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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3961 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 3, 2023

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foreigners, of course, don't know about them, and nobody would expect them to.

Well, that says it all right there. Most Americans would give you a look like they had to ingest cod liver oil if you put on music at a party or something that wasn't sung in English, or, in certain rare circumstances, Spanish. Hence, every band from Sweden or elsewhere that has ever had a chance to capture an international market has sung mostly, if not exclusively, in English. After Dungen found cult success in the States, I imagine there was pressure to expand the audience by singing in English. Dungen side project The Amazing sings in English, and while they aren't exactly well-known, I have heard their music played in grocery stores and on the radio, even if the grocery store in question was Trader Joe's and the radio station was public, it's still not nothing. Dungen was never going to be a huge commercial force, but they could've been at least as well known as their countrymen, Peter Bjorn and John, and joined the indie A-list. Instead they remained a cult band that made great albums that no one wanted to listen to because of some weird allergy about music sung in foreign languages. I'd call such a decision at least a bit defiant.

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