... comes around

Talking of coming full circle etc, if you check out the latest Swedish pop charts here on P3, amongst the Scissor Sisters and Justin Timberlake there's more than a dash of nostalgie-retro present.

Roxette are there, at #8. Remember "The Look", and its brilliant lyrics "na na na na na, she's got the look"?, They've been together for 20 years, peak about 1991 along with Marie's spiky hair. Now they're back with a top selling best-of album and a new hit single that's pretty ordinary, and doesn't even get stuck in my head, which is a bit of a sand trap for the hummable middle-of-the-road power chorus. If you are intersted the video can be seen here.

Way further down the list at #47 is Europe, them of the long hair and The Final Countdown. Their heyday was 20 years ago, but it seems the countdown is to be restarted. They got together again at the turn of the millenium in Stockholm to perform that song, and 500,000 people turned up (I told you they take the song seriously here. Only "Arrested Development" fans get the irony). If you are interested you can hear some of the new stuff at their myspace page here. Again, forgettable stuff.

According to a blog somewhere, when Europe were on tour and going through the town where Per Gessle from Roxette lives, they managed to track down his house and steal apples from his garden. Whoo hoo! It's not exactly a viking longboat raid but I guess they didn't want to put on a horned helmet and mess up their perms.

The #1 song at the moment is a bit of a power ballad by Martin Stenmarck. It's about a guy who leaves his previous life, shaves his head and starts boxing in 'fight clubs' to find himself. Or lose himself. Maybe both, I'm not sure. The sentiment is popular though - the song went straight to #1. This chorus has got stuck in my head, which is a bit dangerous as he is one of Sweden's Eurovision representatives from a couple of years back.

Martin Stenmarck - 7milakliv (seven mile steps, ie 'leaps and bounds')


What do I actually like in the charts? Mando Diao, and the song Long Before Rock and Roll.

You can hear other snippets through their website http://www.mando-diao.com/

Bo Kaspers Orchestra have been around a while, having a bit of a jazzy dance-band sound. This song Samma Bil (the same car) was a big summer hit, and is a cruisy song that I quite like. Your best bet is to listen to it through P3, but otherwise someone has posted a videoclip of their drooling baby, with Samma Bil as the soundtrack.

Melody Club - Destiny Calling is another good singalong track, which reminds of plenty of other songs, but none of it specific enough to mention. Watch the clip, and let me know what it all reminds you of.

Lisa Miskovsky - Mary
I can't remember if I wrote about her before, but in addition to being a popstar she was a member of the Swedish national snowboarding team. The song Mary has been on the radio alot over the summer, and the lyric "Mary, Mary, I can't get you out of my head" sums it up. It straddles the line between annoying and likeable.
The live acoustic version though is quite nice


Darin - Perfect
This song is far from it. He is a runner up from Swedish Idol and got a recording contract anyway. Now I have had the pleasure of watching a whole episode of Swedish Idol, and believe me when I say it is woeful. At least on the Aussie versions I've seen there has been at least one person with obvious singing talent. Not here.

I thought this song was an over-produced bit of rubbish pop, but a little bit catchy. Then I saw this live clip, and the littlest shred of credibility died. His hair seems to be more important than anything else, so now I just find it all annoying.

Other stuff I don't like in the hitlist are Poodles, a 'hard' rock band, and Orup, whose song I've only heard once but it didn't grab me.