*** SAVAGE Album Teaser ***
Instructions:
1. Don't eat, drink, or smoke anything. The music needs your full attention.
2. Sit close to the screen, and turn up the volume a lil sum'n.
3. Don't fast fwd., but follow the dot to get to the good stuff.
4. Enjoy! ;)
Showing posts with label Special. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Special. Show all posts
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Victory album comments
Here's a bunch of online comments about my album "Victory"
Thanks everyone for the kind words.
Youtube:
hell yeah, this album, and especially this track (Verbal Assault), are so sick that when I rock it even my fucking dog bobs his head to this shit.
MrTeddySalad
i am from norway, and i have never heard about them:)
dangerarslan
open your ears then, the white shadow of norway is a beast. he produced "narrow grave" on AOTP's torture papers
markdeez33
I picked up the whole album this morning, all 15 tracks are awesome. The Melle Mel one needs to be heard by every ignorant mainstream douche bag...'cept they wouldn't even understand....
MrTeddySalad
BUY THIS ALBUM RIGHT F'N NOW
markdeez33
all ive heard is this song (album preview) and verbal assualt and there so fucking sick i wanna bang this shit on my ipod
GenocideGeneral207
Wow... dope man. Good hip-hop in Norway.
Peace from Romania! :)
Crimedox
yo dis is off the fuckin meat rack blat blat
chasitym33
coppin it
FiswaT
dope! lookin forward!
Snowgoons
dope
rompetrolletgunot
(Classic Regulations) sounds like trailer park boys theme song every now and then in the background... anyone else hear that? haha, dope song btw
ncorbiere
ya ahah it does sound like a screwed versionof tpb theme song
PEDOPHILEPAUL9M
OHHHH SHIT!!!
Brilliant!
CRYPTfromCATACOMBZ
sicknesss
buj4k4
real hiphop is everywhere ;-)
djraffmatic
the beat (Ready For War) is fuckin sick!!
xcrazybastrdx
this is hard (You Don't Want)...finding real hip hop...thx tuck
BoostMonsterSpecV
Thiz iz synonim for quality hip-hop. 6/5
CRYPTfromCATACOMBZ
Some of the best stuff you put up in a while. Really love the energy on the beats. Keep doing your thing tuck, loving the exposure you're giving these artists.
SpeedyStorm
Verbal assault is crazy, for me the best song.
THKeeP
dope...whole album is sick!!!
19MiLo87
miazga!!!
oikoer
NORWAY!!!
i live in norway ;)
ZedSoTutorials
all tracks sounds dope!
alltidalex
GRINDHOUSE GANG ON THIS SHIT!
FiswaT
nice
HOSTILEPRODUCTtv
yall better go on iTunes right now and get this shizz Grindhouse Gang!!! GHG whatt
White Shadow muthafuckaz
shit is too ill
-Dr.iLL (GHG)
ILLLEGITRECORDS
4REAL KILLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BLAQXMASQ
THIS SHIT IS SICK DO U HAVE THE BEAT
Thehiph0p3
FUCKIN KILLER !!! GOOD JOB GUYS !
niaXa
some pretty hot shit damn good post mayne 10/10 foo shoo
Peeh23
Everybody Cop this Album!!! its OUT NOW today
The album can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon, Napster, EMusic and various other places.
Grindhouse Gang (GHG) is all over this album
rockin w/ legends!!!
soufcackondeck
this music is hella nice =)
THKeeP
sick shit!!
RGAPmusic
sick shit!! hilsen fra norge!!
Andrefondrei
this shit's dope. holla Norvege.
tahbit
raw
stevenm2009
word white shadow!
MegaBustANut
i should have hopped on this.....fuck.
LORDLHUS
dope! 5 stars fo sho!
Brilliant!
Nanducci
excellent work, greetings
ozografik
this is a hip-hop classic album right here straight up.... historical shit from the core to the present
ILLLEGITRECORDS
hardcoreee! IDE kill em all...
SeshnN
dope as fuck!!!! one of the sickest beats in a minute (Verbal Assault)
ILLLEGITRECORDS
White Shadows a beats on the beats! Much success hommie.
Ideologytv
A true hip hop classic!
markdeez33
Reminds me a bit of Jedi Mind Tricks.
Never expected this kinda stuff to drop from norway. This is awesome !
jenglejack7
werd up im on 3 tracks of this bitch too big ups to white shadow hes the man
D3ADKENNEDY
cop this shit! i am on 3 tracks on the album! WHITE SHADOW OF NORWAY IS A BEAST!!!!! IDE & ALUCARD RIPPED THIS 2 SHREDS
markdeez33
very familiar. this song is great, got some good scratches
ProjectBlaze420
cant wait for this shit 2 drop
yungmoney514
this is that shit! lovely beat WS!! (Before)
beats4beasts
Lovin' that track! (Before)
Lollerfish
hot shit!
DaydreamersNightmare
Dope
rediheadhigh
sounds dope,
OGDonNinja
Yep, the real shit never dies.
sludgewar
The White Shadow of Norway = one of the dopest producers in the game today!!
Support this album! I am on 3 tracks. This album has features from all over the place! Absolutely DOPE.
markdeez33
wtf they are from norway
imposible!
dangerarslan
Yeah dope beat ill producer and pioneers !
Metamophisis
nice
Andrefondrei
Norway in the house!
I'm from here (Norway), and I've just heard of White Shadow, but never heard his music. Sounds like it's gonna be dope.
Beatnuk
dope track
SanjitS95
dopeee
VProductionzZ
this guy is killing it ...
INFINITO2017
too bad lhus (ghg) cudnt hop on this track (Victory)
FiswaT
heftig heftig
postitiveherbman
dope track ! (Verbal Assault)
CEASONE77
dope track (Verbal Assault) thanks 4 the upload
favourited 5*
peace
qc1st
nice beat (The Rap Game)
EXL0KI4319
Reckonnyze HardCore Hip-Hip
qc1st
dope intro (The Rap Game)
hiphopbeatsfromtheNW
geils album!
fuckedfromabove90
No problem bout the verses, I was glad to do it. You put me on with craig G! I should be thanking you for the privelage to be on such a dope album, in fact I will. THANK YOU!!! :)
Powder
Thanks dude It couldn't of come out better in my opinion. The cuts are insane on that joint too! Hope to work with you again in the future man.
Powder
Tja man!
Grymt feta track du har gjort till nya albumet, bra artister du har fått mer :)
Ha det bra THE MAN!
DJ STQ
Nice channel..Victory produksjonene er dynamitt! Må skryte av Bloodbath tracken på Demoz mixtapen oxo. Big ups! Peace
peteregor
=) i used one of u new album song in my video =) very thanks, that music matched in my dance =)
THKeeP
yo dope beats man! the snowgoons forward me your shit! nice work bro
DaydreamersNightmare
This is my man right here! thanks for everything! The cuts on 'the grand finale' were ill dude, as is your style. Lovin the album too!
Powder
hehe, jeg har alri hørt om white shadow of norway:) jeg som hører på sykt mye underground hiphop:)
dangerarslan
skam deg !
Andrefondrei
Facebook:
Raynaud Diaz Mr Shadow always busy, always working to preserve the state of hiphop how are you friend? I must be like the slowest rapper you ever dealt with but have some patience with me it'll pay off soon.
Kim Decloedt yes it is! ;) this is the face behind the e-mails...everything's fine here...hope all is well in norway - looking forward to some new material! greetings sir!
Shawn Shotzawiski
congrats fam! cant wait ta hear it
Cecilie Endrestøl
Mad bra cover Tage!!! Thumbs up!!! hvem har laget det?? :)
John Roger Jamth
Me like :-)
Karl-Fr. Teigen
awesome..!...saywhat, kinda black-metal-ish aint it?!! :)
Jody Madhandz Howitt-Page
HEAVY!!!! Hope your cool and albums looking like a classic bro!
Helge Ryo-bergstad
Kult, ren ondskap, jævla godt bilde.
Henrik Lindkvist
nice
Raynaud Diaz
Respect! dope cover man
Simon Vandekerckhove
Dope how you covered up that featuring-stamp! LOL cheers!
Jan Jaritz
Stilig snutt :)
Arve Is Djforjoy Gundersen
FRESH!
KJ Rhyme
Kool G Rap??
Damn! Det er hella nice. Props.
Celine Haga
victoryyyyyyy!!!!!!
Seven Da Pantha
Glad to see you gettin it in homie!!
Ketil Faukland
Diggin`it
Jørgen Brodson
faen! det her blir rått!!!
Dag Kvammen
nice!
Knut-Even Bergstad
Røte bilde Tage, du er vakker
Cecilie Endrestøl
Can't wait!! :D
Marius Jacobsen
another white album for my collection :)
Devastate Swe
sounds dope any snippets
Kenneth Bucktooth Ankjell
Damn..litt av en line-up..big up!
Seven Da Pantha
Victory indeed family!!! You got a monster on your hands!!! i love what you did with the joint too!!! Let's get it!
Nils Henrik Teigen
Great Teaser!
Karl-Fr. Teigen
kul!
Aaron Wade Pulley
I can't believe you put "All My Friends" on your album... Jay Bee and I were HOWLING in laughter about that last night!
Bernt Kvarstein
good shit .. cant wait for the rest of the album.:)
Thomas Sørgård gleder meg til skiva!
Cecilie Endrestøl
It's ALL good, old man :) haha, on top of your game you are! Shit gets CRAZY when you know how to play....that game! ;)
Finn Sataøen
Dette tar jo helt av da !!
Rec Cards grattis kompis, ekte hip hop vil altid være en seier....
fred og hold d gåanes din gamle ørn!
pablo.
Helge Ryo-bergstad
VICTOOORRRRYYYYYYY Bra musikk ja,ja,JA,ja
Michael Danahey
WHAT WHAT! Track 3 represent!!! Thanks homie :)
Jørgen Brodson
detta blir bra :)
Frode Aaboen
Det der hørtes jævlig bra ut! Gratulerer!
Bent Olav Holtsmark
Jeg vil påstå du har en kommersiell hit med 2'ern :) start 39sek. ellers høres resten veldig bra ut.
Jon-Are Masternes
dette lover så jævlig bra!
Marius Jacobsen
oh shit this is gonna be a dope album!
Karl-Fr. Teigen
trur jeg hørte deg sist på kasset laga på gutterommet, evt. "klubben" på Geilo...formidabel utvikling...!!..;))
DeeJay TORO
Bra ting. :) Gleder meg til å høre hele skiva. Stå på.
ZULU FOREVER!!
If you don't buy White Shadow's Victory on Monday (10/26) and Snowgoons Trojan Horse on Tuesday (10/27) then you should go to one of those Suicide Booths from Futurama and end your life in a violent fashion (Mark Deez - 2009)
SUPPORT THE ALBUM EVERYBODY!
Mark Deez
KJ Rhyme Fett, gleder meg allerede.
Reklamerer litt på siden min om albumet ditt om det går greit?
Oddgeir Olsen
Sinnsykt fett album, grattis med releasen
Seven Da Pantha
Already got it homie!! Str8 FIYA!!!!
John Ioannou
definitely!!!!!!!!!!!!!! peace from Greece
Jørgen Brodson
Gratulerer! gleder meg til å sjekke ut ordentlig..
Anthony Paulis nice to see things are going good congrats on the release ! star packed !
Marcellous Lovelace
dude you at it constant ...
Morten Hoff
Kjøpte på iTunes nå...some trill sh*t you got going on! :)
Bobby Brewski
bought it!
Salvador Ernesto Sanchez Weishaupt
fete cuts ass:)
Morten Kaupang Fææen! Har ikke fått kjøpt albumet ditt ennå.. men SKAL! Hørtes jævlig lovende ut!
Trent Akre
heard the new album. good work! can't believe you put that pizdamen cut on there; brought it back lovely man!
Karl-Fr. Teigen
Jepp! Fikk liv i iPhon' og iTunes idag. Fant deg der. Er mer into "jævelrock" enn det meste annet, men det er tydelig du har vært med minst siden jeg gadd høre på hip-hop. Grattis med fett album!!
Jody Madhandz Howitt-Page
albums heavy bro!! You produced a classic, every beat is heavy and cuts are razor sharp. The beat on "The End" has been or repeat for about 30mins now.
DeeJay TORO Skiva er noe av det bedre jeg har hørt på mange år. :) Den har gått i ett etter jeg fikk den ned på maskinen. :) Ikke mange rap relaterte ting som får den plassen hos meg. :) Sist var vel Keep Right med KRS og før det New World Order med Poor Rightous Teachers. Så det går noen år mellom hver gang han ONKL T hører noe s...om både fenger og makes sense. :)
Ha en flotters ZULU / HIP HOP Anniversary helg, med masse Peace, Love, Unity and Having Fun!!
Massive Respect & One Love!!
TORO
DeeJay TORO
Terning kast sex!! hehe Har hørt det nå noen ganger å gitt det til sønnen til søsteren min på 14 så han hører å forstår hvordan ting skal lyde og gjøres. Spiller opp til dans før JAA9 & ONKL P i Moss til fredagen å jeg drar igang med hele introen å Melle Mel låta. November 2009 er helt klart i Hip Hop sin karma. Gospel of Hip Hop er ute. Anniversary har vært en suksess to the break a dawn. :) Bilder blir lagt ut i dag. Sier ifra. :) PS Ikke stress med å kjøpe Gospel of Hip Hop. I got a rocket in my pocket. ;) Fred bror stå på målet med Hip Hop kommer nå snikende gjennom spirituelle kanaler ingen kan stoppe i samfunnet. Ingen kan stoppe positive vibrasjoner. :) Peace!
Morten Hoff
You heard the man. Now go buy it. It's harder than Chuck Norris on Viagra!
Seven Da Pantha
everybotody needs to be up on this one!! Hip-Hop @ it's finest!!!
Trent Akre
not a surprise. those freaks body that track! (All My Friends) i love the beat you put to it too man... fits so well with the changes of each verse. padded helmets and flying carpets!
Michael Danahey
I think I just found my christmas gift!
Daniel Busenhart
illest
Navid Gondal
jeg kan kjenne igjen en Tage beat på 2 sekunder!!! :) Dette var FETT Maestro!!!! :)
Navid Gondal
kick-tromma og skarp tromma er som bæsj i kram snø.. toit like a toiger.. !!!!! :)
Helge Ryo-bergstad
Jeg venta på monstret, men det er bra, proft som f.....
Thor Hanson
so dope.
Kim Andre Erikssen
wow. god dammit, det var sykt..
Gratulerer med nytt album mr! Skal få shoppa så fort jeg har noen kroner
Villa
This is so HOT that I got burnmarks on my ears. :)
Much Love and Recpect Shadow!!
ZULU LOVE!!
Deejay TORO
HEEEEEEEEEEEFTIG YO!!! SAVING MY WEEKEND WITH THIS
Soul Theory
takk for et ultrafett album!!
Marius Jacobsen
Hei, har ikke fått hørt ordtlig fram til nå.. Men faen så fett! Det her blir rått som faen!
Bare råe tracks jo!!
.. Rart ikke kingsize.no klarer å ofre noen linjer om skiva etc, men de er vell mer hypp på og skrive om Rnb..
Brods
Kult !! kjøper den når den kommer :) Utrolig mange bra låter der ja !!
Finn Sataøen
I'm going to pass this to my HipHop offical son and we will give this a listen Ill give feedback afterwards. have a good one sweety!
Celeste Alexander
can't wait! congrats!
Aaron Wade
grattis med nytt album
Liv Johansen
Congrats on a new album Boss!!
King Crayon
www comments:
Producer/DJ the White Shadow of Norway has once again succeeded in gathering an outrageous guestlist for his third producer's album. Even more importantly, the beats are claimed (by the man himself) to be his best to date. Not you're average promo talk, people! Cause as soon as we heard Sadat X, Craig G, Pacewon,... ride over the beats; we goddamn knew this was indeed a victory.
platform8470.com
fett. skal mos def sjekke ut
FRRRUCK
ooh! sweet lineup.
JoPPe
DAMN! kool g rap! hadde aldri trodd jeg kom til å høre han namedroppe noen fra norge hahah.. fett
iLL Marino - Sckitz'd the fuck out
Dritfett det som ligger her, gleder meg til skiva (:
HandyCat
LØP Å KJØP FOLKENS!!
Trenger ikke si noe mer her.
The White Shadow går lenger tilbake enn noen andre i Norge når det kommer til dette gamet.
Stå på bror!! ZULU FOREVER!!
TORO
GREETZ FROM FRANCE
PEACE!
HH-Fury Radio 94fm
Sounds good, WS
Magic Juan
congrats dude
DJ 138
good shit man.. now where do we hear it?
Armenoid
Buttazzz!!
Wishing you best
OneMasterMixer
WhiteShadow, Much respect to you, For your passion to make plates, Featuring, The legends like G.Rap, My man, WhiteShadow, Did you ever connect with your man Donald D from the Bronx('Stickup kids', Donald D, That is, My man/LOL).
Much Respect
Mike Barnes
Cool there Whiteshadow. Loved the last one so cant wait for this one. ALWAYS nice to hear G Rap over good beats.
I see Kane pop up now and then since we talking legends that can still bring it. Any chance on getting him in? I know I'm reaching.
lvdphse
Thats wassup Mr.Shadow!!
Still feelin that Hip-Hip L.P you made last yr..I expect nothing from you but the best!!
sammyrock
WhiteShadow, That's a very impressive list of MC's, On your CD roster, My man(Especially, G.Rap, Mel, Sadat X, My man), Whiteshadow, I bet G.Rap, Mel, and Sadat X, Did not show up at the studio, With their rhymes in their socks, My man/LOL, (Mad cats have been
Known to forget their rhymes, Once, They touch the mic, My man/LOL, WhiteShadow, I don't want to toss anyone in the light like that, In regard to cats, Forgetten their rhymes, While in the studio and onstage in a spot(Park/LOL), Etc, But, I will build about this, The
More notable and well-known the MC/Rapper, The more chances that, Notable, Well-known MC, Has fessed in front of thousands of cats, Onstage, In regards to a cat, For-getting his rhymes, Then, Looking at the Dj, As if to say, What now, My man/LOL.
Much Respect
Mike Barnes
Congrats on your project Shadow
Alarick T
looking forward to hearing this.
Sal Paradise
WURK BOIIIII
DaBownca
Sounds good man.
shobizniz
Nice!!
Sean
Fett!!!!
Plato
ELSKER SKIVA DI!
Celine Haga
good to see you again. i like what i hear. good ears. and skillz for cutting those beatZ. happy to see you are keeping busy. good werk my man, and congrat's on your new projects!
Tony Mundaca
Thanks everyone for the kind words.
Youtube:
hell yeah, this album, and especially this track (Verbal Assault), are so sick that when I rock it even my fucking dog bobs his head to this shit.
MrTeddySalad
i am from norway, and i have never heard about them:)
dangerarslan
open your ears then, the white shadow of norway is a beast. he produced "narrow grave" on AOTP's torture papers
markdeez33
I picked up the whole album this morning, all 15 tracks are awesome. The Melle Mel one needs to be heard by every ignorant mainstream douche bag...'cept they wouldn't even understand....
MrTeddySalad
BUY THIS ALBUM RIGHT F'N NOW
markdeez33
all ive heard is this song (album preview) and verbal assualt and there so fucking sick i wanna bang this shit on my ipod
GenocideGeneral207
Wow... dope man. Good hip-hop in Norway.
Peace from Romania! :)
Crimedox
yo dis is off the fuckin meat rack blat blat
chasitym33
coppin it
FiswaT
dope! lookin forward!
Snowgoons
dope
rompetrolletgunot
(Classic Regulations) sounds like trailer park boys theme song every now and then in the background... anyone else hear that? haha, dope song btw
ncorbiere
ya ahah it does sound like a screwed versionof tpb theme song
PEDOPHILEPAUL9M
OHHHH SHIT!!!
Brilliant!
CRYPTfromCATACOMBZ
sicknesss
buj4k4
real hiphop is everywhere ;-)
djraffmatic
the beat (Ready For War) is fuckin sick!!
xcrazybastrdx
this is hard (You Don't Want)...finding real hip hop...thx tuck
BoostMonsterSpecV
Thiz iz synonim for quality hip-hop. 6/5
CRYPTfromCATACOMBZ
Some of the best stuff you put up in a while. Really love the energy on the beats. Keep doing your thing tuck, loving the exposure you're giving these artists.
SpeedyStorm
Verbal assault is crazy, for me the best song.
THKeeP
dope...whole album is sick!!!
19MiLo87
miazga!!!
oikoer
NORWAY!!!
i live in norway ;)
ZedSoTutorials
all tracks sounds dope!
alltidalex
GRINDHOUSE GANG ON THIS SHIT!
FiswaT
nice
HOSTILEPRODUCTtv
yall better go on iTunes right now and get this shizz Grindhouse Gang!!! GHG whatt
White Shadow muthafuckaz
shit is too ill
-Dr.iLL (GHG)
ILLLEGITRECORDS
4REAL KILLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BLAQXMASQ
THIS SHIT IS SICK DO U HAVE THE BEAT
Thehiph0p3
FUCKIN KILLER !!! GOOD JOB GUYS !
niaXa
some pretty hot shit damn good post mayne 10/10 foo shoo
Peeh23
Everybody Cop this Album!!! its OUT NOW today
The album can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon, Napster, EMusic and various other places.
Grindhouse Gang (GHG) is all over this album
rockin w/ legends!!!
soufcackondeck
this music is hella nice =)
THKeeP
sick shit!!
RGAPmusic
sick shit!! hilsen fra norge!!
Andrefondrei
this shit's dope. holla Norvege.
tahbit
raw
stevenm2009
word white shadow!
MegaBustANut
i should have hopped on this.....fuck.
LORDLHUS
dope! 5 stars fo sho!
Brilliant!
Nanducci
excellent work, greetings
ozografik
this is a hip-hop classic album right here straight up.... historical shit from the core to the present
ILLLEGITRECORDS
hardcoreee! IDE kill em all...
SeshnN
dope as fuck!!!! one of the sickest beats in a minute (Verbal Assault)
ILLLEGITRECORDS
White Shadows a beats on the beats! Much success hommie.
Ideologytv
A true hip hop classic!
markdeez33
Reminds me a bit of Jedi Mind Tricks.
Never expected this kinda stuff to drop from norway. This is awesome !
jenglejack7
werd up im on 3 tracks of this bitch too big ups to white shadow hes the man
D3ADKENNEDY
cop this shit! i am on 3 tracks on the album! WHITE SHADOW OF NORWAY IS A BEAST!!!!! IDE & ALUCARD RIPPED THIS 2 SHREDS
markdeez33
very familiar. this song is great, got some good scratches
ProjectBlaze420
cant wait for this shit 2 drop
yungmoney514
this is that shit! lovely beat WS!! (Before)
beats4beasts
Lovin' that track! (Before)
Lollerfish
hot shit!
DaydreamersNightmare
Dope
rediheadhigh
sounds dope,
OGDonNinja
Yep, the real shit never dies.
sludgewar
The White Shadow of Norway = one of the dopest producers in the game today!!
Support this album! I am on 3 tracks. This album has features from all over the place! Absolutely DOPE.
markdeez33
wtf they are from norway
imposible!
dangerarslan
Yeah dope beat ill producer and pioneers !
Metamophisis
nice
Andrefondrei
Norway in the house!
I'm from here (Norway), and I've just heard of White Shadow, but never heard his music. Sounds like it's gonna be dope.
Beatnuk
dope track
SanjitS95
dopeee
VProductionzZ
this guy is killing it ...
INFINITO2017
too bad lhus (ghg) cudnt hop on this track (Victory)
FiswaT
heftig heftig
postitiveherbman
dope track ! (Verbal Assault)
CEASONE77
dope track (Verbal Assault) thanks 4 the upload
favourited 5*
peace
qc1st
nice beat (The Rap Game)
EXL0KI4319
Reckonnyze HardCore Hip-Hip
qc1st
dope intro (The Rap Game)
hiphopbeatsfromtheNW
geils album!
fuckedfromabove90
No problem bout the verses, I was glad to do it. You put me on with craig G! I should be thanking you for the privelage to be on such a dope album, in fact I will. THANK YOU!!! :)
Powder
Thanks dude It couldn't of come out better in my opinion. The cuts are insane on that joint too! Hope to work with you again in the future man.
Powder
Tja man!
Grymt feta track du har gjort till nya albumet, bra artister du har fått mer :)
Ha det bra THE MAN!
DJ STQ
Nice channel..Victory produksjonene er dynamitt! Må skryte av Bloodbath tracken på Demoz mixtapen oxo. Big ups! Peace
peteregor
=) i used one of u new album song in my video =) very thanks, that music matched in my dance =)
THKeeP
yo dope beats man! the snowgoons forward me your shit! nice work bro
DaydreamersNightmare
This is my man right here! thanks for everything! The cuts on 'the grand finale' were ill dude, as is your style. Lovin the album too!
Powder
hehe, jeg har alri hørt om white shadow of norway:) jeg som hører på sykt mye underground hiphop:)
dangerarslan
skam deg !
Andrefondrei
Facebook:
Raynaud Diaz Mr Shadow always busy, always working to preserve the state of hiphop how are you friend? I must be like the slowest rapper you ever dealt with but have some patience with me it'll pay off soon.
Kim Decloedt yes it is! ;) this is the face behind the e-mails...everything's fine here...hope all is well in norway - looking forward to some new material! greetings sir!
Shawn Shotzawiski
congrats fam! cant wait ta hear it
Cecilie Endrestøl
Mad bra cover Tage!!! Thumbs up!!! hvem har laget det?? :)
John Roger Jamth
Me like :-)
Karl-Fr. Teigen
awesome..!...saywhat, kinda black-metal-ish aint it?!! :)
Jody Madhandz Howitt-Page
HEAVY!!!! Hope your cool and albums looking like a classic bro!
Helge Ryo-bergstad
Kult, ren ondskap, jævla godt bilde.
Henrik Lindkvist
nice
Raynaud Diaz
Respect! dope cover man
Simon Vandekerckhove
Dope how you covered up that featuring-stamp! LOL cheers!
Jan Jaritz
Stilig snutt :)
Arve Is Djforjoy Gundersen
FRESH!
KJ Rhyme
Kool G Rap??
Damn! Det er hella nice. Props.
Celine Haga
victoryyyyyyy!!!!!!
Seven Da Pantha
Glad to see you gettin it in homie!!
Ketil Faukland
Diggin`it
Jørgen Brodson
faen! det her blir rått!!!
Dag Kvammen
nice!
Knut-Even Bergstad
Røte bilde Tage, du er vakker
Cecilie Endrestøl
Can't wait!! :D
Marius Jacobsen
another white album for my collection :)
Devastate Swe
sounds dope any snippets
Kenneth Bucktooth Ankjell
Damn..litt av en line-up..big up!
Seven Da Pantha
Victory indeed family!!! You got a monster on your hands!!! i love what you did with the joint too!!! Let's get it!
Nils Henrik Teigen
Great Teaser!
Karl-Fr. Teigen
kul!
Aaron Wade Pulley
I can't believe you put "All My Friends" on your album... Jay Bee and I were HOWLING in laughter about that last night!
Bernt Kvarstein
good shit .. cant wait for the rest of the album.:)
Thomas Sørgård gleder meg til skiva!
Cecilie Endrestøl
It's ALL good, old man :) haha, on top of your game you are! Shit gets CRAZY when you know how to play....that game! ;)
Finn Sataøen
Dette tar jo helt av da !!
Rec Cards grattis kompis, ekte hip hop vil altid være en seier....
fred og hold d gåanes din gamle ørn!
pablo.
Helge Ryo-bergstad
VICTOOORRRRYYYYYYY Bra musikk ja,ja,JA,ja
Michael Danahey
WHAT WHAT! Track 3 represent!!! Thanks homie :)
Jørgen Brodson
detta blir bra :)
Frode Aaboen
Det der hørtes jævlig bra ut! Gratulerer!
Bent Olav Holtsmark
Jeg vil påstå du har en kommersiell hit med 2'ern :) start 39sek. ellers høres resten veldig bra ut.
Jon-Are Masternes
dette lover så jævlig bra!
Marius Jacobsen
oh shit this is gonna be a dope album!
Karl-Fr. Teigen
trur jeg hørte deg sist på kasset laga på gutterommet, evt. "klubben" på Geilo...formidabel utvikling...!!..;))
DeeJay TORO
Bra ting. :) Gleder meg til å høre hele skiva. Stå på.
ZULU FOREVER!!
If you don't buy White Shadow's Victory on Monday (10/26) and Snowgoons Trojan Horse on Tuesday (10/27) then you should go to one of those Suicide Booths from Futurama and end your life in a violent fashion (Mark Deez - 2009)
SUPPORT THE ALBUM EVERYBODY!
Mark Deez
KJ Rhyme Fett, gleder meg allerede.
Reklamerer litt på siden min om albumet ditt om det går greit?
Oddgeir Olsen
Sinnsykt fett album, grattis med releasen
Seven Da Pantha
Already got it homie!! Str8 FIYA!!!!
John Ioannou
definitely!!!!!!!!!!!!!! peace from Greece
Jørgen Brodson
Gratulerer! gleder meg til å sjekke ut ordentlig..
Anthony Paulis nice to see things are going good congrats on the release ! star packed !
Marcellous Lovelace
dude you at it constant ...
Morten Hoff
Kjøpte på iTunes nå...some trill sh*t you got going on! :)
Bobby Brewski
bought it!
Salvador Ernesto Sanchez Weishaupt
fete cuts ass:)
Morten Kaupang Fææen! Har ikke fått kjøpt albumet ditt ennå.. men SKAL! Hørtes jævlig lovende ut!
Trent Akre
heard the new album. good work! can't believe you put that pizdamen cut on there; brought it back lovely man!
Karl-Fr. Teigen
Jepp! Fikk liv i iPhon' og iTunes idag. Fant deg der. Er mer into "jævelrock" enn det meste annet, men det er tydelig du har vært med minst siden jeg gadd høre på hip-hop. Grattis med fett album!!
Jody Madhandz Howitt-Page
albums heavy bro!! You produced a classic, every beat is heavy and cuts are razor sharp. The beat on "The End" has been or repeat for about 30mins now.
DeeJay TORO Skiva er noe av det bedre jeg har hørt på mange år. :) Den har gått i ett etter jeg fikk den ned på maskinen. :) Ikke mange rap relaterte ting som får den plassen hos meg. :) Sist var vel Keep Right med KRS og før det New World Order med Poor Rightous Teachers. Så det går noen år mellom hver gang han ONKL T hører noe s...om både fenger og makes sense. :)
Ha en flotters ZULU / HIP HOP Anniversary helg, med masse Peace, Love, Unity and Having Fun!!
Massive Respect & One Love!!
TORO
DeeJay TORO
Terning kast sex!! hehe Har hørt det nå noen ganger å gitt det til sønnen til søsteren min på 14 så han hører å forstår hvordan ting skal lyde og gjøres. Spiller opp til dans før JAA9 & ONKL P i Moss til fredagen å jeg drar igang med hele introen å Melle Mel låta. November 2009 er helt klart i Hip Hop sin karma. Gospel of Hip Hop er ute. Anniversary har vært en suksess to the break a dawn. :) Bilder blir lagt ut i dag. Sier ifra. :) PS Ikke stress med å kjøpe Gospel of Hip Hop. I got a rocket in my pocket. ;) Fred bror stå på målet med Hip Hop kommer nå snikende gjennom spirituelle kanaler ingen kan stoppe i samfunnet. Ingen kan stoppe positive vibrasjoner. :) Peace!
Morten Hoff
You heard the man. Now go buy it. It's harder than Chuck Norris on Viagra!
Seven Da Pantha
everybotody needs to be up on this one!! Hip-Hop @ it's finest!!!
Trent Akre
not a surprise. those freaks body that track! (All My Friends) i love the beat you put to it too man... fits so well with the changes of each verse. padded helmets and flying carpets!
Michael Danahey
I think I just found my christmas gift!
Daniel Busenhart
illest
Navid Gondal
jeg kan kjenne igjen en Tage beat på 2 sekunder!!! :) Dette var FETT Maestro!!!! :)
Navid Gondal
kick-tromma og skarp tromma er som bæsj i kram snø.. toit like a toiger.. !!!!! :)
Helge Ryo-bergstad
Jeg venta på monstret, men det er bra, proft som f.....
Thor Hanson
so dope.
Kim Andre Erikssen
wow. god dammit, det var sykt..
Gratulerer med nytt album mr! Skal få shoppa så fort jeg har noen kroner
Villa
This is so HOT that I got burnmarks on my ears. :)
Much Love and Recpect Shadow!!
ZULU LOVE!!
Deejay TORO
HEEEEEEEEEEEFTIG YO!!! SAVING MY WEEKEND WITH THIS
Soul Theory
takk for et ultrafett album!!
Marius Jacobsen
Hei, har ikke fått hørt ordtlig fram til nå.. Men faen så fett! Det her blir rått som faen!
Bare råe tracks jo!!
.. Rart ikke kingsize.no klarer å ofre noen linjer om skiva etc, men de er vell mer hypp på og skrive om Rnb..
Brods
Kult !! kjøper den når den kommer :) Utrolig mange bra låter der ja !!
Finn Sataøen
I'm going to pass this to my HipHop offical son and we will give this a listen Ill give feedback afterwards. have a good one sweety!
Celeste Alexander
can't wait! congrats!
Aaron Wade
grattis med nytt album
Liv Johansen
Congrats on a new album Boss!!
King Crayon
www comments:
Producer/DJ the White Shadow of Norway has once again succeeded in gathering an outrageous guestlist for his third producer's album. Even more importantly, the beats are claimed (by the man himself) to be his best to date. Not you're average promo talk, people! Cause as soon as we heard Sadat X, Craig G, Pacewon,... ride over the beats; we goddamn knew this was indeed a victory.
platform8470.com
fett. skal mos def sjekke ut
FRRRUCK
ooh! sweet lineup.
JoPPe
DAMN! kool g rap! hadde aldri trodd jeg kom til å høre han namedroppe noen fra norge hahah.. fett
iLL Marino - Sckitz'd the fuck out
Dritfett det som ligger her, gleder meg til skiva (:
HandyCat
LØP Å KJØP FOLKENS!!
Trenger ikke si noe mer her.
The White Shadow går lenger tilbake enn noen andre i Norge når det kommer til dette gamet.
Stå på bror!! ZULU FOREVER!!
TORO
GREETZ FROM FRANCE
PEACE!
HH-Fury Radio 94fm
Sounds good, WS
Magic Juan
congrats dude
DJ 138
good shit man.. now where do we hear it?
Armenoid
Buttazzz!!
Wishing you best
OneMasterMixer
WhiteShadow, Much respect to you, For your passion to make plates, Featuring, The legends like G.Rap, My man, WhiteShadow, Did you ever connect with your man Donald D from the Bronx('Stickup kids', Donald D, That is, My man/LOL).
Much Respect
Mike Barnes
Cool there Whiteshadow. Loved the last one so cant wait for this one. ALWAYS nice to hear G Rap over good beats.
I see Kane pop up now and then since we talking legends that can still bring it. Any chance on getting him in? I know I'm reaching.
lvdphse
Thats wassup Mr.Shadow!!
Still feelin that Hip-Hip L.P you made last yr..I expect nothing from you but the best!!
sammyrock
WhiteShadow, That's a very impressive list of MC's, On your CD roster, My man(Especially, G.Rap, Mel, Sadat X, My man), Whiteshadow, I bet G.Rap, Mel, and Sadat X, Did not show up at the studio, With their rhymes in their socks, My man/LOL, (Mad cats have been
Known to forget their rhymes, Once, They touch the mic, My man/LOL, WhiteShadow, I don't want to toss anyone in the light like that, In regard to cats, Forgetten their rhymes, While in the studio and onstage in a spot(Park/LOL), Etc, But, I will build about this, The
More notable and well-known the MC/Rapper, The more chances that, Notable, Well-known MC, Has fessed in front of thousands of cats, Onstage, In regards to a cat, For-getting his rhymes, Then, Looking at the Dj, As if to say, What now, My man/LOL.
Much Respect
Mike Barnes
Congrats on your project Shadow
Alarick T
looking forward to hearing this.
Sal Paradise
WURK BOIIIII
DaBownca
Sounds good man.
shobizniz
Nice!!
Sean
Fett!!!!
Plato
ELSKER SKIVA DI!
Celine Haga
good to see you again. i like what i hear. good ears. and skillz for cutting those beatZ. happy to see you are keeping busy. good werk my man, and congrat's on your new projects!
Tony Mundaca
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
White Shadow Interview (2009)
http://platform8470.com/artists/ai_whiteshadow2.asp
The White Shadow of Norway: Victory!
Producer/DJ the White Shadow of Norway has once again succeeded in gathering an outrageous guestlist for his third producer's album. Even more importantly, the beats are claimed (by the man himself) to be his best to date. Not you're average promo talk, people! Cause as soon as we heard Sadat X, Craig G, Pacewon,... ride over the beats; we goddamn knew this was indeed a victory. Time for a talk with the-just-turned-40 Shadow.
Congratulations on your third album. It's coming out on oct 26th. How are you anticipating and preparing that release date?
Thanks fam, and good lookin' out once again for the dope artwork you did for it.
The date is actually the earliest I could do after the album was finished cause it takes some time to get the albums up on the online stores, so Oct 26th. was the first date that made sense as it's a Monday, close to Halloween which goes well with the music, and artwork, and is btw Infinito 2017's birthday. He's featured on two songs on the album.
I've just started promo on a more personal level for starters hitting up friends, fans, and affiliates with teaser audio, and videos on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Youtube. I have an online street team of sorts who's lookin' out for me promoting the album through Email lists, and various websites. Big up Mark Deez, IDE, and Fiswa T for helping out. Next is advertising on websites, and reviews, interviews, etc.
Checking your three releases in a row: renegades, untouchable and now victory. Is there a storyline through those three words?
Yes. First we were a bunch of Renegades, who became Untouchable, and that lead to Victory. Simple but effective.
You stated this is by far your best work to date. Please explain why you feel that way about Victory? What evolutions did you go through?
First of all I started using a whole lot more software, and I've pretty much switched full time to software based production. I love the SP-1200, and the old way of making beats, but there's only so much you can do with it, and I worked on it for 15 years so I know it inside out, and it has it's limitations. I heard that to be able to keep up with, and hopefully stay a little ahead of competition, I had to update myself, so as far as the beats the arrangements are a lot more varied, and complex than my previous albums but it still has that raw underground feel to it. I still use the SP for the drums, bass, and some samples. The improvements also have to do with experience, and I keep workin' to get better at my craft, and the soundquality of this album is also way better than the previous. I've been doin' this for a minute but I keep learning which is a drive to continue as well, like always trying something new but within the universe of Hiphop as that's my genre. Most of the beats were made especially for this album too after I came up with the title so it all fits better as a concept than before.
The music, style, all the way down to the artwork fits with eachother which is especially important since there's so many different artists featured on it. I always try to make my albums sound like complete albums instead of a producer's compilation or mixtape. I feel I did better on that this time than the last albums. The featured artists did their thing real well also, and there's some legendary cats I grew up listening to on this abum along with some of the best new artists in the underground that made it a great album lyrically too.
Could you tell us more about the monologue in the intro? Was that sort of takin' responsibilities for the culture?
It's Vinnie Paz sampled from a lecture he did about Hiphop, so that was first of all paying my respects to him for including me on the AOTP album, and some words of truth about how some of the pioneers of Hiphop have been treated. They get their due props, but many haven't been compensated properly for the pioneer work they put in, and artists that came after them who aren't nearly as good make a lot more money, and blow up on the charts etc.
To some degree that's how it is with me in Norway as well. I'm one of the Hiphop pioneers here, and quite possibly the first DJ to scratch in this country, and I appreciate all the love and props I get, and there's plenty of it, so to all my friends in Norway much thanks!.. But at the same time I've seen artists who are younger, some I helped get in the game, having more commercial success than myself, and some even dissing me when they got to where they wanted and didn't need me anymore. So I do feel I've been used by some of the younger generation, and could've done better here commercialy had it not happened, but of course I'm not done yet! (laughs)
The intro, and the opening track is not so much a song featuring Melle Mel as it's a DJ track, remake, remix, mashup of all the Furious Five's classics with some Melle Mel verses connecting the dots, and one of my hardest beats. Mel is my alltime favorite MC, and I grew up on his music, so the intro, and opening track is my tribute to him, and the old school. All profits of this track I'm sending to him, and a certain % of the album sales I'm gonna donate to organizations that's putting in work every day to keep Hiphop alive, and who supports the old school pioneers. That's my way of saying thank you to them for giving me just about everything. Who I am today is because of Hiphop, and without the pioneers there would be no Hiphop.
The title Victory is a lot about the fight goin' on between Hiphop vs commercialized Rap. Hiphop will come out the winner in the end, and on a personal level I've been through a lot of beef, backstabbers, snakes trying to take advantage of me to gain for themselves, and they've had their success, so now it's my turn, and I will win in the end.
You succeeded again in gathering a tremendous list of guests. Please tell us how you got to hook up with some of those legends?
That's usually a lot of networkin', plus a little money, and hard work, but this time it was easy. I'd say most of it happened by accident as I ran into people online when I was really just hangin' out, and some of the artists ended up on my album because of good friends who had connects too. I would especially like to thank The Pizdamen, KHB, Awkword, and Mark Deez for the hookups. I'm working on the follow up to Victory already, and that's much because of them. I would also like to thank Craig G for the professional, and super fast work on the crazy dope verse he hooked me up with. Craig G is a legend, and it was an honor to work with him.
It's remarkable that producer's albums keeps gaining quality and exposure (think about the Snowgoons, DJ Spinna's effort, JS-1,…). What's the secret behind this success-formula?
First of all cause the producers are in charge. When you work with other artists it's usually a give and take situation, and as for me I usually let the artists have the last word cause it is after all their songs, and they should be happy about the final results, but on my albums I do what I wanna do to a certain degree, I mean I would never put no autotune on voices and stuff like that! (laughs). In general a producer's job is to know how to make sure that the final product is tight, and experienced producers knows how better than most artists themselves so when producers are in charge it's gonna sound better, it's gonna fit better, and so on. Competition is as always crazy too so we have to keep doing better to stay on top of our game. It's a friendly competition, and it's good for Hiphop as it keeps getting better because of it. Producer joints usually have a lot of featured artists too which means they appeal to people who are already fans of the artists, and might have people discovering the other artists because of it, so as for promotion producer albums are great too.
If you had the chance to record a 1 producer - 1 emcee album (cf. Marco polo and Torae)… What emcees would be in your top rank for that?
Kool G Rap, Chino XL, or Rakim when it comes to skills. Nas, Jay-Z, or 50 Cent when it comes to business, but I enjoy working with unknown artists just as much as long as they have skills, know how to make songs, and are good peoples. Chemistry is the most important. If you get along well with an artist, and have a similar vision on what music you wanna make that's always the best. If it's a legend or an unknown don't matter all that much then, and I've worked with a lot of big name cats so I don't work as hard to make that happen anymore, but am of course happy every time I can make music with the artists I've been a fan of since way back.
How did you get to hook up with Kool G Rap for the promo video for Victory?
That was all business through his management.
We spoke after the release of Untouchable and you was kinda telling me that you would retire and step back from the game. How come you went on and are now even announcing another record? Is it the virus, the addiction,… or...
It's the swineflu.(laughs) Nah man it's like probably my age you know. I just turned forty, and I always convince myself that I'm working on my last record as that makes me work harder to make better music, but also I don't wanna outstay my welcome. I feel it's better to quit while ahead like, the day I realize I can't make a better album than my last I will quit, and after the follow up to Victory I'll most likely quit actually, but I've said that so many times now I know it's starting to sound like that story with the boy yelling "Wolf..Wolf!", then when he doesn't yell the wolf really ate him (laughs), and I guess the same might happen with me, and I won't make no big announcement but just fade out when it's time.
You seem to be heavy on the networking sites lately. Have you experienced the value of it in the form of more-sales or (new) people getting to your music?
Definitely! I've been steady movin' more digital units for every album, and much thanks to Foundation Media for the extended versions, and Instrumental album releases too. I'm excited to see how Victory will do as I have a better promo strategy for this one than before, and a lot more people helping me out. More and more people seem to check for my music too which is great, but I will always make music for the fans of hardcore Hiphop. I appreciate the love I get from anyone not into Hiphop as well, but the heads, and keeping Hiphop alive and well, is most important to me.
What's up with Unkut Records? You gave us a hint, that you would be launching some artists… Can you tell us more about those projects?
Yes. Infinito 2017 and I have a new band called Next Universe, and I'm putting out our album titled Classic Regulations on Uncut early next year. That track from Victory is a taste of the sound on the album as it's spacey, jazzy Hiphop beats with intelligence and skills on the mic, and a more laidback approach than my producer albums. It's a great album. I just finished it up yesterday actually.
I've also signed an MC from Atlanta to Uncut, named Mark Deez. He's on Victory, and is a part of a crew named Grindhouse Gang who is Mark Deez, Powder, Dr. ILL, and Lord Lhus also known from The Snowgoons albums. Mark is one of the best MC's of the new generation of cats comin' up, and his album is gonna be crazy so watch out for that. There will be some tracks produced by me on it, but also outside producers from the US, and Norway, or that's the way it looks now. Whatever tracks is the best at the end of recording and mixing the album are the ones to be on it. It should drop in the summer of 2010.
I'm also working on a new EP with Maylay Sparks, and my follow up to Victory, so with some luck there's gonna be like 3-4 releases on Uncut next year, and maybe more.
Suppose you would have to introduce yourself to a Hiphop fan without you being able to let 'em hear your music. What references would you use to explain how you sound like?
That's a good question though. I guess I'd just give them one of my albums, and let the music speak, but since I can't (laughs), I guess hardcore underground Hiphop with an old school touch to it.
What's in your car stereo at this moment?
Don't have a car. I'm one of those environmentalist dudes you know who doesn't drive because there's enough pollution as is, but just as much I never could afford a license cause I'd been buying records..again! (laughs), but at the crib it's been mostly my own stuff lately, and when I don't work on music I listen to the classics I grew up with in the 80's, and House music. I usually get on the tables whenever I have some time and just freestyle mix music for hours. That's how I relax.
Tell the people why and where they should buy Victory...
Because it will change your life like Victory usually does. You can buy it online at Amazon, ITunes, Spotify, Rhapsody, etc.
Thanks for the interview!
Thank you. It's always a pleasure, and much thanks for all your support and help, the great reviews of my albums, and the artwork. Platform8470.com is fam to me, and you help a lot of artists out, and let people know about some great music they might not have known about if it wasn't for y'all. Respect.
2009 ©Wulf
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Special: Horror
To make music you need some things to inspire you sometimes as music alone might not be enough. To some it's drugs, to some it's sex, to some it's travels, and to others it's books, but one of the things that's always inspired me is Horror movies. Fifteen years ago I wouldn't have talked too loud about it, especially in front of people into Hiphop, or other producers, as soundtracks to Horror movies was my main source for samples in the 90's, and not too many producers were into it other than flippin' Tubular Bells, or the theme from such blockbusters as Halloween or The Omen.
Nowadays soundtracks for obscure Italian and Asian Horror, and other movies from the 70's and 80's are well known sources to find dope samples but back in the mid 90's the only producer I can remember who sampled Horror music often was Necro, though Premier, Pete Rock, and more sampled from them every now and then. Nowadays most of the good stuff has been used and used again, and most producers have moved on to other things so it's time to talk about it out loud, and to make this different from the 8 million other stories about Horror online I'm gonna talk about what Horror means to me, and why I like it.
When I was five the fam and I was at a party at a relatives' house, and he happened to have some 8mm movies. One of them was The Mummy's Ghost, and after about an hour of begging, my parents ok'd a viewing of it, and even if it was an edited 15 minute 8mm version of the whole film, the gruelling images of the mummy appearing from a lake chasing a woman, and the shroud especially, was enough to scare the living shit outta me. After that I couldn't see someone with a bandage for years without makin' a quick escape, but at the same time I got more into scary movies, books, etc because of it.
It's funny but like music Horror is a drug, and once you're hooked you need better and more, and as a kid I was a big fan of Horror cartoons such as the cartoon versions of films like Alien, King Kong, and Dracula because the toons were the only way for us kids to get a feel of what seeing the movies might be like as we couldn't even get in to catch a James Bond flick, Star Wars was the only movie I managed to sneak into cause the head of the cinema was also the head of the school, and he knew all the kids and our ages by heart it seemed, and VCR's weren't even around yet, so at age 10-11 something the best we could get was our folks telling stories after they'd seen such movies as The Exorcist, Cat People, and The Shining if they weren't too scared to talk about them, and that made it even more exciting to me...that grown folks would actually get scared to death from seeing a movie, so I knew that had to be something special, and that I had to see them. The more "dangerous", and "illegal", the more fun. That's human nature for ya'.
Come the early 80's, and Video was the new drug. Nowadays most video rental stores are packed with boring mainstream titles, supplied by an industry of poor remakes, and "we've seen it a thousand times already" titles, but back then it was B-movie paradise, and you could choose from anything like Spaghetti Westerns, Blaxploitation, Martial Arts, and Porn, to Horror movies, and it wasn't exactly Dracula and Frankenstein that were sought after, but a new breed of explicit and violent Splatter flicks from Italy and the US.
We were finally able to watch the movies we really wanted to see as we could rent movies certified 18 with no problems even if we were kids. The videostore owners at the time didn't care much, and it was ok to most parents too if they weren't total squares or religious, but that's cause most of them had no idea what we were watching after dark when they were asleep.
An old censorship fanatic from the UK named Mary Whitehouse had been sent a tape of Cannibal Holocaust by its company VTC hoping to get some free promotion once she got to see the film, as she was already a well known anti Porn and Violence activist, but boy did the attempt for free promotion go way out of hand! It started a national panic in the UK among religious fanatics, parents, and anti everything activists, which spread to Germany, Scandinavia, and other European contries via a string of TV shows showing the most violent clips from some of the films, causing more or less panic including some politicians saying the VCR was a bigger threat to mankind than the atomic bomb, and a demand to ban this "filth" followed. The media labeled it "Video Nasties" or "Video Violence", and so a new genre was born, and the crusade for getting these films banned did quite the opposite. Sales of VCR's, and violent movies skyrocketed because of all the free promotion, and especially for children it became the new and exciting thing that we all had to see. In a matter of months police raided the Videoshops and movies were confiscated, making the demand for them even higher, but also made them very hard to get, and nowadays the most rare titles will fetch up to $1000 if it's an original VHS tape.
All of us kids in the early 80's wanted our parents to buy this new phenomenon called the Video machine. Most people couldn't afford to because prices were high back in the early days. A movie would cost something in the range of $200 to buy, and you couldn't rent yet, and a VCR would cost about $2000, so very few households had Video yet, but all of us kids wanted it. In my class at school maybe two or three kids had Video in the early 80's.
That changed for me when my mother happened to win a VCR in a local lottery, a Video 2000 machine from Bang & Olufsen, and yes it is the one pictured above. Needless to say I jumped for joy, and the main reason was the ability to finally catch some of the violent video nasties that were so talked about in the papers and on TV.
We had heard that those films were dangerous, and that you could actually go crazy from seeing them, so we had to see them, if nothing else than to see if we'd really go nuts.
The local video store carried some of them but not all, and not the nastiest ones, so those I got a hold of later, but they had some Horror movies. They would get a suitcase with thirty new movies inside every month, and there would be something for everyone, but mostly Horror, Martial Arts, Western, and Action, and all B-movies as that was the norm in the early days of Video. Off to the store I went to finally be able to rent my first movie to watch at home, aged twelve and all hyped up about Video Violence, I ran to the store and rented what was supposedly the most scary Horror flick they had, a film called The Devils Rain which was about a Satanic cult with a lot of black masses going on, and people melting from acid rain. Fun stuff.
A few months later a classmate had managed to get a hold of the infamous Cannibal Holocaust, a movie said to be a Snuff movie, that is a movie where people are killed for real. All bs of course but the director of it, Ruggero Deodato, had to go to court and bring the actors to prove that they were still alive, and that it was only a movie, so we watched it at the friends' house feeling disgusted, and thrilled, and it was very special seeing that movie, and actually believing that what took place on the screen was real.
I was about fourteen years old when I finally managed to borrow more of the Nasties from an older friend, and ran up to one of my friends' house who's dad had a VHS player, and as we needed that and I had Video 2000 it was sleepover time that night. My friends father understood all too well what was going on and confiscated my bag of movies which included The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Death Trap (Eaten Alive), Halloween 1 & 2, The Omen, Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Shivers, and Zombie Flesh Eaters. There was no way in hell we were gonna watch those films on his VCR! It was ok that I slept over, but my friends' dad took the movies and put them beside his bed, so we waited til about 1am, and while daddy was asleep we managed to sneak the bag of films out of his room and downstairs where the VCR was.
So, finally we would get to experience some of the dangerous Videos, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre was put in first, then Death Trap, then Zombie Flesh Eaters.
We stayed up all night watching with an excitement I've never felt sooner or later from seeing any movie. then all of a sudden it was already 7am, we had stayed up all night, and daddy was awake coming down the stairs pretty furious to say the least, and after we had gotten some sleep he would have to give us a "good talking to".
From then on I started collecting Horror movies, and would use two VCR's to make VHS copies, and would buy rare movies from sellers all over Norway which was always risky because they were bootlegs, and most Horror movies were totally banned here then, and police would actually raid private homes in search of those movies, and sometimes close friends were busted, fined, and their collections were confiscated and destroyed by the police. Kinda funny when you think about it now as most everything is legal nowadays, and available for anyone to watch online, and also fun to think about because I used to make my friends scared, and ill from watching some of the movies in my collection, like Nekromantik must've left some scars over the years. =)
Nowadays we're lucky to have great remastered versions on DVD, and Blu-Ray, and we can own them without police paying an unwanted visit which is of course a hell of a lot more relaxing than it was, and it's not long ago, as the most violent and gory Horrorflix were banned in Norway until the early 2000's, but at the same time removing the illegal aspects of it sort of eliminated some of the fun and excitement also...sorta like Graffiti. A much bigger rush when it was done against the law.
Human nature again for ya'.
It's fun to see how kids are still getting into the Horror classics, and there's plenty of good new ones coming out too if you look past the Hollywood remakes. Seeing new blood get hooked to the genre also brings back memories of how much fun it was to see Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Cannibal Holocaust for the very first time, and believe me...it's great memories. =)
Having collected Horrormovies for decades now, and also after having worked at videostores for about ten years including owning one, I've seen most of what's worth seeing, and will end this story with lists of some of my Horror favorites, and a list of all the banned movies in the 80's. If you're a fan take some time out to revisit the classics, and if you're new to Horror movies you're best off not starting with the video nasties, or the more obscure Italian stuff as it takes some getting used to.
A good place to start then are the American classics like Halloween, Friday The 13th., Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Shining, etc, and from there Evil Dead, Re-Animator, Braindead, to the more well known Italian flicks like Dario Argento's Tenebrae, and Opera, and Lucio Fulci's Zombie, and The Beyond. Also most people tend to enjoy some of the new movies out there, and especially there's a lot of great ones coming out of France nowadays like Martyrs, Inside, and Ils which is the original The Strangers. Some Asian flicks like Shutter, Ringu, and Battle Royale are also great.
Keep in mind that Horror-movies needs to be seen the right way for the full effect, and that means alone at night, all lights out, volume up loud, and a few doors, and windows open just a little bit.
Enjoy! =)
Top 10 Horror Classics:
1. The Shining
2. The Exorcist
3. Halloween
4. Jaws
5. Cannibal Holocaust
6. The Beyond
7. The Ninth Gate
8. Evil Dead
9. Deep Red
10. The Omen
Top 10 New School Horror:
1. Let The Right One In
2. Martyrs
3. The Others
4. Shutter
5. Cuento De Navidad
6. Frontieres
7. [REC]
8. Ringu
9. Ils
10. Haute Tension
Top 3 most scary movies to me:
1. The Woman In Black
2. Repulsion
3. Ghostwatch
Top 5 Directors:
1. Dario Argento
2. Stanley Kubrick
3. Roman Polanski
4. Lucio Fulci
5. John Carpenter
The Video Nasties / Banned Movies Of The 80's:
There were plenty more confiscated, and prosecuted, and the titles varied from one country to the next, but these were officially banned:
Absurd
Axe
Bay Of Blood
Blood Feast
Bloody Moon
Cannibal Apocalypse
Cannibal Ferox
Cannibal Holocaust
Cannibal Man
Don't Go in the Woods Alone
Evilspeak
Exposé
Faces of Death
Fight for Your Life
Flesh for Frankenstein
Forest Of Fear
Gestapo's Last Orgy
Island Of Perversion
I Spit On Your Grave
Love Camp 7
Mardi Gras Massacre
Nightmare
Night Of The Bloody Apes
Night of the Demon
Scared To Death
Snuff
SS Experiment Camp
SS Hell Camp
Tenebre
The Burning
The Devil Hunter
The Driller Killer
The Ghastly Ones
The Grim Reaper
The House By The Cemetary
The House On The Edge Of The Park
The Last House on the Left
The Werewolf And The Yeti
Zombie Flesheaters
Most of the movies are easy to get now on DVD. Google is your friend.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Special: Hot News
(Pic: Lasse, Truls, and customer @ Hot News / Photo: Arne Kaupang)
Buying records is easy nowadays, and no matter what you want you can pretty much find it online as long as you're willing to put in some work, wait patiently if it's a rare record, then pay the price. Like Biz Markie said "Back in the days it wasn't nuthin' like that", and especially in a small country like Norway if you were into various types of dance music from the US half the mission was finding out how and where to get the records.
In the late 70's and early 80's I would buy records at the local stores, and at various stores in my dad's hometown, but the stock was very limited. They had close to no 12" singles, and it was hard to find many dance records too. That changed in 1982 when I went to Oslo with some older kids to buy a sound system for the GFK, (check out the GFK section to the right), as the guy named Kato at the Hifi-center where we copped the system was a man about town, and especially when it came down to anything dance related, and naturally we had to have records to play as well, so he told us about a store named Fotokopi, situated at the Grønland subway station in Oslo where we could get the latest 12" singles imported from the US and the UK.
So there I was at Fotokopi diggin' in the crates like crazy, and finally I was able to find some of the stuff Tony Prince played at the Top 20 Disco Imports show.
When you're a kid you don't have much money to have fun with, and saving my allowance, and any other money I could get my hands on during the week usually meant ordering one or two 12" singles from a DJ store in Oslo, and Fotokopi for the most part, but there were also stores like Hit & Run, Electric Circus, and Bånd & Platesenteret (Tape & Record Center) that would have a decent stock of US imports, but in 1984 the Norwegian music magazine Puls would have a dance chart from a store in Oslo named Hot News, and it was very upfront charting nothing but the latest underground Hiphop 12"s from the US, and the chart came with a phone number so I figured I'd give them a try.
I guess most DJ's had a favorite record store back in the days, and Hot News would become mine real quick, and I'd call them several times a week to get the best of the new Hiphop and Funk from the US.
Fast forward about a year, and my class at junior high graduated with a school trip to the carnival in Oslo. No parents wanted to go along with us crazy little bastards and face the responsibility of makin' sure thirty fifteen year olds behaved well in the big bad city, so we fixed it so that some random adults would go along with us, and they would stay out all night and party, and so would we. That's a whole 'nother story, but right after we'd checked in at the motel we were staying at someone was stabbed right outside our window, and police and the whole nine would appear, and us kids would be like "Goddamn we're in the ghetto now", of course laughable since Oslo is pretty far from The Bronx and whatnot, but to a bunch of teens from a small town way out in the country it was like experiencing Shaft's Big Score live.
My mission on the trip was finding Hot News, and to my surprise the store was in the same street as our motel, and they were closed for the night, but opened again at 10am the next morning, and I would be there like fifteen minutes before they opened just waiting, anticipating. If you're a DJ, or a music lover you know the feeling of knowing that you're gonna get some hot new records, and that was such a day to me, especially since the store window had several Bootsy albums in there, and only that. Something I haven't seen at any store sooner or later.
10 AM, and it was time for the store to open, and my friendly Funk-pushers from more phonecalls than my parents could handle appeared. There were two guys working there. Truls who is the guy on the right in the photo, and Lasse to the left. Those guys had great knowledge of all genres of music, were friendly, and also smart as they definitely knew how to make you buy more records than you could afford, and sometimes one of them would go down into the basement, and come back about ten minutes after with a smile on his face, and a bit of the old red-eye. I guess it was dusty down there. =)
The store in itself was a small one, and you can actually see about 1/3 or so of it in the photo, but they had stacks of records, and mostly the latest independent Hiphop, and Funk from the US, and they would also be the store to introduce Norway to House music in 1985, as they were the only Norwegian store selling the early House records from New York, and Chicago back then, and would introduce me to House as well when I copped Harlequin 4's version of Set It Off on original US 12" there.
Plenty of good times at Hot News, and I would travel to Oslo to buy records there once or twice a month, sometimes more, and would always come home with a stack of about thirty to fifty of the hottest US imports. Hot News was also the place where the most upfront Norwegian DJ's would hang out, and anyone into Hiphop would also be there, and that was a lot of different types of people, as sometimes there would be maybe a railroad worker, a snob, a B-Boy, a hot girl, and a DJ from Chicago playing in Oslo coming in there to buy the latest 12" release from Defjam or DJ International Records. The best customers would also get access to the basement where they had several second hand DJ collections for sale, one from a DJ named Samuel who actually died of a heart attack while playing in a club, and fell over his turntables, and they would sell the old records for about $2 a piece, and it was all the rare Funk and Disco albums and 12"s from the early 70's to early 80's in there at prices so low they would probably result in the heart attacks of a collector or two nowadays.
Hot News opened in June 1979, and closed in August 1991 due to other stores in the area pushing down prices on the more commercial releases makin' it hard for Hot News to get the money they needed to import records from the states every week, and in turn they lost a lot of customers during the last few years because of that, and eventually they had to shut down, but to us the customers, the DJ's, the Hiphop, and House fanatics, The Funk freaks, the dancers, and lovers of great music we will never forget Hot News as to us, and most definitely to me, it was the greatest record store ever. I've been to places in the US, the UK, etc with tons of great records, and definitely a much bigger stock than what Hot News had, but the quality of the music they had combined with their knowledge of it, and the customer service that was so friendly you felt like you were hangin' out at a friends house listening to records that you could bring home after, and the cosey environment where they'd put up a big ashtray so you could smoke in the store, and also drink a beer or two if you wanted, as long as you kept it on the dl a little bit, made Hot News the best record store of all time.
A few random memories from Hot News:
* The elderly lady upstairs always complaining about the music from the store being too loud, and during certain Freestyle records with those Latin Rascals edits would come in the door yelling "What's that dreadful music you're playing!...Sounds like WW2 all over again!"
* Hot News was the only store selling my Hiphop mag called Wildstyle magazine in 1985.
* The Defjam promo poster on the wall with the quote: "Our artists speak for themselves cause they can't sing."
* The Defjam promo cap and T-shirts they'd sell along with so called Breakdance packs which was sets of gloves, a Breakdance instruction booklet, a cap, a tape, etc..
* Never having enough money, but it was always ok to pay the rest later.
* The basement of nothing but out of print goodies, and some stacks being put aside for other people, but I still went through them and pulled what I wanted..some Brides Of Funkenstein, some Parlet..*cough*
* The bulk of P-Funk cut outs..at one point they had 300 copies of the "Smeero" album that's worth about $100++ now.
* All the strange characters hangin' out in and outside the store..an experience to a country boy like me back then.
* My first copies of a lot of great records..most of the P-Funk, old school Hiphop and Electro, the first House stuff, etc...a few titles..King Kut, Jazzy Sensation, Zulu Groove, Bodyslam, Love Can't Turn Around, Funk You, a billion more records! =)
* When they got only one copy of a record, and being the one who snatched it under the nose of the other hungry DJ's. =P
* A dude coming straight from the airport with the latest Reggae records purchased in Jamaica earlier that day.
* The night train to Oslo, and not being able to sleep out of anticipation of what records you might find at Hot News, the whole day diggin' for records, the train back home in the afternoon the following night, then straight to the turntables when I got home, usually falling asleep over them, then waking up with the needle in the run-out groove.
* Buying up to 200 old Funk records in a day, then come back the day after for more.
* Stacks of Blues & Soul magazines.
* Playing the mix I won the DMC's with at the store to get a second opinion before I entered the competition, then calling them after to tell them I won it.
* Calling them from New York just to let them know I'd moved there...Yes man, Hot News was family.
So here's to you Truls, Lasse, and Hot News records. RIP to the store, but you live on. You're urban legends now, and we the customers remember Hot News with nothing but the best musical memories. HOUSE..HIPHOP...THE F.U.N.K.
(Pic: Lasse @ Hot News / Photo: Arne Kaupang)
(Unauthorized use of these pics and story will get you fucked up by the FUNK mob!)
Friday, May 29, 2009
Special: Disco In Norway
I'm currently writing a book about my life as a DJ, and Producer, and DJ'ing in general in Norway, so enjoy this chapter from the book about how Disco and DJ'ing came to Norway in the late 60's.
Disco in Norway was started in 1969 by a guy from Oslo named Tore Løken. After he had spent time on the UK club scene he brought the idea back with him, and decided to start a club in Oslo where musicians and other artists could hang out with like minded people, and others in the music business. The name of the club was Mandagsklubben (The Monday Club), that was private and membership only. Sort of a chill-out zone for people in the Norwegian entertainment industry, artists, musicians, and their girlfriends. Later in ' 69 Tore Løken also started a club open to the general public, and named it Safari. Safari would become the new hot spot in Oslo, being mentioned in music magazines outside of Norway as well. The club had a jungle style interior, and the DJ booth was built to look like a hut.
Tore Løken was the DJ at both clubs, and the first DJ from Norway to play in front of a live audience, as well as the first DJ to play records, and talk on the mic at the same time. More DJ's followed shortly, and guys like the Norwegian radio DJ Jørgen Slips would also start playing in Oslo in 1969 at a club called Soria Moria, as well as DJ Steve Lindquist who would team up with Løken to do the first mobile Disco parties in Norway using Gerard twin turntables, and a 100 watt amplifier to play parties in schools. The biggest amp available at the time was a 1500 watt amp they called Grand Slam that would be used mostly for outdoors events, and Steve Lindquist would be the first DJ to travel to various places in Norway to do gigs with the Rabbit Rock Mobile Disco system, a well known mobile Disco in Norway in the 70's and 80's run by Arne Mørk who was a speedboat racer as well as a pioneer in the Norwegian Disco business. After some time on the road in Norway Rabbit Rock Mobile expanded, and became the biggest mobile Disco in Europe.
The Norwegian singer Halvdan Sivertsen would DJ in his hometown of Bodø in 1971 at the first club there named Polar Disco Club, and playing records during breaks in the performance by Swedish singer Cornelius Wrejsvik is what set off Halvdan's DJ career.
The other mayor cities in Norway like Trondheim, Bergen, and Stavanger also had a live Disco scene, and in Stavanger DJ Per Gjøvåg at Grotten Disco, a bomb shelter turned nightclub, would be the first DJ to get on Norwegian national TV that did a special on him and his club in 1974.
Clubbing spread quickly to all corners of Norway, even small towns like my hometown of Geilo, where DJ's like Per Alm would DJ at the first club here called Mølla in 1970, and in 1975 the first local DJ, Dave Dale, would play Disco parties in youthclubs and hotels, as well as at Mølla, and the other local clubs Sherlock Holmes, and Camus Circus. Per Alm would later become an A&R for Polygram records in Norway, and Dave Dale retired from DJ'ing in 1985.
Once Tore Løken had kick-started the Club and DJ culture, it took about one year tops before it had spread to the whole country from the biggest cities to the smallest villages. The norm in the beginning however was to have a live band on stage, and the DJ's playing records during breaks, so the early days of DJ's playing full nights were kinda hard to swallow for the crowds used to live bands, so they would boo when the DJ's came on, but soon, and as DJ's got better, the live band was replaced by the DJ, and some musicians would even become DJ's instead to be able to pay their bills.
The music played in the early days were inspired by the Hippie movement, and artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and various progressive Rock bands, along with traditional Rock & Roll like The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, The Monkeys, etc, would be among the dancefloor favorites. From about 1973-74 uptempo Soul music would take over, and artists like Barry White, James Brown, KC & The Sunshine Band, and The Jacksons would become the hot artists among the DJ's and dancers, but all kinds of music was put in the mix, including the Norwegian folk music style called Gammeldans, which is music without a drum beat, played using only Violin and Accordion, that people would do couple-dancing to in between the Soulful Disco sets. In the early days it was recommended by clubowners that DJ's should play a few sets of Gammeldans during the night, probably to have a bit of Norwegian culture present in this new and exciting thing called clubbing, and keep a balance of Norwegian and foreign culture. In the early days it was also an unwritten rule that the DJ's should play three slow songs every hour to keep the crowd from goin' too bananas to the Disco sounds.
The first DJ to beatmix records in Norway was a guy from Oslo named Heavy Henry (RIP), who was inspired by DJ's he had heard mixing when he was partying in the UK. Henry would bring that style of DJ'ing to Norway in 1975, and mixed using two beltdrive turntables. There were no pitch controls, and you had to count rounds of the platters cause it took about three seconds to get them up to full speed, so Henry would mix slowing down or speeding up the platters gently with his fingers to go from one record to the next without losing the beat, as well as using a radio jingle machine for various sound FX. A very expensive piece of equipment back then that he had imported from the UK. Most other DJ's would be very impressed by Heavy Henry because they would mostly either play records from start to finish, or talk on the mic between them, so Henry was known as the best DJ in Norway in the mid 70's because of his mixing skills.
It didn't take long before entrepeneurs realized that clubbing was good business, and in the aftermath of the blockbuster Saturday Night Fever in 1977 the whole world went Disco crazy, and in Norway, like the rest of Europe, acts like Donna Summer, Boney M, Bee Gees, and Abba would have big hits with their more polished style of Disco that would appeal to the masses, from children to senior citizens. Disco was becoming big business, and clubs opened up left and right. Those were the happy days for club owners and DJ's alike. There were several booking agencies, IDEA, and Nor Booking that would hire DJ's, and book them to play at various clubs all over Europe, Bacchus booked worldwide, and Disco Sound for DJ's in Norway.
The DJ's would make a set fee that would be about $500 for a night, and about $3500 for a month as the resident DJ at a club. Clubowners would get whatever was left after bills, DJ, and staff were paid, and we're not talking about chump-change. The business would gross so much after a while that the Norwegian IRS would become very interested in the scene. They would hire people to make sure the right amount of taxes were paid by the clubowners, and would raid afterhours clubs that did private parties where the illegal sales of alcoholic beverages, drug abuse, and sex was the common thing, and some clubs would be shut down because of legal action by the IRS and the Police, but as one club was shut down, another started. The legal nightclubs had to close by 4am due to Norwegian regulations, but the illegal afterhours spots, often situated at someone's private home, or a basement, would be open ' til at least 9am, or for as long as people wanted to party.
By the late 70's, demand for 12" singles with extended remix versions of songs were high among DJ's, but no record stores would carry them in Norway, so Norwegian DJ's would travel to London to buy the latest 12" singles at shops like Groove Records in the Soho area, made famous by Tony Prince's Disco charts on 208 Radio Lux because the charts were compiled by Groove Records. The store was owned and run by an elderly and friendly lady named Mrs. Palmer who was well into her sixties, but still an expert on Soul, Funk, and Disco music, who would serve the hungry Norwegian DJ's with the latest 12" Disco singles. That way the Norwegian clubbers were lucky enough to be able to dance to the hottest new tunes only a couple of weeks after they were released in the US.
In the early 80's specialist DJ shops would open in Norway, like Funkytown in Stavanger run by a local DJ named Åge Holgersen, Fotokopi, Immerslund, and Hot News in Oslo, Mike Lewis record shop in Grimstad, and a few others, would import 12"s from the US and UK to supply DJ's all over Norway. In Oslo a record pool simply named Record Pool was started to serve DJ members with promo vinyls. Mike Burke record shop put ads in the biggest Norwegian newspaper VG advertising 12" singles to DJ's with a phonenumber to call to buy the records. That was in 1981, and some of the titles advertised were Yarbrough & Peoples' Don't Stop The Music, Blondie's Rapture, SOS Band's Take Your Time, and Kleeer's Get Tough.
Disco related advertising in VG was nothing new because CBS Records in Norway started a service in the newspaper in 1979 where people could call a number, and hear a snippet of the next big Disco hit record. The first record used in the service was Anita Ward's Ring My Bell that would become a number one single in Norway. Other Disco records that did well on the Norwegian charts were Baccara's Yes Sir I Can Boogie, Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, Chic's Le Freak, and Good Times, Sister Sledge's We Are Family, and He's The Greatest Dancer, Ottawan's D.I.S.C.O., the Saturday Night Fever and Thank God It's Friday soundtracks, Leon Haywood's Don't Push It Don't Force It, The Whispers' And The Beat Goes On, any Earth Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, Village People, Bee Gees, Abba, etc...
The first crossover Rap record, Sugarhill Gang's Rappers Delight, peaked at number two on the Norwegian pop charts in 1980, shortly followed by two other Rap records in the Norwegian Top 10, Rap-O Clap-O by Joe Bataan, and Rhythm Talk by Jocko. After the release of those records it became a common thing among the more upfront DJ's to Rap over the various Disco records, and sometimes DJ's would make their own raps to introduce themselves and to hype the crowds, so in that respect Hip-hop was introduced to Norway by club DJ's.
The common language used by DJ's to talk and rap on the mic was English for Norwegian as well as foreign DJ's playing in Norway. DJ's from the UK were plenty in Norway in the early years of Disco, and some of the best DJ's in Norway were British, such as DJ Gary Dean who would mix records just as well as the best DJ's in the US, and would play the same music that was hot in the clubs stateside.
As far as Norwegian artists putting out Disco records there were close to no real Disco cuts made in Norway. The exceptions being artists and bands doing Norwegian cover versions of Disco hits. There were plenty of artists making Soul, Jazz, and Funk influenced music however, such as Frode Thingnes, Jon Eberson, Inger Lise Rypdal, Jonas Fjeld Band, Alex, Lava that featured Randy Crawford as their singer on a couple of albums, and Drama that changed their name to Creation in the mid 80's and released the 12" I'm Going Up in 1985, on the Desperado label, with a Swedish remix by Fredrik Ramel who also did most of the remixes for the Swedish dance label Beat Box that put out remixes of Italian Disco records mostly. I'm Going Up is now much in demand among Boogie collectors, and fetches about $100 when it shows up.
Comedy acts like Prima Vera would do mediocre Norwegian cover versions of international Disco hits in the late 70's. The first serious quality Disco record from Norway actually didn't come out until 1984 with the duo Avalanche's 12" single Heaven Tonight. Avalanche were Norwegian, but had German production, and were signed to the German label Metronome Records. They followed Heaven Tonight with several more 12" singles during the late 80's, and early 90's.
The only Norwegian club hit before that was Oslo's New Wave artist Beranek with his 7" 45 only release Dra Te' Helvette (Go To Hell), that was a number one single in Norway in 1981, even if it was banned from national radio because of the title and lyrics about shooting up Heroin, and some record stores wouldn't sell it cause it had a picture of a naked ass with a syringe labeled Disco on the front cover. Beranek released a couple of 12" singles and albums in the early 80's, but they were aimed at the New Wave / Punk crowd more than the Disco crowd. For some reason Norwegian labels and artists seemed to have a problem taking Disco music seriously, and Norway was always a little late to pick up on new musical trends compared to the other Scandinavian contries, which is the main reasons there are very few Norwegian Disco records. It took A-ha to make it big worldwide with Take On Me, (Released in 1984), in the late 80's, for other Norwegian artists to realize that it was possible to make it big internationally with a dance record, although the Progressive Rock band Popol Ace, later turned Popol Vuh, were close in the mid 70's when they almost signed a deal with Frank Zappa.
In the US on July 12th. 1979, the infamous Disco Demolition Night took place, where American radio DJ Steve Dahl had people bring their Disco records to a sports event in Chicago to start a giant fire and burn the records. In reality, a racist and anti-gay mediahype promoted by Rock DJ's and music industry people who were stuck in the past, and hated the fact that Disco had taken Rock & Roll's spot as the most popular culture and music. It was an attempt to end Disco that also made it to the Norwegian newspapers in 1980, backed by certain people in the Norwegian press, under the headlines of Disco Is Dead! A lot of people took that literally, some clubs were shut down, and some DJ's quit because they genuinely believed that Disco was indeed dead.
So was that the end of clubbing and DJ'ing in Norway? No, it was just the beginning.
To be continued...
© Uncut Productions - 2009
Disco in Norway was started in 1969 by a guy from Oslo named Tore Løken. After he had spent time on the UK club scene he brought the idea back with him, and decided to start a club in Oslo where musicians and other artists could hang out with like minded people, and others in the music business. The name of the club was Mandagsklubben (The Monday Club), that was private and membership only. Sort of a chill-out zone for people in the Norwegian entertainment industry, artists, musicians, and their girlfriends. Later in ' 69 Tore Løken also started a club open to the general public, and named it Safari. Safari would become the new hot spot in Oslo, being mentioned in music magazines outside of Norway as well. The club had a jungle style interior, and the DJ booth was built to look like a hut.
Tore Løken was the DJ at both clubs, and the first DJ from Norway to play in front of a live audience, as well as the first DJ to play records, and talk on the mic at the same time. More DJ's followed shortly, and guys like the Norwegian radio DJ Jørgen Slips would also start playing in Oslo in 1969 at a club called Soria Moria, as well as DJ Steve Lindquist who would team up with Løken to do the first mobile Disco parties in Norway using Gerard twin turntables, and a 100 watt amplifier to play parties in schools. The biggest amp available at the time was a 1500 watt amp they called Grand Slam that would be used mostly for outdoors events, and Steve Lindquist would be the first DJ to travel to various places in Norway to do gigs with the Rabbit Rock Mobile Disco system, a well known mobile Disco in Norway in the 70's and 80's run by Arne Mørk who was a speedboat racer as well as a pioneer in the Norwegian Disco business. After some time on the road in Norway Rabbit Rock Mobile expanded, and became the biggest mobile Disco in Europe.
The Norwegian singer Halvdan Sivertsen would DJ in his hometown of Bodø in 1971 at the first club there named Polar Disco Club, and playing records during breaks in the performance by Swedish singer Cornelius Wrejsvik is what set off Halvdan's DJ career.
The other mayor cities in Norway like Trondheim, Bergen, and Stavanger also had a live Disco scene, and in Stavanger DJ Per Gjøvåg at Grotten Disco, a bomb shelter turned nightclub, would be the first DJ to get on Norwegian national TV that did a special on him and his club in 1974.
Clubbing spread quickly to all corners of Norway, even small towns like my hometown of Geilo, where DJ's like Per Alm would DJ at the first club here called Mølla in 1970, and in 1975 the first local DJ, Dave Dale, would play Disco parties in youthclubs and hotels, as well as at Mølla, and the other local clubs Sherlock Holmes, and Camus Circus. Per Alm would later become an A&R for Polygram records in Norway, and Dave Dale retired from DJ'ing in 1985.
Once Tore Løken had kick-started the Club and DJ culture, it took about one year tops before it had spread to the whole country from the biggest cities to the smallest villages. The norm in the beginning however was to have a live band on stage, and the DJ's playing records during breaks, so the early days of DJ's playing full nights were kinda hard to swallow for the crowds used to live bands, so they would boo when the DJ's came on, but soon, and as DJ's got better, the live band was replaced by the DJ, and some musicians would even become DJ's instead to be able to pay their bills.
The music played in the early days were inspired by the Hippie movement, and artists like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and various progressive Rock bands, along with traditional Rock & Roll like The Beatles, Stones, Kinks, The Monkeys, etc, would be among the dancefloor favorites. From about 1973-74 uptempo Soul music would take over, and artists like Barry White, James Brown, KC & The Sunshine Band, and The Jacksons would become the hot artists among the DJ's and dancers, but all kinds of music was put in the mix, including the Norwegian folk music style called Gammeldans, which is music without a drum beat, played using only Violin and Accordion, that people would do couple-dancing to in between the Soulful Disco sets. In the early days it was recommended by clubowners that DJ's should play a few sets of Gammeldans during the night, probably to have a bit of Norwegian culture present in this new and exciting thing called clubbing, and keep a balance of Norwegian and foreign culture. In the early days it was also an unwritten rule that the DJ's should play three slow songs every hour to keep the crowd from goin' too bananas to the Disco sounds.
The first DJ to beatmix records in Norway was a guy from Oslo named Heavy Henry (RIP), who was inspired by DJ's he had heard mixing when he was partying in the UK. Henry would bring that style of DJ'ing to Norway in 1975, and mixed using two beltdrive turntables. There were no pitch controls, and you had to count rounds of the platters cause it took about three seconds to get them up to full speed, so Henry would mix slowing down or speeding up the platters gently with his fingers to go from one record to the next without losing the beat, as well as using a radio jingle machine for various sound FX. A very expensive piece of equipment back then that he had imported from the UK. Most other DJ's would be very impressed by Heavy Henry because they would mostly either play records from start to finish, or talk on the mic between them, so Henry was known as the best DJ in Norway in the mid 70's because of his mixing skills.
It didn't take long before entrepeneurs realized that clubbing was good business, and in the aftermath of the blockbuster Saturday Night Fever in 1977 the whole world went Disco crazy, and in Norway, like the rest of Europe, acts like Donna Summer, Boney M, Bee Gees, and Abba would have big hits with their more polished style of Disco that would appeal to the masses, from children to senior citizens. Disco was becoming big business, and clubs opened up left and right. Those were the happy days for club owners and DJ's alike. There were several booking agencies, IDEA, and Nor Booking that would hire DJ's, and book them to play at various clubs all over Europe, Bacchus booked worldwide, and Disco Sound for DJ's in Norway.
The DJ's would make a set fee that would be about $500 for a night, and about $3500 for a month as the resident DJ at a club. Clubowners would get whatever was left after bills, DJ, and staff were paid, and we're not talking about chump-change. The business would gross so much after a while that the Norwegian IRS would become very interested in the scene. They would hire people to make sure the right amount of taxes were paid by the clubowners, and would raid afterhours clubs that did private parties where the illegal sales of alcoholic beverages, drug abuse, and sex was the common thing, and some clubs would be shut down because of legal action by the IRS and the Police, but as one club was shut down, another started. The legal nightclubs had to close by 4am due to Norwegian regulations, but the illegal afterhours spots, often situated at someone's private home, or a basement, would be open ' til at least 9am, or for as long as people wanted to party.
By the late 70's, demand for 12" singles with extended remix versions of songs were high among DJ's, but no record stores would carry them in Norway, so Norwegian DJ's would travel to London to buy the latest 12" singles at shops like Groove Records in the Soho area, made famous by Tony Prince's Disco charts on 208 Radio Lux because the charts were compiled by Groove Records. The store was owned and run by an elderly and friendly lady named Mrs. Palmer who was well into her sixties, but still an expert on Soul, Funk, and Disco music, who would serve the hungry Norwegian DJ's with the latest 12" Disco singles. That way the Norwegian clubbers were lucky enough to be able to dance to the hottest new tunes only a couple of weeks after they were released in the US.
In the early 80's specialist DJ shops would open in Norway, like Funkytown in Stavanger run by a local DJ named Åge Holgersen, Fotokopi, Immerslund, and Hot News in Oslo, Mike Lewis record shop in Grimstad, and a few others, would import 12"s from the US and UK to supply DJ's all over Norway. In Oslo a record pool simply named Record Pool was started to serve DJ members with promo vinyls. Mike Burke record shop put ads in the biggest Norwegian newspaper VG advertising 12" singles to DJ's with a phonenumber to call to buy the records. That was in 1981, and some of the titles advertised were Yarbrough & Peoples' Don't Stop The Music, Blondie's Rapture, SOS Band's Take Your Time, and Kleeer's Get Tough.
Disco related advertising in VG was nothing new because CBS Records in Norway started a service in the newspaper in 1979 where people could call a number, and hear a snippet of the next big Disco hit record. The first record used in the service was Anita Ward's Ring My Bell that would become a number one single in Norway. Other Disco records that did well on the Norwegian charts were Baccara's Yes Sir I Can Boogie, Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, Chic's Le Freak, and Good Times, Sister Sledge's We Are Family, and He's The Greatest Dancer, Ottawan's D.I.S.C.O., the Saturday Night Fever and Thank God It's Friday soundtracks, Leon Haywood's Don't Push It Don't Force It, The Whispers' And The Beat Goes On, any Earth Wind & Fire, Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, Village People, Bee Gees, Abba, etc...
The first crossover Rap record, Sugarhill Gang's Rappers Delight, peaked at number two on the Norwegian pop charts in 1980, shortly followed by two other Rap records in the Norwegian Top 10, Rap-O Clap-O by Joe Bataan, and Rhythm Talk by Jocko. After the release of those records it became a common thing among the more upfront DJ's to Rap over the various Disco records, and sometimes DJ's would make their own raps to introduce themselves and to hype the crowds, so in that respect Hip-hop was introduced to Norway by club DJ's.
The common language used by DJ's to talk and rap on the mic was English for Norwegian as well as foreign DJ's playing in Norway. DJ's from the UK were plenty in Norway in the early years of Disco, and some of the best DJ's in Norway were British, such as DJ Gary Dean who would mix records just as well as the best DJ's in the US, and would play the same music that was hot in the clubs stateside.
As far as Norwegian artists putting out Disco records there were close to no real Disco cuts made in Norway. The exceptions being artists and bands doing Norwegian cover versions of Disco hits. There were plenty of artists making Soul, Jazz, and Funk influenced music however, such as Frode Thingnes, Jon Eberson, Inger Lise Rypdal, Jonas Fjeld Band, Alex, Lava that featured Randy Crawford as their singer on a couple of albums, and Drama that changed their name to Creation in the mid 80's and released the 12" I'm Going Up in 1985, on the Desperado label, with a Swedish remix by Fredrik Ramel who also did most of the remixes for the Swedish dance label Beat Box that put out remixes of Italian Disco records mostly. I'm Going Up is now much in demand among Boogie collectors, and fetches about $100 when it shows up.
Comedy acts like Prima Vera would do mediocre Norwegian cover versions of international Disco hits in the late 70's. The first serious quality Disco record from Norway actually didn't come out until 1984 with the duo Avalanche's 12" single Heaven Tonight. Avalanche were Norwegian, but had German production, and were signed to the German label Metronome Records. They followed Heaven Tonight with several more 12" singles during the late 80's, and early 90's.
The only Norwegian club hit before that was Oslo's New Wave artist Beranek with his 7" 45 only release Dra Te' Helvette (Go To Hell), that was a number one single in Norway in 1981, even if it was banned from national radio because of the title and lyrics about shooting up Heroin, and some record stores wouldn't sell it cause it had a picture of a naked ass with a syringe labeled Disco on the front cover. Beranek released a couple of 12" singles and albums in the early 80's, but they were aimed at the New Wave / Punk crowd more than the Disco crowd. For some reason Norwegian labels and artists seemed to have a problem taking Disco music seriously, and Norway was always a little late to pick up on new musical trends compared to the other Scandinavian contries, which is the main reasons there are very few Norwegian Disco records. It took A-ha to make it big worldwide with Take On Me, (Released in 1984), in the late 80's, for other Norwegian artists to realize that it was possible to make it big internationally with a dance record, although the Progressive Rock band Popol Ace, later turned Popol Vuh, were close in the mid 70's when they almost signed a deal with Frank Zappa.
In the US on July 12th. 1979, the infamous Disco Demolition Night took place, where American radio DJ Steve Dahl had people bring their Disco records to a sports event in Chicago to start a giant fire and burn the records. In reality, a racist and anti-gay mediahype promoted by Rock DJ's and music industry people who were stuck in the past, and hated the fact that Disco had taken Rock & Roll's spot as the most popular culture and music. It was an attempt to end Disco that also made it to the Norwegian newspapers in 1980, backed by certain people in the Norwegian press, under the headlines of Disco Is Dead! A lot of people took that literally, some clubs were shut down, and some DJ's quit because they genuinely believed that Disco was indeed dead.
So was that the end of clubbing and DJ'ing in Norway? No, it was just the beginning.
To be continued...
© Uncut Productions - 2009
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