Whale

At a point in the 1990s when grunge was giving way to Brit pop, Swedish rockers Whale came up with a weird alt. rock hit that was played on near constant rotation on MTV and became an unlikely summer anthem. Formed in 1993 by television presenter Cia Soro, producer Gordon Cyrus and stand-up comedian Henrik Schyffert, the band's debut single Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe exploded with shouty rage and distorted guitars before softening to Cia's odd, cutesy, sugary vocal hooks. The track initially found an underground, cult audience in clubs across Scandinavia before winning the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Video and reaching Number 15 in the UK when re-released in 1995. The band went on to tour the US as opening act for Blur, and Tricky produced a track on their acclaimed album We Care (1995). But follow-up All Disco Dance Must End In Broken Bones (1998) flopped and they split in 1999.

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