<\/p>\n
In what comes as surprising news for record executives and music critics alike, the young people of Sweden have not responded to the Swedish Beatles with the enthusiasm many industry insiders had predicted. While Beatle-mania has swept the US and the UK, the band\u2019s Swedish counterpart \u201cThe Sweatles\u201d has not encountered any such response in Sweden. <\/p>\n
Launching their tour in Sweden two years after The Beatles gained worldwide acclaim, the Sweatles (pronounced \u201cSw\u0113-tuls\u201d, like the word \u201cbeetles\u201d) hoped to play directly to the hearts of Swedish youth with songs like \u201cSwee Loves You\u201d and \u201cAll You Swede is Love.\u201d But Swatlantic Records, the Swedish division of American record company Atlantic Records, says they\u2019re nowhere close to the market penetration or saturation levels reached by the Fab Four. <\/p>\n
The band was originally named Blue Children, before Swatlantic management recommended a Sweden-centric change. Lead singer Bob Hitt and drummer Mary Greenley were also advised to change their names to Swann Lennon and Swingo Starr respectively. \u201cI was told our music would probably just sit on the swelves if we didn\u2019t switch, so I agreed,\u201d said Swann. \u201cWe don\u2019t see very big audiences, but our manager assures us we\u2019re \u2018doing swell.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Sweatles are not doing very swell, and we\u2019re sweating it a little here at Swatlantic,\u201d Sweatles manager Stuart Stockholm told the Dealer in confidence. \u201cWe expected swarms of teen girls, swooning every time they saw the band. But that has not happened. We\u2019ve tried everything we can think of to sway the young Swedes. I really thought they\u2019d be sweet on our band\u2019s swing. I swear.\u201d <\/p>\n
Industry professionals everywhere are eager to understand the Swedish teens\u2019 near complete apathy towards The Sweatles. Swatlantic Records has commissioned multiple teams of ethnomusicologists to complete studies on the listening patterns of Swedes from ages 12 to 21, their target demographic. The studies have returned with mixed results, but Swatlantic remains adamant: the Sweatles are a perfect sociological match for this particular Scandinavian nation. <\/p>\n
The Dealer<\/i> was unable to reach any Swedes, young or old, for comment. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe suggested that our sound might not be clicking,\u201d said Swingo of a recent meeting with the company. \u201cThat maybe we should swap in clogs for percussion, or the noise of fjords for guitars. The producers replied with a swift no, that we needed to maintain the Beatles pure and swimple sound.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel swindled,\u201d moaned Stuart Stockholm, visibly worn-down. \u201cWe expected to sweep the charts, but I guess that ambition was swollen. We\u2019ve thought about branching out into Norway, but that seems like a real long shot to us, considering this band\u2019s key attributes. Maybe we\u2019ll try Switzerland.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Chris Deakin Feb. 1, 2015 In what comes as surprising news for record executives and music critics alike, the young people of Sweden have not responded to the Swedish Beatles with the enthusiasm many industry insiders had predicted. While Beatle-mania has swept the US and the UK, the band\u2019s Swedish counterpart \u201cThe Sweatles\u201d has not encountered any such response in Sweden. Launching their tour in Sweden two years after The Beatles gained worldwide acclaim, the Sweatles (pronounced \u201cSw\u0113-tuls\u201d, like the word \u201cbeetles\u201d) hoped to play directly to the hearts of Swedish youth with songs like \u201cSwee Loves You\u201d and \u201cAll You Swede is Love.\u201d But Swatlantic Records, the Swedish division of American record company Atlantic Records, says they\u2019re nowhere close to the market penetration or saturation levels reached by the Fab Four. The band was originally named Blue Children, before Swatlantic management recommended a Sweden-centric change. Lead singer Bob Hitt and drummer Mary Greenley were also advised to change their names to Swann Lennon and Swingo Starr respectively. \u201cI was told our music would probably just sit on the swelves if we didn\u2019t switch, so I agreed,\u201d said Swann. \u201cWe don\u2019t see very big audiences, but our manager assures us we\u2019re \u2018doing swell.\u2019\u201d \u201cThe Sweatles are not doing very swell, and we\u2019re sweating it a little here at Swatlantic,\u201d Sweatles manager Stuart Stockholm told the Dealer in confidence. \u201cWe expected swarms of teen girls, swooning every time they saw the band. But that has not happened. We\u2019ve tried everything we can think of to sway the young Swedes. I really thought they\u2019d be sweet on our band\u2019s swing. I swear.\u201d Industry professionals everywhere are eager to understand the Swedish teens\u2019 near complete apathy towards The Sweatles. Swatlantic Records has commissioned multiple teams of ethnomusicologists to complete studies on the listening patterns of Swedes from ages 12 to 21, their target demographic. The studies have returned with mixed results, but Swatlantic remains adamant: the Sweatles are a perfect sociological match for this particular Scandinavian nation. The Dealer was unable to reach any Swedes, young or old, for comment. \u201cWe suggested that our sound might not be clicking,\u201d said Swingo of a recent meeting with the company. \u201cThat maybe we should swap in clogs for percussion, or the noise of fjords for guitars. The producers replied with a swift no, that we needed to maintain the Beatles pure and swimple sound.\u201d \u201cWe feel swindled,\u201d moaned Stuart Stockholm, visibly worn-down. \u201cWe expected to sweep the charts, but I guess that ambition was swollen. We\u2019ve thought about branching out into Norway, but that seems like a real long shot to us, considering this band\u2019s key attributes. Maybe we\u2019ll try Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2077"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3110,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2077\/revisions\/3110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chicagoshadydealer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}