OKEJ was more or less the only music magazine in Sweden during the 1980’s and almost 90% of Swedish youth read it and then talked about in school.
It was started in 1980. Hans Hatwig was the founder of the magazine, which was based in Stockholm. The magazine was published on a monthly basis, but when it was at its peak it was published every fortnight. Its target audience was Swedish youth, and the magazine featured articles on popular music at the time. So at its peak in the 80's it was every Swedish metal fans dream. We would skip school just to hang outside the store in the morning waiting for the new issue. During the 1980s, the covers and reports were adorned with artists and groups such as Mötley Crue, Kiss and W.A.S.P. To make teenage boys even more willing to buy, Samantha Fox, a pop music artist that didn’t shy away from posing topless were included in most issues.
Among other things, letters from readers were included in which the music was viewed from a contemporary metal fan-versus-synthpop-perspective. Mainly during the 1980s, Heavy Metal was a common feature in the magazine and a somewhat talked about occasion was when Christian musician Mani Mattsson in Okej railed against hard rock. One of his statements, which also became a headline, was that "Hard rockers are stupid". The statement was illustrated with a picture of Mattsson tearing up a poster of a hard rock band.
Among other things, letters from readers were included in which the music was viewed from a contemporary metal fan-versus-synthpop-perspective. Mainly during the 1980s, Heavy Metal was a common feature in the magazine and a somewhat talked about occasion was when Christian musician Mani Mattsson in Okej railed against hard rock. One of his statements, which also became a headline, was that "Hard rockers are stupid". The statement was illustrated with a picture of Mattsson tearing up a poster of a hard rock band.
Heavy Metal/Rock journalist Anders Tengner was one of Okejs most famous reporters, and among the youth he was as big as the artists themselves. He also had a personal close friendship with several artist such as Alice Cooper and wrote interesting things out of the perspective.
As stated, the target was young adults so reading them today you realize how juvenile a lot of the articles are. But since they were so big, they often got there own photo sessions with the bands so there are a lot of unique photos.
EDITIONAL HISTORY
The magazine was founded in 1980 by Hans Hatwig as a continuation of the magazine Poster (well known for the KISS fan), which he had founded in 1974. In 1984 it was the best-selling magazine in Sweden. Editor-in-chief of Okej was Hans Hatwig until 1985, when he took a leave of absence to write and direct the film comedy "Gröna Gubbar från YR" for the film company Sandrews. Hatwig's successor that year was Mikael Journath.
After the film's premiere in 1986, Hans Hatwig again became Okejs editor-in-chief until 1989, when he resigned to write film scripts and books, and to start new magazines such as the curiosity magazine En Ding Ding Värld and the celebrity magazine Veckans Nu!, both of which were also great successes. Hatwig's successor at Okej was Susanne Guve.
On 21 January 2011, Kenneth Andrén, the CEO of Egmont essence, announced that the magazine would be shut down. The last issue of Okej appeared in Fall 2010.
If you’re even more interested in the ”OKEJ Experience” then you must read the excellent blog AXEOLOGYS post about his growing up years with the magazine. Just click here!