GERMANY - As part of their 50th birthday celebration, German radio station Antenne 1 in Baden-Württemberg let their listeners vote for the 50 biggest hits of all time.

  Roxette had two big hits in the Top 50. Somewhat surprisingly, “Milk & Toast & Honey” came in at #4 while “Listen To Your Heart” placed at #15.

• Music Centre (In German)
• Antenne 1’s Website (In German)

TEHRAN - Roxette track “Crash! Boom! Bang!” has been used as a background sound in an Iranian film “Shokaran” (English title “Hemlock”). The story of the film is about a man who is happy with his life and has a good family, but when he visits a friend in a hospital, he falls in love with a beautiful nurse.

  The song can be heard first in the nurse’s home during their first night together and another time in the middle of film during a rainy night scene.

  “Shokaran” is a very popular film in Iran and it has been praised for its directing, acting and music. “Crash! Boom! Bang!” is not on the film’s soundtrack album.

• “Shokaran” at irmovies.com

LAS VEGAS - Jonas Åkerlund’s feature film “Spun” premiered at the CineVegas Film Festival here last weekend with a Roxette song in the soundtrack.

  Before the movie started, a host introduced Jonas as the director. Turning to face the audience, and wearing a gray hat, it looked to this reporter as if Jonas had lost a lot of weight (perhaps the same diet Per has been on!).

  The movie included “Stupid,” as indicated in the end credits: Written by Gessle, performed by Roxette. However, it was not featured in a prominent position. “Stupid” was playing in the background during one of the scenes while the characters were driving, but you can hardly hear the music due to dialogue.

  There will be much comparision by movie critics between this movie and “Trainspotting,” because of similar themes and subject matter. The film had a very grainy look, similar to the “Salvation” video that was shot on Super 8 film. There are cameo appearances from porn stars, the lead singer of Judas Priest, and the lead singer of “Smashing Pumpkins.”

  “Spun” is expected to be released in movie theatres this fall.

The Pointer Sisters have been added to the roster of artists that will be performing, along with Roxette, at this year´s Nokia Night Of The Proms concerts in Belgium, Holland and Germany.

  The three sisters from California who began singing as little girls in their father’s church, will present their biggest hits accompained by the choir Fine Fleur and the orchestra IL Novecento under the direction of Robert Groslot.

  John “Music” Miles will be also be a part of the show once more. An additional act in Germany is Alphaville, while in The Netherlands and Belgium, Marco Borsato will entertain the audience.

STOCKHOLM - One of Sweden’s biggest radio stations conducted a poll amongst their listeners, to decide the Top 500 best songs ever. Coming in at the #1 position was “It Must Have Been Love” by Roxette.

  The radio station called Per and told him in person that he won. His “Sommartider,” written for Gyllene Tider, was also in the top 20. Read more…

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - “Kärlekens Guld” is the name that’s been given to a box set of remastered Marie Fredriksson albums that will be released by EMI Sweden (on the Capitol label) as early as June 10th. The name means “Love’s Gold” in English.

  The set, to be packaged in an attractive slip cover, will include her five original albums – remastered using state-of-the-art equipment – along with the live recording of the Stockholm “Äntligen” concert that was previously included as a bonus in the DVD package. Each of the five albums will include bonus tracks.

  Li Eriksson, who managed the project for EMI, said
“What we’ve done is basically taken care of Marie’s catalog, which obviously is a treasure, and remastered her solo albums. During this summer and fall they will be available in this box ’Kärlekens Guld’ and further down the line as separate albums.”

  “This procedure is not unusual at all,” Eriksson told TDR. “Most artist’s back-catalogue is being remastered to get the soundpicture updated. It’s something record companies
do to preserve their artist’s history.”

  In the spring of 2000, after a relatively long period of silence as a solo artist, Marie and EMI selected her biggest hits and released them on a compilation album called “Äntligen” (which means “Finally” in English). Eriksson says this album has now sold about 290,000 copies making it one of the best-selling albums in Sweden last year.

  “A big summer tour followed, and solidified Marie’s standing as the biggest Swedish female artist,” said Eriksson.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Click on the cover photo to see what the promo poster will look like. If you would like to have a hi-res file sent to you (so that you can print your own mini-poster), write to [email protected] The front of the actual slipcase cover will not include the thumbnails of the previous albums as shown here. Read more…

STOCKHOLM - EMI Svenska is planning to release a summer collection of songs that were released under the Parlophone label during the period 1979-1983. Among others, the album will feature hits from Marie Fredriksson and Gyllene Tider. A more detailed track listing is not yet available. The compilation album, titled “En plats i solen” (“A place in the sun”), will be released on the same day as Marie’s box set, June 10th.

RIO DE JANEIRO - “Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus” sold more than 500.000 copies in Brazil since its release. This number will apparently increase more, as EMI Brazil will be re-releasing the album with a new cover.

  While the track listing of the CD will remain the same, the new cover - all in red - will say “Roxette - Limited Edition.”

ST. PETERSBURG - “Milk and Toast and Honey” has returned to Russia’s most popular FM station’s Euro Hit Top-40. It was in the 26th position last week and it is #21 this week. The DJs say Roxette could enter the Top 10 soon - a YEAR after “Room Service” was released!

• EuropaPlus chart (Site is in Russian)

LAS VEGAS - The world premiere of Spun will take place on June 8th at the Palms Hotel and Casino during the CineVegas International Film Festival. Spun is directed by Jonas Akerlund and will feature a new recording of “Stupid” by Roxette.

  The story revolves around an unemployed man and methamphetamine user, who during a visit to his drug dealer, gets caught up with the drug’s maker, who proceeds to take him on a three-day adventure.

  The movie stars Patrick Fugit, Jason Schwartzman,
John Leguizamo, Mickey Rourke, Mena Suvari, Swedish actor Peter Stormare, Brittany Murphy, Deborah Harry, and Eric Roberts.

  Unlike “Pretty Woman,” which also featured a Roxette song, this film is not backed by a major film studio and is more of an “independent”-type release. It will, however, be distributed internationally.

  Per and Marie, who are both good friends with Jonas, will not be attending the premiere. The Roxette version of “Stupid” (previously recorded by just Per) is not expected to be released as a single.

• CineVegas Film Festival
• Spun