Roxette - Roxette Inspired By Oasis

Roxette Inspired By Oasis

Roxette were inspired to write one of their biggest hits by Oasis.

The Swedish pop duo - Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson - were fans of Britpop and grunge, and one of their most recognisable tracks, 1994s 'Sleeping in My Car', was written trying to replicate the big sound of bands like Oasis.

Per exclusively told BANG Showbiz: ''When we did the 'Crash! Boom! Bang!' album we went to the record company and they said, 'We love it, but we can't hear an up-tempo first single' and I was really p****d, because we had some great songs on that, so I went home and wrote 'Sleeping in My Car', and it was like an Oasis thing, I was really into Oasis, and I loved Nirvana's albums.''

The Rise of grunge and Britpop had an effect on Roxette's career at the time, and Marie and Per later both did solo albums before reuniting in 2009 and recording and touring again.

Per remembered: ''Of course [that music] killed art like ours and that whole era, Richard Marx and stuff, but that's the way it should be and I don't have any problem with that.

''But y'know, we're still here and talking and making records, playing live and selling out stadiums, so we must be doing something right.''

Roxette have played in over 100 different cities on their current tour, which is in the UK this week, playing the Manchester Arena tonight (04.07.12) and Birmingham's LG Arena on Friday (06.07.12).