ohnny, G
Sweden’s raggare are still riding around in
’50s convertibles, listening to rockabilly
and meeting in diners – it’s just that they’ve
swapped fighting for family get-togethers
T
here’s something slightly
surreal about being
lectured on the merits of
Chuck Berry’s back
catalogue by a 17-year-old
Swedish girl. “Remember, you have to go
for his late ’50s period like Johnny B
Goode – that’s the best stuff,” says Denise
Bogren from Falköping, sitting with her
friends in the back of the gold 1963
Cadillac DeVille her dad’s just bought her
(even though you can’t learn to drive in
Sweden until you’re 18).
Dressed in a white vest top, plimsolls
and one of those knee-length skirts that
twirl up when you dance, Denise looks like
she’s auditioning for a remake of
Grease
.
The same goes for her friends. They’re
four teenage girls out on a Saturday night,
dressed like the ’50s never ended, raving to
music that was recorded roughly 40 years
before they were born. “Don’t you all prefer
Rihanna and Lady Gaga?” I ask.
»
Clockwise from
left
⁄
Teenage raggars
Louisa Johansson,
Denise Bogren, Pauline
Dahl and Johanna
Hellström get in the
’50s party spirit; even
the petrol pumps are
from a leftover age;
classic American cars
in Sweden are in such
good condition that
Americans are trying to
buy them back
W o r d s
⁄
H a n s S e e b e r g P h o t o s
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P e r K å r e h e d
