As one of the journalistic highlights of the century, Per Gessle tells Aftonbladet that “horses are not his thing.”

  “I have ridden a horse once. It was when I turned 30 and I had wished horseback riding as a present,” Per tells Aftonbladet’s horse sport reporter. “It didn’t go too well. I rode around the school’s indoor arena and the horse became so bored that it went back to stables and didn’t want to come out anymore.”

• Aftonbladet article (in Swedish)

EVA Records, the company behind the popular Nordic compilation series “Absolute Music”, will release an album called “Grammis 2005”. All the artists on the double-CD will donate their royalties and all the profits from the CD, except the VAT, will be donated to the Red Cross, Save the Children and other help organizations in order to help the victims of the tsunami in Asia.

  Gyllene Tider is one of the artists that have a song on the CD; “En sten vid en sjö i en skog”. The CD will be released January 21 and will cost 125 kronor (€14). EVA hopes that they will get 4 million kronor (€444,000) to give to the Red Cross before the Grammis awards February 7.

• CDON
• Red Cross (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Gyllene Tider was nominated in three categories in Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet’s prestigious award Rockbjörnen. Gyllene Tider received two, namely Best Group and Best Album! “It’s like scoring in the World Championships!” Per says happily.

  Neither Per nor Marie received a personal bear this time.

  The awards show was held at Cirkus in Stockholm, at 20:00 CET. Highlights will be shown on ZTV Jan 18 and again on TV3 Jan 23.

• The Winners

NEW YORK - In an article about about “10 fantastic items uncovered,” the editors of Instinct magazine (a gay magazine with the largest circulation in the United States) have chosen to feature Marie’s new album. “Look what we found in the import bins this month,” they write on page 19 of their current (January) issue. Along with an image of the cover art, here’s what they had to say:

Album: Marie Fredriksson, The Change (MaryJane Music)

You might be asking who Marie Fredriksson is and why we care? She’s actually the female half of Roxette (you know, “that Swedish band from the early ’90s”). Pull the curtains back and you’ll find that Roxette is still very much alive, yet on hiatus due to Marie’s battle with cancer. Since her victory over the disease and the removal of a brain tumor, she has released her first solo international album in English. Getting back to her roots in blues, R&B and even gospel, the album has been the therapy she’s needed for her fight. Marie delivers each song with the strength, the anger and the pure lust for life she has gained from her recovery.” —Steve Espinosa

Order The Change from www. skivhugget.com.

The other import item mentioned is Kylie Minogue’s new single, “I Believe In You.”

STOCKHOLM - As reported previously, the third single from “Finn 5 Fel!” will be “Jag borde förstås vetat bättre.” Now we can report that the release date for the single will be February 2 and also show you the cover artwork.

  Note “the little tyke in yellow”…



The tracklist is still:

1. Jag borde förstås vetat bättre

2. Speciell (T&A demo)

3. Tuffa Tider (T&A demo)

STOCKHOLM - Aftonbladet interviewed Per Gessle about the upcoming Rockbjörnen award show (Sunday). Per has received 11 bears over the years but only recently realized he only had five at his office. “So I special ordered six new ones from Aftonbladet for 5,000 kronor (€550) a piece!” Per says. The bear family resides in his office in Stockholm. Per loves the Rockbjörn, he feels this is the highest praise you can get.

  Gyllene Tider received the first Rockbjörn in 1982. “What?!” Per exclaims. “We didn’t get one until 1982? That’s outrageous, 1981 was our big year!” Per tells Aftonbladet that when they got a Rockbjörn 1982 for “Sommartider” and “Puls” he felt that they were down on their luck, so it was nice to be encouraged. “Roxette’s one in 1988 is nice too, that was before our real break through. And all of the ’Mazarin’ hoopla, a total jackpot! Those bears I value!”

  On the question whom he would give the Rockbjörnen he says that for Male Artist of the Year and Record of the Year he would give the award to Alf Robertsson for his album “Augustibrev”. Regarding Female Artist of the Year Per would give the award to Marie Fredriksson (“I love her new album”) and as Newcomer of the Year he would present the Rockbjörnen to Anna Ternheim.

  The Rockbjörnen is held on Sunday Jan 16, 20:00 CET at Circus in Stockholm. A summary will be shown on ZTV Jan 18.

• Aftonbladet’s story (In Swedish)

The Man, the Myth, the Concept.

  “I dag är det min födelsedag…” (“Today it’s my birthday…”) Per sang on “Mazarin” and while the song wasn’t written in January, it’s his birthday 46th today. The Daily Roxette hereby extends its wishes of a great one, from the staff and all the fans!

  Per also has promised The Daily Roxette a new project in 2005, so we await that eagerly. Is it going to be a new solo album? We’ll see!

STOCKHOLM - Aftonbladet reports today IFPI’s chart of the most sold albums in 2004 and Gyllene Tider is at #1! Twenty years after they heydays the Boys are still the best. In spite of their success they “only” get to #6 on the most sold singles chart. “I have to pinch myself to believe this,” Per Gessle says.

  Next for Gyllene Tider is Aftonbladet’s award, Rockbjörnen, Jan 16. “We’ll be there, we are nominated in several categories,” Gessle states and laughs. Aftonbladet asks the natural question if Gyllene Tider will come back. Per replies “Well, a precondition that a thing like this will work is that you don’t overdo it. Right now I just want to hide so the public won’t barf on me! (laughs)”

  Interestingly enough “Mazarin” is at #16 a year after it’s been released.




Most sold albums 2004:

1. “Finn 5 fel! - Gyllene Tider

2. “Eurovision Song Contest 2004” [Swedish] - Various

3. “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” - U2

4. “Vatten under broarna” - Lars Winnerbäck

5. “Feels Like Home” - Norah Jones



and



15. “GT25 - Samtliga hits!” - Gyllene Tider

16. “Mazarin” - Per Gessle



  The charts show how many records the record companies have sold to the dealers, not how many records that have been sold to end customers.

  Helene2000 contributed to this article.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Last year Per Gessle’s hit song “Här kommer alla känslorna” was the most successful song in one of Sweden’s popular radio charts, Svensktoppen. “Här kommer alla känslorna” reached top 15 even in 2004, at #14.


  It’s not enough that one song is in the list for the second year in a row, Per has another two songs in the top 10 - “Tuffa Tider” (with Gyllene Tider) at #7 and “Tycker om när du tar på mej” at #3.


  Even if the two first spots on the list is held by two of Sweden’s other Billboard #1:s; Björn Skifs (Blue Swede) and ex ABBA member Benny Andersson (BAO), Per Gessle is the real winner with three songs in the top 15.

• SR P4 (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM - Swedish TV4 aired a 45-minute Gyllene Tider documentary last week. The documentary seemed more like a preview of a longer documentary which is expected to be released on DVD later this month. Basically nothing new was mentioned in it, so the hopes for the DVD are now higher.

  Of the 45 minutes, about half was from the live DVD released last fall. A TV critic wrote in Aftonbladet that “…TV4 should be ashamed of themselves airing a one hour commercial for Gyllene Tider.” Be that as it may, it was a decent documentary, with all that should be there - fans, friends, parents and old teachers talking about the Boys. It could’ve been a tad more interesting from a fan’s point of view, however. It was clear that this documentary was aimed to the “common man,” since the basic story of the program was “this is Gyllene Tider, they have toured this year, and it was all huge.”