Lordi
Eurofestival 2006

A hurricane has swept through the uptight musical world.

A hurricane made of latex and damn hard rock'n'roll. A hurricane that one hopes can bring a breath of fresh air to dispel the stench of musical decay. Take five Finns, one of whom is the president of the Kiss Army, dress them in horror costumes that could not be more garish, add a pinch of Kiss, Wasp, Twisted Sister, and Alice Cooper, and you have the Eurovision 2006 winners!!!

Against all odds, these Finnish pranksters managed to win the popular musical contest, but what is more surprising is that the unanimous chorus of approval rose in favor of people who, just by looking at them, would make you want to turn heel and run away. But after all, with a title like "Hard Rock Hallelujah" who could have thought of surpassing them? An anthem that reminds of choruses sung at the top of one's lungs, mannequins' heads cut off with chainsaws, decapitated bats, tongues that reach the chin, pyrotechnic shows, teased hair, and wild, costumed rock! This is the essence of Lordi's music: no frills or abstruse meanings, just healthy, robust, and damn rock'n'roll!
Because they might be scary to look at, but every note of their "garish metal" inspires joy, irony, the desire to prance and shake your booty, as most current rock bands seem to have forgotten. Their music is at least twenty years old, but who said it must be buried forever?

These guys seem to have rediscovered and, I hope, made others rediscover the true spirit of rock, which must be above all entertainment and fun, recalling the fabulous '80s when the Seattle grunge scene was just a sad omen and the biggest failure of human beings, such as Marilyn Manson, watched Ozzy Osbourne feast on bats and Alice Cooper dripping fake blood with open-mouthed astonishment. And if every loser in a flannel shirt or two-toned eye can come sing about his psychotic delusions or the next well-aimed gunshot under the chin, the Lordi respond with "Bringin' back the balls to rock"!!!

If there's ever going to be a rebirth of true rock, a special merit and applause will undoubtedly go to these five lunatics, who had the courage to propose the most absurd thing in front of the most unsuitable audience, and tell me, isn't this damn rock spirit? The kind that shocks but just for fun, to go BOO!!! and then laugh about it, to make fun of oneself, as Celentano would say: this is rock!