Editing The Cardigans (section)

==History==

===First years: 1992–1994===
[[Peter Svensson]] and [[Magnus Sveningsson]], 
both heavy metal musicians, formed the group on 31 October 1992 in [[Jönköping]], Sweden, with drummer Bengt Lagerberg, guitarist Mattias Alfheim and lead singer [[Nina Persson]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KibzL64UfVo | title=The Cardigans — LIFE: The True Story (With ENGLISH subtitles) | website=[[YouTube]] | date=20 April 2024 }}</ref>

Living together in a small apartment, The Cardigans recorded a demo tape with Persson providing lead vocals on only one of the songs towards the end of the track list. [[A&R]] man Ola Hermanson heard the demo and signed the band to his Trampolene imprint. While recording their first album in 1993, Alfheim left and was replaced by Lagerberg's friend, Lars-Olof Johansson, who remained in the band ever since.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://acommonline.webnode.es/the-cardigans-biography/ | title=The Cardigans Biography :: Acommonline }}</ref>
 
They released their debut album ''[[Emmerdale (album)|Emmerdale]]'' in Sweden and Japan in 1994; it was re-released internationally in 1997. The album included the Swedish radio hit "[[Rise & Shine (The Cardigans song)|Rise & Shine]]", which was later voted the best of 1994 in a poll in ''[[Slitz]]'' magazine.

===Commercial success: 1995–2000===
The remainder of 1994 was spent touring Europe and recording ''[[Life (Cardigans album)|Life]]'', which was released worldwide in 1995. ''Life'' became an international success, selling more than a million copies and achieving [[Platinum album|platinum status]] in Japan. In 1996, ''Life'' was released under the label [[Minty Fresh]] in the US, but this release was essentially a compilation of tracks from ''Emmerdale'' and ''Life''.

After their success with ''Life'', The Cardigans signed with [[Mercury Records]], under which they released ''[[First Band on the Moon]]'' worldwide in 1996. "[[Lovefool]]" was a hit worldwide, particularly in the US and Japan, where the album reached platinum status in three weeks. The album also achieved [[music recording sales certification|gold sales status]] in the US. "Lovefool" was shown on [[MTV]] in the late 1990s as a music video with clips from the 1996 hit film ''[[Romeo + Juliet]]'' starring [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] and [[Claire Danes]]. It was also featured in the film ''[[Cruel Intentions]]'' (1999).

In 1997, the band played themselves in an episode of ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'' as the featured entertainment at their college  graduation party, hosted by [[Kelly Taylor]]'s dad. The band performed "[[Lovefool]]" and "[[Been It]]." Their song "[[Carnival (The Cardigans song)|Carnival]]" was featured in the 1997 film [[Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery]]. The band was also asked to submit the theme song for the [[James Bond]] film ''[[Tomorrow Never Dies]]'' but rejected the request due to exhaustion that would be exacerbated by the potential added workload; Persson has called her decision to turn down the offer "one of my biggest mistakes."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/music-interviews/rock-n-roll-kill-braincells-put-cardigans-nina-persson-test-2415000|title=Does Rock 'N' Roll Kill Braincells? We put The Cardigans' Nina Persson to the test|first=Gary|last=Ryan|work=NME|date=1 December 2018|access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref>

1998's ''[[Gran Turismo (album)|Gran Turismo]]'' was followed by a long hiatus during which the band members pursued solo side projects. The same year they also released a [[compilation album]] of rare [[B-side]]s, ''[[The Other Side of the Moon (album)|The Other Side of the Moon]]'' as a Japan-only release. The video of the song "My Favourite Game" was censored by MTV for showing reckless driving. Despite this, it went on to become their second global hit song. "My Favourite Game" was featured on the soundtrack of the [[PlayStation]] video game ''[[Gran Turismo 2]]'' in the intro movie on CD1. That year also saw their song "Deuce" appearing on ''[[The X-Files: The Album]]''. Their song "[[Erase/Rewind]]" was featured in the 1999 films ''[[Never Been Kissed]]'' and ''[[The Thirteenth Floor]]''. In 2018, German author Thorsten Nagelschmidt published a book titled ''Der Abfall der Herzen,'' a reference to the band's song "Junk of the Hearts" featured on ''Gran Turismo.''

In 1999, the Cardigans recorded a duet cover of [[Talking Heads]]' "[[Burning Down the House]]" with [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]] for his album ''[[Reload (Tom Jones album)|Reload]]''.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography"/>

===Back to spotlight and hiatus: 2002–2006===
[[Image:The Cardigans.jpg|thumb|The Cardigans performing in June 2004.]]
The Cardigans returned in 2002 to record ''[[Long Gone Before Daylight]]'' (2003), a collection of songs mainly written by Persson and Svensson. ''Long Gone Before Daylight'' became one of the best selling albums in Sweden in 2003.{{cn|date=August 2021}} After a two-year hiatus from their last album, it was released in Japan on 19 March 2003 and in Europe on 24 March 2003. Later it was also released in Canada (22 April 2003) and the United States (25 May 2004).

The album differs from the band's earlier works. Their familiar "happy" pop sound takes on a change to pop songs with more of an American country music  influence. It is a much darker album than their previous works, and quieter than ''[[Gran Turismo (album)|Gran Turismo]]''. Indeed, even lead singer [[Nina Persson]] dyed her once light blonde hair to jet black, reflecting the band's change of mood.<ref>Amelia McDonell-Parry. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090223092105/http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/5204789/review/6085656 "Long Gone Before Daylight : The Cardigans : Review"], ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', 24 July 2004.</ref> The album was produced by Per Sunding after the group's regular producer Tore Johanssen stepped down, feeling himself unable to provide the country sound the group wanted.

Criticism was generally mixed. Some found the change of direction welcome, and felt the band had matured, making songs that were even better than other experienced country-pop styled artists. Others missed the old pop sound, and accused the band of possibly being ashamed of their former "happy" pop sound. The first single of the album, "[[For What It's Worth (The Cardigans song)|For What It's Worth]]" was released on 17 February 2003. The second single was "[[You're the Storm]]" released on 2 June 2003. The third and final single was "[[Live and Learn (The Cardigans song)|Live and Learn]]" released on 3 December 2003. In the summer of 2004, The Cardigans toured with [[Liz Phair]], [[Katy Rose]] and [[Charlotte Martin]] on the Chicks With Attitude tour.

On 28 April 2005, the band's ''iTunes Originals'' album was released through iTunes. On 19 October 2005, the band released their sixth album ''[[Super Extra Gravity]]'' to generally favourable reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/cardigans/superextragravity?q=cardigans |title=The Cardigans: Super Extra Gravity (2006): Reviews |publisher=Metacritic |date=19 September 2006 |access-date=22 August 2012}}</ref> ''Super Extra Gravity'' went straight to the #1 spot on the Swedish album chart and was certified gold (sales over 40,000).{{cn|date=August 2021}} After the band finished promotional activities in Autumn 2006, the band entered an extended hiatus and devoted themselves to other projects.{{cn|date=August 2021}}

===Reunion, touring and future: 2012–present===
In 2012, the Cardigans received a lucrative offer from [[Hultsfred Festival]] to perform the album ''[[Gran Turismo (album)|Gran Turismo]]'' in full.<ref name="smartbeijing.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.smartbeijing.com/articles/nightlife/interview-magnus-sveningsson-the-cardigans |title=Interview: Magnus Sveningsson, The Cardigans |website=SmartBeijing.com |access-date=29 December 2016}}</ref> After initial hesitation, the band decided to accept the offer "as it felt like a good way of tearing us out of our strange new everyday life," according to Persson.<ref>{{cite news|author=Helienne Lindvall |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2012/apr/26/nina-persson-cardigans-reunion |title=Nina Persson: knitting the Cardigans back together  |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=29 December 2016}}</ref> Peter Svensson declined to participate, although he had no objection to the band touring without him. They recruited singer-songwriter [[:sv:Moto Boy|Oskar Humlebo]] to fill in for Svensson, and asked their agent to seek more shows for them to play.<ref name="smartbeijing.com"/> Ultimately, the band made their live comeback with shows in Lund and Copenhagen ahead of Hultsfred, before playing in Poland, Finland, Russia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Japan, with a scheduled concert in Israel cancelled by the promoter.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/TheCardigansofficial/posts/10151098305190428  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/12070995427/10151098305190428 |archive-date=26 February 2022 |url-access=limited|title=Cardigans – MAYDAY MAYDAY! The Tel Aviv show on august 4... |via=Facebook |date=18 July 2012 |access-date=29 December 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Most of these shows involved performing ''Gran Turismo'' in full, followed by an assortment of hits from their other albums.

Still with Humlebo in place of Svensson, the band played career-spanning sets when touring resumed during late 2013 with shows in Japan, China and Russia, followed by more dates in 2015 which took them to South Korea, Europe and Latin America. In interviews promoting her 2014 solo album ''[[Animal Heart]]'', Persson suggested that the success of their most recent live dates opened the possibility for future Cardigans recordings, though there were no firm plans. "It's really fun to do greatest hits things, since there's nothing else, but I think if we continue having this much fun we would like to make another record, because we like to create new things," said Persson.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Andrew Hampp |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/5901103/nina-persson-talks-animal-heart-solo-lp-the-cardigans-future |title=Nina Persson Talks 'Animal Heart' Solo LP, The Cardigans' Future |magazine=Billboard |access-date=29 December 2016}}</ref> The band's only scheduled show for 2016 was at [[Qstock]] ([[Oulu]], [[Finland]]) on 29 July.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.songkick.com/concerts/26597154-cardigans-at-kuusisaari |title=Qstock 2016 Oulu Line-up, Photos & Videos Jul 2016 – Songkick |website=Songkick.com |date=29 July 2016 |access-date=29 December 2016}}</ref> In 2017, they performed in Stockholm, in Turku, and at the Yammatovo 3 festival in Croatia.

In June 2018, the band announced their only live shows of the year: a four-date UK tour in December to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ''Gran Turismo'' in which they would perform the album in full again.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.nme.com/news/music/cardigans-announce-20th-anniversary-uk-tour-gran-turismo-2340957|title=The Cardigans announce 20th anniversary UK tour for 'Gran Turismo'|first=Andrew|last=Trendell|work=NME|date=19 June 2018|access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref> In an interview to promote the tour, Persson stated, "There won't be any more Cardigans records, I'm pretty sure. But we'll keep doing little tours and shows as long as it's fun, as long as we can do it well and feel that it's something that's current to us."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://writewyattuk.com/2018/11/23/the-cardigans-from-indie-roots-to-gran-turismo-and-beyond-the-nina-persson-interview/|title=The Cardigans: from indie roots to Gran Turismo and beyond – the Nina Persson interview|first=Malcolm|last=Wyatt|publisher=writewyattuk.com|date=23 November 2018|access-date=5 December 2018}}</ref>

In May 2023, Nina Persson confirmed Peter Svensson would never rejoin the band, and that as a result there would be no new Cardigans albums. The idea of making new music without Svensson was overruled too.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2023-05-26/hela-the-cardigans-kommer-aldrig-att-aterforenas?fbclid=IwAR1qtHVvXSS8a8_cKN8g_jvf5mbZVk9M6z240VcU5solnsTvECMNSCDY8pc/|title=Hela The Cardigans kommer aldrig att återförenas|work=Sydsvenskan|date=23 May 2023|access-date=17 August 2023}}</ref> The band keeps on touring sporadically.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.setlist.fm/search?query=the+cardigans|title=Search for setlists : The Cardigans|publisher=setlist.fm|date=17 August 2023|access-date=17 August 2023}}</ref>

On September 6, 2024, the band released the two-volume B-sides compilation ''[[The Rest of the Best]]''.