Imperiet
Swedish rock band
title: "Imperiet" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["imperiet", "musical-groups-established-in-1983", "musical-groups-disestablished-in-1988", "swedish-new-wave-musical-groups", "swedish-post-punk-music-groups", "1983-establishments-in-sweden", "1988-disestablishments-in-sweden", "musical-groups-from-stockholm"] description: "Swedish rock band" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperiet" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Swedish rock band ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Imperiet |
| background | group_or_band |
| origin | Stockholm, Sweden |
| genre | Post-punk, new wave, alternative rock |
| years_active | 1981–1988 |
| label | Mistlur Records |
| past_members | Christian Falk |
| Joakim Thåström | |
| Per Hägglund | |
| Gunnar Ljungstedt | |
| Stry Terrarie | |
| Fred Asp | |
| :: |
| name = Imperiet | image = | caption = | image_size = | background = group_or_band | alias = | origin = Stockholm, Sweden | genre = Post-punk, new wave, alternative rock | years_active = 1981–1988 | label = Mistlur Records | associated_acts = | website = | current_members = | past_members = Christian Falk Joakim Thåström Per Hägglund Gunnar Ljungstedt Stry Terrarie Fred Asp
Imperiet was a Swedish post-punk band that was founded in 1981 in Stockholm as Rymdimperiet. In the spring of 1983, the band changed its name to Imperiet, and was then active until December 1988.
History
Imperiet started as Rymdimperiet, a side project to the Swedish punk band Ebba Grön, and included three of its members. When Ebba Grön broke up in 1983, Rymdimperiet re-emerged as Imperiet; with Joakim Thåström (lead vocals, guitar), Anders "Stry" Sjöholm (vocals, guitar) and Gunnar "Gurra" Ljungstedt (drums), all three originally from Ebba Grön. They were joined by Christian Falk (bass) and Per Hägglund (sax, keyboards). Stry left in 1984 and Gurra the following year. Gurra was replaced by Fred Asp on the drums. In 1987 Per Hägglund left and Imperiet disbanded in 1988.
Imperiet's sound was inspired by punk, rock and synthpop. Their lyrics were left-wing and anti-imperialist; songs like "C. C. Cowboys", "Alltid rött, alltid rätt" (Always Red, Always Right), and "Var e vargen" (Where's the wolf) were inspired by Russian Communist poet Mayakovsky.
Mainly successful in Sweden and Scandinavia, Imperiet also toured overseas, playing in the United States, Cuba, Central America and South America. In 1988, Imperiet released their only English language album, called Imperiet. It featured translated versions of their old songs. The album had an intensive promotional European tour, but was only popular in Sweden. This put an end to plans for an international career.
Their original name Rymdimperiet (The Galactic Empire, literally "The Space Empire"), was taken from the Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the Swedish title being Rymdimperiet slår tillbaka.
Personnel
Members
- Christian Falk – bass, backing vocals (1983–1988; died 2014)
- Joakim Thåström – lead vocals, lead guitar (1983–1988)
- Per Hägglund – synthesizer, saxophone (1983–1987)
- Gunnar Ljungstedt – drums (1983–1985)
- Stry Terrarie – lead vocals, organ, guitar (1983–1984)
- Fred Asp – drums (1985–1988)
Line-ups
::data[format=table]
| 1983–1984 | 1984–1985 | 1985–1987 | 1987–1988 |
|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
PlotArea = left:100 bottom:100 top:00 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1981 till:31/12/1988 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = position:bottom columns:4 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1981 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:2 start:1981
Colors = id:lvoc value:red legend:vocals_&guitar id:keyboard value:pink legend:Keyboard&_saxophone id:organ value:teal legend:vocals,guitar&_organ id:bass value:blue legend:bass id:drums value:orange legend:drums id:studio value:black legend:studio_album id:bars value:gray(0.95)
BackgroundColors = bars:bars
BarData = bar:Joakim text:Joakim Thåström bar:Stry text:Stry Terrarie bar:Christian text:Christian Falk bar:Gurra text:Gunnar Ljungstedt bar:Per text:Per Hägglund bar:Fred text:Fred Asp
PlotData=width:13 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Joakim from:start till:06/12/1988 color:lvoc width:11 bar:Stry from:start till:29/02/1984 color:organ width:11 bar:Christian from:01/06/1982 till:06/12/1988 color:bass width:11 bar:Gurra from:01/01/1983 till:01/01/1985 color:drums width:11 bar:Per from:01/05/1983 till:01/11/1987 color:keyboard width:11 bar:Fred from:01/02/1985 till:06/12/1988 color:drums width:11
LineData = color:studio layer:back at:01/06/1982 at:21/09/1983 at:01/04/1984 at:13/03/1985 at:15/11/1986 at:25/03/1988 at:25/05/1988}}
Discography
Albums
- 1983 – Rasera
- 1984 – Imperiet (Mini-LP)
- 1985 – Blå himlen blues
- 1985 – 2:a augusti 1985 (Live album)
- 1986 – Synd
- 1988 – Imperiet
- 1988 – Tiggarens tal
- 1988 – Live/Studio (Live album/compilation)
- 1990 – Kickar (Compilation)
- 1995 – Greatest Hits (Compilation)
- 2002 – Alltid rött alltid rätt (Compilation)
- 2009 – Silver, guld & misär (Compilation)
Singles
- 1981 – "Vad pojkar vill ha" (as Rymdimperiet)
- 1982 – "Alltid attack" (as Rymdimperiet)
- 1983 – "Felrättsnettheltfelrättsnett" (as Rymdimperiet)
- 1983 – "Alltid rött alltid rätt"
- 1984 – "Du ska va president"
- 1984 – "Fred"
- 1985 – "Märk hur vår skugga"
- 1985 – "C. C. Cowboys"
- 1986 – "Var e vargen"
- 1986 – "Peace"
- 1986 – "Österns röda ros & Café Cosmopolite"
- 1987 – "Saker som hon gör"
- 1987 – "19hundra80sju"
- 1988 – "Be the President"
- 1988 – "I hennes sovrum"
- 1988 – "...Som eld"
References
References
- "Imperiet – levande i Hultsfred – intervju med Stry Terrarie".
- Holmgren, Tobias. (27 September 2017). "Thåströms många ansikten". Göteborgs-Posten.
- Lovén, Lars. (15 September 2016). "Imperiet Biography". Allmusic.
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