Every New Zealand #1 single…
3
The Look by Roxette
Topped the NZ chart for 3 (non-consecutive) weeks from 7 May 1989.
Roxette
Roxette are a Swedish supergroup. Marie Fredriksson was already a solo star in Sweden, while Per Gessle had enjoyed three #1 albums with his band Gyllene Tider. Their record company’s CEO recommended that they team up, and they enjoyed international success with 1988’s Look Sharp!
Their greatest hits album is titled Don’t Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, which neatly encapsulates their philosophy. They bludgeon listeners with huge hooks, coupled with zero subtlety.
The Look
‘The Look’ was Roxette’s fourth single from Look Sharp! Gessle wrote the song as an exercise while learning how to use his new Ensoniq ESQ-1 synthesiser. He used a repeated A–G–D bass line as the song’s core. Gessle wrote quick guide lyrics for the verse, which he never replaced:
I scribbled [them] down instantly just to remember the rhythm. But they stuck in my head. ‘Walking like a man, hitting like a hammer…’, it all had a great groove. And in some pseudo-psychedelic way à la ‘I Am the Walrus’, it all seemed to make sense.
Per Gessle, Songs, Sketches & Reflections: The English Part
My verdict
I’ve never enjoyed Roxette. There’s zero subtlety in their musical approach, with huge hooks and huge vocals – everything’s turned to 10 the whole way through.
I’ve never taken time to appreciate how terrible the verse lyrics are. They flow fine, delivered in Gessle’s guttural monotone, but they’re about ten literary degrees below ‘I Am the Walrus’.
Kissing is a color
Her loving is a wild dog
Walking like a man
Hitting like a hammer
She’s a juvenile scam
Never was a quitter
Tasty like a raindrop
The Aftermath
‘The Look’ was Roxette’s only NZ number one, but they enjoyed three other US number one singles during their late 1980s and early 1990s peak:
- Listen To Your Heart
- It Must Have Been Love
- Joyride.
They’re Sweden’s second-best-selling musical act – I think you know who’s first!
In 2002, Marie Fredriksson collapsed after jogging with her husband. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour, and passed away in 2019.
In 2024, Roxette reformed as a touring band, with Lena Philipsson on vocals.
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I like (and liked) this song OK. It looked better to me at the time of its release, as there was a dearth of guitar-based “rock” songs on the American Top 40 that weren’t hair metal or hair metal adjacent. But yeah, nonsense lyrics. I think those whose mother tongue isn’t English can do nonsense English lyrics better, as they concentrate more on flow and how it sounds than what the words (don’t) mean. For example, The Escape Club (UK group) had a US number-one around the same time with “Wild Wild West”, which was also guitar-based, “hooky”, and featuring lyrics that don’t make much sense (though I’m sure the writer will probably tell you they were trying to rip Dylan and/or Elvis Costello). I’d rather listen to “The Look” than “Wild Wild West”, especially since “The Look” does not feature an extended bridge with pseudo-dancehall “toasting” to drag that whole mess down.
I’d never heard Wild Wild West before, but I listened just now, and it is certainly a lot worse – especially once it hits that bridge.
I don’t remember this one…it sure fits in that era…where they try to make every song sound like an anthem. I have to concede though…I do like the guitar tone they get.
The guitars are pretty cool – give it some spikiness.
While it’s safe to say I enjoyed “The Look” more at the time it was a hit, it’s undoubtedly a pretty catchy song. No matter how you feel about Roxette, they definitely had an ear for memorable melodies. I didn’t realize Marie Fredriksson passed away – sad at only 61 years.
Marie Fredriksson’s passing made the news in New Zealand – she seemed pretty young, maybe because she was a bit older when Roxette made it big.
Roxette were one of those bands I could take or leave, it’s still the case.
I find them pretty irritating – although I have more time for Joyride, seems a bit darker than the other big hits.
Roxette was a fun band. Over the top at time but hey it was the 80s. They sure knew how to sell themselves. I really liked Marie’s vocals. She was cool. Gessle always seemed like a toss. I hate that he reformed Roxette as a touring band. Smells like a money grab and in my opinion a disservice to Marie’s legacy. I know he has justified it in his own way, but come on!
Definitely a big sound, which makes them quite polarising, I guess. I think Gessle was the driving force though – wrote most of the songs by himself.