Turbonegro

Infobox musical artist
Name = Turbonegro

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Img_capt = Turbonegro performing at Vikafestivalen, Mo i Rana, Norway on July 22, 2006. (L-R) Euroboy, Chris Summers, and Hank von Helvete
Img_size =
Landscape =
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Oslo, Norway
Genre = Glam punk
Years_active = 1989-1998, 2002-present
Label = Big Ball Records
Dog Job Records
Get Hip Records
Repulsion Records
Amphetamine Reptile Records
Boomba Records
Epitaph Records
Bitzcore Records
Sympathy for the Record Industry
Burning Heart Records
Virgin Records
Man's Ruin
Scandinavian Leather Recordings
Associated_acts = The Vikings
Oslo Motherfuckers
Euroboys
SCUM
URL = [http://www.turbonegro.com Official website]
Current_members = Hank Von Helvete
Happy-Tom
Euroboy
Pål Pot Pamparius
Tomas Dahl
Past_members = Harald "Harry" Fossberg
Pål Erik Carlin
Vegard Heskestad
Bengt "Bingo" Calmeyer
Ole Martinsen
Anders Gerner
Carlos Carrasco
Tor Kristien
Rune "Rune Rebellion" Green
Christer "Chris Summers" Engen

Turbonegro (Turboneger in Norway) is a Norwegian punk band that combines hard rock and punk rock into a style the band describes as "deathpunk".

Among the band's main influences are Black Flag, Rolling Stones, KISScite web|title = John Doe Zine - Turbonegro Interview|url=http://www.geocities.com/jdz2003jan1/turbonegro.html|accessdate=2007-06-09|date=2003-01-01] , Venom, Radio Birdman, AC/DC, Iggy Pop & James Williamsoncite web|title = turbo archive - turbonegro interview, published in Pitsbulll #5, Belgium, 1992|author=Verreth, Kris|publisher=turbo archive|url=http://www.turbo-archive.homepage.t-online.de/pitsbull.htm|accessdate=2007-06-09|year=2000] , Circle Jerks, Ramones, Alice Cooper, Negazionecite web|title=Slam! Rocks - Interview|url=http://www.slamrocks.com/turbonegro.htm|accessdate=2007-12-28|year=2007|language=Italian] , The Dictators and The Stooges,cite web|title = turbo archive - Turbonegro Interview England 2003 Mohawk Distro|author=Jaded, Tom|publisher=turbo archive|url=http://www.turbo-archive.homepage.t-online.de/pitsbull.htm|accessdate=2007-06-10|date=2003-05-08] as well as Norwegian rock like DumDum Boys, Raga Rockers and Jokke & Valentinerne.

History

Early years (1989-1994)

Turbonegro first came together in Oslo, Norway during the winter of 1988/89. The line up was Thomas Seltzer aka Happy-Tom, Vegard Heskestad, Pål Bottger Kjærnes, Rune Grønn, Pål Erik Carlin and Tor-Kristian "TK" Jensen. Thomas and Vegard had formerly shared times in a band called De Dype - a noisy and subversive ensemble equipped with a certain amount of Butthole Surfers inspiration. Apparently early Turbonegro continued their conceptional styles. Their first show was at Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen, Denmark in March 1989. By April, Turbonegro played their first show in their hometown of Oslo. In the following weeks they recorded songs for their debut single "Route Zero" and the "Turboloid" 12" EP. Both records were released by Thomas Seltzer's own label, Straitjacket Records, which he started in 1983 to release his first band's, "Akutt Innleggelse", EP. This first session was recorded at Nesodden Musikkverksted by Christian Calmeyer. Thomas played bass and drums on "Route Zero". An initial pressing of 50 copies came with an exclusive demo tape called "Computech" featuring a cover of The Stooges' 1970. The early pre-deathpunk Turbonegro sound featured here offers fairly tormented and distorted noise rock (some contemporary reviews compare to a Halo of Flies or early Mudhoney type-of-sound). "Turboloid" was the second and last release by the original line up. Drummer Carlos Churasco left to play guitar for Anal Babes. "Route Zero" was reissued by Sympathy For The Record Industry in 1990 with two songs from the "Turboloid" EP. In September of that year, they left Norway to tour the U.S. for 3 weeks. Rune was beat up in a quarrel with some crackheads in front of a hotel in Minneapolis a few hours after their arrival and remained in the hospital. The band forged on without him but the tour was a disaster. Three weeks later, Turbonegro returned to Oslo and broke up.

In the winter of 1990 Thomas Seltzer reformed Turbonegro with Pål and Rune. Norwegian punk veteran Harald Fossberg who had acquired fame in the late 70's with Norwegian punk pioneers Hærverk was recruited as the new singer and in the subsequent months Bengt 'Bingo' Calmeyer joined them on bass guitar. In the summer of 1991 the reformed lineup released the "Vaya Con Satan" 7" in the US being followed in early 1992 by their debut album "Hot Cars and Spent Contraceptives" on up-coming local label Big Ball Records. Both the single and the CD give an early introduction to the deathpunk sound - Turbo's self acclaimed very own genre. Actually the musical pre-settings are already anticipating later "Ass Cobra" era - dark death driven punk rock with occasional excursions into hardcore and metal as well as a certain tendency to disruptive and sarcastic lyrics. Swedish broadcasting DJ Lars Allman once described their sound as "Radio Birdman meets Venom in an institution for sexually abused retards" and Danish Moshable magazine remarked back then: "One great big hunk of an album that simply barfs up the best in Scandinavian punk rock - and then slam it into overdrive. So fucking punk that it will tear you a new asshole - and then some!"

In December 1992 Turbonegro set up for an after all quite ruinous tour outside of Norway: having had money left from a grant they went for one gig confirmed in Ålborg, Denmark then heading south to Hamburg, Germany where they stranded in a desperate and finally unsuccessful search for an opportunity to play. After 5 days the band ran out of money but their efforts were not a complete waste as contacts were made with Gravy Train Agency, who organized several tours for Turbonegro outside of Scandinavia in later years, as well as people from Crypt Records. In late March 1993 Harald played his last show with Turbonegro at Sentrum Scene in Oslo. He quit due to health reasons and was replaced by Hans Erik Husby aka Hank von Helvete who would be their best known and remaining vocalist. With the new singer a decision was made to rename the band Stierkampf (the German word for ’bullfight’). They opened up for Poison Idea in Oslo and Denmark as well as The Ramones in August 1993 at the Oslo Rock Festival. The only release as Stierkampf was the "Grunge Whore" EP on Sympathy for the Record Industry. All songs on this release would resurface on their next album with the exception of "Six Pack". Their second album "Never is Forever" (1994) was recorded by Christian Calmeyer at Nesodden Musikkverksted and was self-released (limited to 1200 copies) with a friend at Oslo Musikk Distribusjon. In their own words announced as "a tribute to Blue Öyster Cult" it is an attempt to dissociate from the Lo-Fi aesthetics of the garage scene: "When the rest of the punk oriented world tried hard to be lo-fi and 'real', Turbonegro as usual went the opposite way, creating a miniature suburban deathpunk opera. Seldom have pop culture, darkness and desperation blended so well." With the release of this album followed their first full European Tour. The tour was nick-named "Nihil Jung" and had 17 shows in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.

By the winter of 1994/95 Turbonegro was back to the old name but with a new look referred to as the 'Al Jolson schtick', though it didn't last long. Happy-Tom summed it up best with the following anecdote: "so there we were backstage with our black faces and wigs and little hats, smoking pot with our all-time heroes the Bad Brains, and the absurdity just didn't cross our minds. I mean, those guys didn't mention it, they were probably just embarrassed on our behalf."

New look and new sound, rise to success (1995-1997)

The gag was long gone by May 1995 when they debuted the denim and moustache look. Happy-Tom stated "We feel that denim out-rocks leather at all levels. Leather is for empty, little people. Denim is for us big guys! And the kids love it!" With a new look came a new sound. Christian Calmeyer, their engineer at the time, said, "we decided to make things more raw, trying to convey the power of the live performance, if not the sound." The first recordings of the new and improved Turbonegro showed up on the "Denim Demon" and "Bad Mongo" singles in spring '95. That summer Turbonegro left for their second attempt at a US tour 'NAMBLIN in the 90's'. They played only eleven shows and in the words of Happy-Tom "at least we didn't get the shit kicked out of us like we did the last time we were in the USA". In fall '95 Bingo and Pal left the band putting Turbonegro on hold. Pal wanted to travel while Bingo didn't like the new musical direction, "less Slayer, more rock'n'roll." Thomas at the same time was suffering from some stress injury to his arms after the US tour - thus agreements were made to put the band on ice for a while.

Also that year Anthony Martin started his new label Boomba Records so he could release Turbonegro's third album "Ass Cobra". It did not come out until the spring of 1996 and by September they were touring Europe again with a new line up. Anders Gerner from Angst was added as the new drummer, so Thomas went back to playing bass. Pal was replaced by Knut Schreiner, who Thomas had played with in The Vikings. Knut aka Euroboy was a priceless addition to the band in the reshaping of their sound. The "Prince Of The Rodeo" 7" was Euroboy's recording debut with Turbonegro and a taste of the greatness to come. Also at this time Pal returned from traveling in Thailand to open his famous 'Pamparius' pizza parlor outside of Oslo in Kolbotn. He decided to rejoin the band as the keyboard player and "dancer". Pal's return would be the final touch in the latest incarnation of the band. The new look, sound and album irritated and fascinated the European underground; people were starting to pay attention to Turbonegro.

In December and January, Turbonegro continued spreading the deathpunk seeds on a tour with a further 14 dates in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Denmark. The insignia of their stage performance - the bulging denim, Hanky's routine to stick a lit Roman candle up his ass, Happy-Tom's sailor hat, Euroboy's lissom and sultry guitar choreography & Hanky's attempts in addressing the audience in their broken native tongue - sort of became the Turbo trademark for the upcoming boom.

In spring 1997, Turbonegro had yet another line up change. Christer Engen, aka Chris Summers, from Big Bang took over on drums and they were ready to tour Europe again. This time out they were opening up with a modified version of a Grand Funk song ("We are a Norwegian band"). Hank was wearing Alice Cooper like make up and lighting Roman candles in his ass (referred to as "assrockets"), they were just warming up to their final and greatest album "Apocalypse Dudes". Musicwise - as later will be proved on "Apocalypse Dudes" - it became obvious that they had meanwhile made a move into mid-70's punk & glam territory - in the spirit of proto punk pioneers á la The Dictators, The Ramones or late Iggy & The Stooges - plus a bit of New York Dolls' travesty thrown in. As Euroboy explains: "When I came into the band, that added a ’70s rock’n’roll feel that wasn’t there before...Turbonegro was just as dirty, but they were certainly more punk rock-driven than (before). We brought the Rolling Stones into the Ramones." cite web | author= Carman, Keith | title= “Turbonegro Web Exclusive Interview "| url= http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/webexclusives.aspx?csid1=114| work = Exclaim.ca| year=2007| accessdate=2007-09-22] Now it was time to take the new and improved Turbonegro back across the Atlantic with the 'Summer of Head' US tour. They were more warmly received this time around but still played only a few shows that were plagued with problems. Nonetheless, after years of stumbling through line up changes, name changes and various shticks, they had finally found themselves.

The Apocalypse trilogy part one, popularity boom and disbanding (1998)

In the autumn of 1997, their next album "Apocalypse Dudes" – the first part of the so-called Apocalypse trilogy - was recorded at Endless Sound studios in Oslo with producer Pål Klaastad. When Happy-Tom was asked if their new sound and album has anything to do with Euroboy's entry into the band, he replied, "Yep, he's a genius, and so is our new drummer Chris Summers, The Prince of Drummers. We released the punk album of the millennium with "Ass Cobra", and didn't want to make an "Ass Cobra" part two plus we spent two years writing new stuff, so as to make sure that every song is a hit, so we ended up making the rock album of the next millennium." The album was released in March 1998 by Boomba Records. However it was released in Norway exclusively by Virgin. It is regarded as their best and most successful album amongst many fans and critics alike. Moshable magazine commented: "Apocalypse Dudes" is the perfect mix of classic 70's US punk / rock'n'roll like Dictators, Heartbreakers & Ramones... every tune on this release is fucking brilliant". Jello Biafra was quoted as saying, "the new Turbonegro record is possibly the most important European record ever."

Turbonegro supported the album playing 24 sold out shows throughout Europe, by fall returning for yet another 16 European dates on the 'Darkness Forever' tour. The tour was for long their last, and ultimately the end of Turbonegro. According to Happy-Tom "Turbonegro broke up in the waiting room of a psychiatric emergency ward in Milan, Italy." Hank's mental indisposition became a real problem thus the remainder of the tour was cancelled. They bid their farewell December 18, 1998 at Mars in their hometown of Oslo. The last song performed on stage before they broke up, was the final encore "I Am In Love With The Destructive Girls" - so "Yeah-Yeah! Yeah-Yeah!" were about the last words uttered.

On hiatus (1999–2002)

On the threshold of what was by many expected to be a major breakthrough for the band, Turbonegro withdrew from the music business and appeared unlikely to ever return. While there were several reasons, Hank von Helvete's drug addiction made it impossible for him to continue. Leaving the band to undergo treatment for heroin dependency as well as his struggle with depression, Hank von Helvete returned to his childhood town in northern Norway. There he worked at a radio station and as a guide at a whaling museum. Another issue was that the band was stuck in an oppressive record deal with Boomba. The arrangement saw very little money directed to the band and cancelling the tour with Nashville Pussy after only half the dates only added to the financial problems.

In 1999 Bitzcore Records out of Hamburg bought the contracts from Boomba and began to reissue Turbonegro's entire back-catalogue of albums. 1999 also saw the release of a posthumous live album entitled "Darkness Forever!". It captures selections from two shows in Hamburg and Oslo, documenting Turbonegro's larger-than-life stage antics. Their appreciation among contemporary artists from diverse musical genres as rock, pop, punk and even black metal is displayed on "Alpha Motherfuckers", a tribute album to Turbonegro that was compiled and in the works over a span of two years and until released by Bitzcore in May 2001. The line-up includes among others Queens of the Stone Age, Nashville Pussy, Therapy?, HIM, Bela B. & Denim Girl aka German technopop star Blümchen. During these four years, the band members would rarely speak, however the momentum from their previous albums (most especially "Ass Cobra" and "Apocalypse Dudes") would continue to grow as more and more music fans would turn to their music. Unbeknownst to the band, Turbonegro was becoming a cult phenomenon. Fan clubs were established all over the world (see Turbojugend).

The immense following and the tribute album revealed a huge interest that, by audience numbers, was never received back in the day when they had quit. When Turbonegro were approached by the organizers of the Norwegian Quart Festival about a possible participation in 2002, Turbonegro agreed. What was initially meant to be a one-off affair to offer an opportunity to the many newly recruited fans to witness a Turbonegro performance, finally resulted in the band's reunion. Apart from the tremendous response at the festival shows Turbonegro had also realized that they were in better shape and much more determined than ever before.

Reforming: new albums, new tours and even greater fame (2003-)

Shortly after the Bizarre Festival the band proclaimed that they signed a record deal for two new albums with Burning Heart Records, an independent record company from Sweden with a long tradition in the punk & hardcore sector. Burning Heart also licensed Turbonegro's most successful albums "Ass Cobra" and "Apocalypse Dudes" from Bitzcore and reissued them as digipak CDs with additional video footage from the recent Res-erection show at Quart. Turbonegro appeared in an episode of Viva La Bam during Season 1. The band ends up playing their concert at Bam's West Chester home. Their single, "All My Friends Are Dead", was also used in some episodes of the show.

The band released the highly anticipated album, the second part of the Apocalypse trilogy, "Scandinavian Leather" in 2003, complete with artwork of a skull Ouroboros from legendary "Revolver"-designer Klaus Voorman. A US tour with Queens Of The Stone Age proved that the American Turbojugend contingent had grown completely out of control, and almost 150 shows later, Turbonegro finished the "Scandinavian Leather" campaign by selling out the House of Blues in Los Angeles two days in a row in December 2004.

While "Scandinavian Leather" was recorded at their own Crystal Canyon Studio in Oslo, Turbonegro decided to bring in Steven Shane McDonald as co-producer for "Party Animals". McDonald played bass and sang in Hawthorne, California band Redd Kross from the age of 11, and "Standing in front of Poseur" from the bands 1979 debut EP is still a punk rock classic. Redd Kross transformed from being an archetypical L.A.-punk band to taking in influences from the glam and stadium rock of the seventies, not unlike what Turbonegro has done through their career. In recent years McDonald has worked with artists such as Beck and The White Stripes. On "Party Animals", he's done his best to keep the bubblegum intact in the stadium rock and the sharp edged punk rock. This follow-up to 2003’s "Scandinavian Leather" and the last offering in the Apocalypse trilogy was released throughout Europe on the 9th of May (Norway 2nd of May). It continued and brought to perfection the '70s and '80s glam metal and hard rock influenced party-oriented deathpunk sound that was first introduced on "Apocalypse Dudes". "Party Animals" was followed by intense touring throughout Europe – and in October they visited the US. A collection of remixes and rarities also appeared in 2005 as "Small Feces".

Turbonegro are on tour again in 2006 with mostly European locations. They keep reinvading the world with their deathpunk sound; probably the best summary of the band is by Happy-Tom: "Most rock 'n' roll bands start as a riot but end up as a parody. We started up as a parody but ended up as a revolution."

On March 8, 2007 the new single "Do You Do You Dig Destruction" was released in Norway. The single is from the album, "Retox". The album was released on June 13, 2007.

Turbonegro is set to be the warmupband for Metallica's stadium concert at Valle Hovin (Oslo - Norway), at July 10.

The band will tour Europe late summer in 2007, including an appearance at Download Festival and playing 10 intimate gigs in the United Kingdom.

The Turbonegro official site was completely redesigned for the new album release, the new site debuted on June 11, 2007.

On October 27, 2007, Rune Rebellion played his last live show with Turbonegro in Stavanger, and subsequently left the band. He stated "The decision was made this Summer, realizing I hadn't had time off at all from work or touring for three years." Despite his departure from the position of rhythm guitar, he is still closely collaborating with the band by running their label, Scandinavian Leather Recordings and managing their itinerary.

On March 3, 2008, it was announced that Chris Summers had been asked to leave the band. Chris had already been gone from the band for 6 months due to a broken foot. On the band's website, they cited that "personal problems and a focus on other projects, we have been forced to ask drummer Chris Summers to resign from Turbonegro." Chris' replacement was announced to be Vikings drummer Thomas Dahl, who had been filling in for Chris since he broke his foot.

Recently, guitarist Euroboy also announced that he and Happy-Tom are working on a new album with the working title "Tumours". [ [http://www.turbonegro.com/home.asp Turbonegro ] ]

On August 7th 2008 Turbonegro celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Apocalypse Dudes by performing the entire album at the Øya Festival in Oslo, Norway.

=Ho

Turbonegro place homages to their favorite bands in their music.

Examples sorted by albums:

"Ass Cobra"
*"The Midnight NAMBLA" title is a parody of the Rolling Stones' "Midnight Rambler".
*"I got Erection" uses a riff from the Poison Idea song "Plastic Bomb".
*"Just Flesh" borrows a line from the Black Sabbath song "War Pigs".
*"Deathtime" bass line in the beginning of the song is taken from Motörhead's song "Orgasmatron".
*"Denim Demon" lyrics are very close to the opening lyrics to Jimi Hendrix's 'Stone Free'.

"Apocalypse Dudes"
*"The Age Of Pamparius" intro may remind you of AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)" or even Alice Cooper's My Stars on "School's Out (album)". The bridge breakdown in "The Age Of Pamparius" is a direct, yet ingeniously changed nod to Cheap Trick's "Clock Strikes Ten", with singer Hank Von Helvete yelling out "clock strikes twelve" while Euroboy plays the harmonic clock riff.
*"Get It On" uses lyrics from Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen" ("...and I like it, love it"). This song also has a similar rhythmic style to both "I just Want to Have Something to Do" by The Ramones and "Next Big Thing" by The Dictators. Additionally, the scaling octaves used before the break are most likely inspired by "Next Big Thing."
*"Rock Against Ass" uses the line "Lord take me downtown..." which is a reference to ZZ Top's "Tush".
*"Zillion Dollar Sadist". The song title is a play on Alice Cooper's "Billion Dollar Babies" and at the very end of the song, the lyrics "Do Anything You Wanna Do" are repeted over and over, as in the Thin Lizzy song of the same name.
*"Back to Dungaree High" uses the riff from the Black Flag song "Nervous Breakdown" and the drumpart in the intro is from "New Rose" by The Damned.
*"Are You Ready (For Some Darkness)" uses a nearly exact copy of "Night Theme" by Iggy Pop and James Williamson for its bridge.
*"Prince of the Rodeo" contains the line "...and don't forget the clown!" - an echo of the famous line "...and don't forget the Joker" from Motörhead's "Ace of Spades".
*"Humiliation Street" is the DNA equivalent to The Stooges' "Gimme Danger". Much of the music is the same as The New York Dolls' "Chatterbox". Opening riff is taken from Alice Cooper's song "I Love the Dead".

"Scandinavian Leather"
*"Wipe It Til it Bleeds" uses a riff from the Blondie song "Kung Fu Girls".
*"Sell Your Body (To The Night)" uses a riff from The Stooges's song "Penetration".
*"Fuck the World" uses a riff from Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World". Chorus also sounds like Alice Cooper's "School's Out". The intro is taken from God of Thunder by Kiss.
*"Drenched In Blood" steals the chorus from The Wildhearts' song "Just in Lust".

"Party Animals"
*Drum part in "Intro" is taken from Queen's "We Will Rock You".
*"All My Friends Are Dead" steals the melody line (or singing styles) from The Misfits' "We Are 138".
*"City Of Satan" uses a line from Bruce Springsteen's song "Atlantic City".
*"Death From Above" uses a riff from the Butthole Surfers' song "Goofy's Concern" & a riff from MC5 - "Come Together".
*"Wasted Again" is a homage to the Black Flag song of the same name (and also features Keith Morris, Black Flag's original singer).
*"High On The Crime" uses lines from Iggy Pop's "Rich Bitch" and The Clash's "Somebody Got Murdered".
*"Hot Stuff/Hot Shit" uses a riff from Iggy Pop's "New Values". And the song name and the chorus is a play on The Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat"

"Retox"
*"We're Gonna Drop the Atom Bomb" almost exactly replicated the intro from the Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia". It also contains lyrical elements of "You Could Be Mine" by Guns N' Roses, and the chorus is strikingly similar to "Hurry Up Harry" by Sham 69
*"Do You Do You Dig Destruction" borrows the intro from The Stooges' "Search and Destroy".
*"I Wanna Come" is based on The Stooges "Penetration" and borrows the riff of Ramones' "Danny Says" and "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Tiny Tim.
*"What is Rock!" borrows the intro sound of Sid Vicious's version of "My way" and mentions that The Stooges record Kill City is better than his classic Fun House. AC/DC is also name dropped in the lyrics as being the definition of rock.
*"No, I'm Alpha Male" uses a riff from "We're Happy Family" by The Ramones.
*"Welcome To The Garbage Dump" borrows lyrics from Iggy Pop's song Kill City and Charles Manson's song Garbage Dump.
*in "Everybody Loves A Chubby Dude" Hank says: "I'm the Lizard King, I can eat anything!". It is a paraphrase of Jim Morrison's "I'm the Lizard King, I can do anything!".
*in "Everybody Loves A Chubby Dude" Hank says: "Today Tokyo, Tomorrow Manilla" this a reference to The Ramones's "Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World"
*In "Stroke the Shaft" there is a reference to Mötley Crüe's first album "Too Fast for Love".

Musical style

Their lyrics often attack political correctness; for example, the cover of the single "Bad Mongo" depicts Adolf Hitler as mentally retarded, and in the song "Hobbit Motherfuckers", they complain that there is "not enough suffering" and "not enough natural selection". Their genre of punk has been self-described as deathpunk. The band stated their music superseded existing genres, so they dubbed it deathpunk as a way to avoid being pigeon-holed into musical groupings they felt they were above. Lyrics referencing the genre choice include ("gimme deathpunk baby, and I like it", from the song "Get it on"). Being a fun project with common predecessors (Sex Pistols wearing swastikas, etc), Turbonegro have been praised by some as playing the most up-to-date form of punk, and refusing to be categorized being nowhere as clearly expressed as in this anarchic blend of humour, shock and sexuality.

In the Turbonegro - The Movie DVD extras, Happy Tom utters that early on, festival goers expected TRBNGR to be gothic metal or black metal in the vein of other Norwegian bands. The band is notorious for their on-stage gimmicks. An early version of the band wore blackface and wigs on-stage in an effort to challenge those watching their shows. On The Reserection DVD the band states that early on they were often driven away from shows they were to play because they weren't edgy enough or didn't fit the look that the crowd wanted. As a result, the on-stage schticks started to become as much of the Turbonegro experience as the music. Following several tours in black-face, the band started an odd-ball theme of tight denim pants, nautically themed stage props and homosexual innuendo. A tongue-in-cheek joke, the homosexual/transvestite stage presence found its way into the band's music, including songs such as "Prince of the Rodeo" and "Rendezvous with Anus" which are both thinly veiled references to anal intercourse. Levis jeans endorsements soon followed from the stage antics, and the trucker cut jacket soon became standard fare amongst fans.

Widely acclaimed as the band's first break out album "Ass Cobra" (1996) had an album cover that was a direct parody of The Beach Boys Pet Sounds album cover. Jello Biafra would later comment that it was one of the best punk albums of the '90s. Following "Ass Cobra" was Turbonegro's most critically acclaimed release "Apocalypse Dudes" (1998). "Apocalypse Dudes"' introduced a combination of '70s arena rock, irreverent lyrics, and punk stylings which brought the band a level of notoriety that they had not achieved at any other point in their history.

Band name

url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/22701-scandinavian-leather|accessdate=2007-06-04|date=2003-04-22] The original name ended up as a name of the band's tribute band, Nazipenis.

According to lead guitarist Euroboy, the band name also has a peculiar origin."I think Pål saw it spray-painted on a brick wall in a tube-station in a suburb of Oslo back in the day. It's actually two Latin words, it means fast and black and we thought that was a cool name for a band. Because our music is very fast and very dark. And also, it's a name for a colour. In the car-industry, it's the name for the paint, for the darkest paint. If you want to paint your car black, the most black colour of all is Turbonegro." [ [http://www.turbo-archive.homepage.t-online.de/a_mohawk03.htm TRBARKIV: Turbonegro Interview England 2003 Mohawk Distro ] ]

Turbojugend

A feature of Turbonegro's fan base is the "Turbojugend" (Turbo Youth), the band's fan club. Euroboy explains the Turbojugend's beginnings: "We thought about how Kiss had the Kiss Army so we thought that Turbonegro should have our own Navy. It started as a joke in Happy Tom’s apartment. We put his address on the album sleeves and it was all just for laughs. The Jugend blossomed into something way bigger than we ever expected."cite web | author= Carman, Keith | title= “Turbonegro Web Exclusive Interview "| url= http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/webexclusives.aspx?csid1=114| work = Exclaim.ca| year=2007| accessdate=2007-09-22] The first Turbojugend chapter started in St Pauli, Hamburg, Germany, with later chapters appearing throughout the world, St. Pauli being the unofficial capital. Chapter members identify themselves by wearing specially-made denim jackets with the Turbonegro logo and "Turbojugend [name of chapter] " stitched on the back.The logo of Turbojugend Oslo can be found on almost every album Turbonegro has ever made.

Welt-Turbojugend-Tage

Once a year, Turbojugends from all over the world meet in St. Pauli, Germany to celebrate Turbonegro, themselves, as well as punk rock in general. This 2 day event called "Welt-Turbojugend-Tage" (English: "World Turboyouth Days") with concerts and meetings in different clubs, the last WTJT was WTJT 4 and was held on July 18th and July 19th.

Current members

* Vocals: Hank Von Helvete aka "Hertugen" aka "Hertis" aka "Hank from Hell" (real name Hans Erik Dyvik Husby)
* Bass/drums: Happy-Tom aka "Tom of Norway" aka "Bongo" (real name Thomas Seltzer)
* Lead guitar: Euroboy (real name Knut Schreiner)
* Keyboards/percussion/guitar: Pål Pot Pamparius aka "L. Ron Bud" aka "Max" (real name Pål Bottger Kjærnes)
* Drums: Tomas Dahl aka "Caddy" aka "T.D."

Former members

* Vocals: Harald "Harry" Fossberg (1990-1993)
* Vocals: Pål Erik Carlin (1989-1990)
* Guitar: Vegard Heskestad (1989-1990)
* Bass: Bengt "Bingo" Calmeyer) (1991-1996)
* Bass: Ole Martinsen (1990-1991)
* Drums: Anders Gerner (1996)
* Drums: Carlos Carrasco (1989-1990)
* Drums: TK (real name Tor Kristien) (early rehearsals)
* Rhythm guitar: Rune Rebellion (Rune Grønn), aka "Rune Protrude" and "Brune" aka (1989-2007)
* Drums: Chris Summers (Christer Engen) "Prince of Drummers" (1997-2008)

Discography

Albums

* "Hot Cars and Spent Contraceptives" (1992)
* "Helta Skelta" (1993)
* "Never is Forever" (1994)
* "Ass Cobra" (1996)
* "Apocalypse Dudes" (1998)
* "Scandinavian Leather" (2003)
* "Party Animals" (2005)
* "Retox" (2007)

Live albums

* "Darkness Forever!" (1999)

Compilations

* "Love It To Deathpunk" (Australian Best-of Compilation, 2001)
* "Small Feces" (Box set of rarities, 2005)

plits

* "Stinky Fingers" 10" Vinyl (1995) - split EP with Flying Crap
* "Flabby Sagging Flesh" 7" Vinyl (1995) - Turbonegro / Anal Babes Split

EPs

* "Turboloid" 12" Vinyl EP (1990)
* "(He's a) Grunge Whore" 10" Vinyl EP (1993)

ingles

* "Computech" Cassette tape (1989)
* "Computech + Route Zero" Cassette tape & 7" Vinyl (1989)
* "Route Zero" 7" Vinyl (1989)
* "Vaya Con Satan" 7" Vinyl (1991)
* "Denim Demon" 7" Vinyl (1995)
* "Bad Mongo" 7" Vinyl (1995)
* "I Got Erection" 7" Vinyl (1995)
* "Prince Of The Rodeo" 7" Vinyl (1996)
* "Suffragette City" 7" Vinyl (1997)
* "Get It On" 7" Vinyl (1998)
* "Fuck the World (F.T.W.)" 7" Vinyl & CD (2003)
* "Locked Down" 7" Vinyl & CD (2003)
* "Sell Your Body (To The Night)" 7" Vinyl & CD (2003)
* "High On The Crime" (2005)
* "City Of Satan" CD (2005)
* "Do You Do You Dig Destruction" Mobile-only Download & CD (2007)
* "Destroy All Monsters" Age of conan soundtrack (2008)

Books

*"Give me Friction, Baby" - A book about Turbonegro and the Turbojugend. It was published on April the 1st of 2007.
*"TRBNGR - Sagaen om denimfolket" - Written by Håkon Moslet. The book is almost a complete bandbiography all the way from the early days. It's about the fans, the people, the drugs, and the friendship behind Turbonegro. (2007)

ide projects

* The Vikings - An early-mid 1990s project that features Thomas Seltzer, Knut Schreiner and Thomas Dahl.
* Oslo Motherfuckers - A now defunct project that featured Christer Engen and Thomas Seltzer. Produced one album.
* Euroboys - A project of guitarist Knut Schreiner.
* SCUM - Project featuring Thomas Seltzer with members of Amen, Emperor, and Mindgrinder.
* Black Diamond Brigade - a one-off collaboration between Knut "Euroboy" Schreiner, Billy Gould (Faith No More), Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven (Satyricon), Torgny Amdam (Amulet) and Tarjei Strom (Ralph Myerz).

References

* Biography from [http://www.turbojugendusa.com/ Turbojugend USA] and [http://www.turbo-archive.homepage.t-online.de/ Official Turbonegro archive] .
* [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/22701/Turbonegro_Scandinavian_Leather Pitchfork Media's review of 2003's Scandinavian Leather (also provides some historical background)]
* [http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/november_2003/turbonegro.html 2003 Interview]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.turbonegro.com/ Official website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/turbonegro Turbonegro] at Myspace
* [http://www.turbojugendusa.com/ Turbojugend USA]

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jordan_raya