2017 - August 22 - Oppned (UpsideDown)

From 1988-1990, no Norwegian band was even remotely close to having the kind of success DumDum Boys had. They won Spellemannsprisen - the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy for rock music for each of their three first albums, and while their debut has the raw excitement of a band ready to rumble and their third album cemented their mass appeal, to me, their second album, Splitter Pine is the most complete of the three. It has most of the energy from their debut while starting to find more mass appeal through the title track without the excessive polish of their third album - and it takes you on a journey that starts with middle eastern weapons and violence (this was 1989, mind you, and given the political climate in Trondheim at the time, I am thinking the song Boom Boom had the Israel/Palestine conflict in mind - but I could be wrong) and ended with a warning about the issues with the ozone layer. In between we have songs about sex, love, and youthful exuberance - and then there is this gem about really transitioning into the adult stages of life ("twenty-something is still kind of young, but oh my god, I feel old"). Oppned is one of the more hidden gems on the album - sandwiched in between Boom Boom and the magnificent title track, but it gives the air the album needs between two very heavy hitters. It is a great song from one of the best, if not the best Norwegian album not made by Motorpsycho.