Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation
OLA JOHANSSON
Johansson, Ola (2013). Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation. Fennia 191: 1, pp. 40-57. Helsinki. ISSN 798-5617.
The Swedish rock band Kent is not only the most popular band in Sweden, but also perceived as quintessentially Swedish. Using the notion of “everyday na- tionalism” I argue that Kent both represent and actively shape contemporary Swedish national identity co-constitutively with their audience. Three themes are particularly important to understand this Swedishness. Firstly, the band was formed in the city of Eskilstuna but relocated to Stockholm, which illustrates a Swedish journey through class and space. Secondly, Kent interrogates a series of national myths in their songs. They do so using spatial and environmental meta- phors that can be conceptualized as different landscapes − inner, urban, and winter landscapes − representing Sweden. Thirdly, Kent also construct a “public landscape” that reflects on changes in Swedish society, including neoliberal and anti-immigrant tendencies.
Keywords: music geography, Sweden, Kent, national identity, everyday national- ism, media analysis
Ola Johansson, Department of Geography, University of Pittsburgh at Johns- town, 450 Schoolhouse Road, Johnstown, PA 15904, United States. E-mail: [email protected].
Introduction What is it about Kent that makes them so purport- edly Swedish? These are significant questions be- Music can communicate a great deal about the cause popular music is a major cultural phenom- culture and society that it comes from. This is the enon. An analysis of Kent’s music offers a unique case with the contemporary Swedish rock band lens through which national identity and spatial Kent. Numerous observers in the Swedish media representations can be understood. The idea of have noted that Kent may not only be the most “everyday nationalism” suggests that mundane ac- popular band in Swedish popular music history, tivities of ordinary life shape national identity and but also quintessentially Swedish. Here are some belonging (see next section for a literature over- typical voices1. According to the Stockholm daily view). From this perspective, music can be a pow- Dagens Nyheter, “what Kent have accomplished is erful force in the formation of national identity, unparalleled in Swedish popular culture” (Wahllöf both through representations of everyday practices 2005). The Expressen newspaper states that Kent’s as well as the active listening by the fans. In this most popular songs are “received as national an- article, I will discuss three themes that enables the thems” (Nordström 2007: 244−245). Kent even listener to construct a sense of Swedishness associ- “represent Sweden better than any other band,” ated with Kent’s music: (1) the meaning of Kent’s writes the music journal Musiklandet (Gustafsson origin in the city of Eskilstuna and their subsequent 2003). And in an anthology of the band, the editor Swedish journey through class and space; (2) how uses overtly Swedish metaphors when he writes Kent interrogates a series of national myths in their that Kent is “as deeply rooted among the people as songs by using spatial and environmental meta- herring and aquavit” (Steen 2007: 10). What has phors that I conceptualize as three different land- elicited such responses, not just in the media, but scapes representing Sweden − an inner landscape, also among the music fans and society at large? an urban landscape, and a winter landscape; and
URN:NBN:fi:tsv-oa7337 DOI: 10.11143/7337 FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation 41
(3) how Kent construct a “public landscape” built Swedish artist that directly influenced Kent’s deci- on a critique of neoliberal and anti-immigrant ten- sion to perform in Swedish (or more specifically, dencies in today’s Sweden. The research material Berg’s decision to write lyrics in Swedish) is Jakob is drawn from the Swedish media and how they Hellman, a singer-songwriter popular around have reported about Kent, other secondary sourc- 1990 (Dahlbom & Ericsson 2002). Early in their es, and a content analysis of Kent’s music and lyr- career Kent also played as an opening act for bob ics. hund, a band which is also renowned for their The popularity and cultural significance of Kent Swedish lyrics. Writers and poets such as Klas can hardly be overstated. From 1995 to present, Östergren and Dan Andersson have also been the band released ten original albums (see Discog- mentioned as sources of inspiration − the former raphy). All of them except the debut album Kent as a skillful wordsmith and the latter for his work- reached number one position on the Swedish al- ing class themes (Stenberg 1996; Swantesson bum charts. (An additional compilation album 2005). Swedish lyrics can paradoxically be more comprised of B-sides from singles peaked at num- commercially viable than English ones and in- ber two.) Kent have also been a best-selling artist crease the chances of wider domestic success, al- in Norway, Finland, and Denmark, but because beit at the expense of a potential international the songs are primarily performed in Swedish, they breakthrough. However, Kent’s choice to sing in are not familiar to most English-speaking audienc- Swedish probably had little to do with financial es. Other Swedish popular artists may have sold calculations. Singer Joakim Berg has pointed out more records and are far better known world-wide that he does not want to hide behind cliché-ridden (e.g. ABBA, Roxette), but none is a Swedish rock English lyrics, which is a common result when band on par with Kent. Swedish artists sing in English (Sjöberg 2000). The band hails from the city of Eskilstuna in cen- Kent’s lyrics arguably contributed to their career tral Sweden and was formed in 1990 when the development from indie band to broad mass ap- members were about 20 years old. Kent are Joakim peal as songs in Swedish are preferred among the Berg (vocal and guitar), Sami Sirviö (guitar), Martin slightly older population that Kent eventually at- Sköld (bass), and Markus Mustonen (drums). tracted. Joakim Berg is the lead singer, and also writes the lyrics and most of the music. For much of their career, Kent also had a fifth member − Harri Mänty Music, place identity, and everyday (guitar) − who left the band in 2007, and another nationalism band member during the early days in Eskilstuna − Martin Roos − is now Kent’s manager. Musically, there is little apparently Swedish Music is closely connected to the identity of plac- about Kent. They draw heavily from British indie es and people. This is a two-way process where rock, especially from the 1980s. The influences people’s identity is shaped by music or where dif- that Kent mention in interviews or that journalists ferent identities are reflected in the music. Several and fans hear in their music include Radiohead, studies have examined the role of music in the for- The Cure, and Depeche Mode. Attentive listeners mation of subcultural, regional, and national iden- may also recognize references in Kent’s songs to tities (Slobin 1993; Stokes 1994; Whiteley et al. other sources of inspiration, such as David Bowie, 2004). Most importantly here, nations are socially the Smiths, and U2. Kent’s music has been rela- constructed ideas created by a set of common be- tively consistent in style over time, but as a gener- liefs and experiences (such as listening to the same alization the two first albums are dominated by music). The idea of the nation as an “imagined straightforward, guitar-oriented rock, the middle community” was proposed by Benedict Anderson albums turn toward a richer and more layered, re- (2006 [originally published in 1983]) who showed verb-laden sound, while the latest albums are in- how the development of a national language and creasingly synthesizer-driven both in melody and the spread of print material across the territory of a beat in a way that bridges contemporary electron- state created a sense of nationhood where none ica and the 1980s “synth-rock” that the band had previously existed. Today, national media are members listened to during their formative youth. especially important in providing a common lived The obvious element that sets Kent apart from experience among people. Sweden is no excep- their British influences are the Swedish lyrics. A tion; Löfgren (1990), for example, has shown the 42 Ola Johansson FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) role of Swedish media in constructing the national incorporated into evolving national identities. The identity. combination of familiar national iconography and Imagined communities, however, are created by meanings and the experiences of everyday life more than national-level macrostructures. Accord- produce what Edensor (2002) calls an “andscape.” ing to Billig (1995), relatively unremarkable prac- Everyday nationalism may be especially impor- tices in daily life amount to “banal” nationalism. tant in Sweden where grand rhetoric and public This includes the routine use of the flag on public celebration of the nation is uncommon. Löfgren buildings or other top-down signifiers of the na- (1993: 190) writes that in Sweden “national life tion, such as the issuing and use of stamps (Raento and emotions are articulated more in private, em- 2006) or license plates (Leib 2011) which project bedded in the routines of everyday life”. I will national images and messages. Much of this goes therefore use the ideas of everyday nationalism to unnoticed on a daily basis, as part of a taken-for- explore how Kent depict Swedish life in a way that granted world. Especially in politically stable brings the ordinary and the familiar to the arena of countries with few internal or external challenges, public discourse, and by doing so make everyday such as Sweden, banal forms of national expres- experiences explicitly part of the national identity. sion dominate over more overt and aggressive Kent’s music does not only portray the lived expe- forms of nationalism (Billig 1995). riences, but it also appropriates a variety of exist- The Billig thesis assumes that the reproduction ing ideas about Sweden, a meta-narrative, which of nationhood is accomplished through official are then embedded in their songs of everyday life. practices endorsed by the state. Recent research What may otherwise be taken-for-granted and has also proposed that we should investigate how rarely reflected upon is given shape and content national discourses are reproduced by everyday when the fans listen to Kent’s music. As Dittmer activities (Fox & Miller-Idriss 2008; Jones & Merri- (2010: 68) points out, “for a representation to man 2009; Skey 2009; Benwell & Dodds 2011). emerge as hegemonic it requires the audience to Such “everyday nationalism” is performed on the believe it − it is ultimately a collaboration.” microlevel by individuals or small groups of peo- Discourses about a nation have to be dissemi- ple through participation in organized social ac- nated widely in order to be commonly recognized. tivities or political protests, engaging in rituals Edensor (2002) and Dittmer (2010) note that popu- such as the singing of national anthems, the raising lar culture is better positioned than “high” and “of- of the national flag, watching a national sports ficial” culture to influence national identity: it fa- event, and so on. According to Edensor (2002), the vors the present over the past, it is shared by many, formation of contemporary national identity takes it provides reference points central to the under- place in a decentralized, or “redistributed,” fash- standing of national identity precisely because of ion through fluid networks of communication its wide reach, and it is consumed in a mundane, among people rather than hierarchical modes of everyday fashion beyond the rhetoric of politics. It communication. In other words, reproduction of is therefore peculiar that music, one of the most the nation is an ongoing process based on “con- common forms of popular culture, has not been tinual and iterative practice” (Jones & Merriman scrutinized in the context of everyday nationalism 2009: 164). This does not mean, however, that na- (or its antecedent banal nationalism). So far, other tional identity is completely reinvented and de- forms of popular culture have been investigated, tached from the past. Existing national meta-narra- such as film, television dramas, and comics which tives provide a “huge catalog of intertextual refer- reflect and construct national images and culture ence points” (Edensor 2002: 33). Every nation has (Edensor 2002; Dhoest 2007; Dittmer 2010). As a set of elements, an international “grammar” of identity is often created by affect and emotional nationhood, that can be deployed as part of a larg- experiences as much of intellectual processing, an er meta-narrative. Such elements typically include emphasis on music is overdue. a particular national mentality and character, val- This is not to say that the general connection ues, taste preferences, landscapes, symbols, and between music and place identity has not been ex- texts (Löfgren 1989). For example, the stereotypi- plored. According to Connell and Gibson (2003: cal Swedish character is orderly and punctual, 15, 117) music is “part of the process by which emotionally controlled, conflict avoiding, melan- spaces are created”, while at the same time artists cholic, and lacking in spontaneity (see Daun “represent themselves and their experiences of 1996). These national repertoires are constantly places through music”. In the case of national FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation 43 identity, people have sometimes searched for an ish culture, when it is a musical style that domi- ancient, unchanging national “soul” in music; an nates or only exists in Sweden, or music that is essentialist perspective on the meaning of music. ideologically Swedish; e.g., it projects or creates a For example, Ireland’s identity is strongly connect- Swedish identity. Even if Swedish popular music is ed with the country’s music, both traditional folk strongly influenced by the global music canon, it music, popularized by groups like the Chieftains, is shaped by local circumstances in a way that sig- and contemporary artists such as U2, Sinead nals national belonging (Johansson 2012). In a O’Connor, and the Pogues. Such music is often ro- concrete sense, Swedish popular music may con- manticized as the essence of the nation’s cultural tain the following (based on Lilliestam 1998 and heritage (McLaughlin & McLoone 2000). In a Nor- Löwstedt et al. 2001): (1) lyrics in Swedish; (2) ref- dic context, particularly the era of romantic na- erences to Swedish conditions, events, persons, tionalism of the 19th century produced music that and places; (3) a specific mood and atmosphere has been understood as an expression of nation- that incorporates melancholy and minor key tonal- hood, most notably Sibelius in Finland (Goss ity; (4) elements of traditional Swedish music, such 2009), Grieg in Norway (Benestad & Schjelderup- as fiddle and accordion-based folk music or the Ebbe 1993), and Wagner’s music which was influ- indigenous singer-songwriter visa tradition (e.g. enced by pan-Germanic themes popular at the Carl Michael Bellman, Evert Taube, and Cornelis time (Hagerman 2006). Vreeswijk); (5) melodious pop songs with a Today, as I have argued above, the meaning of straight-forward beat, often referred to as a schlager nationhood is constantly remade and reimagined, tradition; or (6) lyrics that stress rural romanticism and therefore non-essentialist approaches to inter- where coastal and forest landscapes are common preting music are more appropriate. Lily Kong geographic themes. As evident later, some of these (1997) has explored how Singaporean artists con- elements are found in Kent’s music, while others struct a national identity while using elements of are rejected in favor of contemporary ideas of what globalized popular music. Olaf Kuhlke (2009) constitutes Swedishness. contends that the music of the Canadian band the The only previous academic study of Kent (Lil- Rheostatics is representative of contemporary Ca- liestam 2003) analyzed Swedish media’s treatment nadian identity. Some of the most important ele- of Kent and particularly emphasized authenticity ments of “Canadianness” that Kuhlke identifies in and the language that journalists use to describe the Rheostatics’ music are multiculturalism, iden- Kent’s music. While a few of the media themes tity through the “othering” of the United States, identified by Lilliestam − the band’s origin in Eskil- including a particular Canadian political ideology stuna, its vaguely leftist politics, and the emotional (social democracy “light”) that emphasizes the content of the lyrics − will also appear in my anal- provision of social services by the state, and the ysis, such discourses should also be understood in use of nature imagery and northern landscapes as the context of how music may contribute to every- “cement” for a sometimes fragmented nation. Just day nationalism. like the meaning of nationhood often tends to be fragmented, the representational aspects of music can be equally contested. For example, Bruce Kent’s journey through class and space Springsteen’s music can, depending on who is lis- tening, be a positive and populist vision of Ameri- The journalist Jonas Hållén (1998: 145) writes that ca; or, from a more critical perspective, a lament Kent’s success cannot be explained by one single over the loss of the American Dream. Most fa- factor but rather a larger “package,” including mously, Ronald Reagan’s use of Springsteen’s mu- “stage performance, dress, attitude, and – finally sic for political purposes highlights such contested − origin”. In fact, most journalistic accounts about meanings of music (Cullen 2005). Kent stress that the band comes from Eskilstuna. Turning to Swedish popular music, what is it Such discourses about Kent’s origin communi- that makes it distinctly Swedish? Larsen (1993) and cates, I will argue, three interrelated ideas about Lilliestam (1993) suggest a combination of ele- Sweden. First, Eskilstuna is an archetypical Swed- ments in the music itself together with non-musi- ish small city. Second, the band’s path to stardom cal phenomena. More specifically, music becomes from humble beginnings in Eskilstuna illustrates a Swedish when it conveys meanings that can only “class journey” that resonates with many Swedes. be fully understood within the framework of Swed- Third, Kent have, like many people, migrated to 44 Ola Johansson FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) the “big city,” in their case Stockholm, resulting in Roskilde, one of the largest music festivals in Eu- an ambivalent relationship with their hometown. rope: “Kings of the main stage on the biggest festi- Eskilstuna is a city of 60,000 people (in the larg- val. Kent. From Eskilstuna [my emphasis]” (Vir- er municipality [kommun] that includes suburban tanen 2005). The addition of Eskilstuna implies areas, there are 96,000 people) located approxi- that there is a contradiction between success and mately 50 miles west of Stockholm. It is best anything from Eskilstuna, or perhaps more broad- known for its manufacturing heritage that includes ly, between success and the city itself. This attitude mechanical industries such as guns, locks, trac- is presumably based on the embedded knowledge tors, and other machinery. A period of deindustri- that journalists and the public hold about Eskils- alization during the 1970s when the Kent mem- tuna (the Swedish public ranked Eskilstuna as 26 bers were growing up resulted in unemployment, out of 28 cities in a 2011 TNS SIFO survey on most outmigration, and population losses. An economic desirable places). The subtext is, how can a band turnaround from the 1990s and onward has been that originated from such a dreary place be so credited to the city’s relatively central location, im- good? That question, though, is generally left un- proved communication and transportation, and an explored by the media. The reader may only sur- expansion of the local university. The city regained mise that the Kent members are uniquely talented population, and there are now as many residents individuals. In reality, it is not unusual that promi- in Eskilstuna as there were in 1970 (Eskilstuna nent Swedish artists originate from small places at kommun 2010; 2012). some distance from the cultural and economic Cities like Eskilstuna contribute to Sweden’s ur- hearth of the country. Johansson (2010) points out banization rate of 84%, which is high from an in- that the spatial pattern of successful Swedish artists ternational perspective (Population Reference Bu- approximately corresponds to the distribution of reau 2011). Yet, using colloquial Swedish termi- the general population and that the provision of nology, there are only three “big cities” in the various music-related services by the government country − Stockholm, Göteborg, and Malmö. and the not-for-profit sector has enabled talent to Thus, most people in Sweden are residents of develop beyond the largest cities. For example, smaller towns and cities2 while many people in Swedish studieförbund (adult education associa- Stockholm, Göteborg, and Malmö have family ties tions) subsidize musical infrastructure and bands to such small towns. The typical Swedish lived ex- that partake in “study circles” (e.g. rehearsals) perience is, in other words, much like the one in even receive a small government grant. Kent, Eskilstuna. Kent’s audience is therefore highly fa- much like other bands, were supported by these miliar with the characterization of life in Eskilstu- mechanisms of the welfare state (Gradvall 1996). na, which the band returns to with some frequency Eskilstuna, as an industrial city, is a place with a in its music. The content of Kent’s songs will be predominantly working class population and a considered in detail later; here, it suffices to say stronghold of labor unions and the Social Demo- that Eskilstuna is described in mostly negative cratic labor party. The band members come from terms: societal conformity, limited personal oppor- modest socio-economic backgrounds, and rather tunities, and general dissatisfaction with life. than attending college, they held blue collar jobs Media’s association between Kent and Eskilstu- before their music career took off. An important na usually includes overtones of place irony, such part of Kent’s public narrative is that the band as Kent’s origin in “the sörmländska3 metropolis” members used to be nursing home assistants, elec- of Eskilstuna (Bjurman 1996) as a comment on the tricians, and industrial workers (Cederholm 1996; provincial character of the city. Such reporting de- Hållén 1998); a life they willingly left behind, but vises are particularly common when reporting at the same time have come to embrace as an im- from prestigious and important Kent concerts, the portant part of their identity. The acknowledge- farther away that Kent has made it from Eskilstuna ment of these working class roots became espe- (such as touring in the United States), or the great- cially evident a few years into their career, when er the commercial success of the band has been. Kent had had time to reflect on their long-term For example, a Dagens Nyheter concert reviewer personal trajectories. A good example of coming felt compelled to point out that “the band from Es- to terms with their origin in Eskilstuna is the song kilstuna [my emphasis] now attracts as many peo- “Elite” from the 2002 album Vapen och ammuni- ple as Bruce Springsteen” (Rydell 2007: 249). The tion, which celebrates the industrial working class. Aftonbladet paper reports in a similar fashion from When “Elite” was composed, Kent had lived in FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation 45
Stockholm for several years. Their personal identi- corresponds to the time when Kent moved to ty developed through the encounter with differ- Stockholm. ence, and life in Stockholm arguably enabled Kent A consistent theme in Kent’s lyrics about Eskils- to reassert their identity as inextricably linked to tuna, which explains the imperative to migrate, is Eskilstuna. the notion of not fitting in and the intellectual ste- Kent should also be situated in a larger dis- rility of the small town milieu. In “Spökstad” Berg course that emerged in Sweden during the 1990s sings, “I was born in a ghost town/Where every- when the band arrived on the music scene. The body knows the earth is flat.” In “Sundance Kid” Swedish sociologist Mats Trondman popularized Kent elaborates further: “You and I fought against the phrase klassresa (“class journey”) in an auto- stupidity/We accompanied each other to the city biographical study (1994) about social mobility. of our dreams.” On one hand, the message is clear: The notion of social mobility, while not new, was Eskilstuna is a close-minded place. But embedded especially poignant at this time as Sweden moved here is also a reference to author Per Anders Fogel- towards a post-industrial, service-oriented society. ström’s popular historical novel Mina drömmars This reframing of the nation’s identity parallels stad (1960, “The City of My Dreams”) about Stock- Kent’s own class journey. Kent’s path away from holm where the life of the 19th century migrant is traditional working class endeavors may be a bit harsh, yet ultimately better than in the hinterland. unusual, but nevertheless part of the new creative For Kent, the hinterland is undoubtedly Eskilstuna, industries, and more specifically the globally suc- although they never mention the city directly in cessful Swedish music industry, with their new this song or, in fact, in any of their lyrics. The clos- skills and ideas reminiscent of innovative industri- est Kent have come to do so is to call Eskilstuna al capitalism during the late 19th century. smestan (“blacksmith town”) in “Vy från ett luft- Kent not only epitomize social mobility but also slott.” The choice of only obliquely referring to Es- physical mobility as the band moved to Stockholm kilstuna purposefully creates a certain place mys- early during its career. (Only one member, Harri tique. The listener can only infer, based on local Mänty, continued to live in Eskilstuna until he left knowledge about Eskilstuna’s geography, or occa- Kent in 2007.) The migration to Stockholm is a fa- sional public comments from Kent about their miliar story in Sweden, as advanced jobs in techni- songs, that the mental landscapes conjured up by cal and service fields have expanded in Stockholm the lyrics are indeed about, or at least inspired by, at a much quicker pace than elsewhere. The per- Eskilstuna. centage of the Swedish population that lives in One of the most obvious Eskilstuna references is greater Stockholm increased from 17% in 1960 to Hagnesta Hill, an album named after a neighbor- approximately 22% in 2010, according to data hood in Eskilstuna where the band had rehearsal from Statistiska centralbyrån (Statistics Sweden) space early in its career. Hagnesta Hill was re- (1960, 2010). Especially for young people, Stock- leased in 1999 during an attempt at an interna- holm is a common place to migrate for profession- tional career that forced Kent into long overseas al advancement. concert and promotional tours. The album title For Kent it was a personal and professional im- symbolizes a back-to-basics approach to music- perative to move to Stockholm. A career in music making (Börjesson 1999). At that point, enough was their way out of dead-end jobs, limited pros- time had passed from the time of migration that pects, and the societal expectation to settle and Kent were ready to return, at least thematically, to start a family early in life. For many of Kent’s peers Eskilstuna. Beyond the album title, the neighbor- in Eskilstuna, the psychological distance − not the hood is mentioned in the song “Stoppa mig juni physical distance − between Eskilstuna and Stock- (Lilla Ego).” Here, concrete albeit fragmented eve- holm was too great to be overcome. In “Frank” ryday images of Eskilstuna start to emerge − a bus from the debut album Kent, Frank is a person that route number two to Hagnesta Hill, a bus stop, a the narrator of the song idolized, but Frank did not tree-lined avenue − which adds place specificity to move on in life (understood to mean away from Kent’s songs. Later, Hagnesta Hill appears again in Eskilstuna), and now the narrator is “somebody” the song “Ingenting” on the 2007 album Tillbaka but Frank is not. The later song “Columbus” has a till samtiden. Berg now sings about the neighbor- similar theme as it’s about exploring the land of hood, not from the youthful visitor’s perspective, opportunities, which took place “way back in ‘93” but as an imaginary resident whose increasingly (lyric segment originally in English), a date that middle-aged self is trapped in suburban conform- 46 Ola Johansson FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) ity (“identical houses”) and an unexciting life: “In “Our silly crusade against an equally stupid city” Hagnesta Hill the TV lights are blinking…The (“Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)”). Kent’s commercials are interrupted for sports.” identification with the city is also associated with Particularly the albums Du och jag döden and the notion of being an underdog, which is embed- Tillbaka till samtiden offer intimate and evocative ded in much of what Kent say about themselves place details of Eskilstuna. This is fodder for fans (e.g. in Swantesson 2005); they struggle against trying to understand Kent. For example, I recently the odds because they come from Eskilstuna and followed an online conversation between an Eskil- because of their less-than-privileged background. stuna local and a fan who was planning a pilgrim- This has fostered a “we against the world” attitude. age tour of Eskilstuna and wanted to experience “We have always been bonngänget [‘a bunch of the real geography behind Kent’s lyrics. Such plac- hicks’] from Tuna” says guitarist Sami Sirviö (Dahl- es include the now defunct Grönan café and the bom & Eriksson 2002: 62), using the colloquial place where chestnut trees stood near a school; term “Tuna” for Eskilstuna, which is typical of lo- both mentioned in “Järnspöken.” Moreover, the cals, but not so much outsiders. The use of Tuna line “At a burnt down4 stadshotell (city hotel)/ signifies that the origin still matters greatly to the Memories stubbornly linger” from “Passagerare” band’s own identity and sense of belonging. How- invites the listener to reflect how his/her memories ever, on the recent (2010) album En plats i solen, may compare with Kent’s; a stadshotell is a ubiqui- so much time has past since Kent left Eskilstuna tous entertainment locale in small Swedish towns. that Berg now concludes in “Passagerare”: “One Unlike fans who seek understanding in the pre- time you were my city/Now there’s nothing of me sent urban landscape, Kent seek answers in the left/I’m absolutely positive.” Ultimately, Kent dis- past, in the city of their youth. Berg sings on plays ambivalence, as part of a rust belt diaspora “Järnspöken” that “I don’t know why, but I always from Sweden’s past, regarding their sense of geo- return here/I guess it was something we did/Some- graphical belonging and connection to Eskilstuna. thing we said here that changed my life.” Even the Kent’s journey through class and space, as de- song title “Järnspöken” indicates that the Eskilstu- scribed above, encountered a roadblock when the na past haunts Kent as it is a pun on the word band attempted an international career. The albums hjärnspöken (“figments of the imagination”) that Isola and Hagnesta Hill were re-recorded in English becomes “järnspöken” − a reference to the past for global markets. At that point, the influential Brit- economic basis of Eskilstuna (because “järn” ish music publication New Musical Express con- means “iron” and “spöken” “ghosts”). The unre- cluded that listening to Kent was “like watching solved tension about the meaning of the past also beige paint dry” (Robinson 2000). Kent was pro- surfaces in “Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år sena- moted as a Swedish Radiohead − one of the most re)” − which translates to “The Man in the White popular and critically acclaimed English bands − Hat (16 Years Later)” − where meeting people from which led to the perception that the band lacked the past brings back memories about the need to originality. Kent also failed to gain momentum else- leave “A city that was always asleep.” Sixteen years where in Europe and in the United States, which ago (counting from the release date of the album could be due to several factors: the music did not Du och jag döden where the song appeared) culturally “translate” well into English, unsuccessful would be 1989 when the band members graduat- marketing, or simply the notoriously capricious mu- ed from high school, most likely wearing the white sic industry. The international failure reinforced Kent’s hat of graduating Swedish students, which rein- image as a Swedish (and Nordic) band. Aftonbladet forces the autobiographical character of Kent’s lyr- writes “That Kent did not succeed with its American ics. In fact, the mental state of Eskilstuna and its launch was the best thing that could happen…Global people is frequently described as ghostly or sleep- breakthroughs are pure death” (Svärdkrona 2002), ing. Such characterizations are often evocative, yet suggesting that conforming to global market demands vague about the root cause of the formative experi- would dilute the place specific qualities of Kent’s mu- ences of the past. sic. The fact that Kent have been successful in all The classic depiction of small towns as event- neighboring Nordic countries, but to a slightly lesser less, as suggested above, is tempered by Kent’s re- degree than in Sweden, also suggests that Kent’s mu- alization that their upbringing makes them who sic is culturally contingent and the further away, cul- they are. Yes, Eskilstuna was a city to escape, but in turally and geographically, from Sweden one gets, the retrospect, Kent’s own rebellion was juvenile: less relevant Kent becomes. FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation 47 Interrogating the national myths The reputation for dark and somber themes led Kent to design a cover for the album Du och jag Kent have, undoubtedly, employed familiar ideas döden (Fig. 1) that is a pastiche of Ingmar Bergman, about Sweden both in their songs and in extra- the internationally recognized symbol of Swedish se- musical media representations. At times, they do riousness. Specifically, the cover alludes to Bergman’s so in a way that seems to reinforce national myths, 1957 film The Seventh Seal. A recurrent scene in the while in other cases they modernize, reshape, or film is when a knight challenges Death to a game of even reject such stereotypes. In virtually all cases, chess to avoid his own demise in medieval Sweden however, Kent approach the notion of Swedish- ravaged by the plague. In Kent’s version, Death is a ness from a personal, everyday point of view. skeleton and his now card-playing opponent is a There are multiple recurrent themes in Kent’s lyr- strangely androgynous beer drinking character; yet, ics, and to some extent in their public persona, the similarities are such that few will miss the refer- that can be organized into three different yet inter- ence, particularly as the album title “You and Me related national landscapes: the inner (or emotion- Death” replicates the conversational relationship be- al) landscape, the winter landscape, and the urban tween the knight and Death in the movie. Playing landscape. chess with Death is an iconic image understood by First, ubiquitous themes such as alienation, isola- the broad masses in Sweden, not just cultural elites tion, and loneliness in Kent’s songs collectively paint watching art-house movies. While the album cover a distinct inner landscape. However, the personal and title appear to be little more than a wink at Kent’s emotions in many songs are also projected onto a na- thematic graveness, the grim reaper also appears in tional canvas. Berg not only sings that he feels emo- the song “400 slag,” and in “Du är ånga” Berg sings tionally “ice cold” (“På Nära Håll”) but this sensation about being instilled by “Lutheran agony” as a child, takes place in an ”ice cold IKEA-land” (“Pärlor”). Kent a quintessential Bergmanesque theme. Neither do particularly describes the isolation and the inability of the band members shy away from being perceived as people to connect with each other. For example, the overly serious in media interviews; they even em- title (and content) of the album Isola suggests that brace the label “pretentious” as a badge of honor (e.g. man is an island, and the catch phrase “Kevlar soul” Söderström 1996; Olofsson 2005). Aftonbladet from the song “Kevlarsjäl” captures such emotional dubbed Kent “folkhemsgoth5” and considered them disconnect. Berg’s emphasis on the human inability an appropriately popular artist for such a “surly” to communicate appears to be a nationwide phe- country as Sweden (Larsson 2005; Virtanen 2009). nomenon: “This is Sweden and we don’t cry any- Kent not only portray emotional disconnect and more/There are no words for that in this damn somberness as Swedish traits, but also the feeling of language/I have no words for how we breathe, think, not fitting in or being alienated from a relatively ho- feel the same thing” (“Det finns inga ord”). The end mogenous culture. In “Dom andra” there is a fear of result is a country imagined by Kent to be populated becoming like everybody else − ”the others.” The with lonely people. In the song “Ensammast i Sverige” song laments conformity, which resonates with Kent’s the narrator sits in a car in a rainy Stockholm, the alternative audience who recognizes the expectation windshield wipers are moving rhythmically and he of closely adhering to social norms and empathizes feels as a participant in the “World championship in with attempts at breaking away from it. At times, this keeping a straight face” and as “the loneliest person in cultural critique reveals misanthropic tendencies, Sweden” because he let a loved one slip away as he such as the call to be different in an “IQ-free country” was unable to communicate, and now the object of (“Kärleken väntar”) where “People are idiots” (“Idiot- affection has left “the cold, quiet country.” But the er”) and “One hundred thousand voices can be actual desire for human closeness is, at the same wrong” (“18: 29−4”). But being different is hard be- time, pervasive in Kent’s songs. In “Kevlarsjäl” the nar- cause “In my country you cannot be superior” (“Det rator pleads “Come, make a hole in my Kevlar soul” finns inga ord”). This is a reference to Jantelagen, a while again evoking Sweden by clarifying that this well known Swedish (and Nordic) idea that is typi- inner landscape is located in “my country.” Dagens cally understood as “you shall not think you’re some- Nyheter suggests that Kent engages in a Swedish tra- body special,” and supposedly encourages people dition of conveying through music ”all those things not to stand out beyond the norm. In public, Kent that we want, but prefer to express by singing Bell- frequently proclaims their own greatness (Stenberg man6 songs − or slurring about when drunk” (Ceder- 1996). At first, this appears to be the antithesis of not skog 2002). elevating oneself and the opposite of being lagom − 48 Ola Johansson FENNIA 191: 1 (2013)
Fig. 1. Cover art of the 2005 album Du och jag döden. Used by permission from Sony Music Entertainment Sweden.
the famous Swedish axiom that approximately cessive bragging. Kent, then, occupies a middle translates as “about right” and signals a modesty- space between everyday Swedishness and the is-virtue cultural attitude. Internally within the larger world of popular music. band, however, media also report that Kent can be When Kent articulate an inner landscape, they of- self-depreciating and self-critical (Cederskog ten do so in a winter setting. In Kent’s world the 2002), which cast doubt on the sincerity of Kent’s weather is typically rainy, snowy, cold, dark, or damp. belief in their own excellence. Rather, what ap- Especially snowfall is an image that Kent returns too pears to be at work here is a deliberate public jux- in both songs (e.g. “Elever” and “Det finns inga ord”) taposition of jantelagen and the rock ethos of ex- and videos (e.g. “Vinternoll2” and “FF”). The winter FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation 49 landscape stands in contrast to the aforementioned shows images of urban renewal era housing com- tendency in Swedish music to romanticize nature by plexes in cool, monochromatic colors, which is re- evoking pleasant, rural, and idyllic summer settings. peated in the video to “En himmelsk drog.” Taken to- For Kent, as observers of the dark side of life, the win- gether, this is a modernist landscape − traffic, high- ter landscape is more than a setting; the environment rises, streets, asphalt, concrete − and an urban dysto- is a metaphor for discomfort and troubled emotions. pia. People are at times frozen and ice cold inside (“Livräd- Embedded in Kent’s city is yet another element: the daren”) or blank as ice (“Som vatten”). Winter is also theme of fear. Berg sings “People in locked up, quiet the season for deteriorating relationships. The song houses/Lift the curtain and stare out onto the street/ “December” is constructed as a countdown towards With eyes that are afraid/Of all that can happen” a romantic break up as the seasons change and win- (“Rosor och palmblad”). Kent’s treatment of the topic ter is approaching. The theme is repeated in “Kungen in songs and interviews indicates that violence is the är död” where a dreary December day is the oppor- underlying reason for fear. In “Jag vill inte vara rädd,” tune time for the narrator to permanently walk away nighttime public spaces are populated with restless, from his partner and leave her stranded in an urban loitering youth where the smallest tension results in a crowd. brawl. In “Spökstad,” Berg sings “I grew up in a ghost Summer songs are far less common, but even town where the town square turns into a battlefield when they appear the message is that winter is the every night,” which describes Kent’s experience with normal condition. Summer is a chimera: “My skin is the pent up frustration in dead-end Eskilstuna. Later, white underneath my watch/There, underneath, the Kent concludes that the propensity for violence is not winter never ends” (“Saker man ser”). Summer also unique to Eskilstuna, but equally present in Stock- exists in stark contrast to the sentiment in songs where holm (“LSD, någon?”). people cannot connect with their love interests. For that reason, Berg sings that he cannot stand being in the sun (“Indianer”). Furthermore, summer and pleas- The public landscapes of Kent ant weather are not only depressing, but outright dan- gerous: “You get cancer from the sun” (“Om Gyllene While the theme of urban violence was a foray År”). into social commentary already evident on the first As a second contrast to common Swedish musical album, Kent moved over time towards further so- representations of the nation, Kent’s songs tend to be cial engagement conveying not just private, inner urban rather than rural. The urban landscape is also landscapes but also matters related to national intertwined with the winter and inner landscapes. The politics, and thus constructing their own public city is often described as damp and cold (e.g. “Som landscapes. While the albums from 1995−1999 vatten”) and it is not a happy place, as in “Vinter- (Kent, Verkligen, Isola, and Hagnesta Hill) brought noll2”: “You sense that the city is just like the city has Kent to the top of the charts, the 2002 Vapen och always been/Waiting for a long cold winter/And you ammunition made them national superstars. The say that one can learn to live with loss sometimes/ album was musically accessible and covered new Through an ice cold winter.” In the song “Klåparen,” thematic grounds by reflecting on broader societal the narrator reminds himself that “They turn off the matters, in addition to Kent’s traditional emphasis lights on all streets, in all houses/And when the city on the personal and emotional. From this time on- lies empty, you realize/That this is what your life looks ward, according to Dagens Nyheter, Kent start to like.” The role of the city in Kent’s songs is more than display “an understanding where they come from” a stage for emotional dissatisfaction; it is a protagonist (Rydell 2007: 251) and “there is a subtle love of in its own right. The city is “quiet and ugly” (“Vinter- the homeland in Kent’s songs” (Strage 2007: 262). noll2”) and even the most populous of Swedish cities, Later albums are also understood in national terms Stockholm, “lies desolate” (“Pärlor”). On the other by media, but with a darker undertone: there are hand, cities do not have to be devoid of people to be “rather serious things that Kent say about this country lifeless and impersonal. This is evident in “Chans” in their lyrics” (Wahllöf 2005), and the music con- and the video to “Columbus” which contains images tains “pitch black studies of the state of Sweden” (Ny- of anonymous people in motion not making contact. lin 2009). Addressing such commentary, Joakim Berg In the “Columbus” video (filmed in Stockholm) the says: “I never decide beforehand to say something scenery is also dark, sometimes descending into a about Sweden…yet I end up there. It is hard not to sterile subway environment. The album sleeve of Isola comment on what you see” (Wahllöf 2005). 50 Ola Johansson FENNIA 191: 1 (2013)
The social commentary of Kent is reinforced by against potential foreign spies. In Kent’s “Sverige” the ethnic Finnish background of three of the five it translates into weariness and distrust of foreign- band members. Eskilstuna is one of the cities in ers in general. Sweden was officially neutral dur- Sweden with the greatest proportion of people ing World War II, but its realpolitik was also char- with Finnish heritage, currently around 17.5% acterized by Nazi appeasement (see Vetenskapsrå- (Vaara 2009). Most of them arrived in Eskilstuna as det 2006), which may explain why Kent’s tiger is unskilled labor migrants during the 1960s, which ashamed, connecting the past with the present. is also true for the band members’ families: they The reference to the tiger also clarifies the choice left rural regions of Finland plagued by unemploy- of cover art for Vapen och ammunition, a white ment and peripheral underdevelopment to obtain tiger7, which adds a racial dimension to the al- industrial jobs in Sweden. The Finnish connection ready potent symbolism (Fig. 2). Unable to come not only strengthens Kent’s working class creden- to terms with multiculturalism, the Swedish (white) tials, but it also enables the band to speak with tiger stays mum and “Cheers for another midsum- some authority on immigration policy matters and mer/Fresh potatoes and herring/As if time stood to critique anti-immigration sentiment. Sweden still.” Kent instead opines that Sweden should say has not been immune to the xenophobia of con- “Welcome, welcome here/Whoever you are, temporary Europe, as the recent electoral success wherever you are/Prepare your porch for a feast/ of the anti-immigrant party Sverigedemokraterna For a faraway guest/In the country lagom is best.” attests. While second-generation Finnish people in After “Sverige,” the presence of xenophobia has Sweden are quite assimilated, the alienation felt been less overt in Kent’s music, but the sleeve of by an earlier generation exists within living mem- the album Röd has a picture (Fig. 3) that looks like, ory and has perhaps translated for Kent into empa- according to one commentator, “an angel dressed thy with recent immigrants. up in a Ku Klux Klan-hood standing prepared to Particularly two songs stand out on Vapen och push two black children into a steam” (Nylin ammunition as distinctly different compared to 2009). And “Våga vara rädd” on Tillbaka till sam- Kent’s back catalog and central to their construc- tiden describes what appears to be a far right po- tion of a public landscape. First, there is the quiet litical demonstration with “Riot police every- acoustic ballad “Sverige,” which became so popu- where,” although “The rest of us are so many lar that it was “played during the relaxation por- more” which suggest hope regarding the challeng- tion of ninety percent of all health club exercise es of multiculturalism facing the country. classes” (Rydell 2007: 250). Casual listeners In support of the Vapen och ammunition album, viewed it as celebratory in a patriotic fashion Kent toured during the summer of 2003. Especially (Wahllöf 2005); however, themes of xenophobia one concert projected Kent’s new desire to speak and immigration abound in the lyrics. The central about (and perhaps for) the nation. The concert message of the song is the complicity of the gen- was held at a sold out (approximately 32,000 peo- eral public by quietly accepting racism in society: ple) Stockholm Stadion, a national arena of Swe- “The silence is frightening/What is it that has hap- den built for the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. The pened?” The song continues in the most Swedish concert took place on June 6, Sweden’s day of na- of settings, midsummer’s eve: “The night is bright tional celebration. Aftonbladet writes that it was in a country without sound/And the glass glitters “without doubt one of the greatest highlights in quietly on our table/As empty as words.” Sweden’s Swedish rock music history” (Bjurman 2003). Da- public rhetoric of solidarity with the poor and op- gens Nyheter echoed the sentiment, but with a pressed apparently rings hollow to Kent as they twist: “the greatest nationalistic manifestation [my end the stanza sarcastically with “Ain’t love grand.” emphasis] in Swedish rock music history” (Strage The charge of complicity continues when Berg 2007: 262), which implies that the concert held sings “Sweden, Sweden, dear friend/A tiger that is symbolic meaning, as a ritual that involved a large ashamed.” En svensk tiger is a government slogan group of people acting in unison. The visual im- from World War II that carries a double meaning: pressions of the show were indeed unity and cohe- “a Swedish tiger,” as visualized on World War II sion, central aspects of nationalism. All band posters but also “a Swede keeps quiet.” (The word members were dressed in white, as was the audi- “tiger” is both the noun for the animal, as well as ence. Kent communicated in advance via their the verb “to keep quiet.”) The purpose of the slo- webpage that all concert attendants should wear gan was to remind the public to be on guard white clothing, and most obliged (Fig. 4). In part, FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation 51
Fig. 2. Cover art of the 2002 album Vapen och ammunition. Used by permission from Sony Music Enter- tainment Sweden.
Fig. 3. Excerpt from the Röd album sleeve. Used by permission from Sony Music Entertainment Sweden. 52 Ola Johansson FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) the color scheme was a tongue-in-cheek joke as by graduating students. As an additional element, Kent typically dress in black to suit their serious Kent prominently displayed the Swedish flag on persona; yet, overtones of nationhood were palpa- the stage. Although the image of the flag was in ble. Dressing in all white is loaded with cultural black and white, pictures from the concert also meaning; it is the color of Swedish summer, the show several people in the audience waving the season of light, and all-white is traditionally worn blue-and-yellow banner to great visual effect.
Fig. 4. Kent performing at Stockholm Stadion on June 6, 2003.
Photo: Henrik Ismarker (www.flickr.com). Used under Creative Commons license. FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation 53 A second song from Vapen och ammunition − Concluding comments “Elite” − is also different from Kent’s previous material as it opens up with a blues riff and ends with a gospel The idea of everyday nationalism has been em- choir. This song is actually celebratory, but from a ployed in multiple contexts, but rarely music. Di- class more than a patriotic perspective, exploring the rect bodily experiences, such as listening to music, Eskilstuna working class roots of the band and, ulti- have a profound impact on how we experience mately, of Sweden. While Kent also sing about the the world, and, as Löfgren (1989: 15) points out, nation in the song, it is personal ancestry that is at the the nation is “strongly articulated in non-verbal forefront: “My family is full of heroes.” These forgotten forms, in shared smells, sounds [my emphasis], heroes “Speak through the pen in my hand/And they tastes, and visions.” Therefore, I have suggested in carried me all the way here.” The experiences of labor this article that Kent make ordinary Swedish expe- are depicted as real, while “One hundred upper class riences, habits, and rituals visible through their poets cannot give me anything.” Kent have come to music. While the shaping of national identities ul- terms with their origin: “I was running to stand still/ timately involves all members of a nation − it is a Looking for a miracle/When it was right next door.” “redistributed” process (Edensor 2002) − Kent Stockholm and the music industry is the elusive mira- have, because of their popularity, a great deal of cle, while the real one is everyday life “next door” in power in representing Swedishness compared to Eskilstuna. “Elite,” according to Strage (2003), is about other actors. “the band’s roots, sweat, and pride in the steel mills, The Swedish (and Nordic) listener’s recognition the Sweden that has disappeared.” Both Kent and of the content in Kent’s music localizes it and Swedish society at-large have approached this trans- makes it place-bound. While some themes in the formation with a mix of positive and negative emo- songs are universal − such as the confines of a tions, engaging both in nostalgia about the accom- small town or relationship problems − Kent situ- plishments of the welfare state and a realization that ates them in a Swedish context. To communicate a post-industrial change is inevitable. Far from every- day-to-day lived experience, especially through one will make this class journey of course; the post- the Swedish language, creates familiarity, and as industrial society leaves too many people behind in the songs convey culturally determined material, perpetually low-skilled, low-wage employment, but the listener has the ability to interpret it based on at the same time, socio-economic mobility is greater his or her own experiences. While the music con- today in Sweden than it is, for example, in the United nects with the experiences of the individual lis- States (Pew Charitable Trusts 2011). tener, Kent’s songs are also transformed from indi- Kent has continued to express vaguely leftist senti- vidual recognition to a national experience as they ment after “Elite.” On “Vals för Satan (din vän pessi- are shared among individuals, through media, and misten)” “banners” are waving during “red May” and heard in concert. One such concert was highlight- Kent offer token but ultimately futile opposition to the ed in the article, but all concerts − and Kent has political right because “Against the dollar and the toured intensively over the years − are rituals that yen, death easily becomes a joke” (“400 slag”). The may endure in the memory of those who attended neoliberal political wind seems to trouble Kent; in them. As evident at the high-profile Stockholm Sta- fact, it is a reason to move on (as in “Ensam lång väg dion show, the participants were not just passive hem”): “When…the wind was blowing from the right consumers of music, but active producers of /I took a train from Stockholm/Wide world, via Flen,” meaning; they become a “physical embodiment of but “When spring came/With solidarity/I long back the nation” (Fox & Miller-Idriss 2008: 547). home to Stockholm,” ending their critique on a posi- Kent often describes everyday personal events, tive note. But Kent also acknowledges in “LSD någon” which are, in a narrow sense, always local rather that migrating to Stockholm in an increasingly indi- than national in character. While Kent’s narratives, vidualistic society comes with a price: “Nobody concretely or discursively, may be about Eskilstuna comes here/To return/First and foremost you think or Stockholm, these songs would have limited about yourself.” Kent seemingly embrace and defend meaning if they were not seen as an integral part of the Swedish folkhem and welfare state, but they do so the national experience; the local and the national in an ambiguous way, which is emblematic of a band scale must (and do) intersect. Because, as I have whose “message” always remains ambivalent. argued, Eskilstuna can be viewed as an archetypi- cal Swedish city, which is also reinforced by Swe- den’s relatively homogenous character with mod- 54 Ola Johansson FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) est regional differences, Kent’s experience rooted ticle emailed me and confided that “I have lived in a particular place is seen as very Swedish. Of abroad for many years and used to get a serious some importance here are also Joakim Berg’s vo- case of homesickness when I listened to Kent” (Jo- cals, which are performed in a generic Swedish hansson 2012). The notion of nationhood is usu- accent rather than a regional one, which allow the ally approached in a cautious manner in Sweden music to transcend the local-national divide. In- where overt expressions of nationalism are deed, one of the foundations of the nation as an frowned upon, which means that Kent’s critical imagined community, according to Benedict An- patriotism is culturally appropriate. Even Eskilstu- derson (2006), is the development and use of the na, which bears the brunt of Kent’s scorn, is gener- same language. ally appreciative, and even proud, of the band (Ax- Kent depiction of everyday Sweden contains elsson 2003). three landscapes, which I conceptualized as inner, Niklas Wahllöf writes in Dagens Nyheter that urban, and winter landscapes. Through these land- “However you interpret Kent’s music, there is a scapes, Kent both reinforce and reshape national need for the band out there among a lot of Nordic myths. For example, rural landscapes typically people” (2005). As documented earlier, Kent have symbolize the nation, both in Sweden and else- had success in Sweden’s neighboring countries. where, because they seem more primordial com- The connection with Finland is especially interest- pared to ephemeral and contemporary urban land- ing, not only because of the background of the scapes (Edensor 2002). However, Kent has chosen band members, but also how Kent have been re- to describe urban landscapes precisely because ceived in Finland. The fact that individual Kent they are more relevant to contemporary life in members have been commissioned to act in Finnish Sweden. Similarly, landscapes of dreary and cool beer commercials (the Koff commercial is available weather may be more true to the everyday experi- at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_ ence than iconic summer landscapes. Billig (1995) embedded&v=8nc0zQBeNEU) and to contribute to points out that the weather is a way through which the soundtrack to the 2013 movie Laulu koti- nations talk and think about themselves; Sweden ikävästä/Ingen riktig finne about a middle-aged rock and Kent are no exceptions. musician who finds himself caught between Finn- In other ways, however, Kent’s lyrics stereotype ish and Swedish culture, indicates that Kent’s the character of Sweden and its population. There “Finnish connection” should be explored further. is a fine line between sincerity and effect-seeking On the other hand, Kent do not appeal to every- emoting that Kent constantly must balance, but one; for example, their fan base does not extend based on their critical acclaim and that they are very deep into Sweden’s immigrant population. credited with a high degree of authenticity (Lillies- These are avenues of new research that can ex- tam 2003; Niklasson 2005), the rendering of the plore the connection between Kent, Nordic soci- national character as gloomy and melancholic be- ety, and everyday life, perhaps by utilizing inter- comes credible. Part of the reason is that Kent situ- views with fans to supplement the media and mu- ate this portrayal in everyday life. While they com- sic content analysis of this article. monly describe such national characteristics, they also depict attempts at breaking away from this culture. Kent thereby demonstrate that they are in- NOTES evitably shaped by Swedish culture, but at the same time consciously recognize how they are 1 All quotes in this article, both from media and Kent’s trapped in it. Thus, Kent engage in a critique from lyrics, are my own translations from the Swedish. How- within Swedish culture. This is not only manifested ever, I have retained the original song and album titles in Kent’s inner landscape but also in their public in Swedish. 2 Subtracting the 16% of Swedes who lives in rural areas landscape. Again, a balance is struck; one that can and the number of residents in the three big cities from be dubbed “critical patriotism.” The portrayal of the total Swedish population of nine million results in Sweden does not shy away from criticism, but it is that 50−60% (depending on whether population statis- also experienced by fans as a fair representation of tics from the municipalities or the urban regions of the the country and one that invites both recognition three main cities are used) of the Swedish population and contemplation about what it means to be lives in what can be called smaller cities and towns. 3 Meaning “originating from Södermanland,” the prov- Swedish. For example, a Swedish academic who ince where Eskilstuna is located. read an abstract to a conference version of this ar- FENNIA 191: 1 (2013) Kent’s Sweden, or what a rock band can tell us about a nation 55
4 The downtown Hotel Statt in Eskilstuna was torched by Benwell M & Dodds K 2011. Argentine territorial na- an arsonist in 2009, shortly before the song was written. tionalism revisited: the Malvinas/Falklands dis- 5 Folkhem literally means “the people’s home” and is pute and geographies of everyday nationalism. a euphemism for the welfare state of the post-World Political Geography 30, 441−449. http://dx.doi. War Two era. org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2011.09.006. 6 Carl Michael Bellman is a late 18th century com- Billig M 1995. Banal nationalism. Sage, London. poser whose songs have endured and are familiar to Bjurman P 1996. Kent: verkligen. Aftonbladet, 22 most people in Sweden today. March.
Johansson O 2010. Beyond ABBA: the globalization ular Music 19: 2, 181−199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1 of Swedish popular music. FOCUS on Geography 017%2FS0261143000000106. 53: 4, 134−141. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1949- Niklasson O 2005. Kent vad det här... Studio 4, 8535.2010.00016.x. 38−44. Johansson O 2012. Svensk rockmusik—en hybrid i Nordström A 2007. Kent vill fortfarande vara det vik- världen. STM-Online, vol. 15.
Svärdkrona Z 2002. Skönt att Kent inte blev världs- Förintelsen.” Vetenskapsrådets slutredovisning av berömda. Aftonbladet, 21 March.