The Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in Jonkoping, Sweden, in 1992 by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Living together in a small apartment, The Cardigans recorded a demo tape with Persson providing lead vocals on only one of the songs towards the end of the track list. A&R man Ola Hermanson heard the demo and signed the band to his Trampolene imprint. They released their debut album Emmerdale in Sweden and Japan in 1994; it was re-released internationally in 1997. The album included the Swedish radio hit “Rise & Shine”, which was later voted the best of 1994 in a poll in Slitz magazine.
The remainder of 1994 was spent touring Europe and recording Life, which was released worldwide in 1995. Life became an international success, selling more than a million copies and achieving platinum status in Japan. In 1996, Life was released under the label Minty Fresh in the US, but this release was essentially a compilation of tracks from Emmerdale and Life. After their success with Life, The Cardigans signed with Mercury Records, under which they released First Band on the Moon worldwide in 1996. “Lovefool” was a hit worldwide, particularly in the US and Japan, where the album reached platinum status in three weeks. The album also achieved gold status in the US. “Lovefool” was shown on MTV in the late 1990s as a music video with clips from the 1996 hit film Romeo + Juliet.
1998’s Gran Turismo was followed by a long hiatus during which the band members pursued solo side projects. The video of the song “My Favourite Game” was censored by MTV for showing reckless driving. Despite this, it went on to become their second global hit song. “My Favourite Game” was featured on the soundtrack of the video game Gran Turismo 2 in the intro movie on CD1.
That year also saw their song “Deuce” appearing on The X-Files: The Album. Their song “Erase/Rewind” was featured in the 1999 films Never Been Kissed and the Thirteeth Floor. In 1999, the Cardigans recorded a duet cover of Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” with Tom Jones for his album Reload.
The Cardigans returned in 2002 to record Long Gone Before Daylight (2003). The album differs from the band’s earlier works. Their familiar “happy” pop sound takes on a change to pop songs with more of an American country music influence. It is a much darker album than their previous works, and quieter than Gran Turismo. Indeed, even Nina Persson dyed her once light blonde hair to jet black, reflecting the band’s change of mood.
Criticism was generally mixed. Some found the change of direction welcome, and felt the band had matured, making songs that were even better than other experienced country-pop styled artists. Others missed the old pop sound, and accused the band of possibly being ashamed of their former “happy” pop sound. The first single of the album, “For What It’s Worth” was released in February 2003. The second single was “You’re the Storm” released in June 2003. The third and final single was “Live and Learn” released in December 2003. In the summer of 2004, The Cardigans toured with the Chicks With Attitude tour.
In June 2018, the band announced their only live shows of the year: a four-date UK tour in December to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gran Turismo in which they would perform the album in full again. In an interview to promote the tour, Persson stated, “There won’t be any more Cardigans records, I’m pretty sure. But we’ll keep doing little tours and shows as long as it’s fun, as long as we can do it well and feel that it’s something that’s current to us.
