In the world of pop music, where image is everything, the out of this world look of The Spotnicks is like nothing you've ever seen. Hailing from Sweden - birthplace of ABBA - The Spotnicks were a worldwide phenomenon in the 1960's, selling millions of records internationally with their unique space-surf sound.

Founded by Bo Winberg, the band was originally called The Frazers. They made a few records, some of which were recorded in Winberg's living room. Recently, Planet X Magazine caught up with Bo and he told us how, in 1959, The Frazers became The Spotnicks. "That was when we came to Stockholm to the big company (Karusell Records) to release the first album," Winberg said, "and the guy at the record planet (Roland Fernenborg, who later became their manager) said, "That's a fucking silly name!" " Winberg continued, "Our album cover had four cartoon-like spacemen and there was also a rocket. So Fernenborg said "Since they look like that, let's call them The Spotnicks," because the Sputnick went up a few years earlier. And also we were on a TV show wearing a kind of space suit."

While The Spotnicks space-surf sound is unique, they were heavily influenced by American artists. "My influence came from Les Paul," Winberg told Planet X, "and alsoo we were listening to a lot of music by Gene Vincent. So we were listening to different guitar sounds and we liked American music."

The Spotnicks' fame rocketed, as they had hit records all over the world. They went into an endless orbit of touring: Sweden, England, France, Italy, Spain, Finland, Greece, Mexico and even Japan, where they had a number one hit. "We were playing a nightclub in Mexico in 1965," recalls Winberg, "and we were supposed to go back to Sweden. But one of the songs that we recorded on the album "The Spotnicks in Berlin" was called Karelia and that one came up to be number one on the Japanese charts. It sold one million records! So they said "Now you can't go home; you have to go to Japan!" which we did. It was really funny. I have pictures of it. There were people all over the airport with signs, "Welcome, The Spotnicks" and all that stuff. By that time I understood how the Beatles or the Rolling Stones felt."

Check out any of The Spotnicks' fan sites on the internet (and there are many), you'll read about an incident that fans have weaved into an urban legend and has taken on a life of it's own. It involves The Sp[otnicks 1963 appearance at The Olympia in Paris. Bo Winberg's wireless guitar transmitter somehow broadcasted through Paris Police car radios. As fans tell it, the police - guns drawn - crash the concert and a riot ensued. "There's a lot of stories going around," he commented. "I don't know what to call it in English, to make a hen out of a feather, or something like that" The real thing is - we were doing a recording in a studio outside Paris, and the transmitter built into my guitar - I didn't see that it was on - it was a home built thing, with not very legal frequencies on it. A police car was passing by and all of a sudden they could hear the lead guitar in their radio - coming from the studio nearby. So they went in and said "What the fuck is going on here:" The the real and true story."