ST. PETERSBURG - “Milk and Toast and Honey” was selected as the as the best song of the year by Europa Plus Radio in Russia. In addition, “Real Sugar” placed at #6 and “The Centre of the Heart” at #32.

  Back on November 7ths, just before the show in Moscow, Per gave an interview to this radio network. Per’s answers are available online in MPEG video format.

  Part One Staying in Moscow; Applying the term ’radio-friendly’ to Roxette music; The American music market.

  Part Two Favorite countries to tour; Tour dates for Russia and Revolutionary holidays; Per reading IDs in Russian; Per signing ’Room Service’ CDs.

  Europa Plus’ Roman Ungurianu’s photos are also available for viewing. Once the page loads, click on the individual pictures to see them enlarged. First Set Second Set Third Set

Our thanks to Andrei Palamartchouk of Europa Plus for providing these links to TDR. Photo of Per on stage in Moscow by R. Ungurianu.

• EuropaPlus “Top 100” (All links in Russian)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - The British High Court of Justice will decide whether or not Roxette’s 1994 hit “Sleeping In My Car” is plagiarism. Swedish songwriter Stephan Malmstedt living in London says that SIMC is a copy of his song “Jenny and I” which was sent to EMI on a demo cassette. Niklas Strömstedt, Per’s close friend, also received a copy of the cassette”.

  Malmstedt started his fight against Per and EMI in 1994, but the Swedish court decided not to prosecute. The decision from the British court is expected in October 2002.

  “I’m not fighting for the money,” Malmstedt said to Svenska Dagbladet’s reporter. “I’m fighting for justice.”

  Update: In Aftonbladet’s report about the case, they reveal that Per’s lawyers have tried to stop the legal process because Malmstedt has not complied with the court’s order to pay 1,850 British pounds (3,033 euros) after an unsuccessful trial in which Malmstedt tried to stop distribution of “Sleeping In My Car”. However, this was not deemed a reason big enough to stop the process. Aftonbladet also listed other cases where Per has been accused of plagiarism: “Listen To Your Heart” and “What About Love” by Heart, “The Look” and “U Got The Look” by Prince, and “Dressed For Success” and “Wild Thing” by Troggs.

  It also seems that Stephan Malmstedt has appeared on at least two records with Per and Marie: “Radio Parlophone - andra sändningen” (Malmstedt performed “It’s Gonna Take A Long Time” with Marie on backing vocals, also included songs by Gyllene Tider and Per Gessle) and “Hi Fidelity” (Malmstedt with “The Red Light”, included songs by Gyllene Tider and Marie), both released in 1983.

  Mari, Tia, Darya and Laura contributed to this article.

• Svenska Dagbladet article
• Aftonbladet article
• Malmstedt’s “Jenny and I” song (Real Player)

LONDON - Commentary by Per and Marie is included in a documentary about the members of ABBA produced for BBC radio in the U.K.

  The program attempts to reveal the secrets of the Benny Anderson and Björn Ulvaeus songwriting partnership, one of the most successful in the history of pop. While various ABBA releases still sell around 3,000 copies worldwide per day, Benny and Björn have gone on to write for the stage. “Mamma Mia!”, a musical based around ABBA songs, is a current smash hit in London, Toronto, and New York.

  The program airs on BBC Radio 2 beginning on Tuesday, January 8th.

• BBC Radio’s Program Notes

STOCKHOLM - After counting more than 86,600 votes, the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet has announced that Roxette are finalists in the category “Year’s Swedish Group.” Voting now continues to determine who will be announced as the winner at this year’s Rock Bear gala.

The nominees:

Bad Cash Quartet – Romantic pop novelty band from Gothenburg; Bo Kasper’s Orkester – 10-year-anniversary-celebrating, Bossa Nova-scented northerners; Fattaru – Four guys who rap hard as dogs; Lambretta – Quintet who got help from Max Martin and ended up high on the “Tracks” list; and
Roxette – Veterans who have already won six Rock Bears.

• Aftonbladet’s Rock Bear Awards (in Swedish)

NEW YORK - Billboard columnist Fred Bronson has placed Roxette on his year-ending Best of the Year Top Ten list. Bronson, an admitted fan of Roxette and other Scandinavian pop music acts, ranked Roxette’s “Room Service” as his #7 album of 2001.

  Also placing on Bronson’s year-end chart was ABBA at #4, Danish group the Olsen Brothers “Walk Right Back” at #8.

  What topped Bronson’s list? Roxette’s EMI Sweden labelmates Standfast’s self-titled album.

• Billboard Magazine staff top 10 lists

In an exclusive interview by roxettenews.com, published by the Official Roxette Fanclub, Per reveals that Roxette is going to re-record “Stupid” for a forthcoming movie, directed by Jonas Åkerlund. The song was previously released on Per’s solo album “The World According To Gessle”.

  The director of the movie, Jonas Åkerlund, has directed several Roxette videos. He has also worked as an art director for both the “Room Service” tour and the album.

  In an interview by Hallandsposten, Halmstad’s local newspaper, Per says he would love work with his old band Gyllene Tider again. “It’s been a long time since I recorded anything in Swedish so I have had time to gather some Swedish songs. A lot of them, actually. I don’t know if they’re most suitable for a solo project or Gyllene Tider as they’re rather mature pop, a little like “Kung av sand”,” says Per.

• roxettenews.com
• Hallandsposten article

STOCKHOLM - As previousy reported here on TDR, Per chatted with fans this Friday on Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet’s website. A lot of people were there, asking interesting questions.

  Among the funny ones, someone asked if Per had already bought any Christmas presents, and he said that he had bought “Absolute Music” compliations for his relatives! He also revealed that sushi and Italian food were his favourites, and that he doesn’t like when there are journalists in front of his house.

  He also told us that Gabriel always leaves the arena after they’ve played “Real Sugar” and that he has no plans to write a book about his life.

  Per, at the end, said he was going to the soundcheck, and thanked the participants for the “intelligent questions”.

Click “More” to read the entire chat (translation is just about complete now — check back one more time): Read more…

KARLSTAD - According to Hallandsposten, three Argentinean Roxette fans were caught by the police after walking on a motorway in the middle of the night, outside Karlstad, Sweden. With a small map in their hands, they were heading for the icehall in Karlstad where Roxette were going to have their concert - almost 24 hours later.

  “We wanted to be the first,” Maximiliano Alfaso said to the local newspaper Värmlands Folkblad.

  He and two other fans from Argentina had paid 900 USD to travel to Europe and see Roxette live. “We’re crazy,” said one of the fans, Lionel Zaragocin, with a big smile.

• Hallandsposten article

Following the success of “The Centre Of The Heart” and also the somewhat constant radio airplay of “Real Sugar” in most countries in Europe, “Milk And Toast And Honey” is getting fantastic airplay on some German radio stations. It has been #1 on some of their airplay lists for more than two weeks.

  Per has mentioned many times that “after a pop tune there is alway a power ballad…” and M&T&H comes close to being that. It’s definitely a “Roxette song” and people are loving it.

  The single is also on the top 100 singles charts at #59 and the “Room Service” album is climbing the chart again slowly. In this reporter’s opinion, this means that having a hit doesn’t truly mean that the song has to sell a lot but at least be recognized and appreciated when played on the radio and that is what is now happening to Roxette.

  Also, in Portugal, the ballad is now getting airplay due to its apparence on the soap opera “Um Anjo caiu do ceu” produced in Brazil. Hopefully, it will become huge there as happens many times with soap opera soundtracks. Interestingly, the three singles from “Room Service” are now simultaneoulsy getting airplay on radio stations in Portugal - quite an unusual situation.

An organization of Swedish record companies, GLF, together with TV channels TV3 and ZTV, is organizing a new music awards show. Swedish Hit Music Awards, as it’s called, will be hosted live at Scandinavium in Gothenburg on November 11th. The nominees have been chosen based only on their record sales. Roxette has been nominated for the “best Swedish group” category.

  The winner in Roxette’s category “will be chosen by record buyers,” reports Expressen. However, there are no further details on how votes can be casted. Expressen also notes that the winners will receive golden moose-shaped statues, designed by Ernst Billgren.

• Expressen article