A much needed dose of schlager

It seems that ever since Sweden picked The Ark to represent them in Helsinki (and we all know how that ended), we schlager-fans have fallen upon hard times. In such barren days, we must relive past glories, so here in all their glory are 2001 Melodifestivalen winners, Friends, with their very cheesy Lyssna till ditt hjarta. Perhaps it lacks a little oomph live, but at the end of the day, you've got to love those hip-slapping, foot-tapping, swaying synchronised dance routines. The dance moves become even more impressive when you consider the costumes. Just look at those red leather trousers... the blonde in particular looks like she's been crow-barred into them. Once false move, one slip of the leg and who knows what terrible consequences might have ensued.

The mullet lives... Jimmy Jansson wallpaper

Unfortunately as viewers of the melodifestivalen will already know, Jimmy Jansson's second bid to win the contest was ended prematurely at the hands of Sanna Nielsen earlier this year, despite his catchy, sunshine-soaked pop tune, Amanda, which you can view below.

My reason for including him here is only partly musical. Even if watching him perform his sixties rock-pop vibe leaves something to be desired cheese-wise for some of us, I think we should all take a moment to be in awe of his hair. Not since Jason Donavan graced Neighbours in the 1980s has anybody worn such a mullet with such pride. Jimmy is singlehandedly striking a blow for mullets across the world. I for one would like to know how he achieves such a volumous result. I wouldn't be at all surprised if charting the ups and downs of Jimmy's hair becomes a regular feature here.

You can turn your desktop into a mini shrine to the world's perfect mullet by downloading this free Jimmy Jansson desktop wallpaper. Just left click on it, wait til it downloads, then right click and set as background.

Why haven't you sent her to Eurovision yet, Sweden?

If you've watched the Melodifestivalen then you'll already know who Linda Bengtzing is. If not, you need to visit this blog more often as part of your rehabilitation back into society.

Your first step towards the light should be to check out the video from her recent hit Värsta Schlagern. It's got a cheesy dance routine, a wind machine to rival even Carola's herself, hell - they appear to be wearing anoraks in the video and they still manage to carry it off! Which begs the question, in several years of trying, why hasn't Sweden sent her to Eurovision yet?

They don't make 'em like they used to

I say, I say, I say, what do you get if you cross the Pet Shop Boys with Lily Savage?

Something Swedish to start with!

At last, my blog is set up and ready to go! I don't mind telling you, it took a hell of a lot of time to make the discoballs in the title look THAT good, but I think you'll agree it was worth it! It was even harder getting rid of the annoying blog header that blogger inflicts on all of us, but eventually I managed it by poking about blind in the HTML code for a while, with sometimes alarming results.

The aim of my blog is simple... to provide a place to showcase my opinions, bitching and the greatest cheesy pop music of our time. And with Eurovision 2007 approaching, I think we'll find there's plenty of opportunity for that! To begin with, let's look admiringly at one of the finalists of the Melodifestivalen 2007 in Sweden. It's Sanne Nielsen... of course, she didn't win, but she did make the final. I could post a good half a dozen songs from the Melodifestivalen here, but for now, you'll have to be content with a bit of Sanne.