Ebba Grön
We're only in it for the drugs/Kärlek och uppror/Ebba Grön
Mistlur/MNW

Swedish legendary punk band Ebba Grön only recorded three studio albums, but since their demise in 1983 (after being together for 6 years), three compilations, one live album and a four disc box set have all been released (the last compilation was released in 2005). The reason for this is simple - Ebba Grön still sell records in Sweden, due to the simple fact that they were really good (their singer Joakim Thåström also had a successful career after Ebba Grön, both with Imperiet and currently as a solo artist). Earlier this year all of their studio albums were reissued with a couple of bonus singles and b-sides not featured on the original albums stuck onto each disc. Ebba Grön's first album "We're only in it for the drugs" (don't let the English title fool you, Ebba Grön, on their records, strictly sang in Swedish, and also - the title is ironic) came out 1979 and it's without a doubt their finest work and one of the best Swedish albums of all time. After that they went a bit too soft and acquired too much of that 80s swing that sounds so dated today. If you'd like to check out some classic Swedish punk, I'd recommend you to get "We're only..." or "Ebba Grön samlingen". "We're only..." is raw and energetic whereas with the follow-ups, Ebba Grön became more and more pop and less punk. "Kärlek och uppror" is a bit hit and miss and their third (self-titled) album is more miss than hit, despite having classics such as "Flyktsoda" on it. The Swedish punk scene in the last 70s and early 80s was perhaps vibrant and some great songs were certainly produced, but overall it didn't really make too much of a mark. Ebba Grön are the exception to this, they were in a different league to the rest, a bit like what Refused were to Swedish hardcore in the 90s.

Individual Scores:
We're only in it for the drugs: 10
Kärlek och uppror: 7
Ebba Grön: 5
- Simon Tagestam