More often than not, though, those quasi-parodies worked better than the real thing. The rousing, hyper-focused guitar pop of Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson sometimes came across as a loving parody of American studio rock, especially when you take into account the almost-gibberish lyrics. But Roxette’s music is outdated glorious. They didn’t leave much in the way of lasting impact For example, I’ve never seen an artist claim Roxette as an influence.
In the grand scheme of things, that’s damn unbelievable.Īs a pop chart in America, Roxette burned fast and bright.
But in that two-year period, Roxette amassed a total of four US #1’s – three more than fellow superstar Sweden ABBA. After all, it wasn’t that long Roxette’s period of American visibility really only lasted about two years. Maybe Roxette had nothing to do with the Hot 100, but once they got there, they stayed there longer than anyone logically thought possible. After that bit of luck, their mind-boggling nonsense stunner “The Look” somehow made it all the way to #1.
The Swedish duo exploded in the United States after an American exchange student brought their CD to his radio station in Minneapolis. Roxette had one of the best random-ass pop-chart origin stories of all time.
1 hit on the country's dance chart.In The Number Ones I review every number 1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the beginning of the chart, in 1958, and working through to the present. They went a little deconstructive with the song, releasing both a thumping dance mix and a gentler, acoustic take that got them a No. (It's also reportedly the first song to do so off the back of cassette single sales instead of vinyl 45s.) But in a way, this song might be one of the band's most enduring: more than 15 years later, the song reached the Top 10 again courtesy of a Belgian group called DHT. We really wanted to see how far we could take it." Indeed, it's not hard to hear the influence of late '80s power ballads by Heart, Aerosmith or Bon Jovi in the larger-than-life arrangement, blending plaintive keyboards with crashing drums and a dramatic key change for good measure.Īnd just how far did they take it? "Listen to Your Heart" gave Roxette another chart-topper on the Hot 100, reaching the summit the week ending Nov. "This is us trying to recreate that overblown American FM rock sound to the point where it almost becomes absurd. "The Big Bad Ballad," Gessle called it in the liner notes for a Roxette compilation.
0 kommentar(er)
