Turbonegro: Not many bands are able to go this far!

Turbonegro came together as a band in Oslo, Norway, during the winter of 1988–1989. The initial lineup was Thomas Seltzer (a.k.a. Happy-Tom), Vegard Heskestad, Pål Bøttger Kjærnes, Rune Grønn, Pål Erik Carlin and Tor-Kristian "TK" Jenssen. Seltzer and Heskestad had formerly performed in a band called "De Dype" – a noisy and subversive ensemble inspired by American rock band Butthole Surfers. Early Turbonegro continued their conceptional styles.

Turbonegro's first show was played in March 1989 at Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen, Denmark. By April, the band for the first time played their hometown, Oslo. In the following weeks, they recorded their debut single Route Zero and additional songs for their Turboloid 12" EP. Both records were released by Thomas Seltzer's label, Straitjacket Records, which he started in 1983 to release the EP of his first band Akutt Innleggelse. The first session was recorded at Nesodden Musikkverksted by Christian Calmeyer. Seltzer played bass and drums on Route Zero. An initial pressing of 50 copies came with an exclusive demo tape called Computech, featuring a cover of The Stooges' 1970.

The early pre-deathpunk Turbonegro sound featured fairly tormented and distorted noise rock (contemporary reviews compared the band's sound to Halo of Flies or early Mudhoney). Turboloid was the second and last release by the original lineup. Drummer Carlos Carrasco left to play guitar for Anal Babes.

In 1990, Route Zero was reissued by Sympathy for the Record Industry with two additional songs from the Turboloid EP. In September of that year, Turbonegro left for a three-week tour of the United States. Hours after their arrival in Minneapolis, Grønn was beaten by local denizens and, as a result, hospitalized. The band continued touring without him, but the tour was unsuccessful. Three weeks after the tour began, the band returned to Oslo.

In the winter of 1990, Seltzer reformed Turbonegro with Kjærnes and Grønn. Norwegian punk veteran Harald Fossberg, who had gained fame in the late 1970s with Norwegian punk pioneers Hærverk, was recruited as the new singer. Bengt "Bingo" Calmeyer soon joined the band on bass guitar. In the summer of 1991, the new lineup released the Vaya Con Satan 7" in the U.S., followed by their 1992 debut album of Hot Cars and Spent Contraceptives on Big Ball Records. Both the single and the CD introduced the world to deathpunk, Turbonegro's self-acclaimed genre.

The musical pre-settings were anticipating later Ass Cobra era – dark death-driven punk rock with occasional excursions into hardcore and metal, as well as a tendency to disruptive and sarcastic lyrics. Swedish broadcasting DJ Lars Aldman once described their sound as, "Radio Birdman meets Venom in an institution for sexually abused retards," and Danish Moshable magazine wrote, "One great big hunk of an album that simply barfs up the best in Scandinavian punk rock - and then slam it into overdrive. So fucking punk that it will tear you a new asshole - and then some!"

In December 1992, Turbonegro began a ruinous tour outside Norway. With money left from a grant, they went for one gig confirmed in Ålborg, Denmark, then headed south to Hamburg, Germany, where they became stranded in an unsuccessful search for an opportunity to play. After five days, the band ran out of money, but then they were able to make contacts with Gravy Train Agency, who organized several tours for Turbonegro outside Scandinavia in later years, as well as people from Crypt Records.

In late March 1993, Fossberg played his last show with Turbonegro at Sentrum Scene in Oslo. He quit due to health reasons and was replaced by Hans Erik Husby (a.k.a. Hank von Helvete), who would become their best known vocalist. With the new singer, the band was renamed Stierkampf (German for "bullfight"). They opened up for Poison Idea in Oslo and Denmark, as well as The Ramones in August 1993 at the Oslo Rock Festival.

The band's only professional release as Stierkampf was the Grunge Whore EP on Sympathy for the Record Industry. All songs on this release would resurface on their next album, with the exception of "Six Pack". Their second album "Never is Forever" (1994) was recorded by Christian Calmeyer at Nesodden Musikkverksted, and was self-released (limited to 1,200 copies) with a friend at Oslo Musikk Distribusjon. In their own words, this second album was "a tribute to Blue Öyster Cult", an attempt to dissociate from the lo-fi aesthetics of the garage. "When the rest of the punk oriented world tried hard to be lo-fi and 'real', Turbonegro as usual went the opposite way, creating a miniature suburban deathpunk opera. Seldom have pop culture, darkness and desperation blended so well." The release of this album followed their first full European Tour, which was nicknamed "Nihil Jung" and had 17 shows in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands.