The soft-rock band Michael Learns to Rock is one of Denmark’s most popular musical exports. Since emerging in the early ’90s, they’ve sold millions of albums across Europe and Asia. • The band formed at a high school in Aarhus, Denmark, in 1987. • When the group submitted an early demo of their poppy tracks to a local rock competition, bandleader Jascha Richter came up with the name Michael Learns to Rock—a reference to Michael Jackson. • On the strength of singles like “The Actor”, the group’s self-titled 1991 debut album reached No. 1 in Denmark and sold well across Europe and Asia. • Michael Learns to Rock built on their success through the rest of the decade with the albums Colours (1993), Played on Pepper (1995) and Nothing to Lose (1997). Each sold more than a million copies. • As of 2020, Michael Learns to Rock had released nine studio albums, the most recent being 2018’s STILL. • Why are they so popular in Asia? The band credits their propensity for ballads and simple English lyrics.