After some awesome ’60s, ’70s and ’80s music, the 7th part of Swedish Radio’s podcast à la Per Gessle and Sven Lindström is about new wave songs. Sven starts the show with presenting Per as an old punk, but Per corrects him he has never been a punk, rather a new waver. He says in the late ’70s anyone could start a band even if they were not so talented at singing or playing the guitar and that fit him perfectly. Starting a band gave people a lot of self confidence. Per started a band with Mats MP Persson. The band’s name was Grape Rock and Gyllene Tider was born from that group. Listen to the podcast or download it from HERE!
Mr. G’s Top9 English new wave hits:
9. The Adverts – Gary Gilmore’s Eyes
8. Elvis Costello – Alison
7. The Pretenders – Stop Your Sobbing
6. The Damned – New Rose
5. The Stranglers – Peaches
4. Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The U.K.
3. Wreckless Eric – Whole Wide World
2. Nick Lowe – American Squirm
1. Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love
Before getting down to the list, Per and Sven talk about how Per and Co. went to England to buy a used Gibson Les Pauls guitar for Mr. G and a Fender bass for Gyllene Tider’s then bassist Janne Carlsson. They didn’t have money to pay the taxes, so the instruments were actually smuggled in to Sweden, but at the customs the officers seized the guitars. Per wrote a letter telling the whole story and then they got their instruments back after paying a fine. PG had to pay 2000 crowns which was an extremely lot of money back then. It was the sum he earned during whole summer for weighing mushrooms.
Per doesn’t know much about The Adverts. He had their single, Gary Gilmore’s Eyes and liked the bizarre story in the lyrics. Mr. G thinks it’s a fantastic pop song. Talking a bit about Gyllene Tider again, Per says it was quite clear from the beginning that he would sing in the band, because playing the bongo drums is not really his thing.
Elvis Costello is a lovely guy according to Per, everyone likes him. He was an intellectual new wave guy, writing fine lyrics. Per stopped listening to him after Costello’s Oliver’s Army single. Then it became too smart for Mr. G.
Per wasn’t a superfan of The Pretenders, but he thinks Stop Your Sobbing is a good song (the original was written for The Kinks). Before the song starts playing, PG makes Sven hum the tune of another The Pretenders song which Per thought he had missed completely, but then he realized he didn’t miss it, just didn’t like it.
The Damned’s New Rose is an awesome song and the band had a few other good songs. Per bought their debut LP in London. Here they talk about record labels. During the new wave in England Stiff Records guaranteed quality stuff and Parlophone or Atlantic Records were also associated with quality music.
Mr. G doesn’t know too many details about The Stranglers, but he says Peaches is a song that has the sound of those punk times. Funny how Per pronounces the band’s name and then jokes with the song title pronounciation as well.
Anarchy In The U.K. by Sex Pistols is a Top10 song in any category, Per thinks. It’s a specially written song to all 17-18-year-olds in the West. Sex Pistols played in Halmstad and Per went to their show with MP, but it was so chaotic they went home.
No. 3 on the list is Wreckless Eric who has eminent songs with great lyrics and he has a wonderful voice.
No. 2 is Nick Lowe who was a key person in England’s music business in the late ’70s. He produced Elvis Costello and he was a master mind at Stiff Records. He writes fantastic songs and he is one of the artists Per listens the most to. Nick Lowe still makes damn good records.
PG’s No. 1 English new wave song is Ever Fallen In Love by Buzzcocks. This song was No. 4 on Per’s list of Top9 ’70s hits. There he mentioned this is the best song of the British new wave era and here you go, Mr. G lists it at No. 1 on his new wave Top9. Many fast Gyllene Tider songs were inspired by the Buzzcocks.
3 more podcast episodes to go! Tune in next Thursday to hear the lads talk about the 9 best producers in rock history!