The Spotnicks

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Bo Winberg in Nordenham-Blexen, 1973
Bo Winberg in Nordenham - Blexen , 1973
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Out-a-space
  UK 20th 02/09/1963 (1 week)
The Spotnicks
  DE 45 04/15/1964 (4 weeks)
Meet the Spotnicks
  DE 14th 06/15/1964 (8 weeks)
The Spotnicks in Spain
  DE 33 08/15/1964 (4 weeks)
Something Like Country
  DE 14th October 15, 1972 (24 weeks)
The Great Snowman
  SE 42 02/10/1978 (2 weeks)
Happy guitar
  DE 2 March 24, 1980 (11 weeks)
  AT 7th 04/15/1980 (8 weeks)
Singles
Orange Blossom Special
  UK 29 06/14/1962 (10 weeks)
Rocket Man
  UK 38 09/06/1962 (9 weeks)
Hava Nagila
  UK 13 January 31, 1963 (12 weeks)
Just Listen to My Heart
  UK 36 04/25/1963 (6 weeks)
Moonshot
  DE 46 03/01/1964 (8 weeks)
If You Could Read My Mind
  DE 2 October 23, 1972 (20 weeks)
Speak Softly Love
  DE 41 03/12/1973 (1 week)

The Spotnicks are a Swedish instrumental group , founded in Gothenburg in 1958 , which were particularly successful in the 1960s with their twang guitar sound and are compared to groups like the Shadows or the Ventures . The Spotnicks lived mainly from the characteristic guitar playing of their lead guitarist Bo Winberg.

Band members

  • Lead guitar: Bo Winberg (since 1958, died January 3, 2020)
  • Rhythm guitar: Bob Lander (alias Bob Starander, died on May 4, 2020), Göran Samuelsson, Lennart Hermannson, Bent Andersson, Johann Dielemanns, Matz Nilsson, Douglas Möller and others
  • Bass guitar: Björn Thelin (died January 24, 2017), Magnus Hellsberg, Stefan Ericsson and others
  • Drums: Ove Johannson, Derek Skinner, Tommi Tausis, Jimmie Nicol , Claes Paetterson, Peter Wiberg and others
  • Keyboard instruments: Peter Winsnes, Juri Wiik, Bo Mariette and others

Over the years the band had a total of more than 100 members; The majority of the musicians who were employed were highly paid studio musicians.

biography

The founders of the Spotnicks included Bo Winberg, Bo Starander (who later called himself Bob Lander ), Björn Thelin and Ove Johannson. The group, which initially called itself The Frazers , gave itself its name in 1961 after the Soviet Sputnik 1, the first artificial earth satellite, had launched on October 4, 1957 , and the era of space travel had begun. The band gave themselves a certain space traveler image: The band members appeared in futuristic costumes as astronauts - original: live performances with foxtrot dance steps. This image was further strengthened by a comparable for that time, and superior to others of its time guitar bands modern and subtle sound, which by Bo Winbergs Eigenbau the backline - guitar was made possible and bass amplifiers. In particular, the guitar system of the lead guitarist Winberg was designed as a ( HiFi ) amplifier using self-made tube technology . The resulting bright, distortion-free guitar sound with optimally matched reverb and echo effects became known as space sound .

Her first manager Stikkan "Stig" Anderson (later manager of the pop group Abba ) was initially unable to make the Spotnicks a success. However, in one of their early appearances (the Spotnicks appeared at a gala event hosted by the pirate radio station Radio Nord and the Stockholm label Karusell ), their future manager Roland Ferneborg commented after the concert: “You are probably the best band I have ever heard - but your stage show is pretty much the worst I've ever seen. ”He made his vacation home available to the group so they could work on their choreography.

This was followed by a two-month engagement at the Casaleon Club in Berlin , during which time their first single Orange Blossom Special was released, which became a hit in almost all of Europe, except in their home country Sweden. Immediately after the concerts in Berlin, the Spotnicks embarked on a world tour that took them to all continents except Australia.

The anecdote relates that at a concert in Paris in 1962, Bo Winberg modified his guitar so that he could play wirelessly in the midst of the audience. When switching on the guitar, the police radio could suddenly be heard in the loudspeakers. After switching over again, the police officers also enjoyed the concert. A wireless connection between artist and amplifier was a revolutionary novelty in the early 1960s, which also made Bo Winberg ahead of his time. However, this remained largely undiscovered and the artists of the 1960s and 1970s continued to be content with cable connections. It was not until the mid-1980s that industrially manufactured radio systems came onto the market.

When the Beatles appeared on the music scene in 1962 (in the UK) , the fame of the twang bands, including the Spotnicks, gradually began to wane in Europe; In Japan, however, the successful course was initially continued and even expanded. The zeitgeist in pop and music, which was changing rapidly and seriously during this period. Rock music was eventually accommodated, however, with the group disbanding after a brief experimental period towards the end of the decade. A comeback was heralded in 1972 with another hit after a new line-up with Bo Winberg and a slight stylistic change in the direction of country . It was particularly successful in Germany. For the Olympic broadcasts in the ARD the Spotnicks for the Olympic Quiz 6 × 6 took the Gordon Lightfoot on -Titel "If You Could Read My Mind" as an instrumental piece, the vorarbeitete in the charts at # 2 and March 3, 1973 was awarded the Bronze Lion by Radio Luxembourg .

Other well-known and successful titles include Amapola , Bonanza, Ghost Riders in the Sky, Johnny Guitar, Telstar, Hava Nagila and Bo Winberg's own composition Cape Kennedy.

After the successful re-formation, the Spotnicks became quieter again in the mid-1970s. At the beginning of the 1990s the group was dissolved again for health reasons Bo Winbergs, but after his recovery towards the end of the 1990s, together with the former founding member Bob Lander and various younger musicians formed again. The group has been active since then and successfully competes on tours. With its 50th anniversary, it is one of the oldest guitar formations in the world. On the anniversary tour she also toured Germany and stopped in Dortmund on January 12th and 13th, 2008 .

Well-known pieces (excerpts)

  • Orange Blossom Special (1960)
  • Hava Nagila (1960)
  • Amapola (1962)
  • The Spotnicks' Theme (1962)
  • Happy Guitar (1963)
  • Johnny Guitar (1963)
  • Western Guitar (1963)
  • Ol 'Man River (1964)
  • If You Could Read My Mind (1972)
  • If I Were a Carpenter (1973)

Discography

  • Ghost Riders in the Sky / Le Dernier Train de L'Espace (Single, Polydor 52 939)
  • Space Ship Rendezvous / Drina-March (Single, Polydor 52 206)
  • Amapola / Cape Kennedy (Single, Polydor 52 925)
  • If You Could Read My Mind / Last Date (Single, Polydor 2121 131)
  • The Spotnicks in Paris - Vol. 1962 (re-released on CD)
  • The Spotnicks - Back to the Roots (CD, re-released 1962)
  • The Spotnicks - Rare French 60 'Tapes (CD)
  • The Big Four by The Spotnicks (2 singles in a fold-out album, 1964, Polydor 2607 006)
  • The Spotnicks in Stockholm (LP, 1966, Polydor 237637)
  • The Spotnicks Around the World (LP, Polydor 623 018)
  • Something Like Country (LP, 1971, Polydor 2485 207)
  • Bo Winberg & the Spotnicks - Today (LP, 1973, Polydor 2480 164)
  • The Spotnicks Live in Berlin 1974 (re-release on CD)
  • The Spotnicks - 20th Anniversary Album (LP, 1980, Polydor 2344 156)
  • The Spotnicks (CD, re-release of an LP from 1964)
  • The Very Best of - Spotnicks (CD, Koch Media 1991)
  • The Spotnicks Millennium Collection (Double CD, 1999, MM Millennium 20.4028-MI)
  • Spotnicks Live 1999 (CD)
  • The Spotnicks: Never Trust Robots / Chart Toppers (CD with recordings from 2 LPs)
  • The Spotnicks Vol. 1 - Vol. 6 (six single CDs)
  • The 'Real' Amapola (CD, 2011)
  • Chart Toppers (Recorded 1977)

Web links

Commons : The Spotnicks  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Chart sources: The Spotnicks in the German charts
  2. ↑ a b British Hit Singles & Albums , 18th Edition, Guinness World Records Limited 2005, ISBN 9781904994008 .
  3. ↑ Happy Guitar (album) in the German / Austrian charts
  4. ↑ Chart discography Sweden