The Scandinavian Soft Rock Band That’s Big in Asia
Michael Learns to Rock hoped for success west of their native Denmark. But for 30 years, they’ve had a devoted following on the other side of the world.
Michael Learns to Rock hoped for success west of their native Denmark. But for 30 years, they’ve had a devoted following on the other side of the world.
From left, Kare Wanscher, Mikkel Lentz and Jascha Richter of Michael Learns to Rock. When they first topped the charts in Indonesia in the 1990s, they had to look the country up on a map. Credit... Charlotte de la Fuente for The New York Times
They have had the kind of career most bands can only dream of: songs that have been downloaded more than a billion times, 11 million records sold and thousands of fans in dozens of cities.
The Danish soft rock band broke through in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and other parts of Asia in the 1990s. They sang in English about love, longing and loss — think Chicago, but the ballad years — and created a soundtrack for a generation of Asian youth.
Thirty years on, their songs remain karaoke staples in this part of the world. They also have a younger audience — one of their biggest hits, “Take Me To Your Heart,” became a dance challenge on TikTok. They have toured regularly in the region, playing a sold-out concert hall in Medan, the third-largest city in Indonesia, last week as part of an eight-stop Asia tour. A few days earlier, they were in Manila, making concertgoers misty-eyed with their greatest hits.
