Wednesday 10 June 2020

LORDI SINGS 'ROCK HARD HALLELUJAH', FINLAND WINS

Lordi won Eurovision in 2006
Today, The Grandma has been talking with The Watsons about Lordi, the Finish band who won the Eurovision Song Contest representing her country in 2006 singing Hard Rock Hallelujah.

Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 53 times since its debut in 1961.


Finland won the contest for the first time in 2006 with Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah. The country's best result before then was achieved by Marion Rung with the song Tom Tom Tom in 1973, which placed sixth.

Lordi is a Finnish hard rock/heavy metal band, formed in 1992 by the band's lead singer, songwriter and costume maker, Mr Lordi (Tomi Petteri Putaansuu). In addition to their melodic metal music, Lordi are also known for wearing monster masks and using horror elements with pyrotechnics during concerts and music videos.


The band rose to fame in 2002 with their hit single Would You Love a Monsterman?, and won the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with their song Hard Rock Hallelujah.

Before talking about Lordi, The Grandma has offered a new Cambridge Key English Test A2 Example to The Watsons.

  

Lordi has toured and recorded actively since 2002, and Mr Lordi upgrades the band's costumes and masks for each album. The band has gone through several line-up changes, but original members Mr Lordi and guitarist Amen are still active with the band.

Members of Lordi have stated their desire for their unmasked faces to remain private. 

Lordi was formed in 1992 as a solo project by Mr Lordi. Lordi's very first demo album Napalm Market was done in 1993.


After several failed attempts at obtaining a recording contract, Lordi signed a record deal with Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) Finland in 2002. In July, the band released their first official single, Would You Love A Monsterman?, which rose to number one in Finland and spawned a music video.

At the beginning of 2004, Lordi began recording their next studio album. This time the album was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, with whom the band got along well. This second album was first released on 14 April 2004 as The Monsterican Dream. Two songs from the album, My Heaven Is Your Hell and Blood Red Sandman, have since been released as singles. 

Lordi won Eurovision in 2006
Lordi's third album The Arockalypse was released on May 1, 2006.

On 20 May 2006, Lordi made history by winning the Eurovision Song Contest held in Athens with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah, becoming the first Finnish group to win the contest and consequently the first Hard Rock/Heavy Metal band to win; Finland would then send Power Metal band Teräsbetoni in 2008.

Lordi's music is formed by hard rock and heavy metal music elements. The band's horror-related albums, the monster costumes worn by all band members, and the horror elements of their performances are hallmarks of shock rock. The band was mostly influenced by KISS, but also by Alice Cooper and Twisted Sister.
 

Hard Rock Hallelujah is a song by Finnish hard rock band Lordi. Hard Rock Hallelujah was released as a single in 2006, reaching the #1 spot in Finland and also peaking in the UK Top 40 at #25.

Lordi performed Hard Rock Hallelujah in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest and won the contest with 292 points. It was voted as the most popular Finnish Eurovision entry in the forty years the country had participated. It held the record for most points until it was beaten by Fairytale by Alexander Rybak of Norway with 387 points three years later.

On 26 May 2006, the Finns broke a world record for karaoke songs, when about 80,000 people sang Hard Rock Hallelujah on Helsinki's Market Square.

More information: Eurovision TV

The song peaked at #1 in the Finland singles chart upon its release and in addition, released as a physical single during the week starting on 5 June 2006 in the United Kingdom, on the BMG label. Download sales for the previous week were therefore eligible to be counted for the 4 June 2006 Official UK Singles Chart, which led to the single to chart at #59.

The semifinal and final performances of Hard Rock Hallelujah at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest were similar; the lead singer, Mr Lordi, stated before the final that the only planned changes were that We'll scream louder. And turn the amps up. The performance took place on a fairly bare Eurovision stage, with banks of video monitors in the back displaying abstract images of fire, and the band in their usual monster costumes.

The band brought a hat including flag of Finland to the performance, wore by Mr Lordi in the actual performance and by Amen during the encore after the winning. For the final performances Mr Lordi also used two of official stage props from Lordi's live concerts, two-headed battle axe and bat-like wings.


During the whole performance, the band members remained relatively stationary, with the exception of guitarist Amen, who hopped back and forth energetically.

More information: Finland Abroad


Kick up a row
We're the Supermonstars
We chant the anthem of the Phantoms
Deal out the blows
Like a Supermonstar
We are humble to none.

Lordi

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