Word: cheiron
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...avoids P.R. - "Not my job," he says - and Time's exclusive talk with him was his first full-length English-language interview ever. So few people know his real name (Martin Sandberg). And even fewer realize how much of today's pop was Made in Sweden at collectives like Cheiron, Martin's longtime base. (For profiles of other Nordic pop masters, see following story...
...that's how you get the clean lines of the Cheiron sound. When Martin describes the sound - "direct, effective, we don't show off" - you wonder whether he's selling a song or a Volvo. But maybe it's an apt comparison. His pop vehicles aren't the flashiest. But they're quality, and they get singers exactly where they want...
...heavy metal group called It's Alive. The lessons at his music-focused high school couldn't compete with visions of a rock star future, so he dropped out to concentrate on the band. It's Alive was the rare act that actually got a record deal, from the Cheiron label run by producer Denniz PoP. The deal would be the band's end and Martin's big break...
...Just Can't Get Enough? Loved it. The Bangles' Eternal Flame? An all-time favorite. Such music was anathema in headbanger circles, he says, so "I couldn't admit to my friends that I liked it." And he didn't tell them that, after rehearsal, he'd sneak into Cheiron's studio to write songs. Pop songs they couldn't sing, wouldn't sing...
...August 1998, PoP, only 35, died after a brief battle with cancer. The loss shook Cheiron. PoP had been the studio's musical mastermind, says Zomba's Dodd, and "had an aura around him that made everyone excel." But the industry didn't stop for even a second of silence. The work had to go on. Martin took the musical reins, while studio co-founder Tom Talomaa continued to oversee the business side. They kept Cheiron's modus operandi - plenty of video-game breaks, practical jokes and the like - that PoP had instituted. And the music actually got bigger, with...