Biography
Backyard Babies, a Swedish outfit, laced acerbic melodic punk rock with glam flair while embarking on tours in the late 1980s, ahead of unveiling their opening EP Something to Swallow in 1991. Their homeland welcomed the group into the mainstream, resulting in Swedish Grammis Awards for the next two albums—Total 13 in 1998 and Making Enemies Is Good in 2001—while the self-titled release from 2008 ascended all the way to number one. The same four members sustained activity across thirty years, during which their eighth studio album Sliver and Gold entered Sweden’s Top Five in 2019.
The band formed in Nässjö in 1987, at first comprising singer Tobbe (Tobias Fischer), guitarist Dregen, bassist Johan Blomqvist, and drummer Peder Carlsson. After cutting a rough demo and staging several area shows, they replaced Tobbe with singer Nicke Borg in 1989. Two further demos appeared, followed by a national tour. In 1991 Backyard Babies issued their first official recording, the EP Something to Swallow.
The quartet signed with Megarock in 1993 and delivered its debut full-length Diesel & Power the next year, then entered hiatus to let Dregen concentrate on his parallel project the Hellacopters. Backyard Babies regrouped in 1997 for the Knockouts EP and released their second album Total 13 in 1998, which earned the Grammis for Best Hard Rock/Metal of the Year.
A run of Top Five albums ensued, among them Making Enemies Is Good in 2001 that captured another Grammis and Stockholm Syndrome in 2003 that yielded the Top 20 single “Minus Celsius.” Their fifth studio album People Like People Like People Like Us arrived in 2006 and featured the hits “The Mess Age (How Could I Be So Wrong)” and “Dysfunctional Professional,” the latter climbing to number three on Sweden’s singles chart. In 2007 “Minus Celsius” appeared as a bonus track in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
The sixth album, the self-titled Backyard Babies, came out in 2008 and reached the top of the album chart. A compilation celebrating the band’s twentieth anniversary followed in 2009, and the tour that accompanied it was rumored to serve as a farewell. The group nevertheless returned in 2015 with Four by Four, which peaked at number two in Sweden, before reentering the Top Five with Sliver and Gold in 2019.
The band formed in Nässjö in 1987, at first comprising singer Tobbe (Tobias Fischer), guitarist Dregen, bassist Johan Blomqvist, and drummer Peder Carlsson. After cutting a rough demo and staging several area shows, they replaced Tobbe with singer Nicke Borg in 1989. Two further demos appeared, followed by a national tour. In 1991 Backyard Babies issued their first official recording, the EP Something to Swallow.
The quartet signed with Megarock in 1993 and delivered its debut full-length Diesel & Power the next year, then entered hiatus to let Dregen concentrate on his parallel project the Hellacopters. Backyard Babies regrouped in 1997 for the Knockouts EP and released their second album Total 13 in 1998, which earned the Grammis for Best Hard Rock/Metal of the Year.
A run of Top Five albums ensued, among them Making Enemies Is Good in 2001 that captured another Grammis and Stockholm Syndrome in 2003 that yielded the Top 20 single “Minus Celsius.” Their fifth studio album People Like People Like People Like Us arrived in 2006 and featured the hits “The Mess Age (How Could I Be So Wrong)” and “Dysfunctional Professional,” the latter climbing to number three on Sweden’s singles chart. In 2007 “Minus Celsius” appeared as a bonus track in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
The sixth album, the self-titled Backyard Babies, came out in 2008 and reached the top of the album chart. A compilation celebrating the band’s twentieth anniversary followed in 2009, and the tour that accompanied it was rumored to serve as a farewell. The group nevertheless returned in 2015 with Four by Four, which peaked at number two in Sweden, before reentering the Top Five with Sliver and Gold in 2019.
Albums
Sliver And Gold
2019
Dysfunctional Professional
2006
People Like People Like People Like Us
2006
The Mess Age (How Could I Be So Wrong)
2006
Tinnitus
2005
Live live in Paris
2005
Friends
2005
Stockholm Syndrome
2004
Making Enemies Is Good
2001
Total 13
1999
Singles
