Cover Versions

A cover of Roxette’s ”Listen To Your Heart” on the US charts

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Mainstream Rock is Billboard magazine’s music chart that ranks the most played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the US. Listen To Your Heart has now entered the charts at No. 40 in the interpretation of an American hard rock band, Through Fire. The band was founded in 2015 and released their 2nd album, All Animals – on which their Listen To Your Heart cover can be found – on 19th July 2019. It’s not the first time the band appears on the charts. Their debut single Stronger reached number 29 and 3 other songs were also charting. Their highest peak position was 13 with their 2016 single, Breathe. Listen To Your Heart was released as a single and an official video to it was published on 9th December 2019, before anyone knew what happened in the Roxette World that day. The single features an acoustic version too.

Listen To Your Heart was written by Per Gessle and Mats MP Persson on 3-4 May 1988 and was released as the second single from Roxette’s second studio album, Look Sharp! in September the same year. This is what Per told about it earlier:

I co-wrote this with MP Persson in May of 1988 and it immediately felt very special. The lyrics came from an all night conversation I’d had with a friend who was going through a heartbreaking divorce. In the studio with Roxette it sounded awesome, with Marie taking the lead role and Clarence creating that beautiful piano intro.

Our ambition was to make it sound really ”American”. I guess we succeeded…

It has become our most popular song all over the world and was our second No. 1 in the US.

Roxette reached their 2nd No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the song on 4th November 1989.

A Belgian dance group, DHT did a trance cover of LTYH and it became a hit in the US and in some other countries. This way in 2005 Listen To Your Heart returned to the top 10 on the Billboard (reaching No. 8) as DHT’s remake.

American radios played Listen To Your Heart more than 5 million times. In 1998 Roxette received an award from BMI for this song being played over 2 million times on American radio. Phil Graham of BMI said it was very unusual for a song to get over the 2 million mark in such a short space of time. In October 2006, helped by DHT’s cover, Roxette were awarded again by BMI for the song’s 3 millionth broadcast on American radio. Per and MP got the Million-Air Award for 4 million plays in 2008 and for 5 million plays in 2014.

Let’s see how high the cover of Through Fire climbs. And hey, looking forward to the 6 million plays ceremony anytime!

Update
28/03/2020 – No. 39
04/04/2020 – No. 35
11/04/2020 – No. 33
18/04/2020 – No. 36
25/04/2020 – No. 33
02/05/2020 – No. 35
09/05/2020 – No. 36
16/05/2020 – No. 36
23/05/2020 – No. 35
30/05/2020 – No. 32
06/06/2020 – No. 32
13/06/2020 – No. 33
20/06/2020 – No. 33
27/06/2020 – No. 34
04/07/2020 – No. 37

Danish duo “Electric Lady Lab” samples “Listen To Your Heart” in new single “Hurts”

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The Danish electro-pop duo “Electric Lady Lab” uses the famous piano riff of Roxette’s 1989 global hit “Listen To Your Heart” while creating a new melody around it. The ballad “Hurts” was released as a digital single on March 24, 2014. The duo presented its debut album “Flash” in 2011 and works on a second album. They describe themselves as big Roxette fans and got permission to use the sample by Per Gessle (Danish article).

Roxette is the greatest band that has come out of Scandinavia ever.

You can listen to the song here or follow the duo on Facebook here.

Swedish Hitz Goes Metal – Vol. 2

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Swedish Hitz Goes Metal Vol IIYou surely remember the first Swedish Hitz Goes Metal album from 2011, as it included 4 Roxette covers, The Look, Joyride, Sleeping in My Car and Listen to Your Heart. Now it’s been announced that a second album is on its way, being released on 25th October.

 

According to the official tracklist, there is no Roxette cover on the worldwide release, BUT the Japanese edition will contain Dressed for Success. Somehow the song is already on YouTube, so you can listen to it by clicking here.

 

 

Original tracklist for the worldwide release:

01. Dancing Queen (ABBA)
02. Don´t Stop The Music (ROBYN)
03. Alive (DA BUZZ)
04. One Of Us (ABBA)
05. Tiger (ABBA)
06. Does Your Mother Know (ABBA)
07. Rock Me (ABBA)
08. Voulez-Vous (ABBA)
09. Take A Chance On Me (ABBA)
10. All About The Money (MEJA)
11. Euphoria (LOREEN)
12. My Favourite Game (THE CARDIGANS)

 

Japanese release:

01. My Favourite Game (The Cardigans) (4:00)
02. Dancing Queen (ABBA) (3:34)
03. Tiger (ABBA) (2:57)
04. Don’t Stop The Music (Robyn) (3:35)
05. One Of Us (ABBA) (3:49)
06. Rock Me (ABBA) (3:27)
07. Alive (Da Buzz) (3:19)
08. Dressed For Success (Roxette) (3:36)
09. Does Your Mother Know (ABBA) (3:23)
10. Take A Chance On Me (ABBA) (4:27)
11. Voulez-vous (ABBA) (5:08)
12. All’Bout The Money (Meja) (4:00)
13. Euphoria (Loreen) (Bonus Track For Japan) (3:34)

 

American based Candlelight Red covers “The Look”

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Hard Rock band Candlelight Red just finished up a video for their new single “She’s Got the Look,” a cover of Roxette’s “The Look”.

“She’s Got the Look” is the second single off The Wreckage, the video was shot in Stanley Kubrick’s family warehouse by indie video aficionado Alex de Campi. The video twists the song into a horror story of a lonely teen boy who dreams of finding a girl who ends up finding him, as well as featuring a performance by the band.

WATCH THE CLIP