The Commercialisation of Metal

So, another metal band, Teräsbetoni, has been chosen as Finland's representative for Eurovision. While normally Eurovision is something I would never touch upon in my blog, this time is different because it is related to another topic I have wished to write about for some time: the commercialisation of metal in Finland. However, note that I am writing this around midnight; this is usually my time of most aggression. If you think this is overly critical, elitist, etc. then it probably is.

Recent years have seen some of metal's darkest moments in Finland. The first of these was Lordi becoming Finland's representative for Eurovision in 2006, only made worse by them going on to win the contest. They received huge nationwide media recognition, with even the President and Prime Minister congratulating them. There were Lordi stamps, Lordi fucking cola, and a square in Rovaniemi was named after them. They even made a Lordi movie. Despite their winning song being called "Hard Rock Hallelujah," Lordi are unmistakenly metal, and that's what bothers me. I can't dismiss them as hard rock, they are metal. A cheesy and not that good metal band, but metal nonetheless.
Some may ask why I do not find it thrilling that a band would win a pop contest with a metal song. I do not; quite the opposite, I despise it. I find it disgusting that metal should be played to a worldwide audience of millions of people when those people are waiting to hear more soulless, mainstream, commercial pop. These people know nothing of metal; they do not even deserve it. The only reason Lordi won is their idiotic masks. No self-respecting metalhead would ever put something like that on. Yet the controversy which their music and outfits spawned was what carried them on to victory, and into the mainstream. Even five-year-olds and grannies were listening to Lordi.

Now, mainstream isn't necessarily bad. I would say that even Iron Maiden is quite mainstream in Finland, and I do not grudge that, as it means they can play in bigger venues like the Olympic Stadium this summer. However, that is well-deserved mainstream, earned through years of hard work and loyal fans. Lordi took a disgraceful shortcut, and look where that got them: massive temporary success with enormous media coverage. And then what? Nothing. I haven't seen or heard of Lordi in the media for at least half a year. No one cares about them anymore. Lordi got their stamps, soft drinks, and movies, but I don't see them playing at the Olympic Stadium this summer.

Dark moment number two came about in another pop contest: Idols. Specifically, Ari Koivunen winning the Finnish Idols in 2007 by singing metal songs. He sang, for example, Iron Maiden's The Evil That Men Do, Deep Purple's Perfect Strangers, and Stratovarius' Hunting High and Low. At first, when the concert was still underway, I thought it was pretty cool to see metal in a pop contest. He was a good singer, I don't deny that. I never really thought he could win the competition, though, as I didn't believe enough of the Finnish public would like metal enough to vote for him. How wrong I was; he won the competition, published a record, and the record sold double platinum quickly. Again, mainstream success for metal in the media mainstream.

At this point someone might wonder why I care for all this mainstreamness. Why? It's because the entire genre of metal came under the spotlight this way. Metal was hailed as Finland's "national music." Yet Lordi and Ari Koivunen are not exactly the best representatives of what metal is. In fact, they represent a lot of things metal isn't. Mainstreamness, commercialisation, the "easy way" to popularity. Metal and pop don't go together; pop is the antithesis of metal. A metal band performing in a pop contest sinks to the level of those pop "artists."
Ari Koivunen and Lordi brought metal to the kids and grannies in Finland. When children in kindergarten sing along with metal and even grannies talk about it, something is seriously wrong.
This kind of mainstream media exposure did nothing to break prejudices against metal, it only amplified and diversified them. Even the serious Finnish media (eg. Helsingin Sanomat), from what I have observed, seems only to treat metal from a condescending, ironic, or satiric point of view. I am simply sick of seeing metal in the media nowadays; 90% of it is either stereotyped or otherwise negative. I hate Ari Koivunen and Lordi not for what they are as artists, but for what they have done to metal.

I fear that Teräsbetoni in Eurovision will only further this direction metal is going in the Finnish mainstream. However, I highly doubt it will win, because it doesn't have Lordi's masks. Despite this, another crappy metal band being voted into Eurovision shows that the trend is not going away any time soon.

Oh, and a short disclaimer: I had to research some of this stuff. I was not aware of "Lordi cola" earlier, for example, nor did I know how many records Ari Koivunen sold.