Per Gessle

Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – December 2024 – CBB30 Special

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Per Gessle and Sven Lindström are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Crash! Boom! Bang! in the December episode of Nordic Rox. The album came out in 1994. Sven asks Per how it feels, because he is celebrating something almost every year. PG says that’s the way it goes. It feels good. Roxette had an eight-year span when they were at their prime. The Roxette heydays were between 1988 and 1995. Then in 1995, Marie got her first child and everything changed from there. Crash! Boom! Bang! is the last big album in that era. It was recorded in London, on the Isle of Capri in Italy and in Stockholm. It took forever to make, Mr. G adds. There are lots of songs and it’s got some nice stuff in there, he thinks.

Sven says it’s coming with a bonus CD as well with some demos and he promises an interesting flashback to 1994. But before that, they kick off with Driving One Of Your Cars by Lisa Miskovsky. Per thinks it’s a great track. It was one of Lisa’s earliest singles, but it’s still a great song. It has stood the test of time.

Ahead Of My Time is played by Teddybears featuring Daddy Boastin’. It’s taken from the Soft Machine album. Sven thinks it’s a cool band. Per agrees. Great productions, great producers, and they have been producing so many other artists as well. They always appear with the bear heads on stage. Something for the new line-up of Roxette to be inspired with, Sven suggests. Per says why not, then they are laughing.

Final Gørl by Sløtface from Norway is next. The song is from their latest album Film Buff. Sven thinks they are a great band. Sven and Per played some songs from them in previous shows.

Then comes Are You Still Having Fun? by Eagle-Eye Cherry. It’s a great song, PG thinks. The guys are having fun and Sven says they are going to have even more fun now, because now it’s time for the Crash! Boom! Bang! special.

The album came out in spring 1994, after about 12 months of recording and preparations and songwriting. Songwriting took even longer, Per says. They started recording CBB in 1993. They just came off the big Joyride tour and they started working immediately on this album. Sven thinks that if you compare it with the Joyride album, Per was in a different frame of mind when he started writing for this one. Mr. G says it’s true in a way. When they recorded Joyride, they had a breakthrough with the Look Sharp! album. Per wanted Joyride to be a super mainstream, catchy album. Basically, every song on the Joyride album was written to be a single. But it was a different ballgame when he started writing Crash! Boom! Bang!, because they had been touring for over a year and they were on top of their game. PG felt a little bit more relaxed. They started using other Swedish musicians and also experimenting a lot in the studio and trying things out in a different way. Maybe CBB didn’t become as mainstream as Joyride. Looking back at it, Per thinks there are a couple of tracks that you could have thrown away in the waste paper basket even then. Nevertheless, the highlights for Mr. G are really, really high in Roxette history.

Sven says the Joyride album was written to be smash hits all over the place. When they presented Crash! Boom! Bang!, it was a 15-track album and almost an hour’s playing time. Per explains that the vinyl was basically gone. The CD was there, so you could extend the album’s playing time. Those days they had these open budgets, so you just went on and recorded and recorded. They did so much stuff. When they eventually played what they had done for their record label, they loved it, but they said the classic words, „we can’t hear a single”. Per was really pissed off by that, because he thought they had so many great tracks. Especially, he thought that Roxette had made giant steps forward, artistically at least. And Marie was singing really great. Songs like What’s She Like?, Run To You and Love Is All are great tracks for Per and for Marie as well. But the record label didn’t agree. So PG was really pissed off and he went home and wrote another song. That turned out to be Sleeping In My Car, which became the first single. That was written out of frustration, in furious anger, but it turned out nice. Per always loved Marie singing that type of songs. It’s not really her cup of tea, she was never really a power pop girl, but when she sang songs like that, she was always the best.

Here they play Sleeping In My Car, the single that paved the way for the Crash! Boom! Bang! album.

The CD version of the anniversary release has a bonus CD with quite a lot of demos written for the album. 23 demos. It was basically all the songs that Per wrote for the project. He looked back into his archives and it’s more songs than he remembered. Sven was a bit surprised to find out that this upcoming song, She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, was written for the Crash! Boom! Bang! album. It was recorded by Per’s power pop band Gyllene Tider and it turned up on the compilation album Don’t Bore Us – Get To The Chorus!. Per says he wrote the song together with Mats Persson from Gyllene Tider, who also co-wrote Listen To Your Heart and Spending My Time. They wrote the song for Crash, but they didn’t record it. They had so many songs, these typical power pop, guitar driven songs. Per was basically the only one in the band who really loved that kind of music. And of course, since he was the writer, he presented these songs, many of them, for Marie and their producer Clarence Öfwerman, but it wasn’t really their cup of tea. So lots of these songs were leftovers. Then they recorded it eventually for the first compilation album that Roxette did in 1995, called Don’t Bore Us – Get To The Chorus!. It became a single, but that was years later. Sven says, if they asked him – nobody asked him at the time –, he would have taken out some of the slower numbers and replaced it with She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

Per says, when you are in a band, you have to compromise. Just like in your marriage. Haha. Sven was a bit surprised that this was recorded in December 1992, so when they recorded material for the Crash! Boom! Bang! album, they considered those sort of power pop numbers. PG explains that when you make an album and you spend a year in the studio, time goes by and you write new stuff all the time. At the end of the day, you want everyone to agree on what you are recording. That’s also how you get a good vibe in the studio and what’s the best for the band. So sometimes you have to kill your darlings. On every album that Per has been involved with, if it’s Roxette or with other bands, it’s always compromises. There are always songs that he felt like this is a much better song, it should be on the album, but it became a B-side instead. Sven says it’s because you want everyone to be on the bandwagon as well. Sven adds that Per is never short of songs when he is recording an album. Per smiles and says no, because he keeps himself busy. Now they go back in time to a demo recorded in December 1992, probably shortly after it was written. We can hear Per and MP and a drum machine. This is how it sounded when it was written in 1992. She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Silly little demo, Per says. Charming stuff, the guys think.

They guys are digging deeper into this demo bonus CD with another track that never was recorded by Roxette, but eventually became a single by Belinda Carlisle. Per wrote Always Breaking My Heart also in 1992 for Roxette’s Crash! Boom! Bang! album, but they never recorded it. He kept it and a couple of years later he got an invitation to produce and write a couple of songs for Belinda Carlisle, which was amazing. She was one of Per’s favourites. He loves The Go-Go’s and he was really honored by the request. PG wrote a song for Belinda called Liberty, which she didn’t like, so they never recorded it. Then this song, Always Breaking My Heart, came to mind, and Per felt like this sounds like an old The Go-Go’s song. Belinda liked that one, and the A&R guy who worked with her, loved it too. So they decided to record Always Breaking My Heart. Then Mr. G wrote another song called Love Doesn’t Live Here, which also turned up on that album of hers. ABMH was actually written for Roxette to begin with, so what they have here now is Per’s acoustic demo from Christmas 1992. Both She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Always Breaking My Heart were written around the same time. Per explains that they stopped touring, the Joyride tour ended in summer 1992, and they released the Tourism album with Roxette. One of their biggest songs was on that album called How Do You Do! in summer 1992. As soon as that tour was over, Per started to focus on writing. Autumn 1992 was a big writing time for him. Sven asks PG if he remembers where he was at that time, December 1992, music-wise, things that inspired him. Per says it’s far away. The grunge scene just started to happen, so of course he listened a lot to Nirvana and Oasis. But as always, the ’60s and ’70s stuff, the glam rock thing, all those things are in his DNA. Every time a new band came along that he really liked, it didn’t really change his life that much, because he is still a child of You Really Got Me by The Kinks.

Sven thinks that the best moments of the ’90s, guitar, pop, rock, is like a confirmation of all the things Per loved about the British Invasion. And also the new wave thing in the late ’70s, Per adds. Technology moved forward, it sounds different, it sounds harder and rougher, and better, for that matter. You start to listen to the same things with new ears, so to speak. Sven says in this case, we have to imagine the distorted guitars and the crashing drums, because it’s Per in troubadour mode. There is just an acoustic guitar, a tambourine and a little piano on this demo. This is how it was written. Per says that recently – that means the last decade, haha –, when he makes demos, he makes them just on an acoustic guitar or just a piano, to get the vibe of the song and the vibe of the lyrics. When he wrote the songs for Joyride, he basically produced the demos. Roxette producer Clarence Öfwerman didn’t like that Per came to him with a sort of finished product, because he wanted to produce it, which makes sense. So Per gave that up eventually. This is the other side of the spectrum. Sometimes it depends a little bit on what kind of music you are working with. If you are going to hire an outside producer, it’s better to just show a little bit of what you are after, lyric-wise, melody-wise and chord-wise and then let the producer do the rest of the work or at least suggest something and you do it together with him or her.

Here they play the 1992 demo of Always Breaking My Heart.

There is another leftover that never made it to the album back in the days, but for a while Per thought of this one as a single. PG confirms, he always loved this track, Crazy About You. It was written for the Crash album and they had a little problem with it. It sounded really fresh, it was something really new for Roxette to do a song like this. Then they did another take, this is the second version actually, this is a little bit faster than the first one. In those days you had to re-record everything to change the tempo, not just press a button. Haha. Per always felt that this could be a contender for becoming a single, but at the end of the day, they had lots of tracks on this album, so this became a leftover. Per doesn’t know if it became a B-side or if it came out on something else, but it wasn’t on the album. It found its way into the extended version of Crash! Boom! Bang!. This four-minute-long song wraps up the CBB special. Sven says there was a heavy competition to get on the album. Per thinks it’s a nice song. He doesn’t know how good or bad it is, but at the end of the day, you try to make the best possible mix of ballads and mid-tempo songs and up-tempo songs on the album, so this was a leftover. Life sucks. Haha. Life sucks, but you can always enjoy some fine wine, which is a bridge over to the next song, I Need Some Fine Wine And You, You Need To Be Nicer by The Cardigans from Malmö.

Painted By Numbers by The Sounds is next from 2006, from the album Dying To Say This To You.

The show ends with this and the guys thank the listeners for joining them. Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom is played as the last track, as usual.

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

Thanks for your support, Sven!

Roxette – Listen To Your Heart played 7 million times on US radio

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BMI is excited to celebrate their exceptional family of songwriters and publishers in the UK and Europe whose groundbreaking music is making an electrifying impact on the global music scene.

At the 2024 BMI London Awards last night they recognised the top UK and European songwriters, composers and publishers of the past year across US streaming, radio, film and television. The Million-Air Awards were also presented throughout the evening and among the hit songs honoured was Listen to Your Heart by Roxette. Per Gessle and Mats MP Persson appeared at the event to receive the award.

American radios played Listen To Your Heart now more than 7 million times! That means more than 67 years if it were constantly played! Pure awesomeness!

Roxette reached their 2nd No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with LTYH on 4th November 1989. In 1998 they 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. Listen To Your Heart was covered by American hard rock band Through Fire and they put the song back on the US charts in March 2020. In 2020, PG and MP got the Million-Air Award for 6 million plays.

Congratulations to Per and MP for creating this most amazing, timeless gem and for reaching the 7 million mark! Neverending love to Marie Fredriksson without whom it wouldn’t have been possible!

Per says in the 10th December press release:

Every time I hear Listen To Your Heart, I think of Marie’s magical voice. Yesterday it was five years since she left us and without her contribution, Mats and I would never have received this fantastic award. 7 million radio plays in the US is hard to grasp. I’m super proud, of course.

Check out BMIs website HERE!

Check out more photos HERE!

Check out the highlights video from the event HERE!

Per Gessle about “Kvar i min bil” in Skräpkulturpodden

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The 38th episode of Skräpkulturpodden is about soundtracks. Per Gessle is the icing on the cake, he joins Josef to talk about Kvar i min bil, his song that is included in the movie Let The Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in). This part starts at 35:10 into the podcast and PG joins in at 37:39. Listen to it HERE!

Josef asks Per if he remembers how the request found him. PG can’t remember exactly how it happened, but he remembers that Tomas Alfredson wanted to meet him. They met in Stockholm and he told Per about this film and wanted him to write a song for the movie. PG didn’t really have time for that, but he had a leftover song from En händig man (2007) that he really liked. It didn’t fit on the record, Per thought, but he liked the song anyway, so he played it for Tomas and he liked it a lot, Kvar i min bil. It was like a match made in heaven. It was not written for the movie itself. It was a leftover.

It’s almost always the case when you make an album that you have leftovers. In Per’s generation anyway, when you start an album project, you have maybe 17, 18, 19, 20 songs and you record as many as you can. You finish 15, 16 and then you use maybe 12 for the album. Then there will be a few songs left over. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the leftover songs are worse, but it could be that maybe there are two songs that are quite similar to each other or it’s the same kind of tempo. Then you remove one and save it.

It was the same with It Must Have Been Love. It was an old Christmas song from 1987 that ended up in Pretty Woman in 1990. Queen Of Rain was recorded for the Joyride album as the closing song and then Per wrote Perfect Day with accordion in it and then they moved away Queen Of Rain, so it became the closing song on the next record, Tourism instead.

Josef says it’s good when you can breathe new life into a song. Per agrees. Josef listened to En händig man again and he could understand why this song became a leftover, because it sounded a bit different. Josef thinks it fits perfectly in this context, a film set in the early ’80s. He asks Per if he has any memories of what the sources of inspiration were when he wrote this song. PG says it was the kind of song where you sit and play a guitar riff. The whole song is a big guitar riff in a way.

When he recorded En händig man, he worked a lot with Christoffer Lundquist, Jens Jansson on drums and Clarence Öfwerman. This is a typical song that suits Jens, his style of playing. When Per wrote this song, he didn’t make a demo, just played it right away. They recorded it in Skåne in Christoffer’s studio. So the demo and the finished recording came about at the same time. They played this song maybe three times in the studio, there was a take 3. So it went pretty fast.

Jens and Christoffer are playing on this song. Clarence Öfwerman was also there the whole time, but Per doesn’t know if he plays on this particular song. Clarence usually jumps in and plays the tambourine or something. He plays keyboards, but it’s not a keyboard song.

Per says he doesn’t have a story behind the song. He hadn’t read the book, Let The Right One In either, so Tomas had to explain the movie through the script to PG. But it didn’t matter, because Mr. G didn’t write anything adapted to the script.

The movie was a great success. Per thinks it was a fantastic film and Tomas is extremely talented. PG is very proud to be involved in it. Josef also thinks it’s a great movie. There isn’t much horror in it for being a horror film. PG agrees, but adds that it’s quite psychological this way.

Josef thanks Per for the call and they say goodbye to each other.

Interview with Per Gessle and Fredrik Etoall at Hotel Boman in Trosa

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Östra Strömlands Posten was there at the vernissage of Fredrik Etoall’s exhibition at Hotel Boman in Trosa on 9th November and they did a short interview with both Per Gessle and Fredrik Etoall. Fredrik’s Roxette, Per Gessle, Marie Fredriksson and Gyllene Tider photos are on display at the hotel.

There was no room for all the questions and answers in the newspaper, so they shared the complete conversation with Per on their Facebook page.

ÖSP: – What do you think of the evening so far?

PG: – It’s great fun that so many people came. Fun to hang out with Fredrik for a few hours as well. He is so energetic and talented. He has a unique eye, he sees things no one else sees. We find it easy to work together and it’s always close to laughter with Fredrik. We got to know each other at a photo session with Roxette and those photos have really stood the test of time. The pictures with just Marie are from her solo time – they are amazing!

ÖSP: – Now you go on tour again. How does that feel? Is it always the same fun?

PG: – It’s always just as fun to go on tour and I tour almost every year. I like tour life and the energy you get from the crowd.

ÖSP: – Kristin Boman [owner of the hotel] mentioned that you are one of the most productive people she knows. “Per is always writing something”. After as many years as you have been at it, you would think it would slow down a bit, right?

PG: – My creativity is probably quite constant. I look for ideas every day, all the time. The thing that has slowed me down – because I do think I have slowed down –, is that the music business has changed so much. It’s not nearly as fun as it used to be. Now it’s business at all costs. Gyllene Tider would never have gotten through today like we did back then with our strange ideas and my strange lyrics. No record company would have invested in it, because today there is a lot of formulaic thinking with Idol and all that. It’s a machinery today like any other industry. It wasn’t like that, if you go back to the ’60s or ’70s when the music industry exploded with The Beatles for example and completely different opportunities for crazy people like David Bowie. Music back then had much more power than today and played a different role in society. Take the protest songs against the Vietnam War, for example.

ÖSP: – Is it possible to summarize what you want us listeners to experience when we listen to your songs?

PG: – I hope that in my best moments I can give those who listen to me the same thing that I get from the artists who mean something to me. Music is so amazing. It gives comfort and strength and you can feel that a text is about you. All the songwriters and composers I’ve listened to all my life, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Paul Simon and Tom Petty not least, Randy Newman and Kris Kristofferson – they are all great storytellers. If I can give someone a fraction of what they have given me, I’m more than happy.

ÖSP: – Can one get to know you better through your lyrics or do you write more generally?

PG: – I think so. When you write a text, it often starts with an idea that you recognize yourself in, but then in verse two it can become something else, to make it even more exciting. I’ve written maybe a thousand songs and I’m not THAT interesting (Per laughs), but I can tell about feelings and about how I react to things and so I try to make it universal, but in my own way. My biggest enemy is always that it will become clichéd or predictable. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you don’t.

ÖSP: – Do you ever release something you are half-satisfied with?

PG: – No, never these days. It has happened before but not anymore. I have lots of songs lying around where the lyrics don’t fit and then the years go by and sometimes I can get distance from them and I can pick them up again. On this record there are two songs, “Hoppas” and “Ingen annan”, which I wrote in 1984 for my second solo record “Scener”, which I had forgotten. There was a girl from Hungary who manages a big Roxette community. She saw a photo of cassettes I have and she recognized two titles, so I listened to them again and they are great songs, but the lyrics were crap. The music was terrifying. It was written by a 25-year-old me who was curious in a different way. In early Roxette songs I can hear that I don’t really have the ability to write English lyrics, like in “Neverending Love”. At best, they are a bit fun, but not very good. Then I had a period of 18 years where I didn’t work in Swedish at all, so then I learned to write texts in English.

ÖSP: – Do you have any favourites among your own songs?

PG: – Yes, I have lots of songs that I like, for example, the songs I wrote for Marie: “Queen Of Rain” and “What’s She Like?” which Marie sings fantastically. I like “The Look”. It’s a totally insane song with three chords that turned out right.

ÖSP: – Favourites from the latest record?

PG: – “Plåster” with Amanda Ginsburg. I had recorded almost the whole record before I realized it was going to be a duet record, so in some cases I re-recorded the songs. For example, I recorded the first half of “Beredd” with Molly Hammar, so that it would fit her key. In most of the other songs I chose singers who sang in my key, for example Lisa Miskovsky suits me very well. Lena Philipsson works well too. I get a little pressured in the parts I sing, but then Lena sounds fantastic, so it’s worth it. I have a fun job!

ÖSP: – What do you think of Bomans and Trosa?

PG: – It’s a pleasure to be here. It’s Sweden’s second best hotel… Nah, kidding aside, Bomans is one of my favourite hotels in the whole world, wherever you go it’s completely unique. Every time I’m here, I never want to leave. Trosa is wonderful with all the water, especially in the summer. If you walk around inside Trosa it’s fantastic, I love being here. Sometimes I have a bit of a problem with mosquitoes here. We don’t have mosquitoes at all in Tylösand.

 

ÖSP: – If you had to choose one or a few of the pictures exhibited here, which would you choose as your favourite pictures?

FE: – A photo that is the backbone of me and the book in this project. It’s the photo of Marie in the window. It’s so “pinch me in the arm” strong and it’s unbelievable that I’ve taken it. The picture is Marie and what she has done for Swedish music and the Swedish people and also internationally, and so the picture carries so much of what she has been through. Then there are many photos that I think are incredible. The book cover is also special. Technically it may not be the best picture, but as Per also puts it, “there is no one who has taken such a picture of Marie and me”. Many probably thought that there has been some romance between Marie and Per, but as far as I have understood, there has not. When we took the picture, there was only protection. Other pictures might be cooler, but this one is so unique based on all the speculation and what had happened to Marie, so it’s just protection.

ÖSP: – How do your photos come about?

FE: – Conscious luck is what I usually talk about. I do an incredible amount of preparation for everything I do. It doesn’t matter how much I prepare, it won’t happen that way anyway, but if I’ve prepared, I’m ready for a chance. The photo of Marie in the window just happened. Just like the one by the piano. I told Marie that I listened to one of her songs with my team every morning, “Den bästa dagen”. “Come and sit next to me,” she said, and then she played it for me. While she was playing, I snuck up and took the picture. It is almost out-of-body.

Photo and interview by Jessica Gustâv

Per Gessle on Nordic Rox – October 2024

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Per Gessle and Sven Lindström are finishing the countdown of their ’70s toplist in the October episode of Nordic Rox. Per thinks it’s been really exciting to make this list. Sven explains they have taken a look at the top 20 Swedish tracks that defined the ’70s as they see it. That’s as close to the truth as you can possibly get. Haha. Per agrees.

The guys kick off the show with a trip to Denmark with a band called D-A-D, originally called Disneyland After Dark. They changed their name to avoid a lawsuit from The Walt Disney Company. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Their great, brand new song, Keep That Mother Down is played. Mercy by Goldielocks from Finland comes after that. It’s their latest single. A good one, PG thinks.

The next song is Lone Rocker by The Gonzoes, a wild and crazy garage band from Stockholm. Per loves this song, both he and Sven think it’s very cool. Sven says he would love to see them live in some sweaty old club in Stockholm whenever possible. He will give Per a call when it’s time. Haha.

The guys play somewhat mellower tones, Happy by Deportees feat. Esther is next.

Talking About Love by the Cocktail Slippers follows. They are signed to Little Steven’s label, Wicked Cool Records. They have been there forever and they are a really cool garage pop, new wave-ish band from Norway, Sven says.

Sven and Mr. G kick off the top five songs on their ’70s list with a Eurovision track. The artist is Björn Skifs. He was actually No. 1 in the US in spring 1974. The same spring as when ABBA came out with Waterloo. Sven says it was a major happening in Swedish music, going international for the first time. Per can’t remember that and he tells Sven he is so old. Haha. Getting back to Björn, he was singing in a band called Blue Swede and they were No. 1 on the Billboard chart with Hooked On A Feeling. Next year, in 1975, Björn was the winner in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest with Michelangelo. It was a huge hit, even Per remembers that. After the song is played, Sven realizes that the song was a winner only in his mind. It ended up in the 5th place, however, it was the biggest hit from that contest. A boring song called Jenny Jenny won that year. Nobody remembers that one. Sven is wondering what people were thinking. Haha.

The guys move on to No. 4, one of Per’s favourites, a Swedish singer-songwriter called John Holm is next. This upcoming track is the first track of his very first album in 1972. Per loves it. He loves John’s voice and the lyrics. John’s first three albums were really influential on PG and a lot of other aspiring teenagers. He didn’t sound like anybody else, Sven says and adds that Per was so inspired that this track opens his first solo album in Sweden. Mr. G corrects Sven that it wasn’t the opener, but it’s on that album. Sven laughs and says he is really cooking today. Haha. Per says Sven is confused. Mr. G explains he made a cover of this song and played it live many times. He thinks it’s beautiful and he likes it. So now they play the original, Den öde stranden (The Deserted Beach).

No. 3 is from a cult album from 1970 by a female singer, Doris. Per says this album didn’t happen at all. She was singing very easy listening stuff in the ’60s and eventually she made this album in English. It sold 2,000 copies only, but 25 years later, one of the tracks ended up on a British compilation of acid jazz music, Sven informs. Boom, suddenly it happened. It sold 10,000 vinyl copies newly pressed in Japan. The guys say never give up. The main track on that album is the one they picked, Did You Give The World Some Love Today, Baby. Hearing it now, Per and Sven consider it a ’70s classic, but back then it wasn’t considered by the audience to be anything at all. Per thinks Doris has a wonderful voice and she is a great singer. Sven says they hope you agree with them that this is a truly remarkable song.

The next track is by another very influential guy, Pugh Rogefeldt. Vandrar i ett regn (Walking In The Rain) comes next. Per has also covered this one not long ago. Pugh passed away, unfortunately and Per was part of an homage for him on TV. He recorded this particular song, which he loves. What the guys play is actually a live recording, which PG attended when he was a kid. He was like 16 years old, sitting in the audience, and just having the time of his life watching Pugh on stage. He was really one of the greatest rock artists in Sweden at that time, 1975, Sven says. He was one of the first Swedish artists who actually did rock music in Swedish. He made it cool. It wasn’t happening in the ’60s at all. His debut album came out in 1969. He continued that all through the ’70s and became a very influential artist. He became the godfather of Swedish rock, basically. Sven says there is a backing vocal choir in the song singing „chip chili, ungarna de väntar” (translating into „chip chili, the kids are waiting”). Sven is wondering what that means, but Per doesn’t know. Sven was hoping that PG could clarify that. Mr. G thinks nobody knows. Haha. For some reason, this is typically Pugh. He wrote whatever came into his mind. He was really influenced by Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa, that kind of stuff. He was one of a kind, for sure. When he did this thing in Swedish, it was like nothing else. He had a fantastic fantasy and way of expressing himself. Per thinks that on the third album Pugh made, he invented his own language, Pughish. He wrote all the songs in his own language, which was far out.

The only track left now is No. 1 and Sven gives a clue. They can say the winner takes it all. There has to be an ABBA track as the winner here. The guys’ favourite ABBA song turned out to be the same, SOS from 1975. It was a good year. It’s taken from the ABBA album a year after their breakthrough with Waterloo. This is both Per and Sven’s favourite ABBA album. It’s got so many great pop songs. By listening to SOS, we should just enjoy ABBA in their heydays. Well-deserved win on the guys’ ’70s list. Per thinks it’s a beautiful track and it still sounds fresh to his ears. Sven agrees.

There are still a few tracks with good-looking music before the guys wrap it up. The first one is a song seldom played, Mother One Track Mind by The Soundtrack Of Our Lives.

The next one is Nyper mig i armen (Pinching My Arm) by Per Gessle and Albin Lee Meldau. It’s from PG’s duet project. It’s the third single from the album that is coming out in autumn. Per thinks this is the last song he wrote for the album. He wrote it last Christmas. It’s got this sort of country style to it with violin and lap steel. Mr. G like it and says it’s very popular, people like it a lot. It’s been played a lot on Swedish radio. Sven asks Per if he had Albin Lee in mind when he wrote the song or if it happened later. PG says he was looking for a male partner to sing with and Albin Lee just popped up in his head. He never met him before, but he called Albin Lee up. Per knows Albin Lee has recorded one of his songs earlier, so he knows that Albin Lee was into what Per was doing. Albin Lee came over to Per’s house and to the studio and they just had a great time. It clicked immediately.

This wraps up the October episode of Nordic Rox. Sven and Per thank the listeners for joining them and Cigarettes by Anita Lindblom closes the show, as usual.

Thanks for your support, Sven!