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Last supplemented on October 8, 2024.

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.

The discography currently shows 602 original song titles which with alternative versions (re-recordings, live versions, backing tracks etc.) together amount to 894 different variations which have been released on a total of more than 1600 houndred records and tapes in a total of 48 countries (including the former Soviet Union, Southern Rhodesia and East Germany) .

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

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. However, there are some exceptions; see Clarifications below.

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 thus not registered except in the original countries.

Several discs have been released several times. Such reissues are only included if they differ from the original in appearance or designation.

Clarifications

There are some exceptions to the official releases.
This applies, for example, to a disc with a couple of songs that were recorded mostly for fun at Gröna Lund 1965 and also two discs from 1959 and 1960 respectively that were recorded by the original group The Rebels.
In Brazil and Russia there are some discs which, like the Flexi discs from Poland and the former Soviet Union, are illegal Pirate copies. The reason for presenting these in the discography is because The Spotnicks made an impression in these countries as well.

Torgny, who himself was active in the fan club, also digitized the live concert in the TV program The Spotnicks – Ett Kvartssekel Rymdpop 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 October 8, 2024
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