Europe

The sound of Europe was born in garage rehearsals in Upplands Väsby, that Stockholm suburb where 70s rock still resonated strongly. Joey Tempest and John Norum formed Force in 1979 with the simple idea of playing covers, but soon realized they wanted something of their own. Norum’s blues, his phrasing style on the instrument, and that mix of power and melancholy he had carried since school ended up defining the band’s DNA. When they won Rock-SM in 1982 — Sweden’s first competition of its kind — no one imagined that prize would be just the first step of a bigger leap. The leap onto a stage where Swedish hard rock could compete with the British giants that inspired them: Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, and UFO. By then, they had already changed their name to Europe, a nod to their ambition to play beyond their borders.

The turning point came in 1986 with The Final Countdown. It wasn’t just the album that sold millions in the United States, nor the song that aired on radios in Moscow, Manhattan, and Stockholm at the same time. It was the moment when that keyboard riff — sounding like a countdown and recorded by Kevin Elson in a single take — became an instant anthem. The band went from playing local clubs to filling stadiums, and Norum, the guitarist who had planted the seed of it all, decided to leave to pursue his own career. He was replaced by Kee Marcello, a musician with pedigree in Sweden’s top bands, and with him they recorded Out of This World, an album that made them the first to perform in Bombay behind the Iron Curtain. The formula still worked: catchy melodies, solos sharp as knives, and Tempest’s voice that could sound epic or intimate depending on the song.