By Jens Fuglsang

	“Music exports” – a new concept arises
	If you ask a random person from Europe or the USA if they can name a Danish song, chances are someone will start humming "I'm a Barbie Girl". Those four words are from the Danish group Aqua's mega-hit from 1997, which, accompanied by a humorous cartoon-like video, became famous all over the world. The group wrote pop history back then by becoming the first debut band to score three number one singles the British charts. As a result, over the next years Aqua sold a total of 15 million albums and 6 million singles. "Barbie Girl" thereby caused the export revenues of the Danish music industry to rise explosively – so much so that people began to talk about music taking over from the famous Danish bacon as the country’s primary export. With such impressive export figures in the cultural arena, Denmark began to take music seriously as an export product. In 2001, as a further support to exports, the Danish state, via the country’s Trade Council, began to encourage music export activities. Later, in 2004, when music exports topped the DKK 1.2 billion mark, the Danish Ministy of Culture began to support the organisation MXD - Music Export Denmark, which organises export initiatives and Danish music promotions at festivals and music industry fairs within pop and rock. But what is it that foreigners are looking for when they buy Danish music? Do they buy the music because it is Danish, or just because it is in the charts? As mentioned in Henrik Marstal's article The Sound of Danish Rock, Denmark has always been heavily influenced in the area of rhythmic music by foreign trends, especially those of Britain and the USA. It can consequently be difficult to define a unique "Danish sound" in the music, as it depends entirely on the perspective of the listener. It is thus also difficult to determine what part national characteristics play in sales of Danish music abroad. The elements that we Danes feel represent that "special Danish sound" are not necessarily the same as those that foreign record-buyers listen for.		Aqua: Aquarium (1997)
	Although the country has a rich and diverse musical life, there is no doubt that Denmark has enjoyed its greatest international and commercial impact within the area of rapidly-consumed pop chart music. In this genre national traits, language and lyrics are less important, and if we examine the chart positions and sales curves, we can see that Danish music has become most famous abroad for songs with lyrics such as "Da-Ba-Da-Dan-Dee-Dee-Dee-Da" and "Dub-I-Dub". However, in recent years, Danish rock and the more serious alternative music has also received very positive publicity in the foreign media, and indie bands such as Mew, the Raveonettes, Junior Senior, Under Byen, Alphabeat and Blue Van have toured regularly in the USA and Great Britain to build up international careers. In recent years, Denmark has also established an international reputation in electronic and club music, with names such as Trentemøller, Kenneth Bager and Morten Verano. The considerable growth layer of new artistes with international ambitions is first and foremost due to increased awareness of the value of international networks in the music industry and on the Danish musical scene. Many years of work with recording companies and music organisations is now bearing fruit and helping to place Denmark on the map as a diverse musical country in continuous development. But how did it all start, and what kind of music is Denmark best known for?		Alphabeat (2007)
	The long road in the 1970s
	The first Danish international hit can be traced right back to 1963, when the married couple Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann won the Eurovision Song Contest. The winning song was a melancholy jazz waltz entitled "Dansevise" ("Dance Ballad"), which has since become a Danish music standard. But despite the great exposure the song received in Europe, it did not lead to a major international career for the Danish duo. In fact, it wasn't until the end of the sixties and the spread of beat music that there was real foreign interest in a Danish band. This was the group Savage Rose, who with their charismatic lead singer, Annisette, and their unique blend of rock, jazz, classical and psychedelic sounds, made a big impression on American audiences during a 1969 tour of the USA. The band received several good offers from American record companies, but also had a couple of unfortunate experiences in a manipulative and cynically calculating music industry. In the end Savage Rose decided to say "no thanks" to the commercial record industry in the USA, and thereby to a promising international career.		The Savage Rose: In the Plain (1968).
	The next Danish band with international ambitions was the rock group Gasolin in the middle of the 1970s, with music that was strongly inspired by British and American garage rock. Although their first single in 1971 was in English, it was the group's gritty social commentary in Danish-language songs about "the man in the street" which made them popular heroes in Denmark. In the course of five years and five LPs in the 1970s, Gasolin became the biggest and most popular band in Denmark, and indeed in all of Scandinavia. But their vital force had always been East Coast American rock, and when they were renegotiating their contract with CBS, they insisted on going to the USA. In contrast to Savage Rose, Gasolin were a well-established and experienced touring band who were prepared to play many concerts in the US to achieve a breakthrough. Their first American release in 1976, entitled simply "Gasolin", was given a positive reception by leading critics, but due to poor organisation their tour ended in failure, with many empty halls across the USA. As Gasolin was used to playing to packed houses in Scandinavia, this was a tough defeat for the band. To keep up their energy and their faith in a US breakthrough, the band recorded another English-language album in 1977, entitled "Killin’ Time". The American recording company, however, was not impressed and decided not to release the album because of the poor sales figures of the first LP. Internal conflicts in the band were also beginning to show, and Gasolin finally split up in 1977. The group's lead singer, Kim Larsen, subsequently moved to New York in 1979 and recorded two English-language albums entitled "Jungle Dreams" and "Sittin’ On A Time Bomb". Both, however, received a lukewarm reception, and Larsen returned to Denmark in 1982 to resume his Danish-language musical career, which has since made him something of an institution in Danish musical life.		Gasolin 3 (1973 )
	The first international hits in the 1980s
	Laid back (1983: Sunshine Reggae, White Horse and Bakerman) One of the first Danish bands to finally gain a place in the international charts was Laid Back. The group consisted of two musicians, Tim Stahl and John Guldberg, who set up their own recording studio in 1980. They played all the instruments themselves, and in 1982 they released the single "Sunshine Reggae" on Medley Records. With its gentle mixture of reggae, melodic hooklines and a good chorus, the song became a hit all over Europe, and was one of the first international chart successes for a Danish group. The follow-up single "White Horse" was another big hit Europe in 1983, and especially in the USA, where the number was regarded as a trend-setting dance classic which for the first time blended rhythms from House, Techno and Hip Hop. After a couple of quiet years between 1985 and 1990 with just a few sporadic concerts, Laid Back returned to the charts in 1990 with the single "Bakerman", featuring Danish singer Hanne Boel. The song was a big hit in Europe and the USA, and the accompanying video directed by Lars von Trier, which featured a parachute jump with Laid Back, received plenty of airtime on the newly-established MTV station. Later in 2000 the number "Sunshine Reggae" crawled once again up the European charts, this time in a remixed version by the Danish DJ Funkstar Deluxe, who received his international breakthrough in 1999 with a dance version of Bob Marley's "Sun Is Shining".
	MLTR (1991: The Actor)
	The next international hit from Denmark came at the end of the eighties. The group Michael Learns To Rock - MLTR made their debut in 1988 at a talent competition in Aarhus. One of the jury members could immediately see the potential in the band's well-crafted soft-pop numbers in a style reminiscent of Dr. Hook, and decided to become their manager. Three years, and many concerts and studio recordings, were to pass by before MLTR were ready with their debut album, which included several melodic ballads written by singer Jascha Richter. The number "The Actor", which was produced with the international pop sound of the times, shot straight to the top of the Danish charts, and subsequently achieved chart success in Norway and Sweden as well. Although MLTR sang in English, it wasn't on the English-speaking market that they received their greatest success. Their first album sold very well in countries as distant from Denmark as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. They followed up on this success with several tours of Asia, and their next two albums, "Colours"  from 1993, and "Played on Pepper" from 1995 both sold more than one million copies in Asia. Their "Greatest Hits" release in 1996 quickly sold 3.4 million copies, and the band were headliners at the big "handover party" when Hong Kong was returned from British to Chinese control in 1997.
	Eurodance in the 1990s
	Whigfield (Summer 1994: Saturday Night)
	Whigfield was the stage name of the Danish girl singer Sannie Charlotte Carlson, who in 1994 became the first non-British person to go straight to number one in the British singles charts. She subsequently introduced the rest of the world to the musical genre known as "Eurodance" or "Europop", of which Denmark was to become a leading exponent in the nineties. The number was called "Saturday Night", and with its simple dance beat and repetitive text about the joys of Saturday night, it became the big hit of the summer in the UK and the Mediterranean countries, as well as in Brazil, Canada and Australia.It remained at number one for four weeks in the charts in Britain, where it sold a total of 1,092,250 copies. Although she never really achieved a breakthrough in the USA, Whigfield sold more than four million albums and singles in subsequent years with hits such as "Think Of You", "Another Day" and "Sexy Eyes".
	Me&My (1996: Dub I Dub)
	The next international "Eurodance" hit for Denmark came along in 1996. That summer, all the children and adults in the country were humming "Dub I Dub" – the three syllables in the title of the new song from the duo Me&My, which in 1996 followed "Saturday Night" and became a hit across the rest of Europe. The group consisted of the two sisters Pernille and Susanne Georgi, who had been performing since they were young children in harbour festivals, talent competitions and the Danish national song contest. With a minimalist video which showed the two sisters in Tyrolean costumes and bright red lipstick milking cows, Me&My quickly attracted attention, and their "Dub I Dub" single sold a million copies around the world, while the album sold over 2 million. In 1999, the Japanese company Toshiba-EMI included several Me&My songs in their arcade video game series entitled "Dance Revolution", which are still among the players' favourite numbers.
	Aqua (1997: Barbie Girl)
	While "Dub I Dub" was moving up and down the international dance charts, one of the biggest hits ever to come out of Denmark was being composed in a sleepy suburb of Copenhagen: the number "Barbie Girl" by Aqua. The group was started in 1994 by two childhood friends, Claus Noreen and Søren Rasted, who made music for children's films and TV programmes. Through this they met René Dif, a touring DJ who worked with the Norwegian singer Lene Nystrøm. Their musical concept was clear from the start, with catchy Eurodance choruses and a matching cartoon image. Their first single, "Itzy Bitzy" reached however only the lower end of the Swedish charts, and Aqua's first public performance in 1996 was witnessed by just 15 guests at the local discotheque. After that, however, things began to change for the band, as the first singles such as "Roses are Red" and "My Oh My" began to climb the European charts. In 1997 they released the CD "Aquarium", which included the single "Barbie Girl".  The number went straight to number seven in the American Hot 100, and shortly afterwards the group were invited to take part in TV shows with David Letterman and Ricki Lake. The number then became a hit in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Japan. By the end of 1997, Aqua had secured themselves a global breakthrough, sold 15 million CDs, and performed for one million people at 179 shows. At the same time, however, the group was sued by the giant toy company Mattel, who claimed that Aqua's song about Barbie had sexual undertones and could damage sales of the doll. The court case was won by Aqua, giving them even more publicity and wind in their sails – and the controversy no doubt also boosted sales of Mattel's Barbie doll. Three years later, in 2000, Aqua released their second CD, "Aquarius". Despite good chart performance and expensive videos, it was difficult for the band to live up to their breakthrough album, and sales failed to match expectations. In 2001, while recording their third CD, the group announced that they would be taking a break for an indefinite period.
	Safri Duo (2000: Played-A-Live – The Bongo Song)
	While the Aqua concept was stylistically and commercially well thought-out from start to finish, a different kind of musical motivation lay behind the Danish percussionists Safri Duo. The duo consisted of Uffe Savery and Morten Friis: a pair of classically-trained musicians who had known each other since boyhood, when they had both been drummers in the Tivoli Gardens Marching Band. The first drumbeat of Safri Duo could thus be said to have been struck in 1977. Later they both studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where they specialised in re-arranging works by Bach and Chopin for percussion instruments. They made their debut as a percussion duo at a concert in 1988, and subsequently released five classical CDs. For a long period of time they functioned as a State Ensemble, playing at such venues as the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House. But the classical world did not hold enough musical challenges for Safri Duo, who were also fascinated by the many dance and techno rhythms that were dominating the night clubs in the 1990s. After a concert in 2000 with the British techno group Underworld, Safri Duo went back to their recording studio and began to mix electronic beats and synthesizer sounds together with the sound of their acoustic percussion instruments. After many weeks of experimentation they found their own melodically simple and strongly rhythmic universe in the number "Played-A-Live – The Bongo Song". The number's special blend of transcendent dance rhythms and aggressive jungle drumming met a response the world over, and sold 700,000 copies to become the fourth fastest-selling single ever in Europe. The number was included on their CD "Episode II" from 2001, which also included the hit "Sweet Freedom" with Michael McDonald. In 2003 they released their final album "3.0", which featured the singer Clark Anderson on several numbers, including the hit "All The People In The World". Despite success in several charts, however, the CD contained no new world-wide hit like "The Bongo Song".
	The minor hits
	Besides the groups mentioned above, there have also been several other Danish bands and artistes who have received international attention with minor hits. Among the most important of these are: Cut’N’Move 1993 -"Give It Up" S.O.A.P 1998 – "This Is How We Party" Cartoons 1998 – "Witch Doctor" Olsen Brothers 2000 – "Fly On The Wings Of Love" Outlandish 2003 – "Aïcha"  Infernal 2004 – "From Paris To Berlin" There are also several Danish recording companies who acted as midwives in the 1990s to create international hits for foreign artistes. One such was Mega Records, who helped to release "All That She Wants" by the Swedish group Ace of Base, which stayed at the top of the UK charts for three weeks in 1993. Later that year the song reached number two in the US Billboard Hot 100, paving the way for their next single  "The Sign", which remained at number one for six weeks in the USA.  Another foreign artist on a Danish recording label was the American jazz pianist John Larkin, who was encouraged by his Danish recording company Iceberg Records to mix jazz scat singing with European dance rhythms. Under the name Scatman John, he then sold six million copies of the number "Scatman” (Ski-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)" – a number which had originally been composed to help children with stammers to sing.		Outlandish     Infernal
	Future hits Since the turn of the millennium, the Danish and international music industry, and consequently music exports, have been facing various challenges. First of all, sales of entire albums have declined due to technological developments and the ease of obtaining illegal copies of CDs and free downloads. On the other hand, the "single" format has survived, i.e. a number lasting around three minutes, which is a handy size for marketing as it is easy to transmit in digital form via the Internet and mobile phones. The audiences and the musical landscape have also changed. The international market used to be reserved for the big recording companies, who, with their enormous advertising budgets, networks and many affiliated companies, could "create" an international career for an artist. Now, however, it is now almost as effective to create your own profile on MySpace.com and place a video on YouTube.com, as million-selling British artists like the Arctic Monkeys and Lilly Allen have proven. In this way, you can reach the same audiences that were formerly the preserve of the big recording companies, because consumers are interested in discovering artists and music for themselves. This development is also to the benefit of Danish bands, since with one blow, they now have the whole the world as their stage – but also the whole world as their competitors. Time will tell whether this development will eventually make the music charts superfluous. For the time being, however, there is still plenty of activity in the charts, with Danish artist Ida Corr looking likely, with her new single "Think About You" (2007) to follow Aqua in taking top place in Denmark's international exports of music – and bringing home the bacon.		Ida Corr
	This article is written for DanishMusic.info and published in May 2008.