Milestones in Swiss pop

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Switzerland's first girl group, the Basel-based Honolulu Girls, 1959. (Bern Museum for Communication) Museum für Kommunikation Bern

Bernese rock 'n roll duo The Jackys pay hommage to their idol Elvis Presley in the early 1960s. (Bern Museum for Communication) Museum für Kommunikation Bern

A canton Valais police censor checks a jukebox in 1957. Offensive music was immediately confiscated. (RDB/ATP/Grisel) RDB

Basel Beat band The Countdowns perform with their handmade guitars. (Bern Museum for Communication) Museum für Kommunikation Bern

1960s fashion and grooving at the Platte 27 Zurich nightclub. (Bern Museum for Communication) Eric Bachmann

Left: Singer and guitarist Hösli and his band Steven's Nude Club were at the centre of the Lucerne post punk scene. Hösli died in 2007. Right: Prince Valiant hairstyle sported by The Counts. (Bern Museum for Communication) Museum für Kommunikation

Krokodil, pictured here in 1969, were Switzerland's first important underground band. Their psychedelic blues rock itself was like a mind-altering substance. (Bern Museum for Communication) Museum für Kommunikation Bern

Zurich dance duo Yello (Boris Blank and Dieter Meier) were among the pioneers of electronic pop music and continue to be successful. (Bern Museum for Communication) Museum für Kommunikation Bern

Bernese punks in 1979 in front of the Olmo punk shop, home of Bro Records and Club Spex (Bern Museum of Communication) Museum für Kommunikation Bern

Single covers: TNT, 1981, I Dinamici, 1966 Museum für Kommunikation Bern

Pioneers of singing in Swiss German dialect, Polo Hofer (left) and Kuno Lauener from Züri West at the Gurten Festival in Bern. (Keystone) Keystone

Chris von Rohr and Thommy Kiefer (1952-1986) at a 1978 Krokus concert, opening for German hard rock band Scorpions. (Emanuel Ammon AURA Fotoagentur) Emanuel Ammon AURA Fotoagentur

Left: Stephan Eicher at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1986. Right: Fribourg singer Arlette Zola, a successful Yé Yé Girl. (Keystone/Museum für Kommunikation) Keystone/Museum für Kommunikation

Fribourg's post-industrial The Young Gods are one of the few Swiss bands to have been influential internationally. (RDB/Karl-Heinz Hug) RDB

Eluveitie mixed Celtic folk with metal - to international success - with lyrics focusing on everyday life and the spirituality of old Switzerland. (Museum für Kommunikation Bern) Museum für Kommunikation Bern

Lausanne singer Bastian Baker performs a duet with Tiziana Gulino on The Voice of Switzerland TV talent contest. (Oscar Alessio SRF) Oscar Alessio SRF

Zurich Street Parade, 2002 (Keystone) Keystone

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Swiss pop has been on a voyage of self-discovery ever since the Hula Hawaiians put out the country's first rock instrumental, "Chimpanzee Rock", in 1957. A museum exhibition tells the story.

The Bern Museum of Communication’s “Oh Yeah!” exhibition traces the development of Swiss pop music over 60 years, from Hawaiian bands of the 1950s to the Beat generation, when every town had its own John Lennon or Keith Richards and the emergence of vibrant micro-scenes like punk, rock and metal.

Switzerland’s first important underground group were Krokodil, who were recognised for their blend of prog rock blues. Meanwhile, the more mainstream prog rockers Krokus broke out of Switzerland, with the band filling stadiums while touring in the United States in the 1980s. To this day they are the most successful Swiss band on an international scene. 

Others making waves abroad included post-industrial group The Young Gods and dance duo Yello, whose international hit song “Oh Yeah!” was featured in the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. 

English was the only pop heard on radio until Polo Hofer’s band Rumpelstliz formed in the 1970s, paving the way for bands like Züri West and Patent Ochsner. Black Tiger was the first rap group finally sing in their own language in 1991.

Pop music passed through a milestone in 1983 when the government finally allowed commercial pop radio stations to air. 

(Images: Bern Museum for Communication, text: Jessica Dacey)