skandinavian_Artists > tv2

In 1976 the guitarist Hans Erik Lerchenfeldt and the bass player Georg Olesen joined Taurus, and that same year they started recording their first album (which became their only album), which wasn’t released before 1978 with the title WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE SIXTIES. Taurus went on tour, for example in Germany – but the band never really had a breakthrough, so in 1979 the band decided to break up. Taurus primarily sang in English, but at the end of their career Steffen Brandt had started to write lyrics in Danish. For a period of time Brandt was as a substitute in a new rock band called Kliche – but at the same time he was recording the first TV-2 album. The ensemble of that band was the same people who played in Taurus - Brandt, Gaul, Lerchenfeldt and Olesen – and remarkably enough, it’s the same four musicians who are a part of TV-2 today.

TV-2 released their debut album FANTASTISKE TOYOTA in 1981. The style was what you would call new rock or new wave – and the songs were short, brief, effective and the contents could be described as pop mixed with some rock. And this was still years before the band started to wear black - so if you went to a concert with TV-2 in the beginning of the 80’s you would see choreographic steps, Hawaiian shirts, TVs and Venetian blinds on stage. This was at a time where marketing was not something the Danish rock industry paid much attention too – and therefore TV-2’s many ideas and their distinctive imagery gave them a lot of enemies, especially in the media. Their name was also a stroke of genius since everyone at that time spoke of a competitor to Danmarks Radio (only TV channel at that time), and some years later the new TV station in Denmark was launched under the same as the band – TV2.
TV-2 toured intensively and never let down the crowd who showed up, which over the years became bigger and bigger. Their second album - VERDEN ER VIDUNDERLIG – was released in 1982 and one of the songs on the album - VERDEN PERFEKT – became some kind of sig-tune and gave TV-2 a minor breakthrough. On the cover of the third album – BEAT (1983) – the black dressed band was born. With songs like POPMUSIKERENS VISE and BAG DUGGEDE RUDER TV-2 really had their great breakthrough. The band often performed on TV and they were played constantly on the radio. The concerts became bigger and bigger, and TV-2 kept developing their visual side by making their shows even greater. Steffen Brandt proved to be a very important asset to the band with his strong lyrics, and as the band’s entertaining front figure during concerts or under interviews. TV-2 followed up on their success with the album NUTIDENS UNGE in 1984, where the band for the first time passed the magic number of 10,000 sold albums. It was an album where the singles were queuing to be released, and made Steffen Brandt one of the most quoted Danes. RÆVEN OG RØNNEBÆRRERNE, ABC, LANTERNEN, BLOD SVED OG TÅRER and BE BABALULA could all be found on the fourth album, which placed the band at the top of Danish rock.

Ambitious and still determined to develop their music TV-2 managed to get hold of the star producer Greg Walsh (who among others had produced for Heaven 17 and Tina Turner) and had him come to Randers to the Puk studio to produce the band’s fifth album. RIGTIGE MÆND GIDER IKKE HØRE MERE VRØVL (released in 1985) became a great triumph for TV-2 and sold more than 250,000 copies. Songs like the title song, HR. OG FRU DANMARK, EVENTYR FOR BEGYNDERE and HELE VERDEN FRA FORSTANDEN were played on the radio all the time. Greg Walsh also produced the next album EN DEJLIG TORSDAG (1987), which brought new classics to life such as FRI SOM FUGLEN, TIDENS KVINDER and STJERNEN I MIT LIV and just increased their long list of big hits. The same year TV-2 released their first live album – FRI SOM FUGLEN – which with its 19 songs drew a great portrait of the band which over the years had become the most popular band in Denmark, with songs that precise and subtly described Denmark and Danes. On the live album you could also hear the wind band The Aarhus Horns, which had agreed to give TV-2 a new and greater live sound, which meant more musical possibilities than possible as a quartet only.

With NÆRMEST LYKKELIG (1988) TV-2 showed themselves as a sparkling band with many different sides musically, and with songs like the title song, KYS DET NU, ALT HVAD HUN VILLE VAR AT DANSE, DET MØRKE JYLLAND and TURBO the critics stated that this was their greatest album ever. That was the first time TV-2 had tried to use many different producers – e.g. Michael Bruun, Mats Ronander, Billy Cross and Søren Wolf – a method which have since influenced most of their studio recordings.

In 1990 TV-2 followed their old repertoire manager from Sony over to the newly started Pladecompagniet, and released their ninth album VI BLIR ALLIGEVEL ALDRIG VOKSNE. New TV-2 classics such as REJSEN TIL RIO, ROMEO HADER JULIE and JEG VIL HA DIG insured that TV-2 got their fifth platinum record in a row – where songs such as BABY BLUE and STJERNEN OVER BJERRINGBRO, which were more sharp, showed the songwriter Steffen Brandt from a new angle. Among the producers were Thomas Helmig and the Swedish ace Anders Glenmark.

SLARAFFENLAND (1991) is probably TV-2’s most controversial album. Produced by the band itself and Henrik Nilsson (a co-player for years) the album revealed musically a more raw band with dark lyrics – and despite great reviews, they broke the curve of many years’ commercial success. Steffen Brandt has always seen this album as a natural development for TV-2 – and songs like TAL TIL MIG, ALT HVAD DU ØNSKER, SHIT and MEAN BLUES are at the same level as the best songs from the band. TV-2 also achieved to get nominated for two Grammies, one for the cover (which they won) and one for their entertaining video SEX KAN OGSÅ VÆRE SJOVT, starring Suzanne Bjerrehus and the very funny Finn Nørbygaard.

In 1992 TV-2 brought together the first part of their career on the album DE UNGE ÅR – GREATEST HITS, which became a great success for the band, who received a three-double vinyl record. During 92-93 the band was more active than ever giving concerts, and they succeeded in winning over new generations of fans. There was a break after that until the band released VERDENS LYKKELIGSTE MAND in 1994, and this was the longest time ever between two albums. Whether it was good time or something else that had affected the band and the song writing is not certain – but the new album presented TV-2 back in absolutely top shape. The first single release - DET ER SAMFUNDETS SKYLD – was received very well in Denmark, and the song once again confirmed that Steffen Brandt is one of Denmark’s most keen observers. And this was not an isolated occurrence on this very fine album. Songs like KÆRLIGHEDEN OVERVINDER ALT, PÅ FREDAG HAR JEG FRI and the title song gave the band another platinum record, which could join their collection that over the years had become rather big. With the album from 1995 KYS BRUDEN TV-2 changed record company to EMI-Medley, and with Halfdan E. as a new man on the producer team they kept their rate of success with songs like the title song, TORNEROSE, LINE JØRGENSEN VOLDUM and not to forget the new country plague KOM LAD OS BROKKE OS. That song became famous for its lines about the very famous Danish handball girls. On YNDLINGSBABE (1998) more hits were added to their already long list, e.g. DET ER DANMARK where the temperature of the nation is ‘measured’, and the pop song and single DER GÅR MIN KLASSELÆRER and the R&B hit YNDLINGSBABE.

The record company HAVE A CIGAR was TV-2’s newest creation in 1999. Since then the band has only published through their own company – and artists such as Tobias Trier and Under Byen have also released through TV-2’s record company. TV-2’s first release with their own label was the double CD VERDENS LYKKELIGSTE BAND – LIVE ´99. It was natural for a band who has been touring as much as TV-2 to release another live album – the first one being FRI SOM FUGLEN from 1987.
In 1999 they also released MANDEN DER ØNSKEDE SIG EN HAVUDSIGT, recorded together with Radiounderholdningsorkestret – which included new interpretations of some of the old songs from TV-2’s long career, which then were set up for a show together with the Peter Schaufuss ballet.

It was not before the jubilee in 2001 (20 years after FANTASTISKE TOYOTA) that TV-2 released a new studio album called AMERIKA. You can really hear the guitars on this album, and you sense great energy – e.g. HALLO HALLO and SOMMERDAG VED STRANDEN. An in the title song AMERIKA Steffen Brandt proved himself to be an excellent epic writer, with the fantastic story about memories that might fall out of forgotten books, such as a postcard from the dreamland or from the too real ‘reality’ America. Once again TV-2 succeeded in producing the unique mixture of entertainment and contents, which for several years have been the band’s brand. Or as a very pleased Torben Bille wrote in his review of AMERIKA: “This reviewer has no doubts. Not when it comes to TV-2. Whether it’s needed as an antidose to our time’s shallowness, or as a supplier of songs that are more than just a radio hit – even though that it’s inevitable for TV-2!”

BONUS-INFO:
In 1983 The Beautifuls - funny enough consisting of the regular TV-2 crew – released the album OM SOMMEREN ER ALTING ANDERLEDES. Today that is a jewel which is sold and bought at high prices.

TV-2 is among the most popular bands performing at the big Green Concerts, touring Denmark every summer. At these events they have played for hundreds of thousands people – the last time was in 2003.

Greenland has a very special place in the heart of TV-2 – and “Denmark’s most northern band” has been on more than 10 tours in the Land of Man since their first visit back in 1988. Back then they shot the video for SOMMERDAG FOR ALT FOR LÆNGE SIDEN. Touring the year after Steffen Brandt wrote the songs TIKKULLUARITSI and TAKUSS, which can both be found on a very rare tape, released by the record company ULO from Greenland. Another popular destination is the Danish island Bornholm, where TV-2 has performed several times during their career – e.g. in a live documentary concert broadcasted from Hammershus back in 1990.

TV-2 went as far as China during their 2001 tour – and gave concerts in Beijing and Shanghai.

TV-2 started to make music videos quite early – and throughout the years they have made many. They have also performed more particular TV programmes such as VI SVARER IKKE FOR BØLGERNE (with several famous Danish people, e.g. former minister Ritt Bjerregaard, reporter Mette Fugl, and the comedians Haugaard/Nørbygaard), NÆRMEST LYKKELIG (an entertaining tour portrait of the band), a documentary from a tour on Greenland called DE KOM LIGE FORBI, and a kind of “rockumentary” called 10 ÅR DER RYSTEDE VERDEN.

Over the years the band has received several awards – among them a large number of Grammies and several first places in all kinds of reader/viewer awards. In 1994 they won the DMF’s title of honour, and in 1996 Steffen Brandt received the Dan Turrél Award. In 1999 the band was given the People’s choice award – Den Grønne Pris – at that year’s Grammy.