Lolita Pop

Lolita Pop was a Swedish rock band from Örebro that was active 1979–1992.

The band's core consisted of singer Karin Wistrand and guitarists Sten Booberg and Benkt Svensson (later Benkt Söderberg). Together, they wrote most of the music. Percussionist and saxophonist Per Eriksson is among the longest-serving members. Lolita Pop scored eight studio albums and about 800 performances in Sweden, Europe and the United States. Some of their popular songs were Tarzan on a Big Red Scooter, Hey Winner, Mind Your Eye, and Bang Your Head.

Career

Early years

Lolita Pop formed at the premiere of Rockmagasinet, a club, in Örebro, Sweden on 26 May 1979. The name of the band was inspired by the appearance of “Miss Lolita” at a local porn club.

The repertoire consisted mostly of cover songs including Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Roxy Music and Television. These songs were performed in Swedish in humorous translations, such as Iggy Pop's "I'm bored, I'm the chairman of the bored" became "I am weary, I stand at the end of every level" and Television's "Elevation, do not go to my head, Stop the elevator and my skull is flat." Per Eriksson designed stickers with the band's name and distributed them to friends who were on a trip. The result was that Lolita Pop's name could be seen in Stockholm, Hamburg, Paris, New York, New Delhi and Beijing long before the band played outside their club. Per Eriksson also designed most of the band’s album covers.

Lolita Pop's first album was Rogue Pictures and was published by Pipaluckbolaget in 1982. The legacy of the New York band Television was heard clearly in Benkt Svensson's guitar solo in “Black and Dirty”. “Punky Gold Here?” eventually became the music in the computer game Invasion Gotland, a Swedish version of Battlefield Vietnam.

Mid-Career

In 1983 the band changed record labels to Mistlur and released two albums. Before the filming of “Five Seeking a Taxi”, the drummer at that time, Peter Olsen, was replaced by the band's saxophonist Per Eriksson. Bassist Thomas Johansson dropped out prior to recording “Wanderings”. He continued to write lyrics throughout Lolita Pop's career.

In 1983 and 1984, the band toured Sweden and visited many places all over the country. On several occations, they had local bands opening for them as for instance in Björklinge, where Fire was the opening act.

Lolita Pop then began directing its focus overseas in 1984. The band released the album Lolita Pop, with English-language versions of previously released songs, and did a few European tours.

Ulf Lernhammar skipped 1985 for the filming of Lolita Pop’s last Swedish-language album “Have Pleasure”. Benkt Svensson took over the base. After performing in the United States, a recording contract was made with Virgin Records U.S.. The band's friendship with Television guitarist Richard Lloyd led to Eriksson, Olsen and Johansson appearing on his album “Fields of Fire”. In 1986, Matts Alsberg from the Stockholm band Rust became bassist and Benkt Svensson returned to the guitar.

Later Years

In 1987, Virgin Records supplemented an English version of “Have Pleasure” with the newly written songs Bang Your Head and Mind Your Eye. Bang Your Head appeared on the soundtrack of the American film “Hiding Out”. "Mind Your Eye" was used in Colin Nutley movie “The Ninth Company” and the Maria Gripe film “Agnes Cecilia”. In Sweden, “Have Pleasure” was nominated for a Grammy Award.

In 1988, Karin Wistrand sang the duet “Stay with You” with Orup. The song was on the track list for six weeks. Matts Alsberg left Lolita Pop and was replaced by Henrik Melin from the Örebro band “Mr. Krystal Party”. Lolita Pop released “Out Love Poison” in 1989, the band's first album that was written directly in English. “Hey Winner” and “Tarzan on a Big Red Scooter” appeared up on the Swedish charts – "Tarzan..." was on the Sommartoppen list all summer and reached number one in August 1989. "Hey Winner" became the soundtrack to Colin Nutley's “Heartbreak Hotel” and the TV series “Tusenbröder”. “Hey Winner” was also nominated for a Grammy award. The band launched its career overseas when Benkt Svensson and Per Eriksson left the band after ten years.

Lolita Pop released their last album in 1990, which was “Blumenkraft”, with Fredrik Blank as new guitarist and Chris (Muttis) Björklund on drums. This too was nominated for a Grammis award. The band continued to tour until 1992. After that, Karin Wistrand and Fredrik Blank worked with Karin's solo album "The Sun", which was released in 1993. Sten Booberg freelanced as a guitarist throughout the 1990s and played with, among others, the Muppets, Olle Ljungström, Marty Robbins, Orup and Idde Schultz. Fredrik Blank played with Staffan Hellstrand, Idde Schultz and other famous musicians.

Since disbandment, Lolita Pop has been frugal with reunions. The original group of 1987 reunited three times to audiences in the 1990s, including the Castle Festival in Örebro in July 1997 for about 10,000 people.

The Next Generation

Benkt Svensson's daughters Klara and Johanna Söderberg are touring extensively across the world under the name First Aid Kit. Sten Booberg’s son Rasmus Booberg is the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter in the band New Keepers of the Water Towers. Their second album was released in 2010 under the U.S. label MeteorCity. Rasmus is also the drummer in the rock band “Grass Eating Man”.

Members

Discography

Singles

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