Normaal

Normaal () was a Dutch rock band from the Achterhoek region, who sang in Achterhooks, a local variety of the Low Saxon. , 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 call to vote for it as a means of protest against the hardening situation for farmers in the country caused by the tightening of nitrogen-emission laws. The fact that this list is often called the "Chart of charts" and with millions of listeners in the country alone during the last week of the year when it is aired makes it quite impactful. Usually however, Oerend hard is the highest notation in the list, with 82 as highest and 345 as lowest notations, and was in the list every year instead of only since this event in 2019. Provided by Wikipedia