In Performing Rites (1996) Simon Frith devotes a chapter to “songs as texts.” At the end of the otherwise consistent chapter, he makes the curious assertion that global rock musical conventions – because of the way in which they reflect “patterns of Anglo-‐American and Afro-‐American speech” – “may not be suitable for other languages” (p. 175). This raises several questions about popular music from outside the Anglophone field. How are stylistic traits informed and shaped by language? How do non-‐Anglophone bands and artists accommodate these perceived standards? And who the hell do artists who sing rock music in their native language, think they are? Frith’s assertion takes on relevance for popular music studies as well as for popular music. English is taken for granted not just as the language of lyrics (artists need to sing in English in order to be heard by an international audience), but also as the language of scholarship (academics need to write in English in order to be read by an international audience). For non-‐English-‐speaking artists and scholars, English becomes the other language that they have to appropriate in order to follow “conventions”. Mastery of English, then, is not only about imitation, but also generates and reinforces subjectivity. Rock bands Kaizers Orchestra (Norway) and Dungen (Sweden), who both sing in their native tongue, have established fan bases both on the European continent and in the UK and the US. Taking these examples as points of entry, I wish to investigate into how Frith’s contention, while it might not hold up under critical scrutiny, may still provide popular music studies with an example for us to follow: Frith inadvertently highlights the need to deconstruct the hegemonic position of English and investigate into how the stylistic traits of popular music may work in the context of other languages.