Kent

Kent is a Swedish^{Swedish people} alternative rock band^{Musical ensemble} founded in Eskilstuna in 1990, with the name Coca-Cola Kids, later Jones & Giftet (Jones & the Poison), and Havsänglar (Angel sharks, literally Sea angels). The band's logo is distinctive, using a lowercase "k" and the ITC Avant Garde Gothic Book typeface.

The band has had several big Swedish radio hits since the breakthrough single "Kräm (så nära får ingen gå)", from their second studio album^Verkligen. They are one of the most popular rock^{Rock music} groups in Sweden, and describes themselves as "Sweden's biggest rock band", but are more or less unknown outside Scandinavia. Kent shortly attempted an international career with English^{English language} versions of the albums Isola and Hagnesta Hill with accompanying U.S.^{United States} tours for the former, but they gave up after not reaching the breakthrough they had hoped for.

Kent has released 9 studio albums, sold over a million records and has won 20 Swedish Grammy Awards^Grammis. "VinterNoll2^{FF / VinterNoll2}" is also an unlockable track in Career Mode on Guitar Hero World Tour. Kent recently got their own Singstar called SingStar Kent released on Play Station 2 and 3.

Two of the band's four members (Markus Mustonen and Sami Sirviö) are Sweden Finns.

Jones & Giftet and Havsänglar (1990–1994)

The band Jones & Giftet (Jones & the Poison) is formed. The members are Joakim Berg, Martin Sköld, Markus Mustonen, Sami Sirviö and Thomas Bergqvist (synthesizers). It all started with Jocke going to London and buying two guitars, one for Sami and one for himself. Sami and Jocke had a band that rehearsed at Balsta Musikslott which consisted of three people. To the tones of My Bloody Valentine^{My Bloody Valentine (band)}, Martin and Jocke decided they were going to start a new band. This happened at the school S:t Eskils cafeteria Grönan. Jocke and Martin meet up with a very drunk Markus outside of the Restaurant Vildsvinet in Eskilstuna. Whilst drunk, he promises to join the band and play the drums. Thomas Bergqvist, a friend of Martin Sköld, was invited to come along and play the synth. The first gig was played in Lindesberg in Västmanland^Lindesberg. The second gig at Knegoffs in Eskilstuna...

In 1991, Jones & Giftet wins the contest Cult 91 at the Skylight in Eskilstuna. Magnus Nygren from EMI was taken by Jones & Giftet's demo got them a gig at Stockholm venues Daily News and Universitet. Today Kent is very pleased that Magnus chose to pass on the band.

1992 is the year that Martin Roos plays with Jones & Giftet for the first time at Cult 92. Soon thereafter Thomas Bergqvist got sacked and was replaced by Martin Roos. September the 30th, 1991—Jones & Giftet changes their name to Havsänglar (Angelshark lit. Sea angels). Gigs at the "Spaghetti Companiet", Hannas Krog and the Pet Sounds Bar followed.

In 1993 Martin Roos moves up to Stockholm, and soon the rest follow. Jockes brother Adam Berg comes up with the new name Kent. Kent plays at Stockholm venues Tanto, Hyndans Hörna and Uppsala venue Kalmar Nation.

In march of 1994 Kent records a 10-track demo under very simple conditions in an 8-track studio at Nytorpsskolan near Blåsut in Stockholm.
The demo was given to Peter Ejheden at pet Sounds who back then was working as a booker for a club (Pet Sounds Bar). In the same chain of events where he got the tape, Peter quit Pet Sounds and started working at BMG^{Sony BMG}. In April Per Lindholm, A&R at RCA/BMG hears Kent for the first time and ignites instantly. On the 26th of June, Kent's first contract is signed. Kent went up to Silence Studios in Koppom, Värmland, to record the debut-album.

Kent and Verkligen (1995–1996)

In 1995 Kent released their eponymous debut Kent^{Kent (album)}. It was distorted^{Guitar effects#Distortion-related effects} and not much reminiscent of what Kent would release in later years. It got almost no commercial reputation at all. Four singles were released, with "Frank" closest to being a hit.

Just one year later, in 1996, Kent released Verkligen (Really). Guitarist Martin Roos had left the band for his career at Kent's record company BMG, but has since become the band's manager^{Talent manager}. The pre-release single "Kräm (Så nära får ingen gå)" immediately became a radio hit and gained Kent some serious fame for the first time. Two more singles were issued, "Gravitation" and "Halka" - The latter one later to be hated with a passion by the group. Musically, the album was slower with less distortion and more emotion. A Japanese release of "Verkligen" featured the group's first English-language song, an altered version of "Kräm (Så nära får ingen gå)" entitled "What It Feels Like".

Isola (1997–1998)

In 1997 Kent released Isola^{Isola (album)}. Guitarist Harri Mänty had joined the group since Verkligen. Verkligen had been heavily toured, gaining some reputation for Kent. The pre-release single, "Om du var här" (If You Were Here), became a hit as would the second single, "Saker man ser" (Things You See). Musically the album changed a lot from Verkligen, going a lot in the direction of slower, more thoughtful songs with more emotion. The last song on the album, the 7 minute, 47 second-long "747^{747 (song)}", with a characteristic keyboard riff and a long instrumental outro, became the band's closer for every show for the next 8 years, and won numerous best-song polls on Kent's website. It was also released as a single, cut down to four minutes and with an added short chorus.

In 1998, what many in Sweden had been asking for became reality when Kent released an English version of Isola, featuring an extra song only available on the English version, "Velvet". Kent embarked on two accompanying US tours to promote the album. The first was in support of fellow Swedes, The Cardigans, during which they highlighted new song, "Protection", and the second was a double-bill with American band, Papa Vegas. The band would close the shows for the second leg of the tour with what they described as their "only cover song", a version of Depeche Mode's classic single, "Stripped". Singles were released in various territories for three of the album's songs, "If You Were Here", "Things She Said" and "747" (featuring the English version of "Kräm", entitled "What It Feels Like"). The English version of the album was initially not meant to be released in Sweden, but public demand was too great. The English version sold poorly outside of Scandinavia.

Hagnesta Hill and B-sidor 95-00 (1999–2000)

In 1999, Kent released Hagnesta Hill, named after Hagnestahill, a part of Eskilstuna where the band had had their first studio. The first, pre-release single, "Musik non stop" (Music Non Stop), a disco-rock song, became a huge radio hit and helped bring recognition for this album. The album was, for the most part, faster and less ballad-focused than Isola, and also mildly experimental with drum-machines and electronics. The singer and songwriter of Kent, Jocke Berg, later complained that he thought the album was too long (thirteen songs spread over one hour). Two more singles were released, the industrial^{Industrial music}-esque "En himmelsk drog" (Heavenly Junkies) and the power-poppy "Kevlarsjäl" (Kevlar Soul).

In 2000, an English version of Hagnesta Hill was released, featuring two songs from the Swedish version replaced with two new English tracks ("Just Like Money" and "Quiet Heart"). The album was also released in a limited digipack with one of the excluded songs, "A Timekill to Die For", included as a hidden bonus track^{Hidden track}. The album was accompanied by the release of the single, "Music Non Stop", featuring the other omitted song, "Insects", as a b-side^{A-side and B-side}. A single show, played in front of a tiny crowd at London's Scala Club^{Scala (club)}, was recorded for Japanese TV and has been widely bootlegged. A Japanese edition was released, featuring fourteen songs, one of them being the bonus track "Time Kill To Die For". A planned US release of the album was shelved, resulting in only "cut-out" promo copies floating around. Likewise, a US tour never materialized, as there was officially no album to promote.

Since their debut, Kent had recorded a large number of b-sides, usually exceptional in quality. Since most of these singles had long gone out of print, it was very hard to get these legally, so in 2000, Kent released the 2CD B-side collection B-sidor 95–00 (B-Sides 95–00). It featured 21 b-sides, re-recorded versions of two of these and two totally new songs. One of them, "Chans" (Chance), was also released as a single. A hidden bonus track, featuring Finnish vocals, was also featured.

Vapen & ammunition and the White Concert (2002–2003)

After a long break, Kent started to work on their next full-length album in 2002. They reported from the studio that they tried to make an album consisting of ten singles. The first single "Dom andra" ("The Others") became a huge hit on Swedish radio. When the album Vapen & ammunition (Weapon(s) & Ammunition) came out, the next two singles "Kärleken väntar" ("Love Awaits") and "FF" (from the double A-side FF / VinterNoll2), plus the album track "Pärlor" ("Pearls") became huge radio hits, resulting in album sales over 600,000, more than twice as many as any other Kent album to date. The definite proof of the album's success was evident when the band received seven Swedish Grammy Awards^Grammis in 2003.

An English version of the album was planned—as can be seen on the tape titled "Guns & Ammunition" in the "Dom andra" music video—but was cancelled, according to lead singer Joakim Berg: "We decided it was not worth it (releasing the album in English) when we realized we had sat in a tour bus for two long US-tours, and nothing had happened."

Kent hadn't toured for several months when it was announced that they would only do one single performance in Sweden in 2003, on June 6, the Swedish national day, in Stockholms Stadion^{Stockholms Olympiastadion} which holds a crowd of 30,000. As the band told the crowd to come there dressed in white, it was nicknamed "The White Concert". The concert received mixed reviews and critics claimed that the band should have done something extraordinary at the concert, instead of playing more or less the same setlist as in the 2002 tour.

The band also played at the less known Parkfestivalen in Moss, Norway on June 14, 200
3Band members

;Current members
*Joakim Berg – lead vocals^Singer, rhythm guitar (1990–present)>
*Martin Sköld – bass^{bass guitar}, keyboards^{Keyboard instrument} (1990–present)>
*Sami Sirviö – lead guitar, keyboards (1990–present)>
*Markus Mustonen – drums^{drum kit}, keyboards, piano, backing vocals (1990–present)>

;Former members
*Harri Mänty – rhythm guitar, programming^{Programming (music)}, percussion^{Percussion instrument} (1996–2006)>
*Martin Roos – rhythm guitar (1992–1995)>
*Thomas Bergqvist – keyboards (1990–1992)>

Live members

*Andreas Bovin – keyboards, synthesizer, sampling^{Sampling (music)}, live programming, guitar
*Max Brandt – guitar* Kent^{Kent (album)} (1995)
* Verkligen (1996)
* Isola^{Isola (album)} (1997)
* Hagnesta Hill (1999)
* Vapen & ammunition (2002)
* Du & jag döden (2005)
* Tillbaka till samtiden (2007)
* Röd (2009)
* En plats i solen (2010)Kent first received a Swedish Grammy Award^Grammis for "Best Pop/rock Group of the Year" in 1995, and have won 19 in total since, which makes Kent the most Swedish Grammy Award-winning artist or band in Sweden. These include seven awards for, or in relation to, the six times platinum^{Music recording sales certification}-selling fourth album Vapen & ammunition from 2002. The Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet has awarded Kent with 11 Rockbjörnen awards, including the prestigious "Award for best effort in Sweden for Swedish music" in 1997.