Sven Lindström – together with Jan Lagerström, Petter Lönegård and Kjell Magnusson – wrote a book about the Ramones, Ramones i Sverige, the story of all of Ramone’s 19 gigs in Sweden, what they meant and what happened, told by those who were there. Among the many eyewitnesses there is Per Gessle, who also added his thoughts. The book is 240 pages long and loaded with both setlists and awesome photos, many of which have never been shown before.
It is worth reading the whole book if you are into Ramones. It’s written the way you are used to when it comes to Sven Lindström’s books. His perfectionism shines through when it comes to details.
Per Gessle’s part:
– The first record was a bomb in your life, it immediately became your favourite record – for me it was Ramone’s debut album and Station To Station by David Bowie that was the best that year [1976]. It was like climbing inside a popcorn machine, you got completely thrilled. Really good songs and that distinctive sound, that incredible simplicity. It’s really home-made and spot-on, like a continuation of that three-chord pop you loved in the ’60s – like Wild Thing by The Troggs – and which the Ramones pulled further into absurdity, stuck in that amphetamine tempo and with this brutally incredible sound. I was completely knocked out by the amazing simplicity. It was so life-affirming – and so it felt like a giant stinking fart in the middle of Selling England By The Pound.
– I’d probably put Ramone’s first record second on my list of life-changing LPs. But the closest we in Gyllene Tider got to the Ramones was that we used them as references in the studio: “We need to get a little more Ramones over this song,” which meant a little more energy and the tempo going up. What I have taken with me is that pop music is damn fun. I read a book about Leonard Cohen, where he said that music must be fun, even if you write heavy lyrics.
– I understand that they didn’t leave behind their typical Ramones sound on the first records. Otherwise, it is incredibly common to want to do it. When artists find what is unique to themselves, they often want to leave it behind after a while, to move on to something new and unexpected. But then they often lose what is so special and usually it doesn’t turn out as well.
– The music was fantastic and band members as individuals were at least equally cool as The Rolling Stones in 1971 – which was a great image as a rock band. The Beatles were never as cool as the Stones was in 1971. And then came David Bowie, Marc Bolan and the New York Dolls – however, their image was much better than their music. But in Ramones’ case, it all worked out. Clear and distinct image and fantastic music. And all that nazi stuff people were saying at the time it was just nonsense, a rash of that time – as soon as you didn’t sing about the Pyramid of Cheops, people pulled their ears back. Ramones were so much ahead of their time in so many ways, a very modern band and even in Progg Sweden of the ’70s there was no place for it.
– No other bands had such a strong image as the result of the fact that they so consistently created such a complete and clear entirety. No one remembers what the Buzzcocks looked like, but everyone can see the Ramones in front of them. Not even their friends at CBGB, such as Blondie, Patti Smith Group and Television had such a distinct look… they pretty much looked like everyone else. But the Ramones created a visual brand, just like Bowie. The Sex Pistols followed, but the Ramones went much further than everyone else.
– I wonder if Blondie didn’t take a little influence from the Ramones for their third record Parallel Lines, which was their big breakthrough and where for the first time they have a unified band look with all the guys in the band in black suits, white shirts and ties and Debbie in white dress. After all, it helped them sell the Blondie concept.
– I only had the first and second LPs on Sire – I must have bought them on import. Glad To See You Go, Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment and Pinhead were favourites from Leave Home. Rocket To Russia I didn’t buy in autumn 1977 – I was probably completely engulfed by Low and Heroes by David Bowie, Marquee Moon by Television, L.A.M.F. by Johnny Thunder’s Heartbreakers, American Stars ‘n Bars by Neil Young and Little Queen by Heart at the time. At the end of the ’70s you listened to everything possible, it was one big blissful mess.
– You read Larm, Mats Olsson in Expressen and the English music magazines New Musical Express and Melody Maker. I don’t remember when I heard the record, but it felt like the Ramones were cool, because they didn’t just have nice fuzzy guitars – they wrote such awesome songs too. And that’s what I liked about the Sex Pistols’ first singles too – they were such good pop songs, like Ever Fallen In Love by the Buzzcocks, Gary Gilmore’s Eyes by The Adverts and New Rose by The Damned.
– In retrospect, you hear those surf and early ’60s influences in their music, so it’s only logical that they set out on California Sun. But you didn’t think about that at the time, it was just fun and you were completely happy listening to their music. I think it was Kjell Andersson at our record company EMI who thought that Gyllene Tider could do California Sun in Swedish and call it Tylö Sun, which of course could not be resisted. I had heard the song by both The Rivieras and Ramones. Covers weren’t so ugly in the ’70s, but felt like a good way to show where you came from. We did both SOS by ABBA and, of course, Skicka ett vykort, älskling, which was our version of Send Me A Postcard by Shocking Blue.
Find the book HERE or in Swedish book / music stores!
Listen to Per Gessle’s I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend – Tribute To The Ramones single HERE!
The title says whole Sweden’s diary, but it’s not only Swedes talking. There are also fans from around the world, coming from South America and Australia even.
Anders Roos started taking pictures already in connection with the “secret” album recording in Harplinge in June 2022 and Jan-Owe Wikström recorded the “diaries” from there and until the last chord sounded on Gyllene Tider’s eighth summer tour through Sweden, Norway and Finland.
