Normaal

Normaal (Dutch pronunciation: [nɔrˈmaːl] ) is a Dutch rock band from the Achterhoek region, who sang in Achterhooks, a local variety of the Low Saxon. Bennie Jolink, who was an arts student at an arts academy, stationed in Amsterdam in the 1970s, started the band in 1975 as a reaction to disco and glamrock, in addition to the overall "Dutch snobbery" towards people from the Low Saxon-speaking regions, and use of the English language by many other Dutch artists. "Normaal" meaning "normal", suggesting the same: "act normally". The band has since gained national fame, and have had more top 40 hits in the Dutch chart than any other Dutch band. Despite this fact, the band never reached number one. The music could be typified as "heavy country rock", and possibly as a rowdier version of ZZ Top or Status Quo. In 2019, they reached number 9 in the annual Top 2000 hit list with "De boer dat is de keerl" (translates to "The Farmer, that is the man") due to a viral social media campaign to vote for it as a means of protest against increased hardship for farmers in the country caused by the tightening of nitrogen-emission laws. Aired during the last week of the year and often called the "Chart of charts", the Top 2000 countdown of the most popular songs of all time draws millions of listeners in the Netherlands alone. Usually, however, the highest-ranked Normaal song is, "Oerend hard", ranging from a chart position of 82 in 2005 to 371 in 2023; it has appeared on the Top 2000 list every year since this was inaugurated in 1999.