EUROPE
The first mega-successful musical export from Sweden since Abba comes in the somewhat unlikely form of Europe, a straight-ahead quintet who've cracked the Top 10 in over a dozen countries with their hit album The Final Countdown. And, if their success was unlikely, it was no weirder than their first big break: they won a record contract in 1982 in a national competition among Swedish rock bands.
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EUROPE
The first mega-successful musical export from Sweden since Abba comes in the somewhat unlikely form of Europe, a straight-ahead quintet who've cracked the Top 10 in over a dozen countries with their hit album The Final Countdown.
And, if their success was unlikely, it was no weirder than their first big break: they won a record contract in 1982 in a national competition among Swedish rock bands.
"We were different than the rest," says lead singer Joey Tempest. "We sang in English and had long hair, which was not common at that time. It made a lot of the
younger kids and musicians in Sweden very happy.
And not just in Sweden: Europe's recent American tour won them thousands of new fans. They're turned-on to Europe's sound-a sound the band claims comes from their love of earlier European hard rockers like Deep Purple, Rainbow and Led Zeppelin. "We call ourselves a melodic hard-edged rock band," says drummer lan Haugland. "We have bits and pieces of heavy metal, but there are pop things in there, too. We kind of mix everything up and try to make something special out of it. Call it Eu-Rock."
