| Imperiet | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Genre: | Post-punk, new wave, alternative rock |
| Years Active: | 1981–1988 |
| Label: | Mistlur Records |
| Past Members: | Christian Falk Joakim Thåström Per Hägglund Gunnar Ljungstedt Stry Terrarie Fred Asp |
was a Swedish post-punk band that was founded in 1981 in Stockholm as Rymdimperiet.[1] [2] In the spring of 1983, the band changed its name to Imperiet, and was then active until December 1988.[3]
started as, a side project to the Swedish punk band, and included three of its members. When broke up in 1983, re-emerged as ; with Joakim Thåström (lead vocals, guitar), Anders "Stry" Sjöholm (vocals, guitar) and Gunnar "Gurra" Ljungstedt (drums), all three originally from . They were joined by Christian Falk (bass) and Per Hägglund (sax, keyboards). Stry left in 1984 and Gurra the following year. Gurra was replaced by Fred Asp on the drums. In 1987 Per Hägglund left and disbanded in 1988.
's sound was inspired by punk, rock and synthpop. Their lyrics were left-wing and anti-imperialist; songs like "C. C. Cowboys", "" (Always Red, Always Right), and "" (Where's the wolf) were inspired by Russian Communist poet Mayakovsky.
Mainly successful in Sweden and Scandinavia, also toured overseas, playing in the United States, Cuba, Central America and South America. In 1988, released their only English language album, called . It featured translated versions of their old songs. The album had an intensive promotional European tour, but was only popular in Sweden. This put an end to plans for an international career.
Their original name (meaning The Galactic Empire, literally "The Space Empire"), was taken from the Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the Swedish title being .