Könsrock (Swedish for ''Genitalia rock'') is a Swedish

music genre A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions. Genre is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometim ...

characterized by

off-color humor Off-color humor (also known as vulgar humor, crude humor, or shock humor) is humor that deals with topics that may be considered to be in poor taste or vulgar. Many comedic genres (including jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insul ...

, dealing with subjects such as

handicapped Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

people, disorders and diseases,

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

, and

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

, often with strong elements of

toilet humor Toilet humour or potty humour is a type of off-colour humour dealing with: defecation (including diarrhea and constipation), in which case it is called scatological humour (compare scatology); urination; flatulence, in which case it is called fla ...

. The term ''könsrock'' was coined by music journalists to describe the genre after it had existed for a couple of decades, and has in general not been used by the artists themselves.

Characteristics

Könsrock is commonly produced using the same line-up as

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

, often including

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

influences with drum machines, keyboards, and other electronic devices. Some bands use heavily distorted instrument similar to extreme punk, and some use a more experimental sound deliberately made to sound unpleasant. The lyrics are usually offensive and deal with topics such as

people,

pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pube ...

, bodily functions,

drugs A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestio ...

, and violence. Könsrock has been popular in schools in Sweden and has on some occasions caused public outrage.

History

Two important earlier influences to könsrock were

Johnny Bode Johnny Bode (6 January 1912 – 25 July 1983) was a Swedish singer and composer, who was a Nazi sympathizer and convicted fraudster. Bode had a turbulent career, and was at one point sent to a mental hospital. He published compositions under se ...

, who released three records in the 1960s and 1970s with songs with explicit sexual lyrics, and

Eddie Meduza Errol Leonard Norstedt (17 June 1948–17 January 2002), better known by his stage name Eddie Meduza, previously known as E. Hitler, was a Swedish composer and musician working mainly in the rockabilly genre. Music career Themes and behaviour ...

, also known for songs with off-color and often sexual lyrics. As neither worked in a punk rock style, they are not considered part of the könsrock genre proper. Onkel Kånkel and his Kånkelbär, formed in 1979, are often considered to have created the genre.

Tunnan och Moroten

In 1994

Tunnan och Moroten The Saab 29 ''Tunnan'' (''The Barrel''), colloquially also ''Flygande Tunnan'' (''The Flying Barrel''), is an early jet-powered fighter aircraft designed and produced by the Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab. It was the second turbojet-powered ...

(The Trashcan and The Carrot) began making music together. Early songs were released as Amiga modules, but since the late 1990s, they have incorporated guitar and drums. In the late 1990s, songs in MP3 format began circulating on the internet, and ''Bajs i bastun'' was released in 1998, becoming one of their most famous songs. There are now eight albums. On the later releases,

synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, electric guitar, and drums are used, together with influences from

chip music Chiptune, also called 8-bit music (although not all chiptune is 8-bit music), is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video game co ...

References

Footnotes and sources

some newspaper articles about Onkel Kånkel and könsrock
(in Swedish)
a reportage about könsrock in swedish radio
(in Swedish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Konsrock Off-color humor Punk rock genres Swedish styles of music 1970s establishments in Sweden