What ever happened to those goofy Swedish bastards?

Come on, scoff if you will but they had hit after hit for a while there. "The Look", ""Fading Like A Flower", "Joyride", of course "It Must Have Been Love" and more. Then, all of the sudden, they couldn't sell toilet paper at a diarrhea convention. What is up with that?

I liked them. Goofy male singer with a penchant for colored sunglasses and an unrealistic desire to sound funky that was, alas, never achieved. Icy hot female lead whose overemotion makes Celine Dion sound like "lowtalker" from Seinfeld.

Liked them, hell, I loved them. What happened?

paging Moonbeam.

i liked them too. "listen to your heart" and "Spending my time" are like really great songs

the cardigans are swedish and poppy and far more interesting and good-looking. as surrogates for roxette go, you could do far worse.

I liked them for some reason

Anxiety said:

I shall include them in a thread entitled "Brink Back Bands From Sweden Named After Jackets That Had Exactly One Hit"

GottaLetitgo said:

hit, schmit. their "life" album (pre-hit) is fantastic, and their latest album is gorgeous. they're a perfect example of a mainstream-sounding pop band that has actually EVOLVED over the years, and nina's vocals are pure sugar icing.

and who CARES what their name is? they could be called the poopstained pannies and i'd still love 'em.

Marie got cancer and hasn't recovered yet. Per is doing solo gigs for benefit concerts and such. Both have released solo albums, whilst the two last Roxette records (don't remember when they were released exactly, though) weren't big hits even in continental Europe.

The truth is, Per Gessle was one of the most important pop songs tunesmiths of the 90s, maybe ever. I'm not sure if that's a positive thing or not.

I was listening to Joyride the other day, it's kid of dated. But Dressed For Success was wicked. I loved everything they did back then. A more talented Transvision Vamp

Their song "The Big L" always gives me a boner

I don't know what it is since I don't even like
the song. It must be something in the chords or
something that just hits a subconscious note in
my brain which in turn gives the signal for ehm
well, an erection

there was a track they did called "Silver Blue" that used to be in Jukeboxes and was real good, but I never saw it on any albums. They were a great band.

I love this band. They have produced timeless songs and albums (yes albums!). A cover of "Listen to Your Heart" currently resides in the top 10 in the US.

I would rank their breakout album Look Sharp! and the overlooked Have a Nice Day as classics.



Joyride and Crash! Boom! Bang! aren't too far behind. Heck, even Tourism and Room Service have their charm!

They recently released two best of compilations:

The Ballad Hits contains most of their hit ballads plus some new winners.



The Pop Hits contains most of their uptempo hits plus some new winners including the wonderful "Opportunity Nox".

That is exactly the problem. They have matured. Not a bad thing, indeed.

I appreciate the 'pop-genius' level of Per Gessle. They wrote some pretty good songs.

Anxiety said:

They are my least favorite Scandinavian export.

Moonbeam said:

ouch!

see, i think that's really weird. i think their music is incredibly versatile and playful, and the songwriting is a great balance of introspective/dark and giddy fun. and did i mention nina's voice is gorgeous?

Anxiety said:

I'll admit my knowledge of their catalog is limited due to my distaste for what I have heard, but I can't stand that chick's voice!

Moonbeam said:

'Erase/Rewind'.

Moonbeam said:

if all you've heard is the album with "lovefool" and/or the following album, "gran turismo", i can't say i blame you, though i don't mind their "last band on the moon" album...it's just that one album was crafted to be their mainstream "break out" album, and the following record feels like a way of anticipating a backlash. in other words, they kinda tried too hard (in my opinion, anyway), but their first two records - "life" and "emmerdale", are nothing short of wonderful, and their latest album is a fantastic departure into what could almost be considered alt.country (think shelby lynne or even a bit of k.d. lang). on the surface they have a pop sensibility, but underneath, their songwriting is so much more than that.

Moonbeam said:

I think your beloved Annie sounds an awful lot like her at times.

IstenSzek said:

Is that what the "L" stands for in that song? Lars?

TRON said:

it might god, I hate that song. it's like a
kind of involuntary viagra when I'm in a store
and that song comes up I have to run for cover

thank god it comes up only about 1 time a year

IstenSzek said:

You're killing me here!

Oh yeah! They had some awesome songs during the 80s. It seems like they just faded away. What happened to that Hit Me Baby One More Time show on NBC? They should be on there!

dreamfactory313 said:

Maybe they'll make a Kylie comeback.

TRON said:

We should be so lucky.

dreamfactory313 said:

Please no do not bring back Roxette. :vomit:

Anxiety said:

Anything with country in it has been a 4-letter word for me. I can appreciate some of its perspective and worth, but it just isn't for me.

I haven't heard their first 2 albums, so maybe my perception is just a figment of their mainstream canon.
[Edited 8/17/05 14:07pm]

Moonbeam said:

or that one song.