Made in Sweden
Studies in Popular Music
Routledge Global Popular Music Series

Made in Sweden: Studies in Popular Music serves as a comprehensive and rigorous introduction to the history, sociology and musicology of twentieth-century Swedish popular music. The volume consists of essays by leading scholars of Swedish popular music and covers the major figures, styles and social contexts of pop music in Swedish. Although the vast majority of the contributors are Swedish, the essays are expressly written for an international English-speaking audience. No knowledge of Swedish music or culture will be assumed. Each essay provides adequate context so readers understand why the figure or genre under discussion is of lasting significance to Swedish popular music; each section features a brief introduction by the volume editors. The book presents a general description of the history and background of Swedish popular music, followed by essays that are organized into thematic sections: The Historical Development of the Swedish Popular-Music Mainstream; The Swedishness of Swedish Popular-Music Genres; Professionalization and Diversification; and Swedish Artist Personas.

Contributors:

Jonas Bjälesjö
Alf Björnberg
Thomas Bossius
Peter Dahlén
Olle Edström
Karin L. Eriksson
Rasmus Fleischer
Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius
Lars Lilliestam
Ulf Lindberg
Morten Michelsen
Susanna Nordström
Marita Rhedin
Henrik Smith-Sivertsen
Ann Werner
Kajsa Widegren

Introduction: The Small Country That Grew Big in Popular Music (Alf Björnberg and Thomas Bossius)

Part I: The Historical Development of the Swedish Popular-Music Mainstream

1. A Very Swedish Phenomenon (Olle Edström)

2. Blacklists and Hitlists: Public-Service Radio and Musical Gatekeeping (Alf Björnberg)

3. The Story of Svensktoppen: How the Swedish Music Industry Survived the Anglophone 1960s and Invested for the Future (Henrik Smith-Sivertsen)

Part II: The Swedishness of Swedish Popular-Music Genres

4. The Troubadours: Stylistic and Sociocultural Transformations of the Literary Visa in the 1960s (Marita Rhedin)

5. Progg: Utopia and Chronotope (Sverker Hyltén-Cavallius)

6. Swedish Dance Bands: Danceable, Melodious, and Familiar (Lars Lilliestam)

7. Keep it Country! Lots of Fiddle and Steel! Negotiations and Re-Negotiations in the Swedish Country-Music Culture (Thomas Bossius)

8. When Post-Modern Times Arrived: Dork Punk and Nostalgia as Experiments of Cultural Orientation 1973–89 (Peter Dahlén)

Part III: Professionalization and Diversification

9. Contextualizing Extreme-Metal Music: The Case of the Swedish Metal Nursery (Susanna Nordström)

10. Water Sprites and Herding Calls: References to Folk Music in Swedish Pop and Schlager Music 1990–2015 (Karin L. Eriksson)

11. Nordik Beats: Swedish Electronic Dance Music – From Underground to Superstardom (Thomas Bossius)

12. Swedish Music Export: The Making of a Miracle (Rasmus Fleischer)

13. The Swedish Music-Festival Scene (Jonas Bjälesjö)

Part IV: Swedish Artist Personas

14. Ulf Lundell: Literary Rocker (Ulf Lindberg)

15. Titiyo: Race, Gender, and Genre in Swedish Popular Music (Ann Werner)

16. The Politics of the Mask: The Knife as Queer-Feminists (Kajsa Widegren)

Coda

17. Ambassadors, Merchants, and Masterminds: Swedish Popular Music Abroad (Morten Michelsen)

Afterword

18. An Elderly Songwriting Gentleman: A Conversation with Mikael Wiehe (Alf Björnberg and Thomas Bossius)

Alf Bjornberg is Professor in Musicology in the Department of Cultural Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Thomas Bossius is Associate Professor in Musicology and Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.