September the 22nd, 2002 - part one
This will probably provide some good laughs, especially for the British among you...
Me and a friend decided to make lists of favourite bands from the past.
Apparently, I'd already listed some in an online diary.
My taste has changed quite a bit, but as you'll see, a lot of music will probably stay with me forever.
Just thought it'd be interesting to see what's aged with me and what's hasn't.
I added the song I believe I liked the most with the artist/band at the time. I have thought hard and really tried not to let current favourites get in the way. The selection of videos is mostly based on what's available online.
So, here we go then. Back to 9.40 AM, September the 22nd, 2002, a Sunday.
Lived with my grandmother at the time, she passed away earlier this summer. This one's for her.
Hope you'll enjoy it (please leave a comment if you want to).
22 Pistepirkko - Birdy
Phew, off to a good start! These Finns are pretty unique and sympathetic. I still like them, but I don't listen a lot to the records really. "Birdy" is still as adorable as it was back then. It is a perfect pop song™, it really is.
60ft Dolls - Stay
I still have a soft spot for every band I've seen supporting Oasis... The size of the spot varies though! I still think this is a pretty good song, but if I'd pick a song with the Dolls today, it'd probably be "Pig valentine".
Ash - Petrol
They're obviously not a very interesting band fifteen years down the road. But look at this. Sixteen or seventeen years old, the lads. And don't forget to crank it up to the gigawatts.
The Auteurs - How I learned to love the bootboys
A big favourite with my first girlfriend, this. And so were a lot of the songs in this list. It's still good, but I've discovered that there's a lot more to Luke Haines than singing in a cool voice.
Autorock - Allt påminner om dig
The title translates "Everything reminds me of you", and I could have this played repeatedly for nearly an hour back then. Autorock (horrible band name, I know) were the band that followed after Hardy Nilsson's demise. Not as good, but still way better than no Janne Pettersson songwriting at all.
Bad Cash Quartet - This night or next
I used to be quite an avid fan of these boys, who were often accused of being ignorant upper-class brats (how original). This one's from their second album, with which they "made it big". Yeah, you can see for yourselves in the clip above, from Hultsfred festival two months before I wrote down that list. I was there.
The rock-ish ending of the song isn't on the record, but I didn't mind. But I remember being annoyed with Martin, the singer. I think I saw four concerts with them that summer, and he said "here's another song that goes straight to the heart" a couple of times too many.
You can kill the clip at 2.52 if you want (that's when you've just seen the beautiful Hammarby flag). Not that 21 year old Mattias thought "Heart attack" was a crap song, but it hasn't aged that well. Don't know if "This night or next" has either, but I remember crying through it so many times that I guess it's meant a lot to me.
Beagle - The things that we say
This Malmö band is forgotten by Wiki, and there wasn't much more than their hit song. I almost pity that picture of the sleeve, not only is it tiny, the resolution's from 1992.
The Bear Quartet - I don't wanna
BQ are fantastic inspiration and well worth checking out for anyone who doesn't want to compromise with whatever they want to do. Although I wouldn't say they're still the best band in the world... I think they've become a bit too stubborn over the last couple of years. This song is from a beautiful album called "My war" (2000), and it was strange to see this band on MTV (this was just before Alternative Nation became impossible to watch). I could go on and on about The Bear Quartet, but the club being named after one of their albums should really be enough to convince you to listen further. Yeah, and this song then.
Billy Bragg - The boy done good
Around this time, I began to realize that there was a way to get rid of my double-life. A coy indie boy wearing mascara and a football lad trying to act cool. Cheers for that (and a lot of other things), Billy.
The Bluetones - Bluetonic
Yeah, they opened for Oasis together with 60ft Dolls... eh. I still quite like this one.
Blur - To the end
Still wish they would have called it a day before it became too embarrassing. This one is still pretty good though.
bob hund - Allt på ett kort
The song is about childhood images stuck in the memory. This band has appealed less and less to me over the years. But I still go bonkers if I hear this one at a club! Don't think there's a video for it, here's a live version from 1996. This may be a tiny bit of revisionism, but I know this was one of my very favourite songs at the time.
Bright Eyes - If winter ends
Let's just say I'm glad my general mood is better now than six years ago.
Broder Daniel - No time for us
I have a theory. I believe this band is to some degree responsible for the amount of music created in Sweden since the last good album they made ("Broder Daniel forever", 1998). When the big hype suddenly struck, along with them having songs featured in the Lukas Moodysson film "Fucking Åmål" ("Show me love" abroad...), it somehow became a little bit more okay to be different. In nearly every school class by that time, there was this girl (or boy) who was an avid Broder Daniel fan adapting the singer's style.
Lots of black make-up, lots of online diaries quoting "I wear black on the outside, because black is how I feel on the inside", and - inevitably - lots of getting into their new favourite band's own influences (The Jesus & Mary Chain, Joy Division, The Stooges, The Smiths etc). I believe that the size of the indie (whatever that is) following in this country can partly be explained by the way a sizable number of people started to despise the mainstream scene, realizing that there's more out there.
I've never really gone public with this theory, so I'm a bit nervous, but there you go. Anyway, this is the last song on that album from '98. The quality if the clip isn't the best, it's from one of the last Broder Daniel gigs. And no, the singer's name isn't Daniel. It's Henrik. And he used to play this one on his own as an encore the last years the band existed. They managed to almost quit while they were ahead...
Bruce Springsteen - Born to run
This was long before I'd ever heard "Nebraska", of course. I even set up a gig with a boy named Nils, who called himself Highway Patrolman while making music, without giving it a chance.
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - Sheriff Fatman
I was surprised at first as I didn't think I knew about Carter USM back then, but soon I remembered how I put this on at an afterparty in the Nockeby area of Stockholm to impress some girl (how drunk was I?). Needless to say, I failed miserably. Carter aren't cool, and neither am I. But it was more that bloody Bomben hipster's fault than Carter's. You fat bastard.
The Clash - The call up
Before I moved in with my Granny, I used to live in this horrible summer house area in the south of Stockholm. No shop or anything during the winter. Impossible to get to after 1 PM, no matter what season you wanted to get home from somewhere (probably part reason why I ended up being too drunk at too many afterparties). Nothing nearby and some five kilometres to walk when the buses had stopped running.
However, the huge marine army base was always nearby. In the winter, when all the families from town had left the place, my only company on the bus were all these boys who were keen on becoming men. I used to sit and listen to this one, wishing I'd had resistance all over my face. I did heed the call up though - I'd just met a girl and I was sure two months behind bars would make her forget about me rather than impress her. Instead, I pleaded insanity.
The Confusions - Lovely
This band from Sundsvall is generally regarded as quite boring. They were probably big in Japan at some point. I don't know anyone who loves them. This song is nice though.
Covenant - Like tears in rain
Damn those girls, Covenant never did me any good.
The Cure - Push
I guess they were quite a big part of my life for a while, and I think I owned every record up until "Bloodflowers". I went to Roskilde in 2000, mostly to see The Cure. They were to play right after Saint Etienne. I was happy to hear rumours that the gig with Fat Bob and the others was delayed, as that meant I could spend more time trying to get eye contact with Sarah Cracknell.
When I headed back to the big stage, I was in a buzz. They'd played "He's on the phone" as an encore, Sarah had looked at me at least twice, and I was about to see The Cure. Well, I was wrong. Nine people had just died and the gig was cancelled. I finally got to see the band at Arvika a couple of months before I wrote this list. My mood wasn't the best - I'd managed to arrange a meeting with a girl (who had a Morrissey tattoo), but she wasn't too keen once we were there. It was far from a greatest hits show, no "Push" though.
Daddy Boastin' - Stor stark
This gentleman from St Vincent used to be a constant side kick with The Latin Kings, Sweden's best known hip hop group. "Stor stark" means "large glass of beer", and the song is anti-booze - Boastin' likes weed a lot better - he tells the story of a woman who drinks because she's lonely. Featuring his daughter in the chorus. Play the video but give your eyes a rest - it's far from the official video. I sometimes have to pick up my copy of the single just to prove to myself that the song actually exists.
David Bowie - Rock'n'roll suicide
"Bridge over troubled water" for the Broder Daniel kids. Nothing wrong with that.
Depeche Mode - But not tonight (extended remix)
Lots of memories involved here, better not try Youtube.
Dr Higgins - Kåkfararbrallor
This title would translate as "Old lag pants". I still regard Dr Higgins as one of the best bands in Sweden, and I had the pleasure to see them live several times. Four boys with analogue organs and drums, creating something that words can't describe. You can listen to a sample of the song "Alla har sina skäl", from their final release, here.Echobelly - I can't imagine the world without me
Not a band I listen to every day, week or even month nowadays. I was madly in love with Sonya Madan at the time, of course. It's still nice to come across an Echobelly 7" that I didn't already have. And watching this video makes me pretty happy.
Edson - Sunday, lovely Sunday
Me and my best friend's main objection to this band is that the songs are simply too perfect. There's not a lot there to surprise you, so it takes a very good tune for the cows to come home. There are a handful, and this is still one of them.
Eggstone - Birds in cages
Still one of the saddest songs I've ever heard. And "maybe it will rain tomorrow/maybe I'm insane tomorrow" brings even more pain as it's so tounge-in-cheek it hurts.
***
To be continued.
posted by Mattias | 8/11/2007 09:05:00 fm
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