Ebba Grön was a Swedish punk band formed in 1977. The original members were Joakim Thåström (Pimme), Gunnar Ljungsted (Gurra) and Lennart Eriksson (Fjodor). After their second album in 1981 they were joined by a fourth member, Anders Sjöholm (Stry Terrarie). Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ... Joakim Thåström is a well known Swedish punk musician. ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

History

During a party in Rågsved, a working-class suburb of Stockholm, in 1977, Joakim Thåström, Gunnar Ljungsted and Fjodor formed a band called The Haters. A few days later they changed the name to Ebba Grön after the codeword used by the police in Operation Leo. Ragsved is a suburb in the south of Stockolm. ... The Stockholm City Hall Stockholm  listen is the capital and the largest city of Sweden. ... Joakim Thåström is a well known Swedish punk musician. ... Operation Leo was a plan to kidnap the Swedish minister for the interior Anna-Greta Leijon in 1976. ...

They released their first single Antirock on April 21, 1978. The band bought all the 500 copies themselves and sold them in the streets. After a concert at Långholmsparken, which was recorded by the national radio, they were contacted by Mistlur record label, and offered a contract and to re-release the single. April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ...

Ebba Grön started a hectic period of touring all over Sweden, during which they also released two more singles. In 1978, the time had come for their album debut We're Only in It for the Drugs, with songs about the tough, yet boring lives of young people in the working-class suburbs. The anarchistic lyrics were seen as very controversial at the time, and the lyrics of one song, Beväpna er, (Take up arms) about taking up arms against the government, bourgeoisie and Swedish royal family, could not be printed on the cover. The band also started to get a reputation of having troublesome gigs, with vandalism and fights, which fitted the punk image perfectly. Anarchy can refer to: the political theory anarchism, also known as libertarian socialism or anarcho_communism. ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ...

In 1980, Ebba Grön released a single that would become their most famous song, a cover of Blå Tåget's Den ena handen vet vad den andra gör, re-named Staten och kapitalet, with very leftist political lyrics. Their second album Kärlek och uppror (Love and rebellion) was released next year, with the focus of the music shifting slightly away from punk. The catchy melodies and Ebba Grön's image as young rebels appealed to both the punk crowd and a wider audience, and rendered the album a big success.

The lyrics and the music were always credited to the entire band, but after a while it became more obvious that it was Thåström who was the creative engine, and he would also have the most successful career after the breakup. Later that same year, keyboard player Stry, was recruited and brought with him new influences. The single Scheiss was released in 1981 parallel with this: Thåström, Gurra, and Stry released a single with the new project Rymdimperiet, which would later become Imperiet. Imperiet. ...

Their third album, simply named Ebba Grön, was released in 1982, and the new tendencies and influence by Stry were even more obvious. The album had keyboards and horns, and was more melodic than its predecessors. This was a step away from punk (although lyrically it still was), but that hardly harmed them commercially. When Fjoder ended up in jail for four months for refusing to do his military service; it was the beginning of the end for Ebba Grön, and in February 1983 they sent a farewell letter to the press. But already the same year Rymdimperiet released their first album, now under the name Imperiet. Musically this album continued the development away from punk rock, but Rasera (Destroy), the first Imperiet album is sometimes considered being the last Ebba Grön album. Imperiet got a good start and would be the leading band of the Swedish alternative rock scene throughout the '80s.

Discography

LP

• We're only in it for the drugs (1979)
• Kärlek & Uppror (1981)
• Ebba Grön (1982)

EP/Single

• Antirock (Profit / Ung & Sänkt) (1978)
• Prorock (Tyst För Fan / Mona Tumbas Slim Club) (1978)
• Total-POP (Vad Ska Du Bli? / Häng Gud) (1979)
• Ung & Kåt / Staten & Kapitalet (1980)
• Scheisse / Tyna bort (1981)

Compilations

• Samlade Singlar (1983)
• Ebba Grön 1978-1982 (1987)
• Ebba Grön Live (1998)
• Boxen (1998)

Film

• Ebba The Movie (1982)