Roxette Back In the U.S.A.
Written by administrator on June 2, 2000 to Misc.
Former chart-toppers try to rebuild U.S. following
By Michael Ansaldo
Rolling Stone
“When the greatest hits album came out in Europe in ’95, we decided not to have it released in America because we didn’t really have any communication at all with EMI,” says Roxette guitarist/vocalist Per Gessle. “So we just decided to hold it back and see what happened.”
What happened was that Roxette faded from America’s public consciousness. The Swedish duo — Per Gessle and vocalist Marie Fredriksson — fulfilled their dream of cracking the English-speaking market when “The Look” from their second album, Look Sharp, went to No. 1 in the U.S. Like their countrymen ABBA before them, Roxette plied their pop on image and shameless radio-ready hooks, scoring three more chart-toppers with “Listen To Your Heart”, “It Must Have Been Love”, and “Joyride”. But by 1992, executive turnaround at EMI America had strained communication between the band and the label, and the hits stopped coming. By the 1995 release of the greatest hits compilation, Don’t Bore Us, Get To The Chorus, the duo had decided to cut thier losses and focus thier attention on the rest of the world.
As a precursor to Roxette’s attempt to regain a foothold in the States, Edel America Records will finally be issuing Don’t Bore Us… in September. The revamped track lineup will still feature the No. 1 hits, as well as Top 5-ers like “Dangerous” and “Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)” but will add a couple of tracks from last year’s Have A Nice Day, an album that wasn’t released in America. And with the band currently working on an album slated for early 2001 release, a stateside sojourn seems imminent.
“Hopefully [we’ll tour America] next year, but furst of all we have to work with pomotion in America and really show the Americans that we are back and that we never quit,” says Fredriksson. “It’s really important to show our fans — if there are any still [laughs] — that we are here for them.”
Other articles with the same topic
- Roxette interview from the rehearsals (February 18, 2011)
- Ask Per a great question (February 7, 2011)
- Rock Band 3 features Roxette (September 8, 2010)
- Dolph Lundgren mentions Per in UK interview (August 22, 2010)
- Record "The Look" and win $5,000 shopping spree (August 11, 2010)
15 comments
ditroia said on June 4, 2000 18:55:
Man, I am australian and I want roxette to be successfull in the states again, as much as any maerican. Mostly because if roxette is successfull in the U.S.EMI Uastralia will wake up and promote them more, also it will be easier to promote them because there will be more roxette media available.
You would have to be a fool not to know that the U.S. Is one the world most important markets, especially for english speaking markets like Australian, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the UK and Ireland. I bleive DBU-2000 will be a huge success.
steven said on June 4, 2000 20:48:
Surely, the best thing to come out of the new American deal is that our fellow Rox fans there can finally hear their favourite band? Anyway, what HAND tracks do you all think will make it to the new compilation? If it’s five, I hope they will be: Crush On You, Wish I Could Fly, Anyone, Stars and Salvation.
tevensso (moderator) said on June 4, 2000 22:33:
So far as I know, there will be 2 new tracks on the album -
Wish I Could Fly - the first single, and then Stars. Who knows, this may change. I’d not go
with Stars myself, but that’s me.
mycrowave said on June 4, 2000 00:08:
I think that the simple fact that there was an article on Rolling Stone proves that the American media is still quite aware that Roxette are still alive. Hopefully they will be making good reviews when DBUGTTC gets released in the USA. And we can’t forget that being successful in the States means having even more success around the world. That’s how it all started! Will our friendly duo sell 11 million copies again? :)