Norwegian #1s of 1981

Lars Kilevold: "Livet Er For Kjipt":

(It seems this song is often used in school projects for media students, so there are lots of different videos for it on Youtube)

Gyllene Tider: "När Vi Två Blir En" (Per Gessle's first band, and IMO much better than Roxette):

Jannicke: "Svake Mennesker" (A weird punk/new wave/reggae/pop song the dominated the Norwegian hitlists completely in the summer of 1981. The lyrics, performed in Norwegian with a strong Swedish accent, were about how weak smokers and drinkers were):

Caramba: "Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot" - This "song" was the brain(?)child of ABBA engineer Michael B. Tretow and some of his mates. Apparently heavily influenced by a drug called alcohol:

Didn't find any video of Beranek's "Dra Te Hælvete" other than an updated recent live version that sounded completely different

The three international hits in the end were all great, but my vote is still for "När Vi Två Blir En" - perhaps the best song Per Gessle ever wrote.

The Jannicke one is quite nice. I'd never heard that. "Bette Davis Eyes" is cute & odd, but borderline annoying. Would like to hear the original Jackie DeShannon version which is supposedly a lot different.

O man gotta go with Gyllene Tider. Those were the times, the times when I was 12 to be exact.

BTW Jannicke went on to become a kind of all-purpose weirdo -- expert on extraterrestrial life with Japanese TV documentary in 1994, reality TV participant under the name of "J-Diva", candidate for far-right political party fraction etc etc. This song is still pretty good though (he said while drinking & smoking).

^Interesting. Yes, this was the first time I voted for a Norwegian song in these polls.

XP: Jannicke drinks and smokes a lot these days too, so I guess she can forgive you. :)

Interestingly, although "Svake Mennesker" sounded (and looked) rather new-wave-ish, it was actually backed by Lava - the Norwegian equivalent of Toto - and the reggae beat was their idea.

Wait, Jon English had a Number One hit in Norway?

JON ENGLISH HAD A NUMBER ONE HIT IN NORWAY???

"Against The Wind" completely dominated the TV season for a while, and naturally this led to "Six Ribbons" topping the charts. He would also go on to have yet another handful of big hits.

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