Albums that means something to me, part 3: Roxette – Joyride
First of all please don’t be angry with me after you read these words (if you even open it up after seeing the header). I listen to hard rock and heavy metal music for let’s say 98% of the time but even the sun has its spots. This is a project that hopefully can generate some good writing from me and some nice reading for you. My thought is to write about 666 albums that have meant something for me over the years and believe me when I say that there will be 666 albums worth mentioning. A few of those albums will be pop albums but if they are good, it doesn’t matter, they will be a part of this serie.
From 1985 to 1996 I followed a Swedish radio show named “Tracks” and every week there was a new chart that the listeners choose. The host was Kaj Kindvall and he were doing “Tracks” from 1984-2010. When it comes to pop music “Tracks” was the shit for me as a listener and I’m still listening to Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, Depeche Mode and Roxette from time to time. Roxette is the duo that these words are about and especially the album “Joyride” from 1991. The first single from the album was the title track and of course it went right up to the number one spot on “Tracks” and I loved it (which I still do by the way). After the second single “Fading Like Flower” I bought the music cassette and I was listening to it over and over and over again. Per Gessle who is also known for the leader ship in the band Gyllene Tider put together a perfect mix of ballads, disco, rock songs, pop songs and he could definitely laugh all the way to the bank after the release of “Joyride”. The total sale up til this day is eleven million copies.
Albums that mean something to me, part 2:Rush – Test For Echo
“Spending My Time”, “The Big L” and “Church Of Your Heart” was also released as singles and in my opinion they could have at least released three more singles from this album. “Knockin’ On Every Door” and “I Remember You” got hit potential and my absolute favourite song on the album “Things Will Never Be The Same” wasn’t a single despite the fantastic vocal performance from Marie Fredriksson who passed away on the 9th of december 2019.
Even a hard rock loving dude from Dalecarlia in Sweden can listen to and appreciate pop music when it gets as good as this. Roxette have some great music on their conscience and the album “Joyride” is probably the pop record that I’ve listen to the most over the years………….sorry, I mean the music cassette.
