sleepy - And so I want to keep thinking about it. "Silent Shout" is perhaps the most balanced of all The Knife's records - there is already a significant political content, but there are no radical attempts to get away from the usual song structures that the band turned to in the future. Prickly, sharp, icy electronics, giving the effect of uncomfortable, but useful alienation; caustic, paradoxical voices; polished Nordic melodism and post-industrial digital groove: "Silent Shout" poses the most uncomfortable questions for listeners while they trample their feet on the dance floor.

3. Samla Mammas Manna “Måltid”

Prog rock is often considered to be heavy and pretentious music, and, in general, not entirely unreasonably, but these funny mustachioed people from the city of Uppsala easily refute the universality of the stereotype. One of the founders of the Rock In Opposition movement, which combined musical avant-garde with political, Fred Frith's accompanists and comedians who liked to sing more about the circus than about love, Samla Mammas Manna played complex music with a light heart - so that even ten-minute rock suites with confused melodic plots in their performance sound like a well-executed practical joke. A marvelous band whose volatile style seems to be at its best on this 1973 record; it's a pity, they are mostly known by experts in the very genre that Samla Mammas Manna so delightfully refuted.

4. Refused "The Shape of Punk to Come"

From Russia, Sweden may seem like a reserve of socialism with a human face - it is not surprising that many musicians here turn out to be witty leftists. The stern men of Refused made their best album by asking themselves the question: can punk and hardcore successfully fight the system and the establishment if they use the same conformist musical schemes? The resulting response, "The Shape of Punk to Come", sends the fierce physiological energy of hardcore on a journey through the entire spectrum of challenging sounds: here you have jazz liberties, and electronic howls, and sudden experiments with the usual song dramaturgy; all this, surrounded by justifiably furious guitar electricity and meaningful quotes from Allen Ginsberg, Henry Miller and Colonel Kurtz. A strong thing - Refused, probably, one could even blame them for being too smart, but this music answers such claims with a direct blow to the jaw.

5. Neneh Cherry "Blank Project"

Luxurious comeback of the vocalist of the wonderful post-punk band New Age Steppers and the performer of the memorable nostalgic hit "Buffalo Stance", directed by British electronic artist Kieran Hebden (aka Four Tet). An outstanding example of Scandinavian minimalism in music (about Scandinavian here, of course, for a red word - after all, both composers have long lived in London): in most songs on this album there is nothing but rhythm-setting drums, tiny synthetic details and voices, while there is enough content, drive and passion here for other careers. With the help of the Blank Project, Cherry coped with the death of her mother - and sometimes here you can almost physically feel how a person fills a void inside himself with music; and how this music heals.

6. Junip "Fields"

Curly lyricist José Gonzalez is more loved in his solo form: classical guitar, nylon strings, soulful voice and melancholic covers of The Knife and Massive Attack. It all sounds really nice, but, in my opinion, Junip, founded by Gonzalez, is even better - it does not have the snottyness that is inevitably characteristic of the “sad man with a guitar” genre, and there is a very special groove: these songs have some elasticity, they seem to move forward quickly, but without effort, as if on an air cushion. Plus, all the same conciliatory melodies, vocals, equivalent to the line “my sadness is bright”, and a general soothing feeling; "Fields" is the kind of song that turns pain into memory.

7. Stina Nordenstam "The World Is Saved"

Scandinavia in general and Sweden in particular are rich in singing voices of such quality and character that it is no longer so important what exactly they sing (although, as a rule, they sing worthy things). Here is Stina Nurdenstam, whose every song inevitably gives rise to a feeling of disturbing innocence of the world; a girl who sings with the voice of a child who has grown up too early. In her early albums there is more variety jazz and experiments with texture; «The World Is Saved» is already a later and conventional period, an independent domesticated electropop typical of the mid-2000s, which specifically sounds like it was recorded in a lonely hut. It is this sound environment that seems to help Nurdenstam's voice sound the most accurate. There is a very touching relationship with these songs; I want to hide and save them - I'm not dramatizing, I'm holding your hand, in such a repertoire.

8. Jens Lekman "I Know What Love Isn't"

“Every hair knows your name”, “Some kind of dandruff on your shoulder”, “I need a pair of cowboy boots” – the sentimental bard-mockingbird Jens Lekman even names the songs in such a way that it is impossible not to listen. Lekman's music is such a chanson for the most romantic and dreamy; openwork vignettes assembled from pianos, strings, a deliberately vulgar saxophone and other embellishments that are very appropriate for these songs precisely because they do not take themselves seriously. Lekman sings about a broken heart and other troubles, on the one hand, seriously (in any case, in terms of melodic beauty and sublimity of the voice, everything here is according to the canons); on the other hand, with a fair amount of self-irony, constantly mocking himself and the listener a little; that is why in these sugar songs a semantic gap is created, introducing a charming paradox into them. How was it about the classic - "I love you, even though I'm mad."

9. Lykke Li "Wounded Rhymes"

This recording is an example of how inscrutable the paths of success are: the composition “I Follow Rivers” in a cheerful remix was at one time the absolute champion of radio broadcasts; so the dark princess of Swedish indie pop suddenly became a star in Russia. However, the album, of course, is not valuable for this anecdote, but for its monochrome frosty sound, loud semi-mystical vocals and songs that behave as if they are hiding something secret and terrible. Lykke Lee went to Los Angeles to record the album - and the American partners added scope and depth to her distant Scandinavian beauty, but left the main thing: solemn bitterness, twilight grace, frosty echo; aristocratic pop music of the era of brilliant decline. This album, which nobly sings of lust and calls songs with names like “Silence is a blessing”, and sounds like high pop poetry, ambitiously and justifiably elevates everyday personal feelings.

10. The Field "From Here We Go Sublime"

The debut of Stockholmer Axel Willner, which immediately brought him to the elite of modern techno - and rightly so. Willner refined and brought to its logical conclusion the sound patented by the Kompakt label. This can be called luxurious minimalism: on the one hand, the steadfast observance of genre conventions with an even beat and general asceticism in the design field; on the other hand, the maximum mitigation of the generally harsh style through airy samples and fragments of other people's forgotten successes. At The Field, voices and chords of the most comforting and patterned quality grow around an unrelenting bass drum; his tracks can bewitch - and, perhaps, they work better not even in a club, but at home. Someone said that techno in its formality, in essence, reflects everyday life with its ubiquitous rituals that mark the rhythm of everyday life; Axel Willner makes this life very beautiful and comfortable.

11. Hans Appelqvist Bremort

A rare person - so rare that there is not even an article about him in the English-language Wikipedia. By the way, it's very in vain - because the music is also rare, in the best sense. As far as can be judged from the information found, Appelqvist is a kind of journalist-artist - he records real conversations of people and other sounds found and surrounds them with music: chamber, almost toy and for some reason terribly piercing folktronics, somewhat reminiscent of recordings, say, by Pierre Bastien. They speak here, of course, mainly in Swedish - which is for people not those who know the language, adds a strange charm. Sketches of arrangements, pizzicatos, miniature melodies and even occasional choruses with verses here seem to grow through the fabric of the ordinary - and in a sense once again prove that life is also a great art.

12. Goat "World Music"

A group of cheerful conspiracy theorists who called their team a good word "Goat", lives in Gothenburg, but claims to come from a village in the north-east of Sweden, where, thanks to a witch doctor, they practiced the voodoo cult for a long time - until respectable Christians burned the village to the ground. Most likely, this is a fiction, but it is not completely clear; in any case, the spirit of Goat's music is conveyed well by this story. They play constantly sparkling from tension, legitimately weighted globalist rock, in which you can hear the tribal rhythms of Africa, and oriental roulades, and witty tricks of fellow countrymen like the same Samla Mammas Manna; they sing in an exceptionally cheerful chorus – in general, “World Music” gives the impression of an incomprehensible, but extremely fascinating ritual. Which is further reinforced at concerts, where the Goat put on masks and wild costumes and arrange an exceptionally spectacular bedlam; skipping is not recommended.

13. Club 8 "The People's Record"

These people also work with African motifs - but they use them for much more peaceful purposes. A duo that has been modestly working for the good of Swedish music for twenty years now, Club 8 released "The People's Record" in 2010, having by that time visited a variety of territories, ranging from eurodance to trip-hop. Their love affair with Africa and its guitar and melodic melodism turned out best of all - the mobile ethnic groove turned out to be very appropriate for this music; the result is an extremely charming twee-pop, usefully enriched in rhythms and dances. This, of course, is not particularly obliging music - but it can pretty much decorate life in any circumstances.

14. Fire! Orchestra Exit!

The most exuberant figure in Scandinavian jazz, Mats Gustafson, is good in almost all of his appearances - but he really plays to break his heart and eardrums when his free trio Fire! turns into an orchestra of improvised music of the highest category. Feast of musical Dionysianism for 28 people, “Exit!” (as, in fairness, and other recordings of the ensemble) provides grounds for any comparisons - from the titans of the sixties free vocals to the Canadian post-string, and most importantly - it sounds like an exceptionally rich, meaningful and dashing dialogue of space and chaos, order and disorder. The case when “for our and your freedom” is not a sentence, but a toast.

15. Roxette Crash! Boom! bang!

We started with nostalgia - and we will finish with it. I won't pretend to listen to this album often; I will not even try to formulate the world-historical significance of the Roxette group. Crash! Boom! bang! in the specific embodiment of a pirated audio cassette wrapped in an awkward photocopy of the original checkered cover, it is as much a symbol of the era as The Prodigy album with a rabid crab or the Mumiy Troll video where Lagutenko portrays a hairdresser. School discos, where the white dance is the worst; tape recorders that chew music; Swedish rock-pop, in which guitar solos were combined with shameless pubertal melodicism; house parties that ended up turning off the lights and slow dancing to the Scorpions and just the title track of this record, “Crash! Boom! Bang!”, which then seemed infinitely poignant – and it still seems so.

If you're wondering why Sweden has so many talented musicians and long-running hits, let's start at the beginning and take a look at Swedish kids. A taste for music is instilled in them almost from birth.
Anders Nunstedt, music journalist and editor of the newspaper Expressen, sees the children's music schools as the main reason for the success. In the 70s, 80s and to this day, education in them was not compulsory - but extremely popular. “Over the past decades,” says Nunstedt, “the breakthrough made by artists of the ABBA level has become an example for young Swedish bands who believe in themselves and in the fact that small Sweden is able to provide a huge impact to the world show business.
Everything is fair. Free instruments and places in the classrooms for children are guaranteed by music schools. In turn, schools are guaranteed a comfortable existence by local authorities. A Swedish child can try many instruments until he hits the strings that awaken his musical talent.
Europe drummer Jan Hoogland, who spent two years at a music school as a child, recalls: “I sat down at drum set at thirteen, hearing for the first time a drum solo by Cozy Powell, who became my idol. This wild power covered me, all I could say to myself then: “Wow!” In addition to drums, I can play guitar and keyboards, but it's not as punchy."

2. And, of course, it's better to sing along

Many of those Swedes who are not deprived of musical ear and voice (and most of them) perform in amateur choirs. As calculated by the Swedish Choral Union, in a small country 600,000 choristers sing in 500 choirs. There are no more singing ensembles per capita in any country in the world! The choral tradition of Sweden goes back to its song folklore. It can be heard everywhere today - for example, on Midsommar, the holiday of the summer solstice, or on the eve of Christmas.

3. Rock fans in power

In 1997, the Swedish government established its own Music Export Prize, which is awarded to those citizens of the Kingdom who have achieved particular success in the global music market. The winners of previous years were Swedish House Mafia, singer Robin, music producer Max Martin, members of ABBA, The Hives, The Cardigans and Roxette.
Daniel Johansson, researcher music industry at Linnaeus University and founder of TrendMaze, explains: “Sweden's well-functioning social system allows anyone in the country to play music regardless of their income. Behind the Swedish musical marvel lies nothing less than the country's public welfare. Hence the support of artists by the Swedish government, for example, through National Council on cultural matters".
Each year, the Council awards one billion SEK (116 million euros) in grants to the best young artists. “Most of the established songwriters and producers have been given the opportunity to master this activity thanks to the support of society,” says Daniel Johansson. - If they had to combine music lessons with a five-day working week they wouldn't have been as successful."
Another interesting initiative is the Nordic Playlist project, an online platform created by the Nordic states to distribute the latest Scandinavian music around the world.

4. Swedes behind the scenes

You might be surprised to learn how many tunes that made their way to the top of the pop charts hide the work of Swedish composers. For example, musician Max Martin, who wrote hits for Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Pink and Usher, as well as for the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync. Or - songwriter Johan "Shellback" Schuster. His track record includes collaboration with Maroon 5, as well as first place on the Billboard chart, in the nomination " best producer". Finally, the third (but by no means the last) example is the Swedish producer RedOne, aka Nadir Hayat, who wrote for Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, rapper Pitbull and boy band One Direction.
“Many of the songs that rocked all over the planet in the 90s and 2000s were born through the efforts of world pop stars and Swedish producers within the walls of the famous Cheiron Studios in Stockholm,” says Anders Nunstedt, “Artists such as the Backstreet Boys or Britney Spears came to Cheiron Studios light and left with hits guaranteed to top the Billboard charts.”
The legendary studio was originally called SweMix. In 1986, it was founded by producer Denniz Pop - it was he who wrote the hit "Everybody", the main one in the discography of the Backstreet Boys. Already in the 90s, when the international record label BMG bought the studio, leading Swedish producers and DJs were called to work at Cheiron Studios, polishing arrangements for the main songs of the era in it. Denniz Pop passed away suddenly in 1998 and the studio had to close its doors. However, natives of Cherion Studios - Max Martin and other producers - these days are only expanding the production of hits for export.
The Swedish show industry also boasts some of the best clip makers. Johan Renk came up with the video sequence for the songs of Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams and Madonna. Director Jonas Åkerlund has revolutionized music videos by creating video masterpieces for Lady Gaga, Moby, Christina Aguilera, Pink and U2.

Swedish groups:

Top five sales records (including both albums and singles):

1. ABBA - over 300 million
2. Roxette - over 70 million
3. Ace of Base - 50 million
4. Europe - more than 20 million
5. The Cardigans - over 15 million

... and a fly in the ointment
Written by Europe hit "The Final Countdown" recently ranked number two on Rolling Stone readers' list of the worst songs of the 80s. The Swedes, however, are not offended: any mention leads to a reprint.

5. Independence in fashion

In Sweden, many artists want to be their own boss, from songwriting to launching record labels and promotional campaigns. Singer Robin, this approach, of course, helped break out into pop stars. Among Swedish artists, she is far from the only one who proves by her example that one on the musical field is also a warrior. Konichiwa Records, founded by her in 2005, provides the rear for the singer in everything: in studio work, PR and, of course, in the creative process. Robin recalls her previous collaborations with major record labels without nostalgia: “At some point, I realized that enough was enough for me - I have to build my own musical career, make decisions and perform those songs that I like.” As a result, she is not dominated by producer dictates, and Robin's style and sound cannot be confused with anything.
The number of such indie labels in Sweden is constantly growing. Rapper Rebstar owns Today is Vintage Records. Electronic duo The Knife formed Rabid Records. And thirteen independent Swedish artists and musicians, including Lykke Lee and the band Peter Bjorn & John, have come together to form the INGRID community.

"Icona pop" is another Swedish pop group that climbed into the top ten of the American Billboard chart. Their single "I love it" captured young minds and - the seventh line in the "Hot 100" hit parade. The peppy song was also loved in the USA, where it was performed in one of the episodes of the popular TV series Girls.

6. Internet pioneers

Many Swedish artists personally track their music sales online. The online music platform SoundCloud allows the artists themselves to record and distribute new tracks online. Among the active users of the site, along with twenty million music lovers and professional musicians, – Swedish singer Lyukke Li, whose songs can be heard there.
DJ Tim Bergling (1989-2018), who became known worldwide as Avicii, launched his Internet venture X You, which claims to be the largest online studio on the planet. Thanks to X You, 4199 musicians from 140 countries of the world have already released 12,951 ready-made melodies, samples, sound effects, drum and bass parts.
Finally, it was in Sweden that they came up with the Spotify music service platform. Created in 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorenzon, the idea of ​​this startup was to enable Internet users to listen and distribute millions of songs by networking their computers and smartphones. Many Swedish artists also have accounts on Spotify. In 2016, it integrated with the popular music service and social network Facebook. From now on, you can get acquainted with new songs through the friend tape.

Swedish DJs

In 2011 Swedish House Mafia was the first Swedish band to play at New York's legendary Madison Square Garden. All tickets were sold out in nine minutes!

In 2012, Swede Avicii became the first electronic musician to perform at Radio City Music Hall, one of the most prestigious concert halls New York.

In DJ Magazine's Top-100 DJ Poll chart, three Swedish projects made it to the top twenty at once: Avici (3rd place), Swedish House Mafia (12th place) and DJ Alesso.

7. Heroes of Eurovision

Annual musical competition Melodifestivalen has been Sweden's most watched TV show for decades. For a couple of cherished hours, postponing any business, four out of ten million Swedes gather at the screens. Any of them: from schoolchildren to pensioners - this evening discovers the music critic in themselves, personally choosing the best contestants. The Melodifestivalen winner represents the country already at Eurovision, the highest rated TV show in the world.
Sweden has won the Eurovision Song Contest six times. The last of the triumphs in 2015 at the competition in Vienna was won by Mons Selmerlev. In the unspoken list of musical powers of the Old World, Sweden confidently ranks second after Ireland, which has seven victories in Eurovision.
The song contest finally turned into a national sport for the whole country in 1974, when the Swedes ABBA won the Eurovision for the first time with their, perhaps, the main hit “Waterloo”. In 2013, the circle closed: ABBA members Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and the Swedish musical prodigy Avici composed the official anthem "We Write History" for Eurovision. This story, apparently, will not be completed for a long time to the end.

Swedish Eurovision winners
2015, Vienna - Mons Selmerlöw "Heroes"
2012, Baku - Loreen "Euphoria"
1999, Jerusalem - Charlotte Perelli "Take Me to Your Heaven"
1991, Rome - Carola "Fångad av en stormvind"
1984, Luxembourg - Herrey's "Diggi-loo Diggy-ley"
1974, Brighton - ABBA "Waterloo"

8. ABBA effect

The legacy and importance of ABBA for today's Sweden cannot be overestimated. Their sound, achievements and discoveries have become a kind of relay baton for generations of Swedish musicians. Or a magic wand - to create more and more hits. “Sweden has a rich tradition of folk music,” says Jan Hoogland, “but many artists are increasingly drawing inspiration from previous generations. Just as the rock band Spotnicks, popular in the 60s, already influenced the work of ABBA in the 70s, ABBA also influenced Roxette and many, many others in the 80s.
And in the same way, following ABBA - at one time the main group of the planet after The Beatles- Roxette, Europe and Nene Cherry achieved their fame in the 80s and 90s. Their initiative was already picked up in the 90s by Eagle-Eye Cherry, Ace of Base and The Cardigans. And the latter, with dashing songs, threw a bridge already in the 2000s - to the constellations of new wave rock musicians like The Hives, Peter Bjorn & John and Jens Lekman. Today, whatever genre you take, the Swedes will also dominate the charts - for example, the performers Lykke Li, Avici or Robin.
Today, everyone can try to unravel the secret of ABBA's success - in the museum of the legendary band, located on the Stockholm island of Djurgården. The famous four refused to open the pantheon exclusively in their honor. For greater modesty, the Swedish Music Hall of Fame was created within the same walls.

* According to research by Joel Waldfogel and Fernando Ferreira of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Sweden is the number one exporter of pop music in the world in terms of GDP. It is followed by Canada, Finland, Great Britain, New Zealand and the USA (according to data for 1960-2007).

Sasha Romanova, editor-in-chief of kyky, promised not to write about Eurovision at an open meeting. we keep our word, especially since the final of the competition was not particularly interesting, and the victory of the Swede Mons Selmerlöv was long ago predicted by bookmakers. Swedish music is beautiful even without any Eurovision, which we invite you to see immediately.

Ace of Base

On this topic: Five summer venues with live music

These simple guys and girls from Gothenburg have sold 30 million copies of their albums worldwide. How many pirated records in the 1990s were distributed throughout the expanses of the former USSR - no one will ever count, but at least - the same number. Under "All What She Wants" with a pensive look, they moved the body in discos, under "Happy Nation" they shed a lone tear. And these, by the way, are songs from the debut album of the Swedes! Ace of Base is practically a family business: the band was created by Ulf Ekberg and Jonas Berggren, who invited his sisters Lynn and Jenny to join the band. It was the girls who became the weak links: first one left, then the second. But "Buddha" and "Joker" do not lose heart: they took two new vocalists to help themselves and are still performing.

Opeth

Since 1995, when Opeth released their debut album, they remain one of the most inventive bands in metal music. The Swedes took everything that was best invented in death, black and doom metal, mixed it in precise proportions, embellished it with complex structures, beautiful melodies and strong lyrics. In the last decade, Opeth's music has become softer (it seems that sooner or later this happens to all metalheads), but has not become either simpler or more boring. And most importantly, it has not lost its atmosphere: the current Dream Theater, in comparison with Opeth, seems like soulless techies.

Army of Lovers

On this topic: Alexander Bard: "All nationalists are the losers of the digital world, the underclass of society"

Clowning and shocking, conflicts with the authorities and clips banned on MTV. Musical God measured Army of Lovers only eight years, during which they managed to thunder all over the world. And all because they were serious people, although they made dance music. Songs in English, French and Hebrew, biblical motifs, mixed with erotica - it was not so easy to come up with all this. But Alexander Bard succeeded. After the dissolution of the group, the brain of Army of Lovers wrote books, spent sociological research, and studied the Barodovskaya song in the Vacuum group. AoL's calling card was "Sexual Revolution", but other hits are not forgotten. For example, "Crucified" and "Israelism" sound in the program "What? Where? When?". Here it is, the recognition of brain merit!

The Hives

On this topic: Alexander Kulinkovich: “Many rock musicians imitate orgasm: on stage they try to deceive that they like their music”

The Swedish quintet has existed since 1989, but only became popular in the 2000s, in the wake of the garage rock and roll craze. The Hives play real rock and roll - crazy, stylish and arrogant. Their first international compilation was called "Your New Favorite Band" and damn it! - the name justified itself. Among other things, The Hives is one of the best concert bands on the planet: each of their concerts is like a theatrical performance, during which the band plays with the audience, disturbs them and even puts them in awkward situations. An invariable concert trick of the Swedes is to instantly stop in the middle of a song and freeze in complete silence in ridiculous poses for a few minutes.

Esbjorn Svensson Trio

Piano jazz trio equally inspired by classical Hungarian composer Béla Bartók and Radiohead. EST's music is modern, but not abstruse or complex (unlike the vast majority contemporary jazz), so the trio's work is quite suitable for beginners who want to start their own journey through the endless world of jazz. Esbjörn Svensson Trio were welcome guests at the largest jazz festivals, because they always played with a return, with a pull, were live, real; they received awards in packs, their music over the years became more and more mature and more beautiful, and sales - more and more voluminous. Alas, in 2008 this beautiful story was cut short: pianist Esbjørn Svensson died while deep-sea diving.

Cardigans

In terms of difficulty in pronunciation, the name of the city of Jönköping can compete with Icelandic volcanoes. Honestly, we don’t know anything about this city, except that in 1992 people with similar typically Swedish surnames - Peter Svensson and Magnus Sveningsson - created Cardigans there. Two years later, the group is already on tour in Europe, after four they record a platinum album, and after six they present their main hits - “Erase And Rewind” and “My Favorite Game”. By the way, the Cardigans are the only ones from our list who reached Belarus with the same squad that achieved fame - back in the summer of 2006, at the Estrella Star Show at the Minsk-1 airport.

Roxette

Friends advised Marie Fredriksson not to sing with Per Gessle - this, they say, would harm her solo career. Good thing she didn't listen to them! The duo quickly became popular in Sweden, but from the very beginning they wanted to conquer the world. An accident helped: an American student who had been in Sweden on an exchange brought a Roxette disc to the radio in his native Minneapolis. Listeners all the time asked to repeat the song "The Look", it soon spread throughout the country, and then - lo and behold! Became #1 in the US. Now the Swedish newspapers call Per the King of Pop, and the Roxette members are still in shape: they release solo albums and, no, no, and they will gather a full house at Wembley Stadium.

Katatonia

At the dawn of the 90s, the Swedes, along with three bands from England (Anathema, Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride), stood at the origins of death / doom-metal - a style of slow and terribly depressing heavy music, from which gothic-metal later "hatched". Katatonia broke up three years after its creation, but in 1996 returned with the most powerful disc "Brave Murder Day" - and no longer disappeared from the radar. Over time, growling vocals were replaced by melodic ones, the music became lighter and softer, but the depressive mood was preserved in full: even emo crybabies in the second half of the 2000s looked quite cheerful compared to Katatonia.

The Knife

On this topic: The music is dead. Six closed clubs in Minsk

Subtle pop music with synths from the 80s and the sexy vocals of the Swedish diva Karin Dreyer Andersson. Over the 15 years of its existence, The Knife duet has collected almost all the Swedish music awards - but the band members themselves did not care about this, and they did not appear at the award ceremony. The music of The Knife is Scandinavian frostbitten, and this is its special beauty. Last year, the duo announced the breakup, but Karin will certainly continue her solo career: her debut album under the pseudonym Fever Ray became no less successful than The Knife's records.

ABBA

Where would it be without them. ABBA is the main Swedish band of all time, and the song Waterloo - what can you do - the winner of Eurovision back in 1974. Forty years have passed, the world has changed beyond recognition, but people need the joy, lightness, naivety and carelessness of ABBA just as they did then. As always. And even sadness in the songs of the Swedish quartet is light, like nowhere else. In a word, an endless holiday, supported by an impressive figure of 350 million albums sold. By the mid-1980s, the members of ABBA were falling out. And they appeared together only at the premiere of the film dedicated to them "Mamma Mia" in 2008. When you are in Stockholm, be sure to visit the ABBA Museum. Just do not forget to sign up on the site beforehand, otherwise they will not be allowed inside.

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Any authoritative guidebook should be built on the principle "from A to Z" and strive for global coverage - all the most interesting, curious, important and mandatory for educating completely different audiences. In the context of such a super-task, the only feature that makes it possible to somehow distinguish countless directories from each other is individually, or rather, uniquely compiled routes that form the basis of each of them. Everything else, in fact, will be a collection of homogeneous factual material of an almost encyclopedic nature.

This guide does not purport to be a reference book, encyclopedia or multimedia catalogue. This is a guide in the truest sense.

Released in early April, the Swedish band's album - one of the most anticipated releases of the year - quite predictably gave rise to a wave of enthusiastic reviews and thoughtfully subjective analytical articles, the authors of which try to interpret the phenomenon of the creativity of the Dreyer brother and sister from a wide variety of points of view, creating this phenomenon themselves along the way. "Kid A" tenth, the African anthem or the final moratorium on genre, stylistic and national stereotypes in music - an attempt to figure out what "Shaking the Habitual" became both an incentive for the creation of this guide (that is, the beginning) and its ultimate goal. It is a generally accepted fact that the UK is a world center, conceptual and commercial, in terms of creating and promoting musical tastes, trends and brands. In the Scandinavian space, such a center is, of course, Sweden - and the rest of the countries of the region, remaining independent and self-sufficient in terms of cultural life, adjoin it, recreating the global paradigm - the very one that gave rise to "Kid A" in 2000 and the next decade one way or another adapted to their creation. It is much easier to understand “Shaking the Habitual” and the modern musical paradigm separately, as well as how dependent and dependent on each other, and it is much easier to do this by taking Scandinavia as a model as a full-fledged cut from that very global paradigm.

The cut, it must be said, is also far from small, and at first the most convenient and simple principle of organizing the material really seems to be “from A to Z” - except that you would have to puzzle over how to divide the letter A into a dozen performers, and agree that Yaki -Da is perfect option for the letter "I". But this kind of “bumping up” is just right for the traditional guidebooks discussed at the beginning, and does not contribute in any way to plotting a course in the vast ocean of everything. musical creativity, which was born in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland in half a century so that the lens has music that is of interest in every sense - from technical to aesthetic, that is, music for the heart, mind and soul - together and separately , if you like, and certainly does not answer the question - what is "Shaking the Habitual" for the current music industry - an epitaph, an epigram or an epigraph?

Thus, there will be only one route in this guide, and the course we should follow does not pretend to embrace the immensity. That's why this is a guidebook in the "literal sense". This, however, does not mean that there will be no branches and turns with signs on the way, for those curious who prefer to choose their own way.

From a symbolic fork, our journey will begin.

90% of the pop stars you would see on an A to Z list would be Swedish by nationality. What is not a reason for national pride? However, pop music, no matter how high-quality it may be, has a much greater relation to GDP (Sweden is the third country in the world in terms of exports music hits) rather than progress in art and food for thought.

Therefore, the best way out in this situation would be to compile a separate list - just the same "from A to Z" - where lengthy comments and idle reasoning will not be needed, despite the variety of styles, directions and times. The beauty of pop music lies in its simplicity, the ability to speak for itself on those rare occasions when you need to speak at all, and not just listen.

Ultimately, the format of all the music presented in this list can be defined by the word "Eurovision" (this does not mean that all of its participants were participants in the competition, but the audiences for all these musicians are approximately identical). Once upon a time, by the way, Eurovision was quite positive evaluative word. As a matter of fact, with the victory in it in 1974, the worldwide fame and popularity of the ABBA group began, and almost all Scandinavian countries became the winners of this competition. Latest on this moment again, Sweden was noted for victory, whose representative is the singer Loreen played in 2012 with the most votes with the song Euphoria. The only exception was Iceland - and it is rather difficult to say whether this is now a reason for joy or for sadness.

“The Eurovision list will be the first kind of indicator for those who are no less (or even more) interested in this direction than the one we have yet to follow.

"Eurovision List"

A		ABBA Sweden, 1972-1982
		Ace of Base Sweden, 1990-…
		Alcazar Sweden, 1998-2011 One sentence: This Is The World We Live In
		Alphabeat Denmark, 2004-…
		Andreas Johnson Sweden, 1997-…
		Aqua Denmark, 1989-…
		Arash Sweden, 2003-…
		Army of Lovers Sweden, 1987-…
B		Bosson Sweden, from the cradle (1976) to the present day One Chorus: One in a Million
D		Danny Saucedo Sweden, 2002-…
		Dr. Alban Sweden, 1990-…
E		Eagle Eye Cherry Sweden, 1997-…
		Emilia Sweden, 1998-…
		E type Sweden, 1991-… In five words: Set the World On Fire
		Europe Sweden, 1979-…
L		Loreen Sweden, 2004-…
M		Medina Denmark, 2006-… In two or three words: You and I
R		rednex Sweden, 1994-… In two hyphenated words: Cotton-Eye Joe
S		Secret service Sweden, 1979-… In four words: Flash in the Night
		September Sweden, 2003-…
		Sunrise Avenue Finland, 2002-… Single single: Fairytale Gone Bad
V		Vacuum Sweden, 1996-…
		Velvet Sweden, 2005-…
W		Wannadies (The) Sweden, 1988-2009 In two chords: You and Me Song
Y		Yaki Da Sweden, 1994-2000

The picture, as you can see, is quite variegated - half of the performers are known as the authors of one song, and we encounter their work almost daily thanks to nasty ringtones, often not suspecting ourselves to whom we owe happiness to hear these squeaky sounds; the other half raises the predictable question: “Are they still alive?”. We can safely recommend listening to collections such as "Disco 70-80" or "Romantic Collection", which are musical anthologies for this section, to all those interested.

However, one important conclusion can also be drawn from the first acquaintance: all the pop musicians of the Scandinavian countries who have achieved popularity have done this not least by appealing to an English-speaking audience. Simply put, they write songs and sing in English. Today, this is, in general, a prerequisite for gaining world fame, and in addition to pop artists, musicians also resort to the universal international language, which will be discussed later. Language thus weaves creativity into a universal supranational context that does not appeal to and does not depend on the political and geographical coordinates to which it is assigned (ie England, USA, Australia, etc.). It is in this supra- and extra-national space that the agents of the world's mass media of a musical profile and record labels ply, trying to notice everything interesting, important and promising (including in commercial terms) before others, and it does not matter what country the next ones come from. finds" and "favorites". Perhaps, as one of the criteria by which the experts of these resources select this or that song, single, record for review (and promotion), is the ability of the authors to affect the thoughts and feelings of the audience in general, bypassing words, and even the fact that words are still there are, and they are understandable to almost everyone the globe, greatly simplifies the matter. That is, it’s not enough to sing in English to get into the “NME recommends” section, you either need to feel the quality standards set by the time and meet them, or set your own, and in such a way that other musicians and critics are equal to them. The only criterion applicable to pop music is its accessibility and ease. The high standards set by the "censors" are rarely of interest to popular idols and idols, and therefore often their albums can get into the TOP-5 Billboard, but not in the reviews section of an influential music magazine. What is there to parse? But to completely turn away or ignore the most massive segment of the music industry just because you can cook or sing in the shower to such music is not entirely reasonable.

Firstly, it is pop music that most accurately reflects tastes, and what was popular even half a century ago still remains an instrument of influence, tested and preserved by history. In addition, today any musician who is well acquainted with the virtual studio can, without hiding, turn to the experience of his predecessors and reproduce their achievements, in the form of quotes from samples, for example. In most cases, critics will count this as a plus for him, and the “vintage sound” will even distinguish him from the pop environment to which the creators of the original sound so clearly belonged. This aesthetic characterizes the work of the "mysterious" Swedish duo Sally Shapiro, consisting of a producer and an ephemeral vocalist, who miraculously remained anonymous for several years. Taking the classic disco as a basis, this couple, in fact, personified it, endowing it with a character - a fragile, tender and sensitive girl Sally, the "disco princess". Another Swedish duo with a telling name - Icon Pop- rethought the trends of eurodance and electro-pop music of the nineties. Finding out the identity of both members of the group in this case, if desired, will not be difficult - as well as their sources of inspiration already at the first listening. And “lightweight” in the zero soul and r'n'b motives are summed up today by everyone who is too lazy, and one of the most notable newcomers, who, quite possibly, will have to enter the first echelon of world-famous pop stars in the near future, can be called a young Danish singer with a pseudonym cursed by all search engines - MO.

Second, Wednesday popular music is heterogeneous, and the styles and trends existing in it do not exist in isolation. In cross spaces, where they mix with each other, intentionally or accidentally, the most curious experiments take place and works that are sometimes not qualified only by the term “pop” are born. For such cases, a universal term was invented "indie", emphasizing not independence from labels, producers and the commercial component, but the freedom to handle classic labels and tags that previously could easily and easily define styles and trends. That is, it is independence from any framework - imagine, even in pop music this is possible. indie-pop sounds proud! The best of that proof - , a 27-year-old singer, of course, of Swedish origin (starting from here, nationality will be indicated only in cases where she is, of course, not Swedish). Miss Lee's success is largely due to her talent as a songwriter, and not just as a producer who found the most suitable for wonderful songs sung by a wonderful voice. That is, the formula that allows an artist to classify himself and his work with the term "indie" provides for a somewhat different symbiosis of the artist's pronounced individuality and the loyalty of those persons whose names are usually written on the back of the cover in letters so small that their size becomes directly proportional to the degree of their participation in shaping the final sound of the record and the stage image of its direct performer. In the case of Lykke Lee, her stage persona is her own merit, and the merit of the producers is that they allowed him to come to the fore, keeping him the way he is - unlike anyone else.

There is another term used in relation to popular artists in Sweden, which has acquired a universal character - swedish pop. This, of course, is the designation of the entire unimaginably wide stratum of musicians, so to speak, “in fact”, without unnecessary conclusions about them. But behind the same concept, besides the literal, the “archetypal” content was also fixed: this is a look at the mainstream through a prism shimmering with all colors and tones, the focus of which is mainly on a slender vocalist of the Nordic type with a voice that is not unreasonably customary to describe with the help of abstract, abstract and especially lofty epithets. So, besides Lykke Lee, we can name a lot of indie-swedish-pop projects with a girl in focus, whose stage image will differ from pop clones with a subtle, but very valuable and pleasant feature. it — Maria Apetri is a 28-year-old Danish woman with an undisguised love for Eastern European folk, which, being the rhythmic basis of almost all songs, sounds so that it is impossible not to fall in love with Eastern European folk (in her interpretation). it Annie- Annie Bergestrand is a Norwegian singer and DJ songwriter (yes, it happens) with a "unique take on electro-pop", which may sound skeptical until her album Annimal does not get into the player's playlist, and the whole surrounding space does not become an endless dance floor. it oh land— Nanna Fabritius is another, hmm, 28-year-old Danish person, with a seemingly endless range of musical tastes and interests, because starting with a little more intricate experimentation with electronics than is usually allowed for pop musicians (something close, for example, to the Lamb group), later she "settled down" and recorded a more "live" and more soulful (and indeed in every sense more) record, where Nanna did some simple-sounding, but complexly composed manipulations with soul, due to which made the articles devoted to this style somehow meaningless at once. And whatever style is in favor of Oh Land during the next burst of inspiration, her next album will make you add a few more paragraphs to the article about it - that's a fact. Followed by Elliphant— Ellinor Olofsdotter, and Amanda May, representing a very young generation, and personifying new trends in hip-hop and pop-rock, respectively. I must say, these faces are very memorable, and comparing them with M.I.A. and Kate Nash (respectively) do not always sound complimentary only towards debutantes.

Thirdly, no one denies the fact that a pop artist can be a unique musician and within the once and for all chosen direction, expanding its boundaries only with his own charm, charisma, talent, and in the end still stand apart. You cannot put such a figure in the general list - on the contrary, you can often even see similar lists dedicated to each star individually, for example, Roxette“from young to old” (it is absolutely impossible to imagine an age category that is not familiar with the songs of the duet Marie Fredriksson - Per Gessle - this applies even to infants) or A-Ha“from beginning to end” (and, alas, it came - the Norwegian group with almost twenty years of history officially broke up in 2010).

On the main trends of pop music, mindful of the purpose of the journey, one could finish - if you extract all the drone sketches of various lengths from Shaking the Habitual, they would be enough for a full-fledged EP, and the remaining songs, trimmed according to the radio edit model, together they would have produced a high-quality, but quite ordinary pop album, with a slightly more gloomy sound than “what the doctor ordered”. Yes, that's the whole charm of this record in its integrity, indivisibility and polyphonic harmony - you don't want to throw it away, cut it, or perform other manipulations on it at all. Maybe that's why she she became a phenomenon. To agree with this statement, however, does not mean to understand the nature of the phenomenon itself. But in order to understand why it “shakes the familiar”, you have to go all the way to the end.

And he has just begun. All the most interesting is yet to come.

Surprisingly, it is this Scandinavian country that is at least some kind of intelligible competition to English and American performers in the field of popular music. Started the Swedish pop phenomenon legendary band ABBA back in the 70s. And since then, musicians of subsequent generations have tried not to lower the high bar set by this wonderful team.

What Swedish bands existed in the 90s?

In the 80s, Sweden presented music lovers with a team called Secret Service, which became especially beloved in the Old World, as well as Roxette and Europe ensembles that thundered all over the world and blew up charts on both sides of the ocean. Well, the 90s is impossible to imagine without fervent and beautiful songs from Ace of Base, Army Of Lovers, Vacuum, The Cardigans, Yaki-Da. Swedish bands 90s brought their own unique touch to the general background of pop sound at the end of the 20th century, became world stars.

In Russia, the "pop-musical" Swedes of the 90s enjoy special attention, they are spoken of with warmth and genuine admiration. It is enough to watch the concerts under the label "Legends of Retro FM" to be convinced of the truth of these words. And although many of the above-mentioned bands have already broken up or practically do not function by now, for individual performances they are happy to gather and give heat. And I would like to hope that this is done not only in order to “cut down money in an easy way”, but also to once again please the fans and plunge into the atmosphere of those performances that they managed to arrange 15-20 years ago.

Most of the Swedish pop stars who appeared in the 90s, one way or another, determine the vector of development of the Scandinavian and pan-European stage to this day. For example, Alexander Bard, the founder of Army Of Lovers and Vacuum, is still playing music and producing young performers much more successfully than his current creative endeavors. I would like to believe that thanks to his efforts and the efforts of others musical heroes past, Sweden will become generous with talented performers in the first part of the new era.

We have collected the most famous and popular Swedish artists and bands of the 90s in one list and this is what came of it ( Group - Best Album - Best Song):

1. ABBA-Super Trooper- Lay all your love on me
2. The Knife- Silent Shout - Heartbeats
3. Robyn- Body Talk Pt. one - Dancing on my own
4. Ace of Base-The sign- The sign
5. The Radio Dept.- Clinging to a Scheme - Keen on Boys
6. Fever Ray-FeverRay- Now's the Only Time I Know
7. Peter Bjorn & John- Writer's Block - Amsterdam
8. The Sounds-Crossing the Rubicon- No One Sleeps when I'm Awake
9. The Cardigans- Dying to Say this to you - lovefool
10. Roxette- Look Sharp! - must have been love