Well, they’re Scandinavian; but, they ain’t ABBA. Yes — the Finnish Death Metal band, LORDI, won the contest.
There’s a giant stadium, highly toned participants, intense rivalry and flag-waving fans from many nations. It’s not the Olympics: It’s the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual kitsch extravaganza, known for its bland dance music and bubble-gum pop, that sees acts from 24 countries face off before tens of millions of television viewers.
But in a stunning upset for the contest that launched the Swedish group ABBA, a Finnish metal band with monster masks and apocalyptic lyrics won the contest late Saturday.
The band Lordi scandalized some of their compatriots when their song “Hard Rock Hallelujah” was chosen to represent the nation. At a press conference, the band’s frontman said his plan for the final was to “scream louder. And turn the amps up.”
Lordi beat an unusually eclectic 24-nation field, which ranged from the perky pop of Danish teenager Sidsel Ben Semmane and Malta’s Fabrizio Faniello to the balladry of Ireland’s Brian Kennedy and the country-pop of Germany’s Texas Lightning.
Regarded by many as the contest good taste forgot, Eurovision is adored by fans of camp everywhere.
Rock on!
Remember GWAR??
I love GWAR; but, this lot give credit to KISS.
Anyone who knows what Eurovision’s all about understands how hilarious it is that a metal band won this festival of corny pop drivel. I still can’t stop laughing about it. Go Lordi!
is it me or do they just look like klingons?
Come on…they are everything but death metal. Heavy metal maybe, but death metal ? Please…learn how to categorize music properly.
By the way, the guy who was commenting the show here on Portugal went almost crazy…i laughed a lot haha
4. Either Klingons or those weird aliens in the Scientology movie. Wait a minute–all Scientologists are aliens…
#3 They won for the same reason a black metal band here won a contest at an applebee’s:
Because the place was CRAWLING with hardcore black/death metal fans and they’re famous for trashing places if they’re either unhappy or too happy/drunk.
My friends from the Netherlands and Belgium are ready for intensive care after the final…..lol
They damn near had strokes when Lordi won. I couldn’t stop laughing, as someone said above, if you knew Eurovision’s history, you would be on the floor laughing as well.
Hey Paul…..Germany’s Texas Lightning wasn’t all that bad. They probably would be run out of Nashville, but could make big bucks in Bransen.
I like 80’s metal and Lordi is an 80’s metal band; they just happen to be playing in 2006. Not death metal by any means (Cannibal Corpse, Entombed, Napalm Death). I liked it because they weren’t barking at me **cough**Chris Barnes**cough**
I also like the description of Cookie Monster vocals as per wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_metal
My personal favorite song title is “Vomit The Soul” from Cannibal Corpse. Ah…the good old days of being very angry in high school.
I haven’t even watched the Eurovision contest in years. It’s always so cheesy and we Finns generally come in last place.
I didn’t know anything about Lordi before the contest, but did think it would be kinda cool to have such a different style enter the contest.
As it turns out, it was just the right kind of band, style and music for this year. The Finnish commentators were ecstatic.
This is IMO just great: Eurovision was badly in need of an adrenaline boost and Lordi…khm…certainly added some flavour. Maybe the next year’s contest will also bring us some surprises.
My parents were on the verge of heart-attack. I, on the other hand, was very pleased. Oh, I will always remember this years eurovision song contest.
Go Lordi! Thanks for waking up the beast in eurovision (i’m from Estonia if anyone’s wondering)
GWAR is still around. I called my wife downstairs when I was watching the show, and her first thought too was that it was GWAR. In either case, OK music but a much more impressive show/ performance art.
Some 13,000 fans packed the indoor arena…. Some 3,000 police officers were on duty for the event.
Expecting trouble?
Here in Finland metal fans are now smiling. I still can’t believe this is true. Here’s some interestin facts about promotion for Lordi.
http://users.tkk.fi/~jkaurama/sony_offers_lordi_mp3s_from_illegal_source.txt
gg Sony BMG. At least it’s not a rootkit =)