Top 100 Roxette songs

Several years ago I conducted a survey on various mailing lists and message boards, looking to create an overall list of the most popular (and least popular) Roxette songs.  There were several surprises in the results:

First, not only were there six ballads in the top 10, but the top 3 songs were ballads.  The highest pop song features at #4 (Sleeping In My Car).  This just further strengthens my earlier point on how I believe that Roxette's talent very much lies in their ballads.  Their pop songs are fun, and catchy, but their ballads are where the real talent is.  They are more melodic, and while some of them may take longer to get used to, I believe they are ultimately more listenable.

The next surprise was how high some of the non-singles featured, as well as how comparatively low some of the actual singles did.  The highest non-single (Things Will Never Be The Same) comes in at #10, but The Big L, which was a single and sizable hit in many countries, reaches only #62.  Other non-singles to do remarkably well were Silver Blue, Paint, Breathe, and The Sweet Hello The Sad Goodbye..  This just goes to show I believe that Roxette is just one of the bands for which there is much more to them than their singles.  For some bands, they always choose their best songs to be their singles, but for Roxette, many of their best songs were not singles and not heard of by many.  This is also something I believe Roxette had in common with ABBA.

Another surprise was how well some of their later songs (1999 and after) performed.  While Roxette were most popular in the late eighties and early nineties, this survey showed that many of their much-loved songs were performed well after their heydey.  There are six songs from Have A Nice Day and five songs from Room Service in the top 50.

This survey was complied from 182 top 10 lists submitted on various Roxette-related sites.  Members submitted their top 10 Roxette song lists, and then I compiled an overall top 100 from all of these lists.  Note that this survey was conducted before 2006, and therefore does not include the two songs released in 2006 and 2007, or anything from the Charm School album:

POSITION, SONG TITLE

1 Listen To Your Heart
2 Fading Like A Flower (Every Time You Leave)
3 It Must Have Been Love
4 Sleeping In My Car
5 Dangerous
6 The Look
7 Spending My Time
8 Joyride
9 Wish I Could Fly
10 Things Will Never Be The Same
11 How Do You Do!
12 A Thing About You
13 She Doesn't Live Here Anymore
14 Run To You
15 Silver Blue
16 Crash! Boom! Bang!
17 The Centre Of The Heart
18 Almost Unreal
19 Milk And Toast And Honey
20 Paint
21 Opportunity Nox
22 Fireworks
23 Real Sugar
24 Breathe
25 The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye
26 Queen Of Rain
27 The Rain
28 Stars
29 Salvation
30 Little Miss Sorrow
31 Dressed For Success
32 June Afternoon
33 Perfect Day
34 Anyone
35 Crush On You
36 So Far Away
37 Watercolours In The Rain
38 Church Of Your Heart
39 (Do You Get) Excited?
40 Fingertips (incl. Fingertips '93)
41 My World, My Love, My Life
42 Hotblooded
43 7Twenty7
44 (I Could Never) Give You Up
45 It Hurts
46 What's She Like?
47 Vulnerable
48 Fool
49 Never Is A Long Time
50 Neverending Love
51 I Don't Want To Get Hurt
52 Surrender
53 Soul Deep
54 I'm Sorry
55 I Remember You
56 Lies
57 Jefferson
58 You Don't Understand Me
59 The First Girl On The Moon
60 It Takes You No Time To Get Here
61 Looking For Jane
62 The Big L
63 Entering Your Heart
64 Knockin' On Every Door
65 Crazy About You
66 The Heart Shaped Sea
67 Make My Head Go Pop
68 Bla Bla Bla Bla (You Broke My Heart)
69 Keep Me Waiting
70 Chances
71 Call Of The Wild
72 Here Comes The Weekend
73 Harleys And Indians (Riders In The Sky)
74 Cinnamon Street
75 Happy Together
76 Dance Away
77 Like Lovers Do
78 The Weight Of The World
79 See Me
80 Come Back (Before You Leave)
81 Small Talk
82 Staring At The Ground
83 Go To Sleep
84 From One Heart To Another
85 Cry
86 I Was So Lucky
87 I Love The Sound Of Crashing Guitars
88 Beautiful Things
89 Sleeping Single
90 Waiting For The Rain
91 Do You Wanna Go The Whole Way?
92 Every Day
93 Love Is All (Shine Your Light On Me)
94 The Voice
95 You Can't Put Your Arms Around What's Already Gone
96 Better Off On Her Own
97 Secrets That She Keeps
98 Shadow Of A Doubt
99 Physical Fascination
100 It Will Take A Long Long Time

Album Analysis: Look Sharp

Look Sharp, Roxette's first internationally successful album, did not rise to fame immediately. It took a series of unlikely events - involving a US exchange student to Sweden bringing back a copy of The Look to a radio station in Minnesota, before their popularity suddenly began taking off. When Per Gessle (the male member) first heard that one of their songs was getting airplay in the US, he thought it must either be Dressed for Success or Listen To Your Heart, the first two singles in Sweden. But then upon reading Billboard magazine realised it was The Look, which was not even a single yet.

One would be forgiven for feeling that apart from the four major singles on this album, the rest of it is a bit bland. Unlike ABBA, Roxette did not manage to master the art of making every one of their album tracks sound like a single. However, over time I have come to realise that it is still listenable, as long as you are in an FM radio junkie frame of mind. ;) The golden rule with Roxette applies here as always: it's their seeming shallowness in their pop music that is actually their biggest strength.

As for their lead single, The Look, Per didn't originally want this to be the first single, because he was singing it. As he describes in the sleeve notes of Don't Bore us get to the chorus, he says "The whole idea behind Roxette was basically to have me writing clever songs and Marie singing like a Goddess." However, the single became a massive hit. Looking back on it, it's easy in a way to see why, it's everything one would imagine a pop song of the late 80s to be about. The 90s were almost there, but not quite, and this song marks the transition between those two styles quite well, I think.

Other gems on the album include Paint, which was actually covered by a Chinese band. Chances, which was released as a single in Germany but unfortunately never really got off. Cry, one of the only two ballads in the album, is actually I believe on of the more listenable ones, although in the opening lyrics you can catch the rather cliched melody. Still, that's part of the fun. ;)

Dressed For Success is one of the best female vocal performances I have heard at that time. Strong, and breathtaking, and reached #2 in Sweden, being their highest charting single from the album there. Dangerous was another major worldwide hit, but somehow failed to gather quite as much momentum as the ballad Listen To Your Heart. Listen to your Heart was both applauded by some for recreating the perfect American FM Rock sound at the time, as well as booed by others for sounding too obvious. In any event, a beautiful melody.

Shadow Of A Doubt is one other gem on this album that is little often talked about, that I believe shows talent. The melody is powerful, and the vocals, especially the high notes after the second chorus, are intense. The song is obviously about a breakup (like so many of their other songs), and the area this song touches on is a brutal moment of clarity, like a sharp point of a stick, when someone realises there is absolutely no doubt that this is real. Quite interesting.

As for other love songs on the album, I feel the lyric "Paint me right", in the song with the same name, was rather well done. Dance Away also takes an interesting turn in the lyric "Dancing away from me", while Chances speaks for itself. I suppose.

Bring on the Ballads

Some people be pondering one of my previous comments I wrote recently on this site. You know the one where I said something like "Despite being tempted to call Roxette a shallow pop band, I think ironically this is actually their greatest strength"...? Yeah, that one.

Well that's all very well, you may ask, but where's their talent?

Answer: The Ballads.

While Roxette's pop songs have mastered the art of postmodern pop averageness (not an easy feat) despite still sounding shallow - the ballads are a different kettle of fish. They are first class, elegant, beautiful, sad, emotional, luxurious, and show definite musical skill.

Yep, the ballads are where the talent is. Here is Queen Of Rain, one of their best:

Join the Joyride

Unlike ABBA, Roxette actually did proper videos. This is one of their best, as it captures everything that was cool about the early 90s. It mimics pretty much everything that pop music is supposed to be about, giving users an enhanced sense of reality.



However, the melody makes this song rather unusual. This is another similarity ABBA and Roxette have, in managing to master the art of making things sound simple while they are actually very complex. The song, if you listen carefully, has repetitive changes in tempo and key.

My personal top 50

Okay, this is going to be a lot more tricky than doing my top 50 ABBA songs.  For a start, choosing a number one was not easy.  I don't really have any "clear favourite" Roxette track that stands out from all the rest.  Nevertheless, Queen Of Rain, which I believe is a magnificent ballad, takes the cake.  Its video also is awesome.  Stars takes the number two spot due to what I believe is a most flawless creating of a modern-disco-pop performance.  Fading Like A Flower, which is often described as "the most American-sounding song" they ever did, again, it is easy to see why.  Like Listen To Your Heart, it does a perfect job of recreating their FM rock sound that was all the big craze at the time, which becomes especially obvious towards the end.

Perfect Day was the closing track on their biggest album.  I love the uniqueness of the way that song seems to acknowledge that something awful has happened and there's no return... but also sounds so relaxed over it, almost happy, even.  Very unusual melody.  Silver Blue, however, falls more into the Queen Of Rain category, of a sad beautiful rosey ballad, although this one is faster.  The Heart Shaped Sea, unusually being a ballad sung by a man, makes me think of being in a dinghy over the sea during a sunset *random vision*.

Listen To Your Heart is the most perfect recreation of postmodern American FM rock that ever existed.  Anyone, a previous personal favourite, is a more dark song about relationships.  Not everyone likes this song, but it does speak from the heart.  Call of the Wild falls together with Queen of Rain and Silver Blue into the "flowery, rosey, tender beautiful ballad" camp.  And Run To You is just another brilliantly bland pop song.

Other notable appearances throughout number 11 to 50: Neverending Love, the band's first single ever and one of their most relatable-sounding rock songs of all, was amazingly only released in Sweden and never released internationally.  I know these days there are many bands who write great songs that never make it out of their own country, but this song is particularly like this, more than most.  Crash! Boom! Bang! - some people find this rather immature, however it has to be said that it achieved the impossible by being a ballad and being inspired by Jailhouse Rock.  Not a likely combination.  And "Reveal", one of their more recent hits from 2007, falls into the "flowery emotional beautiful" song camp along with Queen Of Rain and all the others, only a little bit happier this time.

A notable entry at #21 ("Bla Bla Bla..."), a song that was actually never released originally and not released on any album, nevertheless takes Roxette down a different road of mastering the averageness of the sound of the more masculine vocals in a pop song.  The Centre of the Heart (is a suburb to the brain) returned them to #1 in Sweden with a surprising lyric that I find utterly relatable.  Watercolours In The Rain is a one of the few songs written by the female Marie Fredriksson (most were written by the male Per Gessle), but nonetheless its different style is definitely appealing, and again falls into the same category with "Queen of Rain" and "Silver Blue" and the others of... what was it again?  Emotional, flowery, sad, beautiful... etc.

Always Breaking My Heart, believe it or not, was covered by Belinda Carlisle, and became a hit.  I do however prefer the original male vocal version.  Shadow of a Doubt has a melody that's all about finality - it's brutal, no holds bar, in realising that it's all over, almost a painful moment, like a sharp pointed stick.  And 7Twenty7 takes the unusual turn in becoming a love song about describing the feeling of someone leaving someone on a plane, funnily enough, a Boeing 727.

1. Queen Of Rain
2. Stars
3. Fading Like A Flower
4. Perfect Day
5. Silver Blue
6. The Heart Shaped Sea
7. Listen To Your Heart
8. Anyone
9. Call Of The Wild
10. Run To You
11. Breathe
12. Neverending Love
13. It Will Take A Long Long Time
14. Salvation
15. Crash! Boom! Bang!
16. A Thing About You
17. Milk And Toast And Honey
18. Fingertips
19. I Don't Want To Get Hurt
20. Reveal
21. Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla (You Broke My Heart)
22. (Do You Get) Excited?
23. The Centre Of The Heart
24. Joyride
25. I'm Sorry
26. Never Is A Long Time
27. It Hurts
28. It Must Have Been Love
29. Vulnerable
30. The First Girl On The Moon
31. Soul Deep
32. Turn To Me
33. The Sweet Hello, The Sad Goodbye
34. Watercolours In The Rain
35. Things Will Never Be The Same
36. Crush On You
37. Always Breaking My Heart
38. She Doesn't Live Here Anymore
39. Goodbye To You
40. Real Sugar
41. What's She Like
42. The Rain
43. Spending My Time
44. Almost Unreal
45. You Don't Understand Me
46. Shadow Of A Doubt
47. Cooper
48. 7Twenty7
49. So Far Away
50. I Call Your Name

Welcome

Well there's not much here yet.  But this is where I hope to be able to post thoughts from my brain on one of my favourite bands, Roxette.  Although they are the second most successful Swedish band after ABBA, it's surprising how many people know a lot of their songs but aren't familiar with who actually sung them.

People often ask me why I like such a band.  Some people I think regard them as a shallow pop group who were around in the late 80s and 90s, and played radio-friendly hits but miserably failed to generate any classics.  But ironically, I feel that it is their "shallowness" and perhaps their overall averageness which makes them so unique and enjoyable.

I was once told be a friend of mine that to succeed in life means to "be average at anything".  I pondered this with shady eyebrows at first thinking "but hang on, why can't I be good at something?"  He said "Oh, you misunderstand.  Being average at EVERYTHING is a very hard to do.  It's a fine art".  That got me thinking.  And I think this is the art that Roxette has mastered.  Their songs are just so average, that that is what makes them stand out.

In the late nineties during my teens I was an FM radio junkie.  Songs on the radio at the time were generally fairly bland, with some exceptions, but nonetheless there was something about them, be it their quirky catchiness or their lazy hopeless attempt to live up to the past, that appealled to me, and still does.  Well, of course I grew out of that radio phase long ago and have learned to appreciate more classical stuff.  But for me, Roxette is the one band that sums up everything about postmodern pop music, and does it so well, that regrettably I have to say I kinda like it.

Right from the first few bars of one of their first hits The Look, you can tell the sound is sooooo totally average and bland it makes you sick.  And I love it.  In fact, the songwriter confesses that most of the lyrics in the verses to that song were just created "off the cuff" and not really thought about very well.  But it fit the current pop music trend at the time like a glove, and was #1 in some 25 countries.

Dressed For Success is one of the finer female vocal performances I've heard in my time.  Dangerous follows largely from The Look in terms of its perfected art of average blandness, and when it comes to the instrumental break you can see a delightfully obvious attempt to capture a classic rock melodic performance.  But when it comes to Listen To Your Heart, that's where my desires melt even further still.

Listen To Your Heart is juicy, it's... oh, it's luscious.  I used to play this song 50 times over and over cause I couldn't believe how well they had nailed it.  The FM rock sound at the time.  It was absolutely perfect, flawless.  So flawless that some of the critics rejected it due to it being too obvious.  But obvious-ness was just another one of Roxette's skills at creating masterpieces.

Eight hit albums, with a further being released this month.  Seventeen top ten hits in their home country, and four #1 hits in the US.  A world tour underway as we speak, they are still very much alive.  The lead singer, Marie Fredriksson, miraculously recovered from a brain tumor in 2002 which she was said to have had only a 5% chance of survival.  So the unlikely has very much become reality.

However, in spite of their success (and this is not unlike my similar feelings on ABBA) I actually think I would find them rather boring people.  However, perhaps it is this boring-ness that is what more enables them to make such average, bland and scrumptious music.