Top Twenty Hits

I like to think myself as a fan of music, if but a casual one, and so when a few of my friends mentioned that there was a free concert on Friday night, I jumped at the opportunity. So, we jumped on the metro and rode down to the National Theater, where we were given free cokes as an advertisement for the London Olympic games, and then moseyed over towards the Oslo Fjord.

Fun fact: Norwegians drink the most Coca-Cola out of any country in Europe

There was a free concert down by the water all right, but I didn't realize just how big of a free concert it was. NRK, Norway's largest radio and television station, was putting on a countdown of the top 20 radio hits in Norway, and they had brought all 20 bands to play their hits. They estimated there were 10,000 people in the audience, mostly seeming to be in the high-school/middle-school demographic.

The music was fun, it seems that Norwegian popular music taste is not all that different than American, with a smattering of hip-hop, rock, and pop, with rap seeming to be the most popular at the moment. Probably two thirds of the music was in Norwegian, although I noticed that the "cool" rappers will throw English into their songs every now and then. (For those of you wondering whom my favorite of the night was, I present Lars Vaular & Sondre Lerche: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npo7r6ut5mM. Sondre Lerche is vaguely known in the United States, he did the soundtrack for Dan in Real Life, a movie that came out a while ago with Steve Carrell in the lead role.)

They even have their own Norwegian Back Street Boys

I was a little disappointed at the end though, because the number 1 hit in Norway was an American band, B.O.B. I didn't really recognize them, but I'm sure I've heard them on the radio before. My disappointment was made up for though with free frozen yogurt as we were leaving.