Sunday, May 21, 2006

Finland wins the Eurovision song contest, hell freezes over

The monster rock band Lordi provided Finland with it's first Eurovision song contest victory in the 40 years it has participated in the contest. And the meteorological outpost in hell has reported a temperature of -300°C.

I wish I would have had time to write a few comments about Lordi in the weeks before last night's final, because I thought all along that Lordi had the best chance of pulling it off of all the contestants that Finland has sent to Eurovision in the last twenty years or so. Commenting something like this ("I believed in them all along, I just didn't say it") after the fact is not very convincing, and I'm sure there are now thousands of people making the same claim.

Then again, I would have wagered that Lordi makes it into the top 5, not necessarily that they win. But I felt they had a genuine chance of being placed the highest a Finn has ever placed. Not that I've ever really followed the Eurovision all that closely or cared that much, but since the perennial bad standing in the contest has been such a national trauma, this victory probably has some psychological meaning for the collective subconsciousness. Also, its not exactly bad PR for exporting Finnish metal and rock bands.

Some links to foreign press articles on the subject:
CNN: Monsters of pop take Eurovision title
CNN: Discord over 'protest' Eurovision vote
BBC: Finland celebrates Eurovision win
BBC: How horror rock conquered Europe
BBC: Eurovision's frights and delights
BBC: Finnish monsters rock Eurovision
The Observer: All hail to the lizard kings of Eurovision
Guardian: Finns rock Eurovision song contest
The New York Times: Upstart Finnish Band Wins
Bloomberg: Finland's Monster Rockers Lordi Sweep to Victory in Eurovision
Reuters: Finland wins Eurovision song contest
The Times: Satanic rock puts some fire in Eurovision
Forbes: Finns 'Scream Louder,' Shock Eurovision
CBS News: Monster Rock Rules Euro Song Contest, Finland's Lordi Shocks Continent, Literally, With Eurovision Win
Euronews: Finnish hard rockers collect Eurovision crown
Telegraph: Finnish death metal band win Eurovision
Aljazeera: Finland wins Eurovision contest

And some links to Finnish press articles:
Helsingin Sanomat: Lordi and Hard Rock Hallelujah bring it home after more than 40 years
Helsingin Sanomat: Oodi Lordille!
Helsingin Sanomat: Rovaniemellä mietitään miten viisuvoittaja palkitaan
Helsingin Sanomat: Halonen onnitteli Lordia, Vanhanen tunnustautui hevifaniksi
Helsingin Sanomat: Lordin voitosta sanottua
Helsingin Sanomat: Hirviöheviyhtye Lordi teki viisuhistoriaa
Helsingin Sanomat: Viisuvoitto toi Helsinkiin karnevaalitunnelmaa
Helsingin Sanomat: Halonen onnitteli Lordia
YLE: Tunnelmia Euroviisuista
YLE: Vanhanen: Viisujen järjestäminen kansallinen haaste
YLE: Suomi voitti Euroviisut