The Big L. | |
Cover: | The_Big_L..jpg |
Type: | single |
Artist: | Roxette |
Album: | Joyride |
B-Side: | "One Is Such a Lonely Number" (demo) |
Recorded: | June 1990 |
Studio: | EMI (Stockholm, Sweden) |
Genre: | Pop rock |
Label: | EMI |
Producer: | Clarence Öfwerman |
Prev Title: | Fading Like a Flower (Every Time You Leave) |
Prev Year: | 1991 |
Next Title: | Spending My Time |
Next Year: | 1991 |
"The Big L." is a song by Swedish pop duo Roxette. Written by Per Gessle, it was released on 26 August 1991 by EMI as the third single from their third studio album, Joyride (1991). The song became a top ten hit in Belgium, Ireland and Sweden, and was the highest-charting single released from Joyride in France. It also reached the top twenty in a number of other countries, including Australia, Austria, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Despite a US radio mix of the song appearing on CD versions of the single, it was never released as a single in North America.
Scottish Aberdeen Press and Journal stated that "they can still bang out a decent tune."[1] AllMusic editor Bryan Buss wrote in his review of Joyride, that "The Big L." follows in the successful vein Gessle and Fredriksson mined with "The Look".[2] Swedish Expressen called it a "peppery pop song adorned with details from old rock 'n' roll".[3] I Dag described it as "classic pop that could just as well be Gyllene Tider in the 90s".[4] Kim Såtvedt from Norwegian Laagendalsposten named it a "useful up-tempo song".[5] A reviewer from Music & Media wrote that the song is "again proof of Per Gessle's knack for writing pleasant pop underpinned by rocking beats. The casual but economic production further adds to the song's power."[6]
All songs were written and composed by Per Gessle.
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Rox Box/Roxette 86–06.[7]
Studios
Musicians
Chart (1991) | Peak position |
---|---|
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[8] | 17 |
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[9] | 11 |
Spain (AFYVE)[10] | 14 |
Chart (1991) | Position | |
---|---|---|
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[11] | 65 | |
Europe (European Hit Radio)[12] | 38 | |
Germany (Official German Charts)[13] | 96 |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Europe | 26 August 1991 | EMI | ||
Japan | 16 October 1991 | Mini-CD | [14] |