The 8th episode of Swedish Radio’s Per Gessle podcast is about producers. Per says they are very important in pop history. Actually, nowadays producers are sometimes more important than the artists themselves. Mr. G tells he works very well together with his producers, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist. Listen to the podcast or download it from HERE!

Mr. G’s Top9 producers:

9. Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Relax
8. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Here Comes My Girl
7. The Ronettes – Be My Baby
6. The Cars – Drive
5. Lesley Gore – It’s My Party
4. The Spencer Davies Group – Gimme Some Lovin’
3. David Bowie – Sound and Vision
2. The Knack – My Sharona
1. The Beatles – Something

Per chose Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax, produced by Trevor Horn as No. 9 on his list. The song has a sound Per had never heard before and he thinks it’s a great club music, a classic pop song. Here Comes My Girl was produced by Jimmy Iovine. Jimmy has a unique sound and he even worked together with John Lennon. Be My Baby by The Ronettes was produced by Phil Spector. Sven says he’s a legend. Mr. G is not the world’s greatest Phil Spector fan, but what he likes about him is how he produced all the girl groups’ songs. Phil Spector is the producer behind John Lennon’s Imagine as well.

Drive by The Cars was produced by Robert John “Mutt” Lange. He is also one of the greatest producers and hit makers. Quincy Jones is the producer of Lesley Gore’s It’s My Party. Per says he is a phenomenal musician and producer. PG doesn’t know much about Quincy, but he knows he was the producer of the classic Michael Jackson records. When the album Thriller came out, it sounded magical and it still sounds so. The Spencer Davies Group’s Gimme Some Lovin’ was produced by Jimmy Miller who also produced some Rolling Stones albums. Per thinks Jimmy made the songs attractive.

No. 3 on the list is David Bowie with Sound and Vision. Bowie’s producer was Tony Visconti and their cooperation was magnificent. Per and Sven have a long chat about both David’s and Tony’s greatness. No. 2 is The Knack’s My Sharona, produced by Mike Chapman who is a hit maker, mostly known for producing Blondie and The Knack. No. 1 is The Beatles with Something, produced by the greatest of all, Sir George Martin.

This part was the most nerdish so far, linking tremendous amount of songs and albums to each and every producer who were mentioned. It’s really so enjoyable to listen to these two pop nerds, Per G and Sven L. Too bad now only 2 podcast parts are left. Tune in next Thursday!

After some awesome ’60s, ’70s and ’80s music, the 7th part of Swedish Radio’s podcast à la Per Gessle and Sven Lindström is about new wave songs. Sven starts the show with presenting Per as an old punk, but Per corrects him he has never been a punk, rather a new waver. He says in the late ’70s anyone could start a band even if they were not so talented at singing or playing the guitar and that fit him perfectly. Starting a band gave people a lot of self confidence. Per started a band with Mats MP Persson. The band’s name was Grape Rock and Gyllene Tider was born from that group. Listen to the podcast or download it from HERE!

Mr. G’s Top9 English new wave hits:

9. The Adverts – Gary Gilmore’s Eyes
8. Elvis Costello – Alison
7. The Pretenders – Stop Your Sobbing
6. The Damned – New Rose
5. The Stranglers – Peaches
4. Sex Pistols – Anarchy In The U.K.
3. Wreckless Eric – Whole Wide World
2. Nick Lowe – American Squirm
1. Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen In Love

Before getting down to the list, Per and Sven talk about how Per and Co. went to England to buy a used Gibson Les Pauls guitar for Mr. G and a Fender bass for Gyllene Tider’s then bassist Janne Carlsson. They didn’t have money to pay the taxes, so the instruments were actually smuggled in to Sweden, but at the customs the officers seized the guitars. Per wrote a letter telling the whole story and then they got their instruments back after paying a fine. PG had to pay 2000 crowns which was an extremely lot of money back then. It was the sum he earned during whole summer for weighing mushrooms.

Per doesn’t know much about The Adverts. He had their single, Gary Gilmore’s Eyes and liked the bizarre story in the lyrics. Mr. G thinks it’s a fantastic pop song. Talking a bit about Gyllene Tider again, Per says it was quite clear from the beginning that he would sing in the band, because playing the bongo drums is not really his thing.

Elvis Costello is a lovely guy according to Per, everyone likes him. He was an intellectual new wave guy, writing fine lyrics. Per stopped listening to him after Costello’s Oliver’s Army single. Then it became too smart for Mr. G.

Per wasn’t a superfan of The Pretenders, but he thinks Stop Your Sobbing is a good song (the original was written for The Kinks). Before the song starts playing, PG makes Sven hum the tune of another The Pretenders song which Per thought he had missed completely, but then he realized he didn’t miss it, just didn’t like it.

The Damned’s New Rose is an awesome song and the band had a few other good songs. Per bought their debut LP in London. Here they talk about record labels. During the new wave in England Stiff Records guaranteed quality stuff and Parlophone or Atlantic Records were also associated with quality music.

Mr. G doesn’t know too many details about The Stranglers, but he says Peaches is a song that has the sound of those punk times. Funny how Per pronounces the band’s name and then jokes with the song title pronounciation as well.

Anarchy In The U.K. by Sex Pistols is a Top10 song in any category, Per thinks. It’s a specially written song to all 17-18-year-olds in the West. Sex Pistols played in Halmstad and Per went to their show with MP, but it was so chaotic they went home.

No. 3 on the list is Wreckless Eric who has eminent songs with great lyrics and he has a wonderful voice.

No. 2 is Nick Lowe who was a key person in England’s music business in the late ’70s. He produced Elvis Costello and he was a master mind at Stiff Records. He writes fantastic songs and he is one of the artists Per listens the most to. Nick Lowe still makes damn good records.

PG’s No. 1 English new wave song is Ever Fallen In Love by Buzzcocks. This song was No. 4 on Per’s list of Top9 ’70s hits. There he mentioned this is the best song of the British new wave era and here you go, Mr. G lists it at No. 1 on his new wave Top9. Many fast Gyllene Tider songs were inspired by the Buzzcocks.

3 more podcast episodes to go! Tune in next Thursday to hear the lads talk about the 9 best producers in rock history!

The 6th part of Per’s Swedish Radio podcast became available this morning. It’s about the lovely ’80s. Listen to the podcast or download it from HERE!

Per’s Top9 ’80s hits:

9. Gary Numan – Cars
8. Madness – Our House
7. INXS – Need You Tonight
6. Stevie Nicks – Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around
5. Billy Idol – Dancing With Myself
4. The Romantics – Talking In Your Sleep
3. XTC – Senses Working Overtime
2. Tom Petty – Free Fallin’
1. David Bowie – Modern Love

Mr. G mentions he listened a lot to Gary Numan’s Cars. The synth revolution happened in the ’80s and it affected and inspired many other musicians, not only Per. Cars combines the new sound of those times with a real good pop melody. Sven comes up with Gyllene Tider, saying it was the time when GT modernized themselves. Per agrees. In the ’80s there was a lot of make-up, big hair and funny clothes in general.

Our House from Madness is incredibly awesome music, Per says. It feels new and fresh. INXS from Australia had groovy songs. Per chose Need You Tonight, because he thinks it sounded like nothing else. Sexy and funky. Mr. G tells that they (Roxette) were recording in Capri, Italy in 1993 and INXS was recording there before them. (Don’t miss out on Per snapping his fingers at about 16:52.)

At No. 6 you can find a real cracker (smällkaramell), Stevie Nicks with Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around. It’s an outstanding song and here she sings with Tom Petty, who originally wrote the song together with Mike Campbell as a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers song. Sven and Per talk about 1981-82 when Mr. G and Marie were sitting in the studio, planning their conquering the world. Per says they started writing songs together, e.g. Ingen kan som du; Innan du går, kom tillbaka. Sven mentions the latter became a Roxette song later, at least the title of it (Come Back Before You Leave). Then Per laughs that he steals from himself.

Billy Idol is very much the ’80s for Per, he likes Billy’s ’80s singles. The Romantics is a Detroit band and their song Talking In Your Sleep is a well-produced hit with lovely guitar sounds. Per says they (Roxette) were headliners at some German or Czech festival and the singer, Wally Palmar from The Romantics was performing before them with Ringo Starr & His All Star Band. [It was at Bospop Festival in the Netherlands, 2011. 😉 /PP]

When XTC’s song, Senses Working Overtime came out, Per thought that was the best song he had ever heard. It has an odd composition. You can find Tom Petty at No.2 on PG’s Top9 list. Free Fallin’ is an awesome song. Tom Petty has a blues side as well, which Per never really liked, it’s not his cup of tea. Mr. G mentions Tom Petty is the king of the ’80s for him and David Bowie is the king of the ’70s. At No. 1 you can hear David Bowie’s Modern Love. Per says he is a die hard Bowie fan and he thinks David is a terribly good singer and the whole Let’s Dance album is fantastic.

Now only 4 parts left. Tune in next Thursday as well!