Peter Bjorn and John Celebrate 19 Years of "Young Folks"

Back in middle school, the afternoon announcements would come on during fourth period, introduced with a song lick guaranteed to hook even the most attentive of tween/teen ears: Boom-tss boom-tss clap-tss boom-tss clap. Like clockwork, almost the entire class would bang their knuckles on the wooden desks, mimicking the drum pattern that leads into the iconic whistled intro to the Peter Bjorn and John hit, "Young Folks," off their 2006 watershed album, Writer's Block.

The song was everywhere: on your friend's MySpace account, on the iPod touch you shared earphones with during lunch. The whistling lick lived in your head rent-free. The bongos reverberating in the backdrop, surging guitar chords, bopping bass, and the suave, rebellious chorus that instructed us to pay no mind to the older generation — this was a teen anthem:

And we don't care about the young folks
Talking 'bout the young style
And we don't care about the old folks
Talking 'bout the old style too
And we don't care about their own faults
Talking 'bout our own style
All we care 'bout is talking
Talking only me and you

Nineteen years and 600 million Spotify streams later, "Young Folks" still makes you want to play air drums and rally against someone. Gen Z? Society? Spotify? It really doesn't matter whom. As one YouTuber observed, "This song hasn't aged at all. Still feels fresh after all these years."

The Swedish trio hopes to rekindle nostalgia and feel-good moments as they tour Writer's Block for its 19th anniversary. To that end, they'll perform the album in its entirety at ZeyZey in Little River on Saturday, May 24.

"We haven't even premiered this set yet," Björn Yttling tells New Times. "We are going to play in Sweden before we head to the U.S. It's been really fun to listen back to the whole album, play those songs, and put it together as a coherent piece. I like the album — it holds up."

Yttling and Peter Morén met in high school in Sweden. "It was almost only us that liked Manchester music — the Stone Roses, and stuff like that. We began playing music like that with a drum machine," Yttling says.

The two moved to Stockholm in the early aughts, where they met John Eriksson and formed Peter Bjorn and John. Morén is the lead singer-guitarist; Yttling plays bass, keyboards, and backup vocals; and Eriksson is on percussion. The trio produced music going back to Forbidden Chords in 2001, but they were without a major hit. The band told the Guardian in 2018 that, but for "Young Folks," they probably would have packed it in.
"We were definitely going to quit," Yttling reiterates to New Times. "It was more like, if no one cared about this album, we were going to fold and not fight for this. We were lucky that it happened."

"Young Folks" was an instant hit, leading to a world tour and spots on the late-night talk circuit. They told the Guardian that "Young Folks" was to have been a jazz song but gravitated toward a pop sound between the guitar riffs and unabashed whistling. Swedish singer Victoria Bergsman added vocals to the track, portraying calm suspense between her and Morén.

"We had a couple of mics and a drum kit we had bought on Craigslist," they say in The Guardian article. "This was not gear for making a hit record, but that's our sound, I guess."

They produced the rest of Writer's Block with a messy blueprint. The band had little money or resources, Yttling proposed recording everything on a "tape echo machine," which didn't allow much room for screwing up and re-recording. "We used a piano for the choruses on the tracks; we stomped boots to emphasize the rhythm, and we used whistling," he says now.

Of course, Writer's Block is more than "Young Folks." There is "Amsterdam," with its catchy stomping, whistling, and hooks: "Baby went to Amsterdam/She put a little money into traveling/Now it's so slow, so slow."

"The Chills" exudes the classic mid-2000s indie synth sound and swelling percussion. "Roll the Credits" features endless strumming, indie sway — and whistling. Yttling was living in New York during the album's zenith and recalls hearing the songs played all over the city. "It was a good thing to hear it everywhere — and hear the deeper cuts," he says. For better or worse, there was no algorithm then to guide us. "It was what our friends told you to listen to," Yttling adds. "When we came to the States in 2007, people already had the album, and the shows were already sold out. That was mainly because of MySpace. It was basically 'streaming' on MySpace."

He remains proud of the album's breadth, though he's quick to concede that he and his mates owe their fame to one bongo-laden tune. "It opened a lot of doors. And through that door is a bunch of other doors. But you have to get through the main entrance."

Yttling says that in addition to Writer's Block, the ZeyZey show will showcase songs from 2020's Endless Dream, which suffered the misfortune of a lockdown-era release.

"In terms of new music, I don't think this time," he adds. He does, however, promise new music from Peter Bjorn and John and a jazz album he's releasing later this month.

Hearing Peter Bjorn and John play Writer's Block 19 years later to a crowd of fans and newcomers is a better nostalgia trip than whipping out a digital camera. The trio remains as motivated by that album as ever.

"I think between 20 years old and 30 is where you have a lot of time," he elaborates. "Thirty to 40, that's fine. But after that, it's just disappearing. So, just go for it."

Peter Bjorn and John. 8 p.m. Saturday, May 24, at ZeyZey, 353 NE 61st St., Miami; 305-456-2671; zeyzeymiami.com. Tickets cost $42 to $78 via shotgun.live.