This is how the song came about: "10000 Lovers"

What are the connections between the TNT song "10.000 Lovers (In One)", the dance band classic "Tiotusen röda rosor" and a new romantics song? Ronni Le Tekrø gives us the startling answers in this interview.

Text: Kai Lofthus

When musicians and songwriters are working on a new song, inspiration can come from almost anything – and anywhere. The story of “10.000 Lovers (In One)” is about a song that could have been quickly left off the album if the band hadn’t had the spark to finish it just two weeks before the album “Tell No Tales” was due to be sent to the factory for production.

– We had written a tough guitar riff that really didn't have anything else to it. Then Diesel Dahl and I were at a disco in Oslo. We had fooled around in a basement where they were playing the same [expletive omitted] music as today. Then we heard some good drums in a new romantics song that took us further. There is a special drum beat that ties the song together. We also tried to come up with a title that was as good as "Tiotusen röda rosor". So we first thought of "10.000 Love Songs", then "10.000 Lovers" and then "10.000 Lovers (In One)". So just before the album was going to press, the record company received an extra song, and it was immediately chosen as a single by PolyGram in Europe and Japan. In the US they chose "Everyone's A Star", says Le Tekrø.

Long-time rock authority at NRK, Tor-Otto Mjelde, says:

– I remember very well when TNT suddenly became our national pride. With a yellow Walkman and carefully copied cassettes of Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss and Iron Maiden on constant repeat, TNT suddenly became a favorite and simultaneously put our country on the heavy map. Something that was unheard of at the time, but common today. I had previously been a big fan of "Seven Seas" and "Knights Of The New Thunder", but this was softer, bigger and more international. The song and the record also hit the zeitgeist perfectly where bands like Cinderella, Ratt and Bon Jovi had paved the way for the soft melody and big hair in heavy.

Mjelde continues:

– I remember feeling proud that TNT was Norwegian, I remember the video with all the wind and Tekrø's white suit, and I remember that as a teenager I thought it was cool that even the girls in the class could like heavy. The big chorus, Harnell's soft voice, the wild guitar playing. I loved the song in 1987, I love the song today and I will love the song until I die.

The credits for lyrics and melody are equally divided between Tony Harnell, Diesel Dahl and Ronni Le Tekrø, who all became TONO members in 1984. (Harnell currently resides in the United States, and is affiliated with TONO's sister society ASCAP).

In the photo above you see TNT together with Twisted Sister vocalist Dee Snider and producer Bjørn Nessjøe.

Buy or stream the song on your favorite service. In the meantime, you can catch a glimpse of the music video here: