By Mikael Karlsson
New Swedish music is music with attitude. It spits in the face of authority and draws an unpolished picture of Swedish society — a picture that is anything but nice to look at. It is music with a message, directed into the hearts and minds of those who are fed up with the lies, the social injustices and the racism that are part of Swedish society today.
This is the third time punk music has hit Sweden. The last time punk music was played on the streets of Sweden was at the beginning of the 1980s. At that time, Sweden was about to vote about the future of nuclear power in the country, and young people felt that the politicians did not listen to what they had to say and that nobody really cared about the future in which they were to grow up and raise their kids.
Out of this feeling of hopelessness came the Swedish punk of bands like Charta 77 and Kottgrottorna (Swedish for Meatcaves, an odd name that none of the members of the band has any reasonable explanation for). The influence from Europe in general and England in particular was clear.
It was music produced by the working class for the working class, and it had working-class ideals. It was music that wanted everything to change, music that produced the thought of revolution as a way to reach a better society.
This time the issue was whether Sweden was to become a member of the European Union. The youth felt betrayed by every single politician, the left as well, since nobody seemed to listen to what they had to say about solidarity with the Third World, peace, environmental issues and all the rest. Punk was the natural way for the youth, and many others, to feel that they did not stand alone in the struggle for a better society.
But why punk? Why not hip-hop, house, rave or any of the other new musical styles? Why go backwards and reinvent something as old as punk?
The answer is simple, at least if one is to believe Per Granberg, the singer of the Swedish punk group Charta 77.
"Punk is everything and nothing. It is life itself and it comes from within us all and reflects the society of today as no other music. It is raw energy and it is anger — anger directed towards authority and governments and the people in power. It is simply the soul of the working class, and this is why it has become so popular again.
"Nowadays, people tend to be more aware of what's happening in the world, and they seem to care in a way they haven't done in many, many years. For us who have been around for a while, this is a very good thing to see" he says.
But when we ask him his definition of punk, he hesitates.
"It's not that easy. Punk is music, sure. Punk is a way to live, sure. Punk is a way to see things, sure. Punk is the music of the left, sure. But punk is all that together and still so much more. Punk was born and is alive because of the fact that people find the society they live in not a good one and because they want to change it for the better. Punk is, for them as well as for us, the chance to make a statement and to show that we really do care about what is happening in Sweden and in the world."
Punk has always had an aura of do-it-yourself. It is music played by people who don't have to be professional musicians as long as they enjoy what they are doing and have the right feeling for what they are doing. The motto has always been: "If you don't like what we're doing, record your own fuckin' single".
It means that everybody is welcome to have a go. It means that you don't have to be a Steve Vai or Eric Clapton to pick up the guitar, and you don't have to be a Cole Porter or Luciano Pavarotti to approach the microphone and sing. How you perform your music is not as important as the message.
"When I grew up in a suburb of Stockholm I always felt that I didn't belong with the other boys. I was tiny and skinny and they were all big and beefy and into all sorts of sports that probably would have killed me if I had tried them. I was a very lonely kid who didn't have many friends.
"But all that changed when I got a little bit older and started playing music. For the first time in my life I felt that I belonged somewhere and that people accepted and respected me for my views. That was a feeling that is hard to beat", says Per Granberg about the early years.
The band Granberg started up with two mates in 1977, Charta 77, became very successful. Its music is full of vitality and energy, and it reflected a society full of injustices and prejudices. It was so true that it spooked many people but got many to realise that this was what it was all about. You have to stand up and speak your mind if you feel that something is wrong.
Now it's the same as it was the last time punk music was popular in Sweden. But you don't see many young people with green hair or leather jackets full of spikes in the streets of Stockholm these days. The punk of today is a bit softer.
"Yes, that's a fact but I think it's actually good", says Granberg. "The way we used to dress and colour our hair in the early days made many people hesitate and spooked off a lot of people. It's hard for a 15-year-old girl of an upper-class home who feels that she has the opinions of a revolutionary to dye her hair green or orange and start to mask her eyes black every time she goes out.
Again, it's not the way you look that's important, it's your opinions and what you feel is right that counts — not if you have light blue hair or if you are wearing a tuxedo."
Naturally, the punk music of today is about the society of today. On the recent albums released in Sweden, the lyrics are about solidarity with the Third World, racism, the European Union. It is still music for the masses played by the masses.
[For addresses of record stores in Sweden selling Swedish punk, send a stamped self-addressed envelope to Mikael Karlsson, Flat 17, 413-415 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart 7000.]