was a Swedish post-punk band that was founded in 1981 in Stockholm as Rymdimperiet. In the spring of 1983, the band changed its name to Imperiet, and was then active until December 1988.

History

started as , a side project to the Swedish punk band , and included three of its members. When broke up in 1983, re-emerged as ; with Joakim Thåström (lead vocals, guitar), Anders "Stry" Sjöholm (vocals, guitar) and Gunnar "Gurra" Ljungstedt (drums), all three originally from . They were joined by

Christian Falk Christian Falk (25 April 1962 – 24 July 2014) was a Swedish record producer and musician. Falk started his recording career with the band Madhouse in the early 1980s. He later moved on and became a founding member of post-punk band Imperiet. ...

(bass) and Per Hägglund ( sax, keyboards). Stry left in 1984 and Gurra the following year. Gurra was replaced by Fred Asp on the drums. In 1987 Per Hägglund left and disbanded in 1988. 's sound was inspired by

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

, rock and

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

. Their lyrics were left-wing and anti-imperialist; songs like " C. C. Cowboys", "" (Always Red, Always Right), and "" (Where's the wolf) were inspired by Russian

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

poet Mayakovsky. Mainly successful in Sweden and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, also toured overseas, playing in the United States,

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, Central America and South America. In 1988, released their only English language album, called '. It featured translated versions of their old songs. The album had an intensive promotional European tour, but was only popular in Sweden. This put an end to plans for an international career. Their original name (meaning The Galactic Empire, literally "The Space Empire"), was taken from the

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

movie ''

The Empire Strikes Back ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (also known as ''Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'') is a 1980 American epic film, epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner from a screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, based o ...

'' (1980), the Swedish title being '.

Personnel

Members

– bass, backing vocals (1983–1988; died 2014) * Joakim Thåström – lead vocals, lead guitar (1983–1988) *Per Hägglund – synthesizer, saxophone (1983–1987) *Gunnar Ljungstedt – drums (1983–1985) *Stry Terrarie – lead vocals, organ, guitar (1983–1984) *Fred Asp – drums (1985–1988)

Line-ups

Discography

Albums

*1983 – ' *1984 – ' (Mini-LP) *1985 – ' *1985 – ' (Live album) *1986 – ' *1988 – ' *1988 – ' *1988 – ' (Live album/compilation) *1990 – ' (Compilation) *1995 – ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

'' (Compilation) *2002 – ' (Compilation) *2009 – ' (Compilation)

Singles

*1981 – "" (as Rymdimperiet) *1982 – "" (as Rymdimperiet) *1983 – "" (as Rymdimperiet) *1983 – "" *1984 – "" *1984 – "" *1985 – "" *1985 – "" *1986 – "" *1986 – "" *1986 – "" *1987 – "" *1987 – "" *1988 – "Be the President" *1988 – "" *1988 – ""

References

{{Authority control Imperiet Musical groups established in 1983 Musical groups disestablished in 1988 Swedish new wave musical groups Swedish post-punk music groups 1983 establishments in Sweden 1988 disestablishments in Sweden Musical groups from Stockholm