Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – February 2021

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The February show of Nordic Rox on Sirius XM is No. 494 in the program’s history. Wow!

Per tells there are songs in Swedish and in English on the list for this show, but he couldn’t find any Danish songs. He tells American people think if you are Swedish or Danish, you can understand each other’s language, but Mr. G has a problem understanding Danish, even if he is from the South of Sweden. He tells these are very different languages and understanding Danish is like trying to understand French. The guys laugh.

The first song, Blow My Cool is from one of Per’s favourite Swedish bands ever, The Soundtrack of Our Lives. He thinks they are amazing.

The guys also played Black Car by Miriam Bryant, Yours To Keep from Teddybears and Miss Mac Baren by Tages. Per tells he still has this Tages single and he got it as a Christmas present when he was maybe 7 or 8 years old. Sven adds some say Tages were the best dressed and most talented Swedish band in the ’60s. Per tells they were actually called the Swedish Beatles and they were produced by Anders Henriksson. All their singles sound amazing still.

The next song is Intermezzo No. 1 from ABBA. It’s an early instrumental track and it’s very special according to Sven. Per says Benny had a lot of strange spices in his lunch when he wrote this one. The guys are laughing. It’s on the ABBA album (1975) which was a lightweight record according to Per and he adds that Christoffer Lundquist loves this track and plays it regularly, which is sort of weird. Sven pictures Benny dressed up as a young Mozart when they recorded this one.

Young Folks by Peter Bjorn and John is also played from 2006. When it was released it didn’t make the charts in Sweden. It charted in England first and then it became a big song and spreaded like wildfire. Per thinks it still sounds great.

Sucker Punch from Sigrid (Norway) is played too. Per thinks this is her best song. I’m in the Band from The Hellacopters was on the show as well.

Then comes a song in Swedish from the band November. They were a Swedish equivalent to Cream, a British rock band formed by Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker. The guys play the first track from the first album of November, Mount Everest from En ny tid är här… (1970). Per’s brother had this album and Mr. G always loved it. It’s very bluesy and it sounds great. Sven adds guitarist Richard Rolf was very much inspired by Eric Clapton and the singer and bassist Christer Stålbrandt was also the songwriter in the band, Per tells. Even if you don’t understand the lyrics of Mount Everest, it sort of translates, Per thinks.

Edith Backlund’s Black Hole was played. Mr. G thinks it’s a lovely song. Sven adds it’s a great pop track and it has a beautiful melody.

Christof Jeppsson’s cover of Roxette’s I Call Your Name was played on the show as well. Per tells he is a guy from his hometown, Halmstad. He plays a lot of acoustic stuff and he is very talented, he’s got a great voice and is very focused. Mr. G thinks Christof did a great job on this song and Per is very pleased about that.

Milk and Toast and Honey by Roxette was played. Per says it’s a beautiful track, Marie is singing it so well. [The program was recorded probably i November last year. /PP] Sven says it’s almost a year since Marie passed away. He asks Per if he still thinks about Marie. Mr. G says of course he does. You do when you lose someone so close to you. So he thinks about Marie a lot. They had this wonderful relationship. And even if he doesn’t think about her, she pops up when he hears a Roxette song. Per tells he loves MATAH, for him it’s his favourite track off the album. Sven says it’s a nice sounding album, it has a warm sound.

Ride or Die by Sindy, Not Forever by Popsicle, a Swedish band from Piteå and Say Lou Lou’s Julian were played too. The mother of the sisters in Say Lou Lou played in a Swedish punk band, Pink Champagne and their father is from an Australian band, The Church.

My Favourite Game by The Cardigans is one of the last songs played on the show. They had a global breakthrough at the time, Sven says. Per remembers the amazing video to this song, directed by Jonas Åkerlund. Sven laughs and says he finds it interesting that they are sitting there on a radio show talking about watching videos.

Jo-Anna Says from Per’s Son of a Plumber album was on air too. Per tells it was released in 2005 and it was a liberation to use another name back then. They were spending many months in the studio. Per just decided that if he does the record under a different name, it will be his debut album. Sven adds it probably gave liberty to Per to do whatever he wanted. Per agrees and says he then thought let’s do a double album, because he always loved the idea that if you do a debut album it becomes a double album. He thinks that’s really cool. In 2005 you were still thinking in albums, he says. It doesn’t work like that anymore. However, Per in his mind will always do that. Mr. G thinks SOAP is one of his greatest recordings. Sven tells it’s really fun listening to. It was recorded during the iPod era and Per was transferring a lot of music to his iPod. Doing that he recognized so many songs that he forgot about. That was the inspiration for this album.

Until they „are back to make the airwaves glowing again”, the guys say goodbye and Per tells Sven he is proud to be on this show. Anita Lindblom’s Cigarettes is closing the program.

Still is from the Bag of Trix comment videos recorded by Anders Roos.

Thanks for the technical support to János Tóth!

Per Gessle to Dagens Nyheter about the power of music

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According to a recent study, the songs we listened to as 14-year-olds make the biggest impact on us. Dagens Nyheter was curious about what seven Swedish artists listened to when they were 14. Per Gessle was one of those artists they asked.

Per tells Kajsa Haidl from Dagens Nyheter that he was 14 in 1973 and he listened to e.g. The Ballroom Blitz by The Sweet. He didn’t understand anything of the text, but loved the intro, the guitars and the handclaps.

Per says he was completely hooked on glam rock at the age of 14. He thinks it’s perfect teenage music. Mr. G had posters of David Bowie, T. Rex, Gary Glitter and Alice Cooper on the walls of his room at the time.

Dagens Nyheter asks Per if he agrees that we are most affected by and have the strongest memories of the music we listened to when we were around 14 years old. Mr. G replies that many people become interested in music seriously when adolescence begins. However, he started much earlier and pop music has been dominating his life since he was 6 or 7. He has the strongest memories of music from when he was younger than 14, such as The Beatles’ White Album, Woodstock, The Who, Hep Stars and Tages.

Kajsa asks Per what he thinks about the fact that he and his music had an impact on and created memories for young people who carry it through life. Per says it’s of course fantastic, but also difficult to absorb. Music has such an exceptional power that almost no other form of art has. Mr. G says he had the privilege of experiencing it with Roxette. They played all over the planet for people with completely different languages, religions, political views, skin colour and background, but everyone reacted exactly the same way to It Must Have Been Love, Listen To Your Heart or The Look. He doesn’t know how this universal power works.

Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle on the album related to Kjell Andersson’s book

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Kjell Andersson, former Head of A&R and producer at EMI Sweden publishes his autobiography, Ingen går hel ur det här – Mitt liv i den svenska musiken on 8th February. Over 40 years in the music industry, Kjell worked together with many of Sweden’s greatest artists. To name a few: Per Gessle, Gyllene Tider, Marie Fredriksson, Roxette, Mauro Scocco, Eva Dahlgren, Wilmer X, Björn Skifs, Ulf Lundell etc.

Besides the book, an album is also released where Kjell’s artists offer interpretations of mainly each other’s songs. What a cool idea to create an album like this! Title is Ingen går hel ur det här – Sånger från Kjell Andersson’s liv i den svenska musiken. You can listen to it HERE (after midnight your local time)! It’s very probable that this is a digital release only.

Tracklist (songs related to Marie or Per are in bold)

  1. Plura & Mauro Scocco – Nånting måste gå sönder
  2. Magnus Lindberg – Jag saknar oss
  3. Mauro Scocco – Ljusterö
  4. Andreas Mattsson & Tomas Andersson Wij – Landsvägspirater
  5. Johan & Jessica – Vägar
  6. Peter Lemarc – Sara-Li
  7. Per Gessle & Helena Josefsson – Sniglar oh krut – original: Ulf Lundell (1975)
  8. Basse Wickman – Spelmannen
  9. Marie Fredriksson – Här och nu – original: Basse Wickman (1988)
  10. Nisse Hellberg – Efter stormen – original: Marie Fredriksson (1987)
  11. Toni Holgersson – Om du kunde se mig
  12. Dan Hylander – Ännu doftar kärlek – original: Marie Fredriksson (1984)
  13. Niklas Strömstedt – På väg – original: Per Gessle (1983)
  14. Staffan Hellstrand – Rialto
  15. Lisa Ekdahl – Med kroppen mot jorden
  16. Björn Holm – Hemma till slut
  17. Triad – Den sjunde vågen – original: Marie Fredriksson (1986)
  18. Pernilla Andersson – Dina röda skor

While the recording of Per’s Lundell cover sounds recent, Marie’s recording of Här och nu is most probably from the end of the ’80s, judging by her vocals. Great to hear something so far unreleased by her! Per and Helena sound very authentic on the Lundell cover. This song would well fit the En vacker… sessions in their interpretation.

Covering a Marie song is always a challenge, I would say, and it’s very interesting that all 3 songs of hers are covered by male artists on this album. Triad (Niklas Strömstedt, Lasse Lindbom, Janne Bark) did a great job by interpreting Den sjunde vågen and Niklas Strömstedt’s cover of På väg is also very nice (he wrote the music to it anyway). Niklas already released this song as a duet with Per on his En gång i livet album.

Kjell’s book will for sure be an interesting reading as well!

Update on 9th February 2021: Unfortunately, both Marie’s and Per’s cover disappeared from the streaming sites. Per says: “There was a misunderstanding concerning the master rights to the songs. I’m sure “Sniglar och krut” (and Marie’s song) will pop up somewhere else down the road.“

Helena von Zweigbergk about Marie Fredriksson in Cancerfonden’s magazine

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In the Nr. 3 2020 issue of Cancerfonden’s magazine, Rädda Livet (Cancer Foundation, Save Life), author and journalist Helena von Zweigbergk writes a chronicle about her friend Marie Fredriksson, how she admires her way of dealing with the difficult.

The title is Strong, stubborn, warm Marie. Helena tells that in December 2019 she got a phone call from some newspaper or radio or TV program while she was on her way to a studio for recording the reading of a book she had written a long time ago. The caller wondered if she had heard that Marie Fredriksson passed away. Helena remembers the wording, ”passed away”. She knew what it meant, but couldn’t process. She asked „where?”, to pull herself together and push the call away. There was no way she could tell anything. She knew it would happen. Helena and Marie had seen each other not too long ago and that meeting is stored in Helena’s private innermost being. Still, the news was shocking for her.

When they met to talk about writing a book together, Marie had a strong desire: ”People need to know what it’s like to be part of such a thing I’ve been through,” she said with the eyes filled with tears. She could be in despair, have angry tears, but always wiped them away with determined hands, Helena says. Then came what felt like Marie’s constant mantra: ”But it gets better. You have to think positively. It gets better.”

Helena could look into Marie’s expressive eyes and wonder how she could emotionally deal with being invaded by the evil forces of brain cancer. Marie was a fighter, Helena always thought so and said that many times, and she is not the only one. Marie’s struggle was not only physical survival, but also mental. To never let go of hope. Helena thinks one can say that it ended unhappily physically, but not mentally. She thinks hope and light were with Marie all the way and Helena is glad for Marie’s sake, that she managed to keep it.

Another friend of Helena who suffered from severe cancer, but survived, told her that she felt unsuccessful because she didn’t feel enlightened or closer to life than before. That she just thought it was awful, that she was mostly angry and didn’t feel like an admirable fighter at all, even though of course she was.

According to Helena, few things require as much courage as starting to approach one’s own or a loved one’s end. She can really understand someone who doesn’t have the strength or maybe even wants to be stoic on the road. Then at some point you should be able to turn your attention completely inwards.

Thanks for the hint, Paula Cafiero Högström!

Roxette’s four US No.1s at Don’t Stop The Music gala on TV4

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There was a 2-hour-long live music gala on TV4 tonight, Don’t Stop The Music. The evening was arranged by the Swedish Music Foundation, which works to support everyone in the music industry who has been affected by the pandemic in various ways.

Among other artists, Peter Jöback, Tomas Ledin, Zara Larsson, Lars Winnerbäck and First Aid Kit performed at the fundraising gala.

Such an event in Sweden can’t happen without at least covering Roxette. This time it was 4 great Swedish ladies who performed Roxette’s four US No.1 hits in a medley. It started with Janice and Listen To Your Heart that turned into Frida Öhrn’s interpretation of The Look. Then came Mariette with Joyride and Loreen closed the medley with It Must Have Been Love. Click HERE to see their performance. Before the medley, there was an intro talk about Swedish US No. 1 successes. Four of the seven No.1s were Roxette songs.

Dea Norberg was at the gala too and she provided backing vocals. She was also interviewed by TV4. She is a singer and backing vocalist and she has been touring for 25 years. She tells the music industry is in a difficult situation during this time. Dea says she wants to feel that she can contribute to the society with the skills she has. She hopes and believes that all on stage and backstage will survive this tough period. She represents thousands of those who we don’t see, but who created what we see.

HERE you can watch the complete program.

Stills are from the gala.