Gasolin

Gasolin'
Gasolin' in the seventies. From left to right: Franz Beckerlee, Wili Jønsson, Søren Berlev and Kim Larsen.
Background information
Origin	Christianshavn, Copenhagen, Denmark
Genres	Rock
Years active	1969–1978
Labels	CBS, Sonet, Spectator
Past members	Franz Beckerlee Wili Jønsson Kim Larsen Bjørn Uglebjerg Søren Berlev

Gasolin' was a Danish rock band from Christianshavn in Copenhagen formed by Kim Larsen, Franz Beckerlee and Wili Jønsson in 1969. Their first drummer was the late Bjørn Uglebjerg. He was replaced by Søren Berlev in 1971. At the formation the guitar playing of Franz Beckerlee was inspired by Jimi Hendrix and the singing and lyrics of Larsen was inspired by Bob Dylan, while the rhythm playing of Jønsson and Berlev owed much to The Beatles. However, they would soon develop their own musical style. The pop sensibility of Kim Larsen, the artistic attitude of Franz Beckerlee and the musical competence of Wili Jønsson would prove to be a recipe for success. Gasolin's lyrics were generally written by the entire group, often with the assistance of friend Mogens Mogensen.

Franz Beckerlee and Wili Jønsson had known each other since they were kids, and as both played music they wanted to form a band together. While Beckerlee had been brought up without much love by his grandmother and grandfather, he felt warmth in Wili's home. Kim Larsen joined them after read an ad which was put up at Christiania. He soon became "one of the boys" , but the band still lacked a drummer. After a while Bjørn Uglebjerg became their first drummer, but was later replaced with Søren Berlev. In 1970 Gasolin' released their first single "Silky Sally." It was followed by "Child of Institution" and "Johnny The Jackpot." These three singles were sung in English and flopped. Their debut album and all subsequent albums had Danish lyrics and were a success. Although they would occasionally still sing in English, Danish proved to be the language where they could express themselves most eloquently and this was acknowledged by the Danish audience and critics.

From 1972 to 1978, Gasolin' was the most popular rock band in Denmark. With producer Roy Thomas Baker, they released classics such as Gasolin' 3, Gas 5 and Efter endnu en dag. Some people consider Gasolin' to be the Danish Beatles, with each album a landmark and like The Beatles, breaking up at the pinnacle of their success. The reasons for the split-up was the failure to break the international market and personal differences.