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Punk rock and hardcore punk have created a punk subculture in Sweden since punk music became popular in the 1970s. [1] [2] Punk came to Sweden in the spring of 1977; the event credited as the beginning of the punk movement in Sweden was a one-day festival lined up with Sex Pistols, The Clash, Ramones, and Television. [3]
The most famous Swedish punk band was Ebba Grön, [4] followed by KSMB; other notable bands were Asta Kask, Kriminella Gitarrer, Tant Strul, Pink champagne, The Pain and Göteborg Sound. [5] In the 1980s hardcore punk, kängpunk and raw punk became popular in Sweden. The two most influential bands are Mob 47 and Anti Cimex, whose music has also inspired many foreign bands. [3] Some other examples of influential bands are Moderat Likvidation, Black Uniforms, Totalitär, Headcleaners, Homy Hogs and Avskum.
There is also a Swedish subgenre called trallpunk , with its roots in '80s melodic punkbands and raw punk bands like Asta Kask, Total Egon, Strebers, Charta 77, Puke, Rolands Gosskör and Sötlimpa, etc. Many of these early trallpunk bands had a powerful folk music undertone and a style of music with catchy melodies, fast drum speed and narrative texts, often left-wing political lyrics, and unlike the more aggressive hardcore punk, straight to the point lyrics. Notable trallpunk bands include De lyckliga kompisarna, Strebers, Dia Psalma, Charta 77, Coca Carola, Räserbajs, köttgrottorna, Radioaktiva Räker. later trallpunk bands took inspiration from American skatepunk and play a mix between the two. For example, Skumdum. [6]
Early punks in Sweden clashed with the youth movement Raggarna, which was working class and centered around cars, drinking, and rockabilly music. [7] These conflicts were described in lyrics, for example by the Rude Kids and P-Nissarna.
In the beginning, there were several venues and cultural meeting points associated with the Swedish punk subculture. One of the first of these was the Oasen in Rågsved, followed by Ultrahuset in Haninge, and Vita huset in Täby. Venues where a lot of punk is played today include the Kafé 44 on Södermalm in Stockholm, and Verket in Umeå.
Punk in Sweden also connected with the hardcore scene that emerged in Umeå and other northern cities in the 1990s, with bands such as Refused (Umeå) and Raised Fist (Luleå) in the lead. Refused had a strong base in the genre's traditional roots and may in part represent how it sounded then, but experimented and stretched the limits sufficiently to their most famous songs rather have come under the term post-hardcore. In the 1990s, the punk scene also turned more towards crust punk with bands like Driller Killer, Skitsystem, Wolfbrigade, and Disfear. [8]
In the 2000s many of the first and second wave Swedish punk bands such as Asta Kask, Dia Psalma, Mob 47, Moderat Likvidation and De lyckliga kompisarna reunited. They released new albums, with new songs. This decade many hardcore punk bands from Umeå and northern Sweden started to play more pop-influenced punk and the early Swedish punk like Ebba Grön and KSMB, for example Invasionen with Dennis Lyxzén from Refused and Knugen Faller with Inge Johansson from Totalt jävla mörker. [6]
The music of Sweden shares roots with its neighbouring countries in Scandinavia, as well as Eastern Europe, including polka, schottische, waltz, polska and mazurka. The Swedish fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instruments. The instrumental genre is the biggest one in Sweden. In the 1960s, Swedish youth sparked a roots revival in Swedish folk culture. Many joined Spelmanslag and performed on mainstream radio and TV. They focused on instrumental polska music, with vocals and influences from other traditional genres becoming more prominent since the 1990s. By 1970, the "dansband" culture also began. Music in Sweden is a vital part of Swedish culture, as evidenced by the national success of musical shows like Allsång på Skansen and Melodifestivalen.
Coca Carola is a Swedish punk band formed in Åkersberga in 1986. Signed to the Swedish record label Beat Butchers, they were active and recognized in the Swedish punk scene during the years 1986–2004. In 2023, after a long hiatus, the band has begun to tour again.
Sven Joakim Eriksson Thåström, better known as Thåström, is a Swedish singer and songwriter, mostly known for the bands Ebba Grön and Imperiet. He has moved between a number of genres, from punk to rock, industrial and autobiographical singer-songwriter music.
D-beat is a style of hardcore punk, developed in the early 1980s by imitators of Discharge, after whom the genre is named, as well as a drum beat characteristic of this subgenre. D-beat is known for its "grinding, distorted and brutally political" sound. Discharge may have themselves inherited the beat from Motörhead and the Buzzcocks. D-beat is closely associated with crust punk, which is a heavier, more complex variation. The style was particularly popular in Sweden, and developed there by groups such as Crude SS, Anti Cimex, Mob 47, and Driller Killer. Other D-beat groups include Doom and the Varukers from the UK; Disclose from Japan; Crucifix and Final Conflict from the U.S.; Ratos de Porão from Brazil; and MG15 from Spain. While the style initially developed in the early 1980s, a number of new groups working within the subgenre emerged in the mid-1990s. These include the Swedish groups Wolfbrigade, Totalitär, Avskum, Skitsystem, and Disfear.
Anti Cimex were a Swedish crust punk band, based in Skövde, Gothenburg, Linköping, and Malmö, at different times, that formed in 1981. They were one of the first bands to define Scandinavian hardcore punk. Their second 7-inch is considered to be a subgenre-defining D-beat record. Scene historian Peter Jandreus describes the group as the most famous Swedish punk band of the 1977–1987 era.
Anders Sjöholm, with the stage name Stry Terrarie, Stry Kanarie or simply Stry, is a Swedish musician from Skåne. He has been a member of many bands, usually as the lead singer.
Wolfbrigade is a Swedish hardcore punk band formed in 1995 by Jocke Rydbjer, Frank Johansen, Erik Norberg, Marcus "M. Psykfall" Johansson and the vocalist Tomas Jonsson their line-up has included members of Asta Kask, To What End?, Cosa Nostra, Obscure Infinity, and Harlequin.
Silence Studio is a Swedish recording studio in the small town of Koppom, owned by recording-technician/producer Anders Lind. The studio has been the location of many recordings of Swedish and Norwegian artists. This is an incomplete list of examples.
Asta Kask is a Swedish punk band from Töreboda, Sweden, founded in 1978. Asta Kask plays melodic punk music with Swedish lyrics; they are a foundational band for the musical subgenre known as trallpunk.
Krymplings is a Swedish supergroup punk band which was founded in August 1993. They have released two studio albums.
Köttgrottorna is a band formed in 1983 in the city of Järfälla, Sweden by Hans-Peter "Happy" Törnblom and Stefan "Mongo" Enger, who played together in the Swedish punk band the Incest Brothers, along with guitarist Thomas "Valen" Wahlström. Their music can be classified as punk or rock. Köttgrottorna have produced 10 studio albums, 8 of which were released on the label Beat Butchers; this label is known for releasing albums in the trallpunk genre, including from Asta Kask.
Birdnest Records is a Swedish record company mainly dealing in punk music.
MNW Music AB is a Swedish record company and was founded in 1969 in Vaxholm as Music Network Corps AB by Sverre Sundman, Lorne deWolfe and Lynn deWolfe. It is now located in Stockholm.
Homy Hogs were a Swedish punk band formed in Bro, Upplands-Bro Municipality, in 1979, and were active until 1988 with some breaks. They are considered true Swedish pioneers in hardcore punk together with bands like Anti Cimex, Mob 47 and Headcleaners. This foremost considers their first releases, the album Nöje For Nekrofiler from 1981, the cassette Ljudfientlighet from earlier the same year, and the EP Smash Overdose from 1982. Thereafter, the band played more regular punk rock and other styles. They also made some recordings and an album under the fictitious alter ego band name Werewolves on Wheels, taken from the title of their second album, idea-influenced by various concept albums. Homy Hogs are also known as characters in cartoonist Joakim Lindengren's comics. The album Nöje för nekrofiler was recorded and produced in 1981 by Mats “Subbe” Söderberg and released on the band's DIY label No Records. LT and Gördis later started the record label Burn Records and ran it together with Fredrik Lindgren. In 1997 LT appeared as guest backing vocalist on a couple of tracks on the album ”The Downhill Blues” by the Swedish punk band Loud Pipes, with members from Unleashed, Entombed, Merciless and others. LT (”Leffe”) and Gördis also appear in the author Stig Larsson's autobiographical novel När det känns att det håller på ta slut. The original drummer Palle Krüger has played with different bands in Norway after his time in the Homy Hogs, made solo albums, and also been a session musician, among others with Staffan Hellstrand.
Takahashi Gumi is a trallpunk band from Japan inspired by bands like Asta Kask, Strebers and Radioaktiva Räker. Their CD Trall I La La was jointly published by Hipcat Records and Waterslide Records. They have also participated in the 2006 compilation Tralleluja no 1 by Fundamentalismus Records.
Trallpunk is a subgenre of punk music developed in Sweden. It is known for its two-beat, fast drum tempos, a melodic sound with harmonized vocals, and politically oriented lyrics in Swedish. Generally, trallpunk music advocates for left wing political causes. Asta Kask is considered to be one of the first trallpunk bands. During the 1990s, trallpunk saw increased popularity, particularly due to the club Kafé 44 in Stockholm and the band De Lyckliga Kompisarna.
The Bristles is a raw punk band formed in 1982 in Landskrona, Sweden. The name comes from GBH 12-inch Leather, Bristles, Studs and Acne.
UBBA is a Swedish trallpunk band that started in Easter 1999 in Köping, by Mart Hällgren and David Stark.
Rosa Honung is a record company started in the early 1980s and focused on punk rock. Rosa Honung existed as a cultural association in the 1970s before being registered as a company. They are notable both for their roster and their feud with Asta Kask where the record company trademarked their name. Rosa Honung also tried to become a publisher to rival STIM.
Rasta Knast is a German punk band founded in the city of Celle, Germany in 1997. The band name is a playful reference to the Swedish punk band Asta Kask, known as a foundational band of Swedish punk rock, and the musical genre trallpunk. Rasta Knast's music is in the musical style of trallpunk, but generally uses German-language lyrics rather than Swedish-language lyrics. They have covered songs from Swedish punk bands Asta Kask, Radioaktiva Räker, and the Troublemakers.