Kent is dead, long live Kent!
Influenced by: My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, The Jesus and Mary Chain, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, U2
"Vi är inte längre där, nej, vi är nån annanstans"note
Kent was a Swedish alternative rock/pop band from Eskilstuna, consisting of Joakim "Jocke" Berg, Martin Sköld, Sami Sirviö and Markus Mustonen.
Past members were Harri Mänty and Martin Roos. The band was founded in 1990 under the name "Jones & Giftet" (literally “Jones & The Poison”) and released their first album in 1995 under their new and final name, "Kent".
They were the most popular rock/pop band in Sweden and Scandinavia, with thirteen released studio albums and over three million records sold. With the exceptions of two Translated Cover Version albums, all of their songs are written in Swedish. Their music style is often described as "melancholic" and they are sometimes described as the Swedish answer to British Bands like Keane or Coldplay.
On the 20th of March 2016, the band released their last studio album Då som nu för alltid. Their last concert took place on the 17th of December 2016.
Discography:
- 1995 - Kent
- 1996 - Verkligen (Really)
- 1997 - Isola (Island)
- 1999 - Hagnesta Hill
- 2000 - B-sidor 95-00 (B-sides 95-00)
- 2002 - Vapen & ammunition (Arms & ammunition)
- 2005 - Du & jag döden (You & I death)
- 2005 - The hjärta & smärta (The heart & pain) (EP)
- 2007 - Tillbaka till samtiden (Back to the Present)
- 2009 - Röd (Red)
- 2010 - En plats i solen (A place in the sun)
- 2012 - Jag är inte rädd för mörkret (I'm not afraid of the dark)
- 2014 - Tigerdrottningen (The Tiger Queen)
- 2016 - Då som nu för alltid (Then as now forever)
- 2016 - Best of
List tropes about us, ohohoh, we are forever:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: In "Den andra sidan":Och jag vet att vi ses
På den andra sidan - Album Intro Track: "18:29-4" is the intro to the album "Röd" and surprisingly sounds like it's sung by a church choir.
- Album Title Drop: "Stoppa mig juni (Lilla Ego)" from the album Hagnesta Hill, "Sundance kid" from Vapen&Ammunition, "Vi är för alltid" from Då som nu för alltid, "Oprofessionell" from Isola.
- Alliterative Title: The song "Svart Snö" and the album Hagnesta Hill.
- La Belle Epoque: Subverted. They have a song that is called so, however it is about today Sweden.
- Book Burning: From "Egoist":The wind carries a smell of smoke
All around Sweden book-pyres are smoldering - B-Side: B-sidor 95-00 is a collection of all B-sides until the year 2000.
- Call-and-Response Song: Occurs in "Dom som försvann":The camera glides over goldish yellow fields
Yes, we know that you need help!
This city will drive me crazy tonight
You will never find home again
Want to give you everything tonight
You will never be yourself again, you will never be yourself again, you will never be yourself again
The camera glides over goldish yellow fields
Yes, we know that you need help!
This city drives me crazy again
You will never be yourself again
And I really think that my soul dies of hunger
One gets tired of your damned whine, one gets tired of your damned whine - Continuity Nod: The announcing video
for their last album, Då som nu för alltid is basically consisting of this trope: It's full of references to old songs, albums and music videos by the band, in an amazing way.- "Gigi" and "Falska Profeter" from their lasts album contain elements of the music played in the background of said video.
- Some of the songs from Då som nu för alltid contain some lines that are callbacks to older songs.
- The ending of "Vi är inte längre där" resembles the ending of "Min värld".
- Censored Title: A weird case. At least in the German music store, in a song title, the word "fick" is censored, making the title "Hur jag f*ck dig att älska mig". The thing is, in Swedish, "fick" only means the past form of the verb "to get". In German though, it means exactly that what it looks like...
- Character Title: "Columbus"
- The City vs. the Country:
- Many of their songs are about moving from a small town to a big city, and the following emotion of feeling lost. Examples are "Columbus" or "LSD, någon?".
- "Ensam lång väg hem" is about the opposite: Realising that you are missing the city after spending some time in the country.
- Dress Rehearsal Video: Several music, for example the videos for "Var är vi nu?" and "Mirage".
- Either/Or Title: "Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)", "Stoppa mig Juni (Lilla Ego)", "Vals För Satan (Din vän pessimisten)", "Kräm (så nära får ingen gå)".
- Epic Instrumental Opener:
- "Mannen i den vita hatten" has an intro that lasts 1:38 minutes.
- The intro of "Mirage" is 1:29 minutes long
- Epic Rocking: "Ensammast i Sverige (8:20), "En Timme En Minut" (8:11), "747" (7:47), "Det finns inga ord" (6:59), "Vals för satan" (6:47), "Mannen i den vita hatten" (6:38), Stoppa mig Juni (6:22), "Falska Profeter" (6:20)
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: "Den sista sången" ("The last song") was the last song on their last album, as well as the last song on their last concert.
- Fade Out: "Den andra sidan", "Socker", "Hur jag fick dig att älska mig", "Ff", "Chans", "Columbus", "Alla mot alla", "Ensammast i Sverige"
- Fading into the Next Song:
- Done between the first four tracks on the album "Röd".
- Done between "Sömnen" and "Vy från ett luftslott".
- Foreign Language Title: "Mirage", "La Belle Époque", "Music Non Stop", "Team Building".
- Greatest Hits Album: Published one in 2016.
- Grief Song: "M" is about Jocke Berg's late grandmother, Margit.
- Grim Up North: Many of their songs are about this sentiment, for example "Stoppa mig Juni (Lilla Ego)", "Ensam lång väg hem", "Columbus" and "LSD, någon?", just to name a few.
- It's All About Me: Played with in "Vi är för alltid" from their last album:They are going to sing songs about us (Oh, we are for forever)
They are going to make movies about us (Oh, we are for forever)
They are going to write books about us
—-
(but later:)
—-
I'm just joking, nobody's gonna write books/I'm just joking, nobody's gonna make movies/ I'm just joking, nobody's gonna song songs about us, no songs about us - Kids Rock: A choir of children appears in "Dom som försvann", "Andromeda", "Egoist" and "Den sista sången".
- Location Song: "Sverige", "Columbus", "Ingenting" and many others. Like Jocke Berg once said:"There are two kinds of lyrics I write. One kind is based in places and the other is based in feelings. You move between those two whether you want to or not."
- Long-Runner Line-up: The four core members who formed the band all stayed together for twenty-six years. They did have a couple of rhythm guitarists come and go during that time, but the members who started the band all stayed until the end.
- New Sound Album: After releasing several albums usually classified as Alternative Rock, Kent released Tillbaka till samtiden, a Synthpop/-rock album. They more or less kept that sound and idetify themselves as a pop band now.
- Non-Appearing Title: "Mannen i den vita hatten", "La belle époque", "Klåparen", "Ff", "Vy från ett luftslott", "Lsd, någon?" and and and...
- The Noun Who Verbed: "Dom som försvann"note
- Ode to Youth: Quite a few, for example "Ingen kunde röra oss", "Var är vi nu?" and "Stoppa mig Juni (Lilla Ego).
- One-Letter Title: "M".
- One-Man Song: "Ismael"
- The Oner: The music video to "Var är vi nu?" is filmed in one shot.
- One-Word Title: "Egoist", "Klåparen", "Mirage", "Sverige", "Elefanter", "Skogarna", "Andromeda", "Ingenting", "Sömnen", "Kevlarsjäl",...let's just say it's not uncommon!
- Only Friend: "Din enda vän"
- The Place: "Sverige", "Berlin", "Flen / Paris", "Gamla Ullevi"
- Progressive Instrumentation: "Stoppa mig Juni", "Förlåtelsen" and the intros of "Mirage" and "Mannen i den vita hatten". Also, "Ensam lång väg hem", to a downplayed extent.
- Questioning Title?: "Var är vi nu?", "Lsd, någon?"
- Recycled Lyrics: The line "Vi kommer alla någon annanstans ifrån än där vi råka vara just nu"note from "Falska Profeter" reappears in "Den sista sången" as "Vi kommer från nån annanstans är där vi är just nu"note .
- Regional Riff: At the beginning of "LSD, någon?" there are Scandinavian sounding violins.
- Rejected Apology: The protagonist in "Generation ex" does this because he doesn't believe in a future of the relationship with his (former) love anyways.
- Running Time in the Title: "747" is 7 minutes and 47 seconds long.
- Self-Titled Album: Their first album is called Kent.
- Shout-Out: Kent uses often references to other works in their songs. Here are a few examples:
- The name of their album Tillbaka till samtidennote is a Punnote and a shoutout to Back to the Future.
- "Palace & Main" has references to State of Grace and Michael Caine
- "Vid din sida" references to T. S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land"
- "Den vänstra stranden" mentiones "In Liverpool" by Suzanne Vega.
- "Here comes the sun" and "Für Elise" are mentioned in "Vintervila".
- "Max 500" mentions John Keats, Charles Baudelaire, Mary Shelley, Lady Day and Fred Astaire.
- "Kungen är död" ("The King Is Dead") is most likely a shoutout to the album The Queen Is Dead by The Smiths.
- The beginning of "Din enda vän" is a sampled monologue from the movie Bonjour Tristesse.
- One of their newest songs is called "Nostromo".
- Step Up to the Microphone: "Markus Sång (Papin jahti)" is sung completely in Finnish by drummer Markus Mustonen.
- Studio Chatter: The beginning of "Sverige".
- Textless Album Cover: Då som nu för alltid, Tigerdrottningen, Jag är inte rädd för mörkret
- Title Track: Subverted with "Verkligen", which is a B-side of the "Gravitation"-EP and not featured on the album Verkligen. Otherwise, this trope is completely averted, there hasn't been a single title track in twenty-six years.
- Translated Cover Version: There are both a Swedish and a English version existing of their albums Isola and Hagnesta Hill.
- Word Salad Lyrics: "Markus Sång" aka "Papin jahti" ("The priest's hunt"):Kultainen kikkeli rannalla hyppeli. Pappi juoksi perään. (The golden dick was jumping on the beach. The priest ran after).
Then, like now, forever
