Sven Lindström and Per Gessle are back on Nordic Rox with another trip down memory lane with the Swedish best of the ’80s list and they are going to check out positions No. 15 to 11. But before that, they have some friends back in action. The Hives just presented their first single Enough Is Enough from their upcoming album The Hives Forever Forever The Hives and Per thinks it’s a killer.

Mercy by Goldielocks from Finland (nowadays based in Berlin) comes after The Hives. Then the next song is Mon Amour by Swedish band The Plan. It’s from their debut album from 2001, only 24 years ago.

The following track is a song that Per discovered on an old LP from 1970 or so. PG had this in his record collection when he was a kid. This is a Swedish cover of an old Bobbie Gentry song called Fancy. Per doesn’t know if lots of people have heard this one, but it was quite a big country hit for Reba McEntire. This version has always been very dear to Per. He thinks it’s a fantastic vocal performance by Lotta Hedlund. Sven adds, Charlotte Butler came from the States and fell in love with the Swedish pop singer Sven Hedlund. Per says they became a duo and this is from their debut album. The album is called Compromise. Mr. G thinks there are some American session players playing on it, as well as some Swedish guys, because it doesn’t really sound Swedish. It’s a really wonderful record. Here they play Fancy by Svenne & Lotta.

Killer, the new single from Danish duo The Raveonettes comes next. Per thinks it has a great sound and they always sound really interesting. Sven thinks there are wonderful harmony vocals there as well.

Before getting down to the ’80s list, the guys play a song that made Roxette a brand new action name in Sweden. The first single was Neverending Love. It came out in 1986, almost 40 years ago. Per wrote a song in Swedish for another Swedish artist. Her record label turned it down, so someone at Per’s record label asked him why he doesn’t write an English lyric to it and make a record with Marie Fredriksson. Per had been talking about Marie for many, many years, he wanted to work with her, of course. So he did. They recorded a demo and people loved it. Then they made a proper recording of it and it became a big hit for them in the summer of ’86. It eventually became the lead single of Roxette’s debut album. It all went very fast. The first album they made consisted of tracks Per wrote in Swedish. He basically just translated them into English, because he didn’t have any time to write new songs. Those were intended for a solo album. Sven says he doesn’t think this song is played that much on American radio. Per says, no, thank God. Haha. Sven adds this is the origin of the Roxette career, the kickoff that made everything else possible.

Don’t Go Away by The Creeps is No. 15 on the ’80s list.

At No. 14 they have a Swedish band from Norrköping called Eldkvarn. They were really big in the early ’80s. They were one of those bands that tried to sound a little bit like Springsteen and Dylan, influenced by the new wave and they listened to Costello as well. It’s actually hard to find someone they didn’t listen to. The guys play one of their most famous tracks from the early years, 3:ans spårvagn genom ljuva livet. It’s a bit hard to translate. It’s like Tram No. 3 goes through la dolce vita, the good life. It’s a beautiful sound from 1981. Sven thinks it’s a great track and a great band. They ended up on EMI, later produced by producer Kjell Andersson who discovered Per’s band, Gyllene Tider. Per says it’s a small world in Sweden.

The next band discovered a bigger world than most Swedish bands. The track is called Lay All Your Love On Me, a great track from the album called Super Trooper. And it’s, of course, ABBA the guys are talking about at No. 13. There are several chapters in the ABBA history. When they started out, it was more like a europop thing and then it became Voulez-Vous, and Super Trooper became a little bit more danceable and disco. So this is like the later part. Super Trooper is a wonderful album, PG thinks and ABBA is a fantastic little group.

No. 12 is a power pop band from the city of Halmstad on the west coast in Sweden. The band was formed by a guy called Per Gessle. Per says he knows that guy. Haha. The song is from 1981. Moderna Tider (Modern Times) was a big album for them, PG adds. The song was picked by Sven. It was not a single, it’s an album track, but it’s a song that has been with the band ever since. They play it a lot when they are doing their shows, which is not that often. Haha. Sven says Gyllene Tider has announced that they are packing up and retiring a couple of times only to come back when you least expect it. Haha. Per says they are like a ghost. What Sven likes about Det hjärta som brinner (The heart that burns) is that it’s wonderfully new wave-ish, power pop-ish and it has some elements of early Tom Petty. That’s probably because he knows they listened to a lot of Tom Petty. PG thinks the early Gyllene Tider stuff is pretty nice. It’s a little soft for his taste. They didn’t really know how to make it rough enough in those days, and their producer didn’t know it either. So this song became a little bit soft, but it’s got a good heart. Sven says it’s a cute track.

At position No. 11, there is a wonderful artist called Jakob Hellman. He released his debut album in 1989 and then he won all the Grammys in Sweden. It was such a big success, a sensation. Then he took a 32-year break, and then he came back. The writer’s block lasted 32 years. That’s heavy, but he probably had his reasons. His debut album is really wonderful, and it’s really hard to pick a song from there. But the guys have chosen their favourite track called Hon har ett sätt (She’s got a way). It’s not just the melody, it’s also the way he is twisting the lyrics, which at the time felt really fresh and innovative, and it still does. It has a great sound and a great production by Dan Sundquist.

In the last section of Nordic Rox, Whistleblower by The Men and I Used To Be A Real Piece Of Shit by Sløtface are played. All Day by Noak Hellsing is wrapping up this episode.

Sven and Per thank the listeners for joining them and the show ends with Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom, as usual.

Still is from the Bag Of Trix talks recorded by Anders Roos.

Thanks for your support, Sven!