Prime STH were a Swedish

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

quartet from

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...

. The band, which included vocalist Noa Modén, guitarist Martin Påhlsson, bassist Jesper Eksjoo, and drummer Kasper Lindgren, was formed while the members were teenagers. They have released two studio albums: ''Underneath the Surface'' (2001) and ''Beautiful Awakening'' (2004). Their most popular song "I'm Stupid (Don't Worry 'Bout Me)", a single from ''Underneath the Surface'', was written by

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (; born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
allmusic.com known profess ...

and reached the top 30 of the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Alternative Songs Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

and

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent the middle ground between classic rock and active rock ...

charts.

Career

2001: ''Underneath the Surface''

On 26 June 2001, the band released their debut album, ''Underneath the Surface'', on

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

In the United States, it was released the week of 9 July 2001, by

Reprise Records Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels. Artists currently signed to Reprise Records include Enya, Michael ...

. The album received generally mixed reviews from music critics, holding a score of 60 out of 100 on review aggregator Album of the Year. A review by Devon Powers of

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

praised the album's range and called it "not your little sister’s alternative rock band". ''

Slant Slant can refer to: Bias *Bias or other non- objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields Technical * Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level *Slant d ...

'' critic Aaron Scott awarded the album two stars out of five and criticized the way that the album "straddles the line between pop and hard rock", although praising the album's catchiness. The album also spawned the single "I'm Stupid (Don't Worry 'Bout Me)", which was written by

Max Martin Karl Martin Sandberg (; born 26 February 1971),Max Martin
allmusic.com known profess ...

. On the ''Billboard''

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart dated 2 June 2001, the single debuted at number 40, while it debuted at number 38 on the

chart the following week. On the chart dated 21 July 2001, the track attained a peak of number 28 on both charts, holding the spot for three weeks on Mainstream Rock and one week on Alternative. In March 2003, Prime STH played at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's historic

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in Manhattan's East Village. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for '' Country'', '' BlueGrass'', and '' Blues'', Kri ...

club for a two-day showcase of Swedish artists titled "The Swedish Invasion Continues ... 2003".

2004: ''Beautiful Awakening''

The band released their second studio album, ''Beautiful Awakening'', in March 2004 in Scandinavia via Swedish label MVG/Push Music. It was released in the rest of Europe on 4 April via German label

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

, while it was released in Japan on 5 September via

Wood Records Caroline Records is a record label originally founded in 1973. Initially founded in the United Kingdom to showcase British progressive rock groups, the label ceased releasing titles in 1976, and then re-emerged in the United States in 1986. ...

. As of October 2004, ''Billboard'' reported that they were looking for distribution for the album in the United States.

Members

Adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

and

. * Noa Medon — vocalist, guitarist * Martin Påhlsson — guitarist * Jesper Eksjoo (JSPR) — bassist * Kasper Lindgren (Kaz) — drummer

Discography

Albums

* ''Underneath the Surface'', (26 June 2001 release on

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

) * ''Beautiful Awakening'', (5 April 2004 release on

)

Singles

*2001, "I'm Stupid (Don't Worry 'Bout Me)", U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs No. 28; U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks No. 28

References

External links

Prime STH on MySpace
* Swedish alternative metal musical groups Nuclear Blast artists {{Sweden-band-stub