Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
Hardcore fans of this blog know that I have a strong fascination with bands with one foot in progg and the other in punk. Something interesting just happens when the twain meet. It's particularly interesting as those bands – such as Kräldjursanstalten, Fiendens Musik, Elegi and even Dom Smutsiga Hundarna – contradict the widespread notion that progg and punk were incompatible and at odds with each other. I don't subscribe to that idea at all. As I've said before, I think that punk was progg's unbehaved child running wild in the streets, and much closer to its parents than what was admitted back in the day. What differs is the expression and method, not so much the ethos vis-à-vis society versus the freedom of the individual.
Unos Kanoner are just about emblematic of the merging of the genres. Founded in 1979 in Borås a few miles east of Gothenburg, they may not be a household name today, but they gained nationwide exposure when radio show Ny våg (dedicated to punk and skewed music in general) played their track ”Sätt benen i halsen på dom borgarjävlarna”. The title roughly means ”ram your leg down the throat of the bourgeoisie scum” which surely was enough to have sensitive listeners cough up their dinner. Not the most subtle piece of poetry, the message was indeed clear, but if someone still missed the point, the rest of the blood spattered lyrics would surely erase any doubts what Unos Kanoner were on about.
The track was so exaggerated it's hard to miss the satire and the humour. Some night not like the phrasings, but they're so overwrought it's hard not to laugh at the point blank directness. ”Sätt benen i halsen på dom borgarjävlarna” is the most blatant example of lyricist, guitarist and singer Pentti Salmenranta's sentiments, but not the only one. The whole album is like an absurdist play of cruel and unrefined jokes clad in a variety of musical styles ranging from cabaret, marches, vaudeville and jazz, even psychedelia and prog (with one 'g'). The effect is like a gang fight between Blå Tåget, Samla Mammas Manna and Frank Zappa. However, the most terrifying thing about ”Barm” isn't the lyrical frankness, but how some of the songs are alarmingly current. ”Stövlar som putsas på nytt” (”boots polished anew”) touches with an unnerving accuracy on the renewed rise of fascist politics in so many countries today including Sweden.
”Barm” isn't necessarily a good
album but it's original, twisted and, yes, bizarrely funny.
Its relevance may not lie with its musicial qualities (although it's not without such) as much as with
its ability to confound the listener. It's hard not to relate to it
with awkwardness but it's equally impossible to shrug it
off. My emotions towards it are as conflictive as the album itself: I
don't like it, but I like it.
Unos Kanoner released two more casette-only albums later in the 80's, and appear with one track on the 1987 various artists comp "Samma båt".