Who the fuck were they?:
Actually "are" is the correct phrase this week.
As far as lounge pop bands in the 90's, only three are worth a damn, Pizzicato Five, Stereolab, and The Cardigans.(with apologies to all you Komeda fans), It was the Cardigans railed against a boring mid 90's rock scene,populated by such crap bands as Better Than Ezra and Tonic, by making every song satirical yet sunny. All their lyrics were just so depressing, yet for some reason every song jumped with grandiose instrumentation and the kind of loungy sensibility that made Martin Denny not so famous.
But, you probably know em for one of two reasons.
1.They did that damn "Love Me Love Me" song(also known as Lovefool).
2.Nina Persson was just oh so cute.
The Lineup.
Peter Svensson - lead guitar
Magnus Sveningsson - bass
Bengt Lagerberg - drums
Lars-Olof "Lasse" Johansson - keyboards and guitar
Nina Persson - vocals
When they took over?:
After a pretty solid debut album, Emmerdale, The Cardigans pretty much rerecorded the same album except this time it was bigger, faster, harder, stronger(Daft Punk style) and even more tongue in cheek. This new version of the album was known as Life and simply put, it was a masterwork. The strings, the horns, the pluckiness of the vocals it all works in brilliant harmony. The first single "Sick and Tired" was a wistful depressing tune about modern loneliness, yet the instrumentation suggested Bacharach at his happiest. "Carnival" weaved it's chipper madness into your head and Austin Powers final scene. And to prove the band had a sense of humor, they closed the album with a happy lounge version of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" by Black Sabbath. Rarely does pop madness work so perfectly, that you almost wished the band would gain superstardom, which happened with third release First Band On The Moon. Of course it had "Lovefool" "Your New Cuckoo" and even more loads of sugary lounge madness. It made millions of men fall madly in love with Nina Persson's pixie cuteness, sold tons of records and also earned a huge backlash due to the afore mentioned "Love Me Love Me" song.
So the band is huge and what they do, they change sounds COMPLETELY. They went off into a darker more Bristol trip hop influenced sound for Gran Turismo. First single "My Favorite Game" was fucking everywhere, including a censored video that ended with the decapitation of the lovely Ms. Persson. "Erase/Rewind" became single two and it made mad lucre on like 8 soundtracks, but after a long tour the band disappeared back up the globe.
So what the fuck happened?:
Well the band never really went away. Aside from a pretty good Talking Heads cover with Tom Jones for a soundtrack, they were silent for about five years. Gone was cute Nina's blond pixie look. She returned with this dark long hair which was in line the band's NEW SERIOUS ROCK feel. Super Extra Gravity came out last year across Europe and may be available in the States now. Both albums have their moments, but every time they I break out newer records, I must admit it makes one long for their salad pop days. We can all hope that one of these days it will happen, but until then lets just go to the vids and dream in the happy language of their album Life.
Sick and Tired by the Cardigans is still one of the best pop tunes of the last 15 yrs
Carnival by the Cardigans(this was how I first saw em)
Next Time: One of the most influential Electronic bands of all time.
1 comment:
hope this works. haven't used the old blogspot thing in ages. Just wanted to you know that shortly after Lovefool came out the Cardigans went on record as saying they are HUGE Black Sabbath fans. Wish I could link to where I read that, but alas it's probably in a SPIN circa 1998.
Also, the latest album is pretty great, in my opinion. I heard "Losing A Friend" about a year ago, and thought 'Christ, what a break-up song. I bet people who get dumped listen to this on repeat while curled in the fetal position for a couple of days straight.' Guess what? I was correct.
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