RETURN

Return is a Norwegian rock band that rose to prominence in the late 1980s, riding a hair metal wave that had lost favor by the early 1990s. Boasting multiple Top Ten hits, many of them power ballads, the group re-formed after 2000 and drew strong crowds on the live circuit. Established in Stange, Norway, in 1980, Return features Knut Erik Østgård on vocals and guitar, Steinar Hagen on guitar and vocals, Tore Larsen on bass and vocals, and Øyvind Håkonsen on drums. The band first broke through in 1985 with the single “Sheila,” then issued its debut full-length, To the Top, two years later; that Top 20 Norwegian-charting album contained both “Sing Me a Song” and the earlier hit “Sheila.” Their sophomore effort, Attitudes (1988), climbed even higher, landing inside the Top Five and yielding the Top Ten single “Change the Attitude.” Follow-up releases Straight Down the Line (1989) and Fourplay (1991) likewise reached the Top Ten, delivering the respective hits “Can You Forgive Me?” and “Tell Me.” Although V (1992) produced another major single, “Take This Heart,” it peaked at only number 17 and signaled a steep decline in popularity. With alternative rock reshaping the mainstream landscape, Return disbanded for the rest of the decade. At the start of the new millennium they issued the chart-topping retrospective The Best of Return (2000) alongside the live set Return Live (2000), accompanied by a string of reunion shows. Five years afterward came the first new studio album in more than a decade, the self-titled Return (2005), which barely entered the Top 40 and failed to generate notable singles. A further compilation, the double-disc Best of...Both Worlds (2008), appeared a few years later.