Photo: Press Image “One of the 21st century’s most adventurous trading nations, with a commercial influence that reaches far beyond its population of nine million” BBC, Counter Culture Cover photos: The Hives - photo | Hit by: Facts Press <strong>Sweden</strong> Image, Robyn - photo by: Fredrik Skogkvist, Katzen Kapell - photo by: Press Image The (International) Noice Consoiracy - photo by: Glen E Friedman, Jens Lekman - photo by: Press Image, Ale Möller - photo by: Moa Karlberg
Photo: Jonas Linell Jan Gradvall was born in 1963 and lives in Stockholm. He is recognised as one of <strong>Sweden</strong>´s leading rock and pop journalists for the last 20 years. In 2001, he was named Journalist of the Year by Sveriges Tidskrifter, a trade organization for the country´s magazine press. And in 2002, he was voted <strong>Sweden</strong>´s top music journalist in an industry poll run by the trade journal Musikindustrin. Gradvall currently covers media and music for <strong>Sweden</strong>´s leading financial paper, Dagens Industri, and also writes for several style magazine such as Elle. Swedish Music 2008 In the seventies, all you needed to define international Swedish music were the first two letters of the alphabet: back then, Swedish pop was spelt ABBA. However, to encapsulate all that’s happened to Swedish popular music in today’s rich and varied musical climate you need all 26 letters – and then some. Reviewing a box from the Swedish indie-pop label Labrador on Pitchfork Media in March 2007, critic Marc Hogan wrote: “A complete history of Swedish popular music would strain even the most long-winded reviewer. The Scandinavian nation responsible for the coolly melodic pop of the Concretes, El Perro del Mar, Jens Lekman, Love Is All, and Peter Bjorn And John also brings us the unguarded cuteness of Hello Saferide and I’m From Barcelona, the danceable insecurities of Robyn and Sally Shapiro, the visceral psych-rock of Dungen, and the Knife’s 2006-defining haunted house. Blame <strong>Sweden</strong>, too, for Soundtrack of Our Lives and Yngwie fucking Malmsteen. Good thing they’re peace-loving, right?” 21st century Swedish popular music has become just as globally widespread as furniture from IKEA or clothes from H&M. The BBC series Counter Culture described <strong>Sweden</strong> as “One of the 21st century’s most adventurous trading nations, with a commercial influence that reaches far beyond its population of nine million”. And ever since MySpace resculpted the musical landscape, <strong>Sweden</strong>’s smallness and geographical position is no longer any disadvantage either. In cyberspace, everyone can hear you scream. It says something about how global Swedish music has become that the TV series The O.C. chose over a dozen Swedish songs as the soundtrack to the Californian life; or that Swedish music is used in adverts for international products such as iPod (“Jerk It Out”, The Caesars), Sony Bravia (“Heartbeats”, José González,) and Panasonic (“When The Night Turns Cold”, Tobias Fröberg). Anyone who reads the fine print on CD covers will also find that Swedish songwriters, producers and musicians are also responsible for world hits by performers as widely varied as Madonna, Kelly Clarkson, Westlife, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys and Il Divo. Pseudonyms like Max Martin and Bloodshy & Avant live and work in Stockholm. If there’s one thing that all this Swedish music has in common it’s the consistently strong and often minor-keyed tunes. Just like in ABBA, there’s a pronounced vein of melancholy that’s possibly typical for Swedish music – echoes of an idiom that can be traced back to fiddle-based folk music. It’s also remarkable how ABBA’s songs refuse to leave the world’s radio stations, a presence that’s hardly likely to wane now that the Hollywood version of the musical Mamma Mia, starring Meryl Streep, is due to open in August 2008. Jan Gradvall Hit Facts <strong>Sweden</strong> |
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