I was recently in Vasteras, Sweden, about one hour west of Stockholm,
when the idea popped in my head: “I wonder if I could pick up some Swedish
music to play on my summer “Time Warp” show?”.
With that thought in mind, I started quizzing my Swedish coworker and the
bartender at the hotel. With the criteria of (1) a guy my age has to like it, (2) they
do NOT have to sing in English and (3) vintage is fine, I set off on my hunt. The
bartender gave me a few band names to find--- Kent, Gyllene Tider and Hakan
Hellstrom. My coworker approved and pointed me to a used-record
store, Skivborsen, and instructed me that it was in the basement of a
restaurant, so I should walk right in and then go down the stairs.
I did my homework on Google Maps, and checked out the bands on Spotify,
selecting the albums/CD I would request. As Vasteras is a small town, the shops
close at 6 p.m., with the bars and restaurants staying open later. I popped out of
work at 5 p.m. and bolted for the store. Arriving at 5:30 p.m., I found the stairs and
descended into a two-room setup of CDs, records and “the old
rocker” as he was described to me, running the place.
I introduced myself, stated my mission and provided the band and album
request. “CD or vinyl?”, he asked, sizing me up to be his age. He was pleased
with my reply of “Of course, vinyl, if possible, but I’ll take a CD”. We rummaged
through the stacks and found the bands I requested, but not the titles. However, two of the
albums we found were newly-reprinted vinyl. Looking at me with a shrug, I
offered, “I’ll take what you have, and new vinyl is great”.
Having passed the test, he offered, “I have some other bands, you might like. Do
they have to sing in English?”. “Of course not”, I protested, “I’m in Sweden, right?
I would expect Swedish!”. So, we raced around and he offered four other CDs saying, “you should like these too.”
Within 15 minutes I got over $100 of Swedish music for the show which I now
play in a Swedish segment. And he was right; the tunes are great. Admittedly, following the lyric sheet is tough because I want to pronounce what I see, which is actually rather different than how you are to pronounce it. But hey, good tunes are good tunes!
Rock on!