As we already informed you in May, Gyllene Tider was to be on a Swedish TV program, Sveriges Bästa. It was broadcast last night on TV4. Title of the show was ”Sveriges Bästa sommarplåga” (Sweden’s best summer hit). The recordings took place on 22nd May and it was Per, Anders and Micke from the band who were guests among other musicians on the show, GT being one of the top 10 candidates for providing Sweden’s best summer hit. I don’t think anyone would be surprised by who won the award. I can tell you it’s enough to watch the first seconds of the show where you would get to see the guys backstage for some moments and then fast forward to 35:07 to see them talking after we could see some old photos and footage from past tours. Of course, Sweden’s No. 1 summer hit is Sommartider, soundtrack to Swedish summer.
Per, Anders and Micke represented the band and program leader Gry Forssell handed over the award to PG. After he thanked for it, he did some weight-lifting exercises with it. Haha.
Gry asked the guys how Sommartider was born. Per told the story that they were recording their 3rd LP, Puls and their record label loved the album, but didn’t find any first singles on it. Per got pissed, went home and wrote Sommartider. Gry was surprised that the happiest song was written out of anger, but Per told her it’s not the only one. He wrote Sleeping In My Car the same way for Crash! Boom! Bang!. It was the same record label that couldn’t find a first single on that album either. Micke Syd said it’s a good recipe for creating hits.
Per said from the beginning they thought this song should be a drum-based track. He was also joking that the song came out in 1982 when they were 12-year-olds.
Gry asked how it feels to play Sommartider. Anders said it’s very cool to play in front of an audience, but they never rehearse it. Per said it makes no sense without a crowd. It’s not because they are tired of it, but the song is built on the energy and communication with the audience.
Gry asked the guys if they could share any secret memory from GT’s many summer tours. Micke Syd said they are real worthless rock idols. The worst thing he did was smashing a mirror with an extra bed at the age of 20 and he thought it would bring 7 years of bad luck. He also mentioned an after party in Lysekil in 1980-1981 when they sprayed something on the walls and threw out a bag saying ”shrimps on the roof”.
Footage of some early live performances were shown, big hits from the past and the guys laughed at how they looked. Per also shared the story that they had 6 live performances before they became No. 1 with Flickorna på TV2. Per was the oldest, he was 20 then, Anders and Micke were 17-18. Anders said it was quite brutal. Per mentioned Anders was voted Sweden’s most good-looking guy in 1982 and Micke Syd added he was voted for Sweden’s kindest pop idol.
The funny thing is that the recording of this program was on 22nd May, so well before the tour started, but Gry asked the guys how did it feel to do a farewell tour after such a long time. The guys laughed and Per said it was nice, Micke Syd said they are sitting here and are happy. Per said it’s unbelievable that so much time passed and it’s also unbelievable that so many people were still following them. There was a short footage from Ullevi 2019 when Gyllene Tider and the crowd were singing Sommartider together and then Gry congratulated the guys on their career and winning the best Swedish summer hit award.
Stills are from the show. It can only be watched in Sweden HERE.
Thanks for the technical support to János Tóth.