Willy Bakken,

stage Stage or stages may refer to: Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly British theatre newspaper * Sta ...

and

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

willy b (24 June 1951 – 23 July 2010) was a Norwegian musician and popular culture writer. He hailed from Furnes. According to Bakken's own account, he became interested in rock music in 1963. As a guitarist he joined his first band in 1969. He released his first vinyl with the band Stangwolff in 1981. He later played in the mostly female band Crawdaddy Simone from 1983, later The Willy B Review. In 1983 and 1984 he published two volumes of Norwegian rock history, titled ''Norge i rock, beat og blues''. It has been called a "standard work". He became known for creating "rock family trees" about the fluctuating members of Norwegian rock bands. Bakken has been called a "rock archaeologist", a "rock oracle" and a living encyclopedia on popular culture. He contributed several articles to the

biographical dictionary A biographical dictionary is a type of encyclopedic dictionary limited to biographical information. Many attempt to cover the major personalities of a country (with limitations, such as living persons only, in ''Who's Who'', or deceased people onl ...

Norsk biografisk leksikon is the largest Norwegian biographical encyclopedia. The first edition (NBL1) was issued between 1921 and 1983, including 19 volumes and 5,100 articles. It was published by Aschehoug with economic support from the state. bought the rights to ...

''. He wrote for the comic magazines ''Fantomet'' (''

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The charact ...

''), ''Agent X9'' (''

Secret Agent X-9 ''Secret Agent X-9'' is a comic strip created by writer Dashiell Hammett ('' The Maltese Falcon'') and artist Alex Raymond (''Flash Gordon''). Syndicated by King Features, it ran from January 22, 1934 until February 10, 1996. Premise and publ ...

'') and ''James Bond-magasinet'' (''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

Magazine''), the rock magazines ''Nye Takter'' from 1977 to 1983 and ''Rock Furore'' from 1988 to 1994, later mostly for the daily newspaper ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

'' and the musical magazine ''Backstage''. He also issued

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

s such as ''Jello Submarine'', and ran his own publishing house Rockarkivet. In 1994 he released ''Vakre damer og blodig død'' about the history of the Norwegian pocket book, and in 1996 he chronicled the publishing of Norwegian popular magazines in the book ''Drømmenes marked''. Fredrik Wandrup had written that Bakken worked like a "professor of B culture". In 1999 he released the essay collection ''I dovregubbens hall vol. 1'', and in 2002 he released the biography ''Sten Nilsen: Et liv med farger i svart/hvitt'', about the book cover designer Sten Nilsen. When he died, he worked on a band biography about

Motorpsycho Motorpsycho may refer to: * Motorpsycho (band), a Norwegian rock band * ''Motorpsycho'' (film), a 1965 film by Russ Meyer * ''Motorpsycho Presents The International Tussler Society'', a 2004 album by The International Tussler Society * "Motorpsych ...

, a chronicle on concerts in Oslo as well as an autobiography. He had also been involved in the opening of the rock museum

Rockheim Rockheim (also called ''Det nasjonale opplevelsessenteret for pop og rock'', The National Discovery Centre for Pop and Rock, and ''Det nasjonale museet for populærmusikk'', The National Museum for Popular Music) is Norway's national museum fo ...

. He was a Christian, a

teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...

and vegetarian. He lived at

Grorud Grorud is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. The borough contains the Ammerud, Grorud, Kalbakken, Rødtvet, Nordtvet and Romsås areas. To the north of the borough is the forest of Lillomarka. The borough is the smallest in Oslo, with fewer ...

, and died from cancer in July 2010. After his death, a seminar on popular literature was held at the

National Library of Norway The National Library of Norway ( no, Nasjonalbiblioteket) was established in 1989. Its principal task is "to preserve the past for the future". The library is located both in Oslo and in Mo i Rana. The building in Oslo was restored and reopened i ...

. To the National Library, Bakken had donated much of his personal library. The collection spanned 2,500 rock albums, 5,000 books and magazines as well as 1,600 other items such as leaflets, posters and postcards. An exhibition of some of these items was held at the National Library between March and April 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakken, Willy 1951 births 2010 deaths People from Ringsaker Musicians from Oslo Norwegian rock guitarists Norwegian male guitarists Norwegian journalists Norwegian non-fiction writers Pulp fiction researchers Norwegian biographers Norwegian male writers Male biographers Deaths from cancer in Norway Musicians from Furnes, Norway Male non-fiction writers