The Wannadies – Hit

The Wannadies are almost solely remembered for the insanely catchy/annoying You and Me Song. That’s a shame because they have a way with a pop tune and have released a number of fine singles.

The band formed back in 1988 with the intention of playing one gig - a festival in support of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas. They decided to make it permanent and had some success in Sweden but it was not until the 1994 album Be A Girl, and You and Me song in particular, that they went international.

Be A Girl had a difficult birth. Original producer Dagge Lunquist went on paternity leave (PATernity leave? Those crazy Scandos) the next month engineer Adam Kviman and replacement producer Micke Herrström both left due to hearing problems. But persistence paid off and they completed the album; the first they were happy with. The band were picked up by UK label Indolent, set out on a sell out tour and released the song they would forever be associated with.

The band themselves seem to have accepted that You and Me Song was it for them. They managed to release that song, in one form or another, four years running. First in Sweden in 1994 as a single and on Be A Girl. In 1995 Be A Girl was released in the UK. In 1996 the single was re-released in the UK (reaching number 18 in the charts). In 1997 it appeared on their follow-up album, Bagsy Me, and again on the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack. Cha ching.

There is also more than a hint of resignation to their fate on the song Hit. Despite the sprightly guitars and shouty chorus, there is a definite sense of deflation in Pär Wiksten’s voice as he sings lines like “Calling this a hit/I don’t deserve it.”

The Wannadies – Hit

Buy Bagsy Me

On this day in 1997 – Blur beat The Levellers in the final of the Music Industry Soccer Six tournament.