“Knockin’ on Every Door” — the fifth single from Joyride?

There are some things I have theories about—some grounded in reality and some just crazy. This one falls somewhere in the middle. Was “Knockin’ on Every Door” originally intended as the fifth single from Joyride? Let’s dive in.

The above is what I imagine the cover could have looked like. But, wait, I hear you say. That looks an awful lot like the cover for How Do You Do! Very observant. Part of my theory is that this happened very late in the planning stages, and “Knockin’ on Every Door” as a single was shelved after most of the production had been completed.

One of the T-shirts sold during “The Summer Joyride” tour included the above design. Yes, once again it’s for How Do You Do!, but the type treatment was still very much Joyride and not so much Tourism¹ (and also not very Church of Your Heart—the latest single at that time). More on this later.*

The next piece of this puzzle? In issue 13 of the Official International Roxette Fan Club’s fanzine from late 1991, it was printed that either “Knockin’ on Every Door” or “Soul Deep” could be the next single from Joyride. (Talk about burying the lede, right.) Seeing as “Soul Deep” had already been a single in 1987, that was probably unlikely, leaving “Knockin’ on Every Door” as the next potential single. It was also noted that Church of Your Heart was rumoured to be a single further down the line. Instead it turned out that Church of Your Heart was the next single and “Knockin’ on Every Door” the rumour.

*Getting back to the design of the T-shirt. Isn’t it odd that it has the same type treatment as the first four singles from Joyride while Church of Your Heart had a completely different design? Church of Your Heart is also the only Lars Nordin design during this time (the next being Queen of Rain), with the rest designed by Kjell Andersson and/or Monica Eskedahl. That makes me think that Church of Your Heart was brought forward (and hastily needed a design which neither Kjell nor Monica could do for some reason) with “Knockin’ on Every Door” moved next in line, but then finally replaced by How Do You Do! outright as there wasn’t enough time left for another Joyride single before its release. And then the design was mostly recycled for How Do You Do!—not such a crazy idea when you look at all the recycled designs amongst the Pearls of Passion and Look Sharp! singles.

The last part of my theory relies on the fact that no other Roxette album track² has had remixes created for them. “Crush on You”? That was kind of announced as a single and subsequently cancelled. And what about Dance Passion? That was a remix album with the remixes created specifically for it. Also doesn’t count. I realize that BomKrash also did the remixes of “How Do You Do!” but those could have been done at a later stage. Ultimately the “Knockin’ on Every Door” 12-inch remix was relegated to a bonus track on the How Do You Do! CD single and the 7-inch remix on the How Do You Do! 12-inch.

So, these are all the facts (and fiction) I have. What’s your opinion?