TNT

With a level of musicianship higher than the average hair metal band, Norway’s TNT offered a prog-tinged take on pop-metal due largely to the stunning vocal range of lead singer Tony Harnell and the guitar technique of Ronni Le Tekrø. Originally consisting of vocalist Dag Ingebrigtsen (aka D.D. Dynamite), bassist Steiner Eikum, and drummer Morten "Diesel" Dahl, TNT formed in the Norwegian town of Trondheim in 1982, releasing an eponymous, Norway-only debut later that year with all lyrics in Norwegian. When it failed to sell, Eikum left the band and was replaced by Morty Black; soon afterwards, Ingebrigtsen was replaced by New York native Tony Harnell. Harnell debuted on the band’s first international album, 1984′s Knights of the New Thunder (on which he was credited as the more Norwegian-sounding Tony Hansen). The band really began to hit its stride on 1987′s Tell No Tales, although after that album’s release, Dahl departed and was replaced by Kenneth Odiin. Released in 1989, Intuition consolidated the stylistic gains of its predecessor, but TNT soon found themselves without a label, Polygram having lost interest in promoting them. Odiin left to remain home with his family, prompting the hiring of American drummer John Macaluso for 1992′s Realized Fantasies, which was recorded for Atlantic. However, friction between the American and Norwegian portions of the group — the former wanting more international success, the latter satisfied with popularity at home — led to TNT’s disintegration. Macaluso joined Riot, while Le Tekrø and Black formed the more prog rock-oriented Vagabond and Harnell performed with a mostly cover-tune project called Morning Wood. TNT reunited in 1996, featuring a lineup of Harnell, Le Tekrø, Black, drummer Frode Hansen, and keyboardist Dag Stokke. They released the album Firefly in 1997, after which Harnell took a year’s sabbatical; he returned in 1998, and TNT issued the the more alt-rock-oriented album Transistor the following year. Released in 2004, My Religion marked a return to the glam metal style of the band’s heydays, and was followed in 2005 by the like-minded All the Way to the Sun. Subsequent LPs The New Territory (2007) and Atlantis (2008) arrived via Swedish indie Bonnier Amigo (later changed to Cosmos Music), and in 2010 the band issued its tenth studio long-player, titled A Farewell to Arms in Japan and Engine in the U.S. and Scandinavia. ~ Steve Huey