Dingo is a Finnish rock band formed around 1982, which became one of the most popular Finnish bands in history.Lindfors, Jukka; Matilainen, Ville: "Tääl on kovat dingot menossa" - porilaisbändi herätti 1980-luvun Suomessa ennennäkemätöntä hysteriaa, Yle 2 July 2020. Accessed on 24 July 2024.
The band's style fused Finnish melancholy with catchy rock melodies. The band was led by the frontman Pertti Neumann (also known as Pertti Nieminen). For a few years at its peak, Dingo was one of the most popular Finnish rock bands and caused a phenomenon called "Dingomania" all over Finland. The band's popularity was most prominent among teenage girls, although the band had listeners in all age groups.Bruun, Seppo; Lindfors, Jukka; Luoto, Santtu; Salo, Markku: Jee jee jee. Suomalaisen rokin historia. Helsinki: WSOY 1998. .Hämläinen, Jyrki: Tähtien tuska ja kimallus. Tie, totuus ja elämöinti 1959-1993. Helsinki: Otava 1993.
Dingo's number one hit was "Autiotalo" from 1984, also released in English as "The House without a Name". A separate youth culture was formed in Finland, known as the Dingoes. Their success, however, was short-lived, and Dingo broke up in October 1986. The band regrouped in 1998 and continues to perform occasionally. The band has sold over 500,000 records in Finland.
Dingo has also released the songs "Tell Me Now" (1986), "Tobacco Road" (1986) and "House Without A Name" (1986) in English.
History 1980s Beginnings
In early 1982 Pertti "Neumann" Nieminen started forming a new band for himself after his previous band MAC had broken up.Historia: Synty, Dingomania. Accessed on 24 June 2024. Juha "Quuppa" Seitonen became the drummer for the new band and Jonttu Virta from the band Kieltolaki became the guitarist. At first, Neumann himself played the bass guitar instead of singing the vocals.Levola, Kari: Kunnian kentät. Pori: Artmix 1985. The band was first named Sous-Pierre, which was soon shortened to Soho. However, a band in the United Kingdom was already using the name Soho, so the name of Neumann's new band was changed to Dingo.
There are several different versions for the origin of the name Dingo. Neumann has later recollected that he thought of the name while reading a foreign magazine at a kiosk.Salonen, Marita: Dingon tarina, osa 1: Aitous ja vilpittömyys kosketti faneja, mutta pian suhde muuttui raivoisaksi rakkaudeksi, Kulttuuritoimitus 28 June 2020. Accessed on 24 July 2024. According to Jonttu Virta, the name Dingo came from one of the band's first songs, Nimeni on Dingo, which predated the band's name.Welling, Ari: Dingo-ilmiö on täällä taas, kiersimme kitaristin kanssa bändin alkuaikojen tärkeät paikat, Yle uutiset 5 July 2020. Accessed on 28 June 2024.
Through different phases the band reached its permanent line-up and sent a demo to a number of labels including Finnlevy, CBS, EMIHeikkilä, Mika: Muistatko vielä? Dingon ensimmäinen demo floppasi kunnolla - Tästä se johtui, Iltalehti 25 February 2024. Accessed on 29 June 2024. and Poko Rekords. Poko Rekords rejected the demo and there has been a rumour that the demo "accidentally" ended up in the wrong drawer. Hans Rautio, CBS's chief of marketing at the time, has later recollected that the reason why CBS rejected Dingo's demo was its bad quality and the vocalist's unique style which he thought still needed improvement. On the other hand, it took only one song to convince Finnlevy, Hölmöläisten laiva. The demo also contained the band's later hit "Sinä ja minä". In June 1983 Timo Lindström from Finnlevy became interested in Dingo after the band had performed at Finnlevy's talent seeking event and the band got a record deal.
Dingo recorded their first album Nimeni on Dingo before they started playing live gigs. The album sold well right from the beginning, though the band was initially in the shadow of another popular band from Pori, Yö, whose debut album Varietee had sold over 60,000 copies and instantly become number 1 on various charts. However, Nimeni on Dingo also went on to become a number one album and eventually outsold Yö's debut album. Hits on Dingo's debut album included Sinä ja minä, Levoton Tuhkimo, Lakatut varpaankynnet and Pistoolisankari.
Success years In January 1984 Dingo's song Sinä ja minä appeared on the Levyraati game show which it also ended up winning. The band's debut album Nimeni on Dingo was published in April 1984 and remained among the most sold albums in Finland for the whole year.Saarela, Tommi: Pave Maijanen. Elämän nälkä. (2nd edition) Helsinki: Tammi 2022. . Pave Maijanen was selected as the band's producer. An alternative to him would have been Jimi Sumén but Neumann ended up choosing Maijanen over him. Maijanen's role in Dingo's career has been said to have been so significant that he has even been called "the sixth Dingo".
In the 1980s Dingo became also known for Neumann's make-up and colourful outfits.Nazarenko, Salla: Neumann. Dingo-kipparin lokikirja. Helsinki: Into 2017. . Dingo's style of dressing was mainly influenced by the earlier band Hanoi Rocks.Dingo: Parhaat, liner notes. The make-up and colourful outfits the band wore also caused opposition to the band among some circles. The band had to endure shout-outs and name calling.
Dingo's success brought them a lot of fans. Dingo gained a reputation for being idolized by many teenagers. The blonde frontman Neumann was especially idolized, causing controversy in the rock circles.
After Eve left the band and replaced by Pepe at the end of 1984, the new single "Autiotalo" was released. The single climbed to the number one position on every chart and the band reached even greater fame. Dingo was no longer considered to be a band for teenage girls only, and they found fame among older people, including the teenagers' parents.
1985 was Dingo's most successful year. In February 1985 the band was doing a photoshoot for their next album Kerjäläisten valtakunta in Agadir, Morocco.Norres, Lasse; Nurmi, Paavo (ed.): Kuunaama. Tarinoista tähdistä. Espoo: Mistake Media 2015. . In the next month the album rose to the top spot in Finnish album ranking lists.
By the time the album Kerjäläisten valtakunta was published, the number of pre-orders reached the amount of a Finnish gold record (over 50 000 copies). The album remained as a number one for three to four months and in the end sold around 190 000 copies. Every song on the album became a hit, especially the single Kirjoitan. It can be said that Dingo became an all time number one in all aspects: fame, hysteria, sales, media value and the impact on Finnish rock music at the time. They influenced several different Finnish bands and musicians such as Pyhät Nuket (the hit Enkelit sulkivat silmänsä), SIG and Pave Maijanen. Kerjäläisten valtakunta still remains the fourth-most sold Finnish album of all time.Kaikkien aikojen myydyimmät kotimaiset albumit, IFPI 2013. Accessed on 18 July 2024.
The band's huge popularity also influenced the band's income. Dingo's average gig compensation was 30 thousand Finnish markka per gig, which was three times as high as that of other Finnish rock bands.Sirén, Juhani: Dingo-opas, City 5 August 2005. Accessed on 2 April 2018. On Midsummer in 1985 Dingo earned 130 thousand markka for one single gig, which was an unprecedented amount of money for a domestic artist in Finland at the time.
"Dingo fever" The year 1984 was the year of the "Dingo fever". It was no longer a question of rock music alone, but a sociologically interesting phenomenon as well. Dingo was not only a rock band but also a corporation. The band members were seen on TV programs and on magazine covers.
The band members got their first touch of the "Dingo fever" in March 1984 when the band started touring in Evijärvi. 3,700 people who had bought a ticket arrived at the scene, many of whom started shouting and screaming upon seeing the band. This hysteria came as a complete surprise to the band. In the summer the band was signing autographs at the Pukeva store in Helsinki. The situation rapidly became chaotic when hysterical fans started accidentally knocking down shelves. In the end the director of the Pukeva store had to tell Dingo to leave the store before the hysterical fans would destroy it entirely.
According to Peter von Bagh and Ilpo Hakasalo the "Dingo fever" of 1984 to 1985 was a unique phenomenon in the history of Finnish popular culture. According to von Bagh and Hakasalo, the last time such phenomenal idol worship had happened was at the time of Elvis Presley in the 1950s and The Beatles in the 1960s.Bagh, Peter von; Hakasalo, Ilpo: Iskelmän kultainen kirja, pp. 497-500. Helsinki: Otava 1986. .
The Dingo fandom was most prominent among teenage girls. Fans wanted to come as close to their idols as possible, and the pressure caused by massive groups of people caused tens of girls to faint.Martin, Emmi (ed.): Minun Dingoni, p. 103, 114. Results of a writing and drawing competition by the Seura magazine. Helsinki: Otava 1986. The hysteria surrounding to Dingo started influencing the daily lives of the band members. They could no longer even walk around on the street without a hysterical group of fans surrounding them. "Dingo's records are being sold like Päätalo's books and girls are falling down like grandmas at Yli-Vainio's meetings." (Journalist Arvo Tuominen at the A-studio TV show in 1985.)Lindfors, Jukka: Dingomaniaa, Yle 8 September 2006. Accessed on 25 July 2024.
The hysterical fans also tried to enter the band's backstage rooms or their tour bus by force, and ran after the bus.Lehto, Oskari: Johanna oli 15, kun teinit sekosivat Dingosta, Helsingin Uutiset 20 March 2017, updated 24 April 2020. Accessed on 25 March 2018. The most enthusiastic fans set up camp around the band members' apartments in hopes of getting an autograph. There were organised trips to Pori including descriptions of the band members' homes. For example, one time when the band's drummer Quuppa was mowing his lawn, he noticed a busload of people on the street following his actions.
The band started getting frustrated with the byproducts of their huge popularity,Väänänen, Jukka: Dingon uusi tuleminen: Yhä klaani. Rumba magazine 20 May 1994. and they set limits on the number of interviews. Because of safety reasons, photographers for newspapers and magazines were no longer allowed on stage or at the backstage rooms. Dingo also set up limits on autograph sessions, and no longer stayed to give autographs to fans after their concerts. The press took this heightened security as a sign of arrogance and started writing about Dingo in a more critical tone.
At one time, the band members were brought to their concert venues in boxes, but after a few times, the fans started noticing this. The band members were in danger of suffocating inside their boxes when the fans surrounding them were blocking their air holes. There was also opposition to Dingo. At one time, a detonator for a dynamite charge was found at the footspace of the band's tour bus, connected to the wires of the bus's front lights.Seppinen, Leena: Dingon keikkabussi yritettiin räjäyttää 80-luvulla, Iltalehti 7 October 2009. Accessed on 2 April 2018.