I thought this list would be of interest here, as many ILM'ers follow lots of national scenes closely, and may be familiar with even some of the more obscure stuff here. Although you may not be too familiar with the four big Norwegian language bands of the 80s and 90s (Dum Dum Boys, DeLillos, Jokke & Valentinerne and Raga Rockers - known as the "big four" in Norwegian rock history)
Nye Takter is a Norwegian music mag that started out in 1977 and has its 30th anniversary this year (although since 1989 they have been part of Oslo newspaper Dagsavisen, it must be added).
This is their list:
1. Suser Avgårde - DeLillos 2. Materialtretthet - The Aller Værste 3. Fairytales - Radka Toneff 4. Frelst - Jokke & Valentinerne 5. Splitter Pine - Dum Dum Boys 6. 12 - Kjøtt 7. Melody AM - Röyksopp 8. Block To Block - DePress 9. Maskiner i Nirvana - Raga Rockers 10.Dropsonde - Biosphere 11. Hjernen Er Alene - DeLillos 12. Juba Juba - Knutsen & Ludvigsen 13. Timothy's Monster - Motorpsycho 14. Death In The Rockinghorse Factory - Barbie Bones 15. Songs - Fra Lippo Lippi 16. 11/12 75 - Prudence 17. Barbeinte Engel - Kåre Virud 18. Luring - Odd Nordstoga 19. The Shape Of Rock To Come - Lasse Marhaug 20. Balloon Mood - Anja Garbarek 21. That Great October Sound - Thomas Dybdahl 22. Hunting High & Low - a-ha 23. This Is The Kung Fu Beat - Kung Fu Girls 24. Lokkemann - Lillemor 25. You May Breathe - Sissy Wish 26. Bleak House - Terje Rypdal 27. The Nightly Disease - Madrugada 28. A Blaze In The Northern Sky - Darkthrone 29. 365 Fri - Tre Små Kinesere 30. Apocalypse Dudes - Turbonegro
Lots of surprises for foreigners here, I guess, as there is no Saint Thomas, no Annie, no Magnet, no Kings Of Convenience and Turbonegro no higher than #30.
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:44 (eighteen years ago)
Yes, that is surprising. I haven't heard of any of those people.
― Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:47 (eighteen years ago)
Actually that's not true - but I certainly haven't heard of the big 4. What are they like?
― Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:48 (eighteen years ago)
No ASS COBRA, no credibility
― DJ Mencap, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:48 (eighteen years ago)
Wow, just noticed Lasse Marhaug on there tho
― DJ Mencap, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:49 (eighteen years ago)
Rather traditional rock music, the key lies mainly in the lyrics, which is why they haven't made any impact outside Norway.
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:49 (eighteen years ago)
You mean, they're in Norwegian?
― Tom D., Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:50 (eighteen years ago)
No Mari Boine?
― Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:51 (eighteen years ago)
I disagree about Dropsonde being the best Biosphere album.
― Ned Trifle II, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:53 (eighteen years ago)
Lasse Marhaug stayed at my house once. He was a v nice guy.
Timothy's Monster isn't the best Motorpsycho album.
― Raw Patrick, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 11:57 (eighteen years ago)
It's the thread that had to be made.
― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 12:05 (eighteen years ago)
Nah, that's the 30 Italian singles about college girls.
― Raw Patrick, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 12:07 (eighteen years ago)
30 best, oops.
― Raw Patrick, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 12:08 (eighteen years ago)
I know a lot of Norwegian bands most of the top 10 is unknown to me.
Anyway, Motorpsycho's Timothy's Monster is a legitimate classic, though I would have chosen either Trust Us or Angels And Deamons At Play by them.
― Marty Innerlogic, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 13:05 (eighteen years ago)
no burzum no cred
― Mark Clemente, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 13:25 (eighteen years ago)
pretty cool that the darkthrone album is up there though. can't say I'm at all familiar with Norwegian music outside a few black metal bands.
― Mark Clemente, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 13:26 (eighteen years ago)
no JAGA JAZZIST, no ULVER, NO FUCKEN' WAY
― Just got offed, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 13:31 (eighteen years ago)
Mm-yeh, Jaga Jazzist-less-ness sorta hurts the eye. A bit.
― t**t, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 13:37 (eighteen years ago)
I would say that Timothy's Monster is the most important Motorpsycho album, but Blissard is usually my favourite, and along with Let Them Eat Cake all three probably deserve a place in this list.
― myopic_void, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 14:45 (eighteen years ago)
As does De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas by Mayhem.
― myopic_void, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)
does this magazine not feature Extreme / Black Metal ?
― djmartian, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 15:30 (eighteen years ago)
apart from Darkthrone !
― djmartian, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 15:31 (eighteen years ago)
No Emperor, Enslaved, Ulver
― djmartian, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 15:32 (eighteen years ago)
another list 4 years ago... count how many albums are on both lists
The 40 Best Norwegian Albums of All Time (Spirit magazine) http://tinyurl.com/2c2otp
Voted by 37 Norwegian music journalists. Printed in the Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet, May 31, 2003.
― djmartian, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 15:40 (eighteen years ago)
count how many albums are on both lists
Okay! The number is 16. Reasonably large overlap, I think. In addition alternative choices for Raga, Biosphere, Madrugada.
I suspect the Nye Takter list was designed by committee rather than by votes. Spirit's list (a hip-hop album notwithstanding) seems narrower in scope than NT's, which possibly by design includes one album each from genres like 70s rock (Prudence), metal (Darkthrone) and utterly nonhip semifolkish rural norwericana mumpop (Nordstoga) etc (nb that last one may be way off, I'm really at a loss for how to put it across). NT seems to have gone out of their way to avoid two albums by the same artist, except for the "unavoidable" deLillos pair.
― anatol_merklich, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 18:07 (eighteen years ago)
NT seems to have gone out of their way to avoid two albums by the same artist, except for the "unavoidable" deLillos pair.
And yet they left out "Et Hundeliv", "Neste Sommer", "Blodig Alvor Na Na Na" and "Varme Dager".
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 20:23 (eighteen years ago)
and what about bel canto? and grieg? and jan garbarek? that list stinks. from the bottom to the top.
― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 20:38 (eighteen years ago)
Garbarek (possibly also Jaga Jazzist) must have been left out on purpose, in that jazz has been defined out (Terje Rypdal was still a rock act by 1968 when "Bleak House" was released). Seems weird then that jazz singer Radka Toneff is in there though.
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 21:20 (eighteen years ago)
The Spirit list seems a tad less subjective, even though there is a 90s/00s bias very typical of Spirit.
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 21:48 (eighteen years ago)
Absolute Steel?
― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 21:53 (eighteen years ago)
I know the big four— Röyksopp, A-ha, Darkthrone and Turbonegro.
― I eat cannibals, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 22:00 (eighteen years ago)
The Jaga Jazzist album I own (when they were actually just called Jaga), "What We Must", isn't so much jazz as progressive-post-pop with loads of brass instrumentation.
― Just got offed, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 22:02 (eighteen years ago)
"What We Must" was in the Spirit Top 40 4 years ago.
― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 22:35 (eighteen years ago)
Geir, It was actually "A Livingroom Hush"
[What We Must - was released in 2005]
― djmartian, Tuesday, 25 September 2007 22:50 (eighteen years ago)
hmmmm, i know that the list is probably deliberately scant on black metal, but no mention for 'in the nightside eclipse' is a little baffling.
― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 26 September 2007 16:58 (eighteen years ago)
thanks for this thread, geir
― mitya, Wednesday, 26 September 2007 18:03 (eighteen years ago)
Tell me about This Is The Kung Fu Beat - Kung Fu Girls.
― DavidM, Wednesday, 26 September 2007 18:06 (eighteen years ago)
Apparently they were a "fuzz pop band". I remember the name, not much more, but those who were into them were huge fans apparently. They didn't last long though, only released one more album in 1995 and then no more.
― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 27 September 2007 07:54 (eighteen years ago)
None of these have released anything as good as A Blaze In The Northern Sky and you know it.
― Siegbran, Friday, 28 September 2007 12:51 (eighteen years ago)
I wonder if there is an updated list.
― Allen (etaeoe), Saturday, 6 January 2024 22:20 (two years ago)
i don't know much about norwegian music, but i have no doubt that Cheater by Pom Poko would belong on that list
― tremolo, Sunday, 7 January 2024 13:25 (two years ago)