Santi said on October 18, 2002 15:43:

It’s supposed they broke through thanks to an American student living in Sweden on an exchange. He bought a record of The Look and back home (Minessota, I think :o) took it to a radio station, where they played it as a “exotic song” and everyone loved them. The “Roxette-The Look” phenomenon extended over The States and in a kind of boomerang effect reached Europe :D
Everyone loved them and they sold around 8 milion LPs (because no-one bought CDs at that time) worldwide.
I read on the internet that Per said this story is partially true, because when this man did that (back in 1989) The Look was being played in some radio stations in LA. But this story is more original and they decided to keep it anyway.

Santi said on October 18, 2002 15:51:

They both were superstars in their home country years before they were Roxette. Marie Fredriksson solo (Ännu Doftar Kärlek was her first single) and Per in a band called Gyllene Tider (Golden Times). Per’s band first single was “Himmel no. 7” (Heaven number 7) but it was the B-side called “Flickorna på TV2” that got to the number 1 on the charts and stayed there for 16 weeks I think!!

LittleSpooky said on October 19, 2002 06:25:

hrm... and here I stuck with Star Trek and “Treknobabble” and received an A+ on my English paper. *shrugs*

The subject was to find a sort of “sub-culture” and listen to how they talk. For example: surfers, skateboarders, bladers (rollerblades), Trekkers (Trekkies) and so on down the line.

zaine said on October 19, 2002 10:11:

@ animal kingdom. KIX?

it’s long but here’s how it’s going so far...
Open with joyride from ‘tourism’ (15) Play song. speak over. This is probably Roxette’s most well known song. Produced in the early 90’s it sparked off a lot with the fans and band. It’s called Joyride and has some unusual lyrics in! In a recent documentary ‘really roxette‘ they both noted how neither of them had really had a chance to enjoy much of anything after joyride took off and it hurt their friendship. They both say they miss the friendship they had before they became internationally successful and are taking time to ‘rediscover’ what life is. Marie didn’t invite Per to her wedding (around 1995) so they had obviously been strongly effected by fame. When asked why he didn’t go to Marie’s wedding, Per said: “Because I wasn’t invited.” Recently however, Marie had a brain tumour removed and the two seem to have become closer than ever. Per said that he regards Marie as a sister so it can’t all be bad. Stop c.d.

Here comes the weekend ‘tourism’ (11). Speak over. This track was recorded while on tour in Argentina but has a slight difference to it. It was recorded in a hotel room with a suitcase as drums! It is called here comes the weekend. Roxette are: Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. Marie was born in May 1958 and Per was born 1 year later in 1959. They were both born and brought up in Sweden. Roxette were Sweden’s first pop export of the 90s and enjoyed international success thanks to a highly commercial combination of a striking image and catchy pop/rock melodies. Per became a solo artist in the early 80s and was “discovered’ by former Abba manager Thomas Johannson. Meanwhile Marie had released three popular solo albums. Johannson teamed them up in 1985 and they became Roxette. Recording at Per’s studio in Halmstad, the band released their debut set the following year. Stop c.d.

Heart shaped sea ‘tourism’ (4). Not all of their songs were recorded in this style. They suited many different types of people. Per wrote the songs and lyrics for nearly all of their songs and was naturally into the rock style. But he did vary his music a lot. Most songs were love songs, even the heavier styles, but it might not have been apparant. This song is called ‘Heart shaped sea’ and is quite typical of some of their ballad style songs. In many of their songs they could touch the deepest feelings of a listener by singing about quite personal situations that most people can relate to. stop c.d. change to ‘crash!boom!bang! (1). However, they also managed to suit the more rocky type of person from that time by producing songs like this one. It is called ‘Harley’s and Indians‘ and is perhaps one of their more pointless songs singing about harley bikes, red Indians and Elvis! Play until end.
I think Per has an amazing singing voice as he can capture the mood of all feelings. His voice was so unique at the time which helped to sell their records. The reason I like this band is because it is what I was brought up on. My dad used to love Roxette and play it constantly whether in the car, at home or at work! At the time I was too young to appreciate the lyrics or even the style but recently I have. They have such a unique sound and image that I was drawn back into it! Each song is so different from the next and includes such a wide variety of feelings and thoughts that unless you are into a completely different style of music, it could be hard to resist!!! I was never really into heavy rock, which is why I think I enjoy this. Their feel-good, chill-out style was more me, and there is not a depressing lyric in any of their albums!
A lot of their lyrics give away the fact that they are Swedish! They include some of the strangest phrases and ideas that only the Swede’s could think of. Things such as
“I hit the coast with the faith of a preacherman,
I saw a ghost with a face of a madman,
I had this dream I was sleeping at the royal ball,
I hit the streets, hey watch me in the monitor!
I saw a clone who looked just like a senator,
I checked the clock, I felt that it was time to go go go.

*dont comment on how its all tourism, i just think this shows the best variety. Any ideas???*

zaine said on October 19, 2002 18:20:

changed it a bit. I’m not going to paste it in again but please visit http://www.expage.com/zaineschoolproject to view it and tell me what you think. Remember it can only last 3mins and I will apologise now for the ammount of pop-up windows. :)

royalball said on October 19, 2002 22:21:

Sounds like a cool project! I would write how Roxette was turned down in America and by accident made it to number one with “the look.”

Perhaps even more interesting...something like...Did you know “it must have been love” is actually a Christmas song? Something America didn’t even realize. Anyways, Good luck!

JoyRidErno said on October 20, 2002 10:53:

Aah. Many of us have done some kind of essay/speech about Roxette.
I made my history-essay(tutkielma) about Roxette and got only 8 of 10. It was because I ran out of time:( (About 20 pages of text.) Many of my English essays have touched Roxette. When I wrote about RS-tour, I got 88 points and the teacher wrote comment: someting like “Your love is seen every line. | Tunteen palo näkyy joka riviltä. tjsp.”. Roxette is a great subject!:D

zaine said on October 21, 2002 15:40:

im just thinking that it might be a bit boring for some-one who isn’t into roxette. Every one else in my class is into stuff like blink 1-8-2 and im thinking they’re gonna think this is dum...

sweet_stalker57 said on October 22, 2002 04:28:

ahhh 15 the perfect age to quit school and never look back!!!!!! it worked for me! :)

zaine said on October 23, 2002 19:16:

left the wrong address. http://www.expage.com/zaineschoolwork
Please tell me what you think. my speech is tomorrow and I need to know the funniest lyrics they ever sang. wish my luck!!!

zaine said on October 27, 2002 15:16:

yeah! I got an A* and my teacher recommends I become a music journalist as i managed to convince loads of my mates that roxette rox!

zaine said on October 28, 2002 14:26:

lol, that would have been the best! oh well. I used Crashing guitars instead!!!