Teddybears | |
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Teddybears on Sommarkrysset 2014
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Background information | |
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Origin | , Sweden |
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Years active | 1991–present |
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Website | teddybearsrock |
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Past members |
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Teddybears (formerly Teddybears STHLM) are a Swedish band formed in 1991, known for mixing pop, rock, hip-hop, electronica, reggae, punk and many other genres.
Teddybears began as a grindcore group called Skull. As for the name Teddybears, Joakim Åhlund says, "If you're familiar with the Swedish or Norwegian black metal scene, you know back then every band was called things like 'Corpse Grinder From Hell'. So we called ourselves the Teddybears as an 'anti' thing. We were the hardest rocking [band] in Sweden and we're calling ourselves the Teddybears." The band members started to wear large bear masks in album art and promotional photographs sometime after 2006, before that they appeared in concert and on photos without disguises. The band initially consisted of Patrik Arve and brothers Joakim and Klas Åhlund, before drummer Olsson joined them. They released their debut album You Are Teddybears in 1993 and their second album, titled I Can't Believe It's Teddybears STHLM followed in 1996. Their third album Rock 'n' Roll Highschool came out in 2000 and consisted of electronic elements, which were a departure from the band's previous hardcore sound. A fourth album, Fresh, was released in 2005 and included the singles "Cobrastyle" and "Hey Boy".
Joakim Åhlund is also the lead guitarist and songwriter for the band Caesars, who are best known for their hit single "Jerk It Out". Klas Åhlund has produced most of the Caesars' albums and also produced Robyn's 2005 self-titled album. The two brothers also direct television adverts and music videos.
Their song "Cobrastyle" is featured on the soundtrack of the FIFA 06 and Forza Motorsport 2 video games. It was also used in the ending credits of the film Employee of the Month and WWE's Summerslam 2006 as the official theme song for the event. It was featured prominently in the pilot episode of NBC's 2007 comedy show Chuck as well. A part from their song "Move Over", from the album Rock 'n' Roll Highschool, was used in the 2004 video game Driv3r as the main menu music. In a recent commercial, Intel had used a sample of the band's song "Different Sound", to promote their new Intel Core 2 Duo processor. In 2009, Telus used the track "Ahead of My Time" in their 'Downtime' TV advertisement. Their song "Devil's Music" was featured in the 2010 video game Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Their song "Next to You" an early version of the song, "Get Fresh With You" without vocalist Laza Morgan was featured on the soundtrack for NBA Live 09.