Onkel Kånkel and his Kånkelbär (), commonly referred to as just Onkel Kånkel, was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

könsrock Könsrock (Swedish for ''Genitalia rock'') is a Sweden, Swedish music genre characterized by off-color humor, dealing with subjects such as handicapped people, disorders and diseases, homosexuality, and Nazism, often with strong elements of toile ...

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 ...

band known for lyrics with

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 disabled people, disorders and diseases,

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

coprophilia Coprophilia (from Greek κόπρος, ''kópros'' 'excrement' and φιλία, ''philía'' 'liking, fondness'), also called scatophilia or scat (Greek: σκατά, ''skatá'' 'feces'), is the paraphilia involving sexual arousal and pleasure from ...

, often with 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 ...

. Many songs reference Swedish TV and radio personalities. Onkel Kånkel is often considered to have created the

genre. While well known for their

shock value Shock value (or shock factor) is the potential of an image, text, action, or other form of communication, such as a public execution, to provoke a reaction of sharp disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions. In advertising Sho ...

, Onkel Kånkel's music has never entered the mainstream, though the band managed to get the 46th placement on the Swedish top-50 chart in 1994. One of their albums, ''Kalle Anka Suger Pung'' (), briefly had some radio airplay, but was pulled off the air due to perceived inappropriate content. More recently, the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

has spread Onkel Kånkel to a younger generation. Onkel Kånkel has been compared to

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Onkel Kånkel's frontman and singer/guitarist Håkan Florå wore a mask while performing so as to "not take away the mystery". Håkan Florå died of a heart attack aged 47 on the 15th of August 2009.

Controversies

At the 1993

Hultsfred festival The Hultsfred Festival () was an annual music festival held in Hultsfred, Sweden. It took place at the lake Hulingen for three days in June or July, from Thursday to Saturday. Since the first festival in 1986, its attendance increased from 7,5 ...

, during the first of the few live shows the band performed, an

intellectually disabled Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...

man not part of the band was invited on stage, singing along to choruses and telling jokes between songs. This caused controversy as some people considered it to be mocking people with disabilities. When interviewed about the accusations, Onkel Kånkel answered "That is bullshit. The concert was among the most fun things he has ever experienced. He is a really fun guy. It is not wrong to laugh at disabled people, what's wrong is to ignore them, to treat them as if they did not exist."

Members

The number of band members and their degree of involvement has never been firmly established. Only Håkan Florå has had his identity as the band's frontman revealed to the general public, after his death. While some have speculated that he was the only member, he stated in interviews that there were other members. These are the officially credited members: *Onkel Kånkel - Vocals, guitar *Epilepsi Kurt - Drums, percussion *Arne Tammer - Special Effects, vocals *CP Sven - Bass, vocals *Stomi Bertil - Guitar, vocals

Discography

*''Svenska Tonårsgrupper Vol 3'' (1981 12" LP, Konkurens Rekårdz) The first appearance of Onkel Kånkel on vinyl, with the song "Nazzepenis i Führerns anus". More information about this album is available at http://www.punktipset.se/band.asp?id=505&bID=660. *''Onkel Kånkels Gyllene Tider'' (1983 12" LP, Konkurens Rekårdz, remastered version released on CD with bonus tracks in 1993) *''Kalle Anka Suger Pung'' (1990 12" LP, Tjockfet Records) *''Onkel Kånkels Underbara Värld'' (1993 CD, Konkurrens Records) *''Gammeldags Jul'' (1994 CD, Konkurrens Records) *''Onkel Kånkels fantastiska äfventyr'' (1999 CD, Konkurrens Records) *''Blitzkrieg Blepp

(2003 CD, Konkurrens Records) Three bootleg compilations with songs from early tape recordings were unofficially released on the internet in 2001: *''Sälla Toner Vol. 1 (2001)'' *''Sälla Toner Vol. 2 (2001)'' *''Sälla Toner Vol. 3 (2001)'' In 1992, a tribute album called ''Kånkelmania'' was released, featuring Onkel Kånkel covers. Participating bands and artists were

Stig Vig Per Odeltorp, known as Stig Vig, (19 November 1948 – 23 January 2012 in Stockholm) was a Swedish singer and bassist well known for being the leader of the rock band Dag Vag Dag Vag is a Swedish band formed in 1978. The lead singer was Per Od ...

Charta 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech and Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members and architects were Jiří Něme ...

and

Union Carbide Productions Union Carbide Productions was a Swedish rock band formed by Ebbot Lundberg (vocals), Patrik Caganis, Björn Olsson, Per Helm and Henrik Rylander in 1986. Though never really commercially successful, the band has received praise from artists lik ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onkel Kankel Swedish musical groups Musical groups established in 1979