3.2 What is the Roxette story so far?
Description
This article is from the Roxette FAQ, by Colin Grace cmgrace@ozemail.com.au with numerous contributions by others.
3.2 What is the Roxette story so far?
In the late Eighties and early to mid Nineties, a bunch of catchy and
well-executed singles made the duo Roxette Sweden's most successful
musical import since Abba. Unlike Abba however, singer Marie
Fredriksson and songwriter, rhythm guitarist, and vocalist Per Gessle
specialized in guitar-oriented rock. Gessle had fronted a popular
Swedish band, Gyllene Tider, and Fredriksson had embarked on a solo
career before the two joined forces in the mid-Eighties. From the
start, they set their sights on the English-speaking market that is
essential to international stardom, writing and recording in English.
Their plan paid off in 1989, when Roxette's second album, 1988's "Look
Sharp!", made a big impact in the U.S, generating the #1 hit singles
"The Look" and "Listen to Your Heart", the #2 hit single "Dangerous",
and the #14 hit single "Dressed for Success". In 1990, Fredriksson and
Gessle again topped the singles charts with the ballad "It Must Have
Been Love", featured on the soundtrack to the film "Pretty Woman". The
following year, Roxette released their fourth album, "Joyride", which
spawned another #1 hit with the title track; another cut, "Fading Like
a Flower (Every Time You Leave)", went to #2 in the U.S. Also in 1991,
Roxette began their first worldwide tour, performing over 107 concerts
and attracting more than 1.6 million people from Europe, North and
South America, and Australia. During the tour, Roxette also produced 3
more international hit singles from the Joyride album, including the
power ballad hit, "Spending My Time".
Roxette finally ended their first worldwide tour in July, 1992, and
had indeed established themselves as one of the most popular bands in
the world. Many music magazines had Roxette as the No.2 band in
Europe, just behind U2. Hit singles and constant touring were the main
reason for Roxette's high popularity. During late 1992, Roxette
released their fourth album, "Tourism", which produced another 2 hit
singles, "How Do You Do!", and "Queen of Rain".
After 4 years of hit singles and constant promotion and touring,
Roxette were invited to perform at the prestigous MTV Unplugged in
January, 1993 at Stockholm, Sweden. The year, 1993, was a very
eventful one for Roxette, with Marie having her first baby, and Per
becoming married to Asa Nordin. However, Roxette spent the majority of
their time in the recording studios developing material for their
upcoming new album. During late 1993, Roxette again appeared in
another commercial movie soundtrack with the song "Almost Unreal", in
the movie "Super Mario Bros". Almost Unreal was a big hit for Roxette
especially in Europe, and it received much airplay around the world
despite the poor quality of the movie itself.
The year of 1994 will always be remembered for when Roxette changed
their complete style, both appearance-wise, and musically. Marie had
adopted a much shorter hairstyle, while Per had gone for the "natural"
long hair look. When Roxette released Crash! Boom! Bang! in
early-1994, critics were confused and even shocked on the overall
style of the album. They really didn't know where Roxette were going
anymore in terms of music, and consequently could not place them in
any one category of music type. Not surprisingly, critics fell short
in reviewing the album completely, and many presented previous beliefs
of Roxette in their reviews, which were obviously false. Crash! Boom!
Bang! will always be remembered as a musical success story,
artistic-wise, even though it did not sell as well as previous Roxette
albums.
Roxette began their second worldwide tour during mid-1994 to support
the Crash! Boom! Bang! album. They travelled to Europe, South Africa,
Australia, Asia, and South America. One of the highlights of the tour
was Roxette's live performance in China, in which they were the second
band ever to perform live in that country. The tour ended during
mid-1995, and it was overwhelmlingly more rock-oriented than the
previous Joyride tour.
As 1995 progressed, Roxette went into slightly different directions.
Per Gessle wrote and performed songs for the band called, "The Lonely
Boys", and also got together with his old band, Gyllene Tider. Marie
also did several performances with other artists. Roxette released
their Greatest Hits album in late-1995 titled "Don't Bore Us - Get To
The Chorus!", which contained 14 of their greatest hits and with an
additional 4 new songs including the hit singles "You Don't Understand
Me" and "June Afternoon". So far, the album has sold just over 4.5
million copies.
During 1996, Roxette's one and only release was the Spanish album,
"Baladas En Espanol". Throughout the year, Roxette were in continual
negotiations with their record company in the US, which had failed to
promote Roxette effectively. Per Gessle spent most of his time working
and performing with his band Gyllene Tider, while Marie Fredriksson
was busy recording her new solo album. During late-1996, the Greatest
Hits album re-entered the albums charts in many countries especially
in Australia in which it achieved top 10 status.
So far in 1997, there has been the release of "Baladas En Espanol" in
North America, and the release of the new Marie Fredriksson solo
album. Per Gessle has released his new single, "Do you wanna be my
baby?", which has topped the Swedish charts. The new Per Gessle album
titled, "The World According to Gessle", has been released in many
European countries.
Continue to:
My Books
