Army of Lovers
| Army of Lovers | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | pop |
| founding | 1987 |
| Founding members | |
| Alexander Bard | |
singing |
Jean-Pierre Barda |
singing |
Camilla "La Camilla" Henemark (1987–1991; 1995–2001; 2012–2013) |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Alexander Bard |
singing |
Jean-Pierre Barda |
singing |
Dominika Peczynski (1993–2009; since 2013) |
| former members | |
singing |
Michaela Dornonville De La Cour (1991–1995) |
Army of Lovers is a Swedish pop music group .
Band history
1987–1989: Foundation and beginning
The band was formed in 1987 and was known for their extravagant costumes and controversial music videos. It emerged from the group Barbie founded by Alexander Bard , which combined travesty with electronic pop music and was known in the Stockholm gay scene. The band was named after Rosa von Praunheim's film Army of the Lovers - Revolt of the Perverts .
Bard's first musical project was the minimal project Baard , which still enjoys cult status . The first and so far only publication Life in a Goldfish Bowl (7 "single, 1982) was one of the first musical proceeds of the genre later known as synth-pop and was published again in 2002.
1990–1992: successes, disputes and reshuffle
After the first album Disco Extravaganza , released in the spring of 1990 (the US version was simply given the band name as the album title, without the band's consent), there were some disputes within the band that had to do with personal differences.
At the end of 1991, when they celebrated great commercial success across Europe with the singles Crucified and Obsession from the album Massive Luxury Overdose , Bard and Barda fell out with La Camilla, who was then fired because of her alleged alcoholism . La Camilla, however, asserted that the concentration of the mass media's attention on her person would have led to internal jealousy. A verbal argument about the media ensued and La Camilla tried unsuccessfully to pursue a solo career. Instead, Michaela Dornonville de la Cour joined the group. One of the consequences of the change was that the video for the single Obsession was completely re-shot in early 1992. In the new version, whose storyboard and optics were almost completely identical to the original, the hydrogen-blonde de la Cour was shown instead of the black-haired La Camilla.
1993–1996: Dominika and Les Greatest Hits were introduced
From the spring of 1993 Dominika Peczynski also strengthened the band and Army of Lovers tried to build on the previous success. Despite good reviews for their album The Gods of Earth and Heaven , the sales figures remained significantly behind its predecessor. Since then, their commercial success has steadily decreased: the subsequent album Glory, Glamor & Gold (1994) could only attract brief attention with the single Lit de Parade .
In the spring of 1996 they released their first official best-of album, Les Greatest Hits . At this point, La Camilla returned to the band, but Michaela de la Cour got out because of musical differences (her idea of "charitable music" was welcomed by the other members, but viewed as incompatible with the Army of Lovers project ). De la Cour then tried her hand as a solo artist.
2001: attempted comeback
In 2001 there was a reunion to start a new beginning ten years after the worldwide breakthrough. For this purpose another best-of CD and a DVD should be produced, on which the career and the ups and downs of the band should be chronologically reproduced. Michaela Dornonville de la Cour alone refused to participate. While the CD was released under the title Le Grand Docu-Soap (also as a double album, on which The Remix Opera-Soap formed the second CD), the DVD, which was also announced, remained unreleased, although some material was already available for it. The single Let the Sunshine in had once again considerable success in her native Sweden, but the days of great popularity were clearly over. After that, the members of Army of Lovers went their separate ways again.
Alexander Bard then produced bands such as Vacuum, Alcazar and Bodies Without Organs.
2005–2007: Further reunion and appearances
In 2005 there was another reunion for the DVD "Hurray, Hurray Apocalypse". This was released in October of that year and, in addition to the group's music videos (with the exception of the videos for the first three singles When the Night is cold , Love Me like a Loaded Gun and Baby's Got a Neutron Bomb ) also contained film material from “Le Grand Docu-Soap "time, as well as clips from the" Videovaganza "video.
On July 21, 2007 Army of Lovers, in the formation of Alexander Bard, Jean-Pierre Barda and Dominika Peczynski, surprisingly performed at the GAY Club in London and played Crucified to present the new album Bodies without Organs . A concert with the same cast took place in Moscow on December 15, 2007 .
Since 2012: Reunion of the original line-up and further records
On November 26th, 2012 Army of Lovers announced that they would take part in the original group formation, consisting of Alexander Bard, Jean-Pierre Barda and La Camilla, at the Melodifestival, the Swedish preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest , to sing their new song Rockin ' introduce the ride . To prevent another separation, all three band members went into group therapy. They reached sixth place at the Melodifestival and were eliminated from the Eurovision Song Contest . The single came to number 13 on the iTunes charts in Sweden.
Only a few days later, Alexander Bard published a letter in which he announced the separation from La Camilla and the renewed collaboration with Dominika Peczynski. Afterwards, Alexander Bard and Dominika Peczynski publicly criticized La Camilla's performance at the Melodifestival via online portals such as Facebook and blamed her for the poor placement. This has been referred to as bullying by some Swedish newspapers. The largest fan portal The Army of Lovers Network then announced that it would cease its work (such as the translation of interviews). La Camilla, for her part, also commented on the rift and the renewed separation in a public letter.
In March 2013, Big Battle of Egos was a new best-of album that contained four new songs. Sign on My Tattoo , a duet with Gravitonas, was released in May and the EP Scandinavian Crima was released in June . This contains all four new songs, the text passages from La Camilla have been exchanged for new ones sung by Dominika Peczynski.
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 SE
|
|||
| 1990 | Disco Extravaganza (EU) / Army of Lovers (US) |
- | - | - | - |
SE49 (1 week) SE |
First published: March 1990
Executive Producer: Ola Håkansson |
| 1991 | Massive Luxury Overdose |
DE13 (22 weeks) DE |
AT7th  (20 weeks)AT |
CH21 (12 weeks) CH |
- |
SE9 (6 weeks) SE |
First published: August 1991
Executive Producer: Ola Håkansson |
| 1993 | The Gods of Earth and Heaven | - | - | - | - |
SE36 (2 weeks) SE |
First published: April 1993
Executive Producer: Ola Håkansson |
More studio albums
- 1992: Massive Luxury Overdose (US Edition)
- 1994: Glory Glamor and Gold
swell
- ↑ http://www.svd.se/kultur/army-of-lovers-aterforenas-i-melodifestivalen_7701848.svd
- ↑ http://europecrazy.blogspot.de/2013/03/army-of-lovers-you-wanted-drama-you-got.html
- ↑ http://diskrepans.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/lgbt-histrionics-follow-up-narcissistic-antics-in-the-aftermath-of-army-of-lovers-flop/
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 2, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK SE Billboard Dance
Web links
- Official website ( Memento of April 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- Army of Lovers at Allmusic (English)
- Army of Lovers at Discogs (English)