Foundation

In the sphere of present-day pop, male vocal pairings have stayed uncommon, yet Sweden produced one via vocalist Per Strandberg and Lars Mertanen, who supplied vocals plus guitar. Their earliest inspirations came from Johnny Cash, Roxy Music and the Velvet Underground, although most reviewers instead detected echoes of the Walker Brothers. Ahead of forming Foundation, both musicians had already appeared in multiple Swedish outfits across the 80s, among them the Gary Cooper Combo and Iguana Foundation; Mertanen, while enrolled at the Arts Academy in Madrid, Spain, also played in the short-lived Decima Victima. Foundation opened their partnership with notable impact through three praised singles—“Dumb Generation,” “Next In Line” and “Back To You”—each conveying a social theme that stood apart from Strandberg’s soulful delivery and Mertanen’s accomplished guitar work.