In 1968, Taboo topped Poprevyen’s Norsktoppen for large parts of the year. The single Vampire Tango was one of the year’s most popular records. The band played around large parts of southern and western Norway – for up to 4,000 people in Risør at most. Before it ended in a bitter breakup when the two biggest stars suddenly just disappeared. In the middle of this stood 20-year-old Willy Andersen from little Mo i Rana. He is this week’s guest in the Rana Blad podcast Ke de går? and tells the story of the adventure Taboo to podcast host Kenneth J. Gabrielsen.
Andersen had already distinguished himself locally as a guitarist in the band The Strangers, but in the winter of 1968 he stepped up to the elite series when he became part of Asa Krogtoft’s new band. Asa had achieved success the year before with 1-2-6 and the hit “Graveyard Paradise”, later named the Northern Norwegian song of all time. At the very end of Taboo’s short life, Sverre Kjelsberg, known from The Pussycats, was also part of the band.
– So there are really, really big names in northern Norwegian music history, and there is also Willy Andersen, as Kenneth J. Gabrielsen sums up.
You can listen to the entire episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you listen to podcasts.
Fate would have it that Asa Krogtoft from Bodø, Willy Andersen from Rana and drummer Nils-Ole Steinbakk from Fauske were looking to start a new band at the same time. They got along, but needed a fourth man. It turned out to be someone Andersen knew well from before – bassist Sverre Fagerli from The Strangers.
– I suggested that Asa and Nils-Ole bring Sverre along. What I didn’t think about was that Sverre was a very sober guy. So I spent the whole of Sagbakken converting him, I kept saying, to persuade him to take part in this. He finally gave in, with a promise of both the US and one with the other, says Andersen in the podcast.
The plan was actually for the new band to carry on the name 1-2-6, but that was not the case. The explanation for that and why the name Taboo was chosen is part of what Andersen tells about.
1964-1967Together with Harald Sæterdal, Lars Trønsdal and Ulf Arntzen, Willy starts his first band – The Strangers. Later, Øystein Thomassen and Jon Monsen join the band. Towards the end of the band’s life, the line-up consists of Andersen, Arntzen, Monsen and Sverre Fagerli.
March 1966The Pussycats, with Sverre Kjelsberg as a band member, release their debut album “Psst! Psst” which was recorded in London. The record is in many ways a starting point for Norwegian rock. In the newspaper Nordlys in 2004, it was voted the Northern Norwegian album of all time. In 2012, they were inducted into the Rockheim Hall of Fame. On the website they are described as the first phenomenon in Norwegian rock, as Norway’s biggest pop stars in the period 1965-1967 and their two albums from the period as classics.
May 1967Asbjørn “Asa” Krogtoft and his band 1-2-6 release the single “Graveyard Paradise”. It eventually became a hit, with a total of 15 weeks on the VG list. Only The Pussycats had previously experienced such success by Norwegian bands. At the end of the 1980s, Dagbladet’s readers voted it the second best Norwegian melody of all time, while in Nordlys in 2004 it was voted the Northern Norwegian song of all time. In 2017, Asa was nominated for the Rockheim Hall of Fame, but was not inducted.
9 February 1968Rana Blad reports that the popular pop group 1-2-6 has disbanded. Asbjørn “Asa” Krogftoft wants to start a new group under the same name. Together with Willy Andersen and Sverre Fagerli from The Strangers, as well as Nils Ole Steinbakk from the Fauske group Arrows, he starts what later becomes Taboo. It becomes one of the most popular bands in Norway that year. Proof of that is that they top Norsktoppen in the magazine Poprevyen for large parts of 1968.
March 1968Taboo releases the single Vampire Tango. It reaches fourth place in the radio program “Ti in the Shot”. When Poprevyen summarizes record sales on the eve of the year, the single is listed in 80th place. The list is topped by Inger Lise Andersen (later Rypdal) with Romeo and Juliet, The Beatles with Hey Jude and Tom Jones with Delilah. Later in the year, Taboo also releases his second single, “Queen of Spades”.
30 July 1968Bergens Arbeiderblad reports that bassist Sverre Fagerli joins Taboo after a concert in Bergen. – You can say that I was scared in the South. If this is to be pop, I say thanks for me. Now I’m going home to Mo i Rana and go to school, he stated. The newspaper speculates that Sverre “Teddy” Kjelsberg from The Pussycats will become a new member of Taboo. He later plays a few concerts with the band.
25 September 1968Rana Blad reports that Taboo has now disbanded, after Asa and Teddy simply disappeared. Willy Andersen and Nils Ole Steinbakk traveled home to Mo i Rana and Fauske respectively. In an interview with Poprevyen, Steinbakk describes Asa’s disappearance as “downright rotten”, and says that he and Willy are “deeply disappointed”.
200840 years after they were one of the country’s most popular bands, Taboo is making a comeback. Rana Blad’s reviewer Anette Fredriksen rolls the dice six after a concert at Babettes in January, a place they will return to in the autumn as well.
January 2010Taboo’s debut album is finally here! “Reborn” gets five dice from Rana Blad’s reviewer Arne Forbord.
Andersen was compared to Jimi Hendrix, and Terje Rypdal himself wondered how he got the sounds he made out of the guitar. But the rock star life ended abruptly. A lot of mess made touring life a tiring affair.
– If this is to be pop, I say thanks for me, said Sverre Fagerli to Bergens Arbeiderblad in the summer – and with that he was done with the band.
– Then we had problems. Not only that we had to change the bass player, but we lost the chemistry in the group. What we had in that band, the unity we had before things started to go wrong, it was absolutely fantastic. We took care of each other, says Willy Andersen today.
The remaining band members tried to push it further, and a bigger tour was also booked in the autumn. It was at this point that Sverre Kjelsberg joined the band. But as suddenly as it began, the adventure was over. It was a sad ending. Kjelsberg and Krogtoft simply disappeared and dropped contact with Steinbakk and Andersen. Nils-Ole Steinbakk explained his own and Andersen’s disappointment in an interview with Poprevyen, where he speculated that Krogtoft became a different person after contact with Kjelsberg and another member of The Pussycats, Ottar Aasegg – with the stage name Jimmy.
– It was tough right then, Andersen says today, and says that not long before the band had an offer for a German tour as well.
– We felt betrayed, quite simply. We were so close and good friends before it happened.
Andersen says that Asa Krogtoft is nevertheless one of the nicest people he has ever met. And it is also part of the story that Taboo was reunited – 40 years later. Then the debut album finally arrived.
You can hear more about Willy Andersen in next week’s episode. Then comes part 2, which deals with the rest of Andersen’s long life in music – and an important part of Mo i Rana’s urban history.
Have you heard the previous episodes of the Rana Blad podcast Ke de går? All episodes can be heard on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Untold and anywhere else you listen to podcasts.
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