Trivia / Bathory

• Breakup Breakout: Jonas Åkerlund. See The Pete Best below.
• Creator Backlash: The reason for Bathory's abrupt shift to grungy Thrash Metal/Groove Metal in the mid '90s was partially because of Quorthon's dislike of the rather, ahem, controversial second wave of black metal (which was spearheaded by the likes of Mayhem and Burzum) that he helped to inspire musically, and his desire to intentionally alienate them.
• Died During Production: Quorthon passed away on June 3rd, 2004, just a year after the release of Nordland II. He was in the process of working on the follow-up penultimate album of the Nordland trilogy, Nordland III, but it would never see the light of day.
• False Credit: Bathory for many years were, according to their album credits, a trio consisting of vocalist/guitarist Quorthon, bassist Kothaar, and drummer Vvornth. Nowadays, however, it's well known that the latter two band members never existed at all, with bass and drum parts on the albums actually being the work of either Quorthon or uncredited session musicians, with friends of Quorthon's being used in band photos to sell the illusion of Kothaar and Vvornth's existence.
• Follow the Leader/Fountain of Expies: More than any other band in black metal (even Mayhem). Quorthon not only influenced the direction black metal's first and second waves would follow, he also helped pioneer the Viking metal style with Blood, Fire, Death and Hammerheart, and influenced much of extreme metal in general as one of its earliest trailblazers. Few extreme bands have been copied more.
• Franchise Zombie: Quorthon originally intended to end the band with Twilight of the Gods and focus on his solo career, but decided to keep on with the band.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The video for One Rode to Asa Bay wasn't given an official home release until 2006, where it was also bundled with extra footage that didn't make the cut.
• The Pete Best: Bathory was actually started by Quorthorn, Jonas Åkerlund and Frederick Melander, but since they were only members for such a short time, you'd have a hard time finding anyone who'd actually mention the latter two when talking about the band. Interestingly enough though, Jonas went on to be a wildly successful music video director, making videos for the likes of Madonna, Iggy Pop, Smashing Pumpkins, Lenny Kravitz, Paul McCartney, Metallica, and infinitely more. This has even landed him three Grammys as well as many other awards, and he even directed 2019's Lords of Chaos, a Biopic film chronicling Norway's second-wave black metal scene.
• Reclusive Artist: Quorthon was a rather private person, which is one of the reasons Bathory garnered a strong level of mysticism during the '80s and beyond; there were no official promotional photos of Quorthon until Blood Fire Death, and in interviews he would intentionally give false, conflicting details about himself both to joke around and reinforce his mysteriousness. The band also only played live a scarce few times before becoming Quorthon's studio-only project in 1985, which further cemented its elusive and borderline mythic reputation.
  • The same is true of Quorthon's family too, as the fact that Stig Börje Forsberg, the founder of Black Mark Production, was his father and that Jennie Tebler, the former vocalist of Goth Rock band Lake of Tears who also collaborated with him on her solo album, was his younger sister was not reveled until two years after his death.
• What Could Have Been: The Nordland saga was going to span across four albums. Unfortunately, Quorthon could only finish the first two parts before he passed away in 2004.
  • Quorton had intended to end Bathory after Twilight of the Gods in order to focus on his solo albums^note Although, technically, Bathory was also his solo project, but for various reasons mentioned above, he revived it a few years later.

---