Sweden - Stim

Photo: Jonas Linell
Jan Gradvall was born in 1963
and lives in Stockholm. He is
recognised as one of Sweden´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
Sweden´s top music journalist
in an industry poll run by the
trade journal Musikindustrin.
Gradvall currently covers media
and music for Sweden´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
Sweden, 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 Sweden 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, Sweden’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 Sweden |