For such a small country (only around nine million people at last count), Sweden has a remarkable knack for exporting culture around the world. Some of the best metal bands in the world come from the Scandinavian nation, including At the Gates and Opeth. The Swedes have produced some remarkable films, especially the work of Ingmar Bergman ("Scenes from a Marriage," "Through a Glass Darkly"), Jonas Akerlund (many music videos, including Madonna's "Ray of Light" and Lady Gaga's "Telephone"), Tomas Alfredson ("Let the Right One In") and Lasse Hallstrom ("What's Eating Gilbert Grape," "Chocolat"). They've also got a great tradition of indie rock (The Hives, the Cardigans) and deliciously streamlined (and insanely catchy) dance pop from the likes of ABBA and Ace of Base. The latter group stormed the American charts in the early '90s, beginning with their debut album The Sign, which was released on this day in 1993.
Ace of Base consisted of musicians Jonas "Joker" Berggren and Ulf "Buddha" Ekbergsinging combined with singing sisters Malin Berggren and Jenny Berggren. The Sign (which was called Happy Nation in the rest of the world) crashed the American market in the fall of 1993 on the back of a handful of killer singles, including the instantly memorable "All That She Wants," "Don't Turn Around" and the title track. In fact, The Sign became the first debut album to put three singles on the top of the Billboard chart. In North America alone, it went platinum nine times and ended up at number 34 on the Billboard end-of-decade chart for the 1990s. The bottom line is that The Sign was gigantic, and you won't be able to get the title track out of your head all day.
