Sunday, May 21, 2006

Sally Forth! See you next year in Helsinki!


It's nice to see the extras from "Army of Darkness" have found more work.....

Congratulations to this years Eurovision song contest winners "Lordi" who won this years contest with their song " Hard Rock Hallelujah". The eponymous lead singer Mr. Lordi has miniature skulls on his kneecaps whose eyes light up red, his microphone is attached to the handle of a battleaxe and he has devil horns protruding from his head. It’s not exactly Abba. Despite their frightening appearance, there’s something really likeable about the group and the crowd really warmed to them. Lordi are described as a melodic, heavy metal band.

Eurovision is an annual event and the contest takes place in the city of the previous years winner. The contest has been ongoing since 1956 and past winners have included Domenico Modugno who won with the song "Nel blu, di pinto di blu" better known here in North America as "Volare". Julio Iglesias was a winner in 1970 and Abba were the big winners in 1974 with their song "Waterloo". The majority of contestants from this year were no different than previous years competitors and included the requisite gorgeous 20 something girls and good looking boy band types singing songs such as "why angels cry" and "together we are one" but it was to be "Hard Rock Hallelujah" sung by Lordi that was the crowd favorite.

Such an outcome to a popular singing contest would never happen here in North America. Here in North America popular music's content is driven by market as well as aesthetic forces. Pop is designed to appeal to everyone and doesn't come from any particular place or mark off any particular taste. Although not a fan of heavy metal, like it or not Heavy Metal has a huge world following and I am glad to see a group like this win as all musical tastes deserve to be recognized and validated for their listeners.

To view Lordi's winning performance from the Eurovision Competition click here It's a catchy tune!

2 comments:

Jonny Boy said...

It was class, I hadn't laughed so much for ages. And the lyrics..genius, Spinal Tap couldn't have done better!

theweescunner said...

I love that they won. Seems to have p'd off a few of the Eurovision head honchos. I think it is great. In reading the list of other contenders and "sampling" their songs they all sounded the same!