Viagra Boys

The Arc of Viagra Boys

The pivots — what forced Viagra Boys to reinvent.

1. 01

   The Punk Rock Welfare State

   The early EPs and Street Worms were built on the back of Daniel Fagerström’s production, capturing a band that sounded like they were falling down stairs in slow motion. You hear it in the basslines—Henrik Höckert playing these dead-simple, locked-in grooves while Murphy ad-libs about being a dog. It was a reaction to the polished Swedish pop machine, opting for a blown-out, ugly sound that prioritized the rhythm section over guitar heroics. This era is defined by that sharp, jagged saxophone cutting through the murk like a siren in a basement club.

2. 02

   The Pelle Gunnerfeldt Pivot

   Bringing in Pelle Gunnerfeldt—the guy who helped define The Hives' sound—for Welfare Jazz shifted the frequency from basement noise to a weird, mutant form of country and blues. The room got bigger, the pianos got more prominent, and they started messing with ballads like 'In Spite of Ourselves.' It wasn't a play for the charts, but a realization that they could be musically ambitious without losing the grit. The production became cleaner, which only served to make Murphy’s lyrics about drug-induced paranoia sound more unnerving and detailed.

3. 03

   The Cave World Shift

   By the time they hit the sessions for Cave World, the band had fully embraced synthesizers and a frantic, hyper-modern pace. The focus moved from the pub to the internet, with the music reflecting a world of conspiracy theories and evolution-in-reverse. It’s their most electronic-leaning record, trading some of the post-punk swing for a stiff, robotic urgency that feels like a panic attack. The guitars became textures rather than leads, letting the percussion and electronics drive the satire home.