This would have been evident to those of you who have seen my profile.
I especially love the Heavy Metal and Gothic genres. My love for rock music stems from the fascination as to ...
"Wow! Here are guys who can actually make you listen to noise... and then have you screaming back for more".
So when Lordi, a Finnish Rock Band won the Eurovision song contest this year, it caught my attention. For those of you who don't know what is Eurovision, consider it a kind of musical analogue of Champions League where countries all around Europe send their music artists to battle it out for the top honours. Their win was especially amusing to me because I have never been able to correlate European music with rock (except for German bands). Maybe Robbie Wiiliams, Spice Girls, Boy Bands et al. are to be blamed for this. :)
Ok. Me is diverging from the my root cause for this post, viz...
What is it with rock bands and controversies?
The first argument to support the above question would be that the origin of rock bands can usually be traced back to the rebellious streak of the members, but I am not talking about the truly rebellious ones like Rage Against The Machine, Nirvana and others...
I am talking about those bands which skirt controversies as a gimmick. Take a look at Lordi themselves.
Firstly, I think they are an overrated band. Their music is very mediocre. Second, I am fine with all the monster costumes and stuff. I accept this gimmick coz that's their USP. But take a look at lyrics of the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" (which won them the Eurovision Contest )...
Not quite an angel,
Or the one that fell
When you actually listen to the song (which incidentally borrows heavily from 70s heavy metal), it sounds more like...
Not quite an angel,
The one that fell.
Clearly these guys are skirting controversy by try to say that they are devils. They tease people with their lyrics but do not accept that they are truly rebellious. That sucks.
This kind of lyrics reminds me of the iconic song "Another brick on the wall" by Pink Floyd. When accused of poisoning kids minds against education with the lines...
We don't need no education.
They wriggled out of it by saying that it meant that, that they were talking against "no education" and not trying to wean the kids away from education. What wimps!!
I have only this to say to such rock bands...
"C'mon kids. If you are truly rebellious take responsibility for it"
Oh! And while digging up information about Lordi, I came across this link by the New York Times. One of the hilarious accusations against Lordi was...
Rumors even circulated that Lordi members were agents sent by President Vladimir
Putin to destabilize Finland before a Russian coup — an explanation for their
refusal to take off their freakish masks in public.
It is amusing to see that India and Pakistan are not the the only ones to suffer from the "foreign hand" syndrome. :)
10 comments:
It was nice to read alternative opinion about Lordi. Infact there are ppl even in Finland who don't rate it that hight. But I guess that's about opinion.
And yeah there is always kind of animosity between Russia and Finland but it is not like India and Pakistan but it would be like India and Britain (if there can be).
I guess you are right about the opinion thing but tell me... Were they this big in Finland before they won eurovision? I think it is unlikely
Well they were popular. Not as much as HIM and Rasmus but yeah. Their song "Would you love a monster man" was on top of chart since its release for significant time period when it was released more than two years ago.
Hmm...
Interesting.
I have only two cribs against them.
1. I don't consider them truly rebellious (which is the way they seem to portray themselves)
2. I feel their music is kinda borrowed (or maybe I jus don't like 70s rock that much).
Heck, who am I to decide what the Finns like.
Keep Rocking Finland!!!
Hey prad,
1. How many of stuff we see today are really as good as, or as close as, to what they are being projectd as. If by projecting themselves as being rebellious they do bizz, cool. The original rock fan (like u) and the original critic (like u) can decipher what's true and what's not (like u've done).
2. And yeah, in today's world, how many really original stuff do we get to see/listen??? Many of the stuff is borrowed. Start from our cinemas! US, European, Brazilian(the recent craze) - we really have a globalized movie industry. And both the original and the not-so-original sells. Our own music?!?! ARR travels, borrows, brings back (dont mistake me - i'm one of his biggest fans, basicllay for the songs he did in the early part of his career). For yuvan, the inspiration comes from within the family. I'm not saying all the songs are lifted from somewhere, but many are. On careful analysis, one can figure out that there are so many notes which are similar to some song somewhere.
so i dont find a problem with the guys "trying" to appear and project themselves as rebellious.
If they suck, they suck! If they win, they win!!!
Coz of all these observations, I have changed my outlook towards art forms (especially Indian) to look at the entire package, rather than breaking down the thing and trying to figure out whether every bit of it is original or good.
dood...
send me the pix of the show man!!!
I was looking for Nerds on Google and came to your blog. I am from Edmond, Oklahoma and I am not a Cowboy or an Indian, but I am a Nerd.
If you like Nerd Rock, I am in a band called Grandpa Griffith. Our website is www.grandpagriffith.com. You can get to our myspace page through our website and listen to some tunes if you wish.
I enjoyed the article you wrote.
Have a good day,
Grandpa Griffith
I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing
I am reading this article second time today, you have to be more careful with content leakers. If I will fount it again I will send you a link
Hey man....I just read your article and respect your point of view...but I would say that Lordi is among the best out there...simply because they are not doing conventional music....they are promoting a mixture of metal and Shock rock...shock rock is very rare these days..atleast they are not doing music like Beaber,Britney,Linkin park,Greenday,Jazzy etc...which is highly predictable and commercial...I have heard bands from matellica,Bullet,Iron,pinkfloyd,pantera,slayer and all kinds of metal and rock but still rate them among the best simply because its not mundane....its different and not rebellious atall...listen to 'Devil is a loser'..would you call that a rebellious song..?I rate them among people like Satriani...who are one of there kind and doing great work....
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