A revolution was started last year: Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest. It was strange in that everyone seemed to be rooting for them, yet they embodied everything which Eurovision was not. While one may consider them nothing more than a second-rate GWAR that writes songs so cheesy that they’re served with wine, this made them serious contenders for a contest that pits cheesemasters against each other. Not many people were aware that Lordi has multiple albums available, but their cult following certainly has grown in multitudes since the contest.
But what this really did for Eurovision was open the doors for rock and metal acts. Metal as a whole is far more prevalent in Europe than it is in the States; you would never see a band like Iron Maiden on top of the record charts here, but that’s exactly what they did in Sweden last month. However, Eurovision = pop, and thus it simply never thought to cross paths with any of the metal scenes.
With Lordi opening the gates for metal acts to join the kitschy contest, presumably we’ll see more news reports like this one. From Blabbermouth:
ESCToday.com reports that Swedish broadcaster SVT is planning to have HAMMERFALL or EUROPE to take part in Melodifestival 2007  the Swedish national preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest  according to Swedish newspaper Expressen. Heavy metal is popular in Sweden, and both HAMMERFALL and EUROPE, along with Melodifestivalen 2006 finalists THE POODLES are enjoying success in the charts.
The two rock bands have had discussions with SVT for the last couple of years, and are both said to be very interested in taking part. HAMMERFALL’s lead singer Joacim Cans says that some people feel that hard rock has no place in the Eurovision Song Contest, but he disagrees. “Melodifestivalen is a great opportunity to play for such a big audience,” he says. “Look at LORDI from [this year’s event] as a great example. The people of Europe wants more rock and roll in the contest.”
Martin Österdahl, the organizer of this year’s Melodifestivalen says that “we are having discussion with a wide range of artists to make the mix as interesting as possible. This means we still have to wait another few weeks before we know who the four wildcards will be.”
Hard rock won made it to the final of Melodifestivalen this year, where THE POODLES finished in a credible fourth place.
Hammerfall. Oh, my. That alone is worrisome, but not so much as…
Europe. EUROPE. “The Final Countdown” Europe. “Carrie”, “Cherokee”… these are amusing moments of the late ’80s, when hair-metal was at its peak and starting to cross the line into ridiculously stupid. It’s one miracle that they’re still around, but another entirely that they’re on the bus heading towards Eurovision.
I suppose it’s best to remember two things: one, that it’s a miracle metal has even started touching Eurovision let alone winning the crown; and two, this is infuriating to those who are angrily expecting to hear nothing but ABBA clones and watch some hot chicks shake their asses. For this, metal is triumphant. m/
