Last supplemented on April 2, now also with cassette tapes i.a.

There are an incredible number of publications around the world with THE SPOTNICKS, which proves the group’s enormous popularity.

According to information on Wikipedia, The Spotnicks is in 6th place of Swedish bands and artists when it comes to sold records worldwide. 18 million sold items are listed there but there are also other unconfirmed data mentioning 24 – 25 million which would place The Spotnicks on the same level as Europe. Regardless, in this context, one must consider the differences in the opportunity for marketing during the group’s early career, without either MTV and the like or the Internet, compared to later years, which further proves The Spotnicks’s greatness as pioneers of Swedish music exports.
(Link to sales figures)
(See also The Spotnick’s chart positions in different countries)

Background

My website about THE SPOTNICKS was first published on the Internet back in 1994, then with the sole purpose of showcasing my discography with the somewhat overambitious title The Spotnicks Complete – All Recordings Ever Released which had previously been printed in a couple of booklets that the fan club passed out to interested members. Maybe someone recognizes these?

In this way, it would be easier for me to make changes and additions in real time instead of having to print new booklets over time.
It is probably quite obvious that the website has since gained more content and a much broader purpose and my discography was soon removed in favor of others who were much better.

I had started to enter the discography into a database but that work was put on hold when the website was opened.
In connection with the work to preserve the group’s history and deeds in collaboration with Svenskt Rockarkiv (Swedish Rock Archive) which started in the fall of 2020, it felt justified to complete the work with the database as far as possible and now I can present the result.

The discography is based on several other similar works and a lot of supplementary facts. A few collectors and experts on THE SPOTNICKS’s vast output have reviewed the contents. However, there are still some adjustments to be made and I apologize for possible faults. I still think that the content can withstand a report in its current state.

With this publication the content of the website is tied together after all these years; ”The Circle Is Closed”.

Cntents Of the database

The discography begins with the group THE REBELS – which was the embryo of what became THE SPOTNICKS – and extends to BO WINBERG’s very last recordings and everything in between [*1].

The discography currently shows 581 original song titles which with alternative versions (re-recordings, live versions, backing tracks etc.) together amount to 875 recorded songs which have been released on a total of nearly twelve houndred records and tapes (1197 units) in a total of 44 countries (including the former Soviet Union, Southern Rhodesia and East Germany) [*2].

Details

The biggest difference compared to other discographies is that there are, for example, details about participating musicians on the recordings (112 musicians are named) and when and where the recordings took place. There is also supplementary information here about instrumentation, composers, arrangers, technicians and producers, etc.

Delimitations

The report mainly consists of records and tapes with THE SPOTNICKS as well as compilation albums where the group participates with two songs or more [*3].

All registered records and tapes are official releases that have been available to the public or to the members of the fan club, in special customer clubs or the like [*4].

In the case of official releases, it is the pressing and the country (or countries) in which it was first intended to be published that is reported. Thus, possible duplicates in other countries are not included.
It occurs to a great extent that, for example, German-made or Japanese records have been available in many other countries, just as several Swedish releases have been available in other markets, but such records are therefore not registered except in the original countries.

Reservations

There is an enormous amount of data covered and therefore it is unlikely that the reports are completely error-free. There is, for example, some uncertainty in some of the given years regarding both recordings and releases, as well as exactly which versions of the song titles are found on many of the records.

[*2]
734 vinyl records + 267 CDs + 17 reel-to-reel tapes + 8 stereo8 tapes + 139 compact cassettes + 1 DAT tape + 27 flexi discs + 4 bootlegs = 1197 units

Torgny, who was active in the fan club, also transferred to CD the live concert in the TV program The Spotnicks – A Quarter Of A Century Of Space Pop in Sveriges Television which was broadcast in 1983 from Gothenburg. In addition, he copied some original albums from LPs to CDs which also reached the fan club members long before there were official CD releases on the market.

On April 2, 2023
Sören Alverfeldt