Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Germany has confirmed there will be a national final Unser Lied für Stockholm on February 25, 2016. Ten artists will take part and there are already a lot of rumours of the possible names but one can only wonder who wants to take part after last years scandalous finish of the final when the winner Andreas Kümmert with 78,7% of the votes withdraw and Ann Sophie, the runner up scored a flat zero points in Vienna.  This season didn't start much better when Xavier Naidoo was announced and cancelled as the represent within a couple of days thanks to protests and negative feedback.  So, who will they be? The apparently leaked list features pretty much nobodies: Benne, Boy, Cäthe, Joris, Hartman, Malky, Mia, Miu, Namika, Nmal, Olli Schulz and Wilhelm..... hey, that's 12 names..... So it might be wrong anyways. Hopefully. (Update: It is. Phew) After all this drama and string of scandals there's only one sensible thing to do.  Send Rammstein . So what's the pr...

Provinssirock in Seinäjoki is one of the biggest Finnish summer rock festivals and has been going on since 1979. Likes of David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Marilyn Manson, The Prodigy, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rammstein are among its performers over the years. This year one of the main performers was none other than Softengine, fresh from their Eurovision success with Something better and release of their follow up single Yellow house . They headlined the Rumba tent dedicated for new talents. Lead singer Topi Latukka confessed before the gig they were more nervous than before Eurovision and that it is a kind of point of arrival, after Eurovision their future plans have concentrated only on this gig.  But they didn't have to worry. The leading newspaper in Finland Helsingin Sanomat headlined the feature on them "Seinäjoki ate from their hands" and wrote (freely translated): It's worth remembereing the band comes just from there, Seinäjoki. Latukka introduced their Eurovi...

Rammstein is flying high in charts here and there once again, causing controversy with their latest video Pussy . Not particularly fan of their music but somehow I secretly like them a little bit :-) One must give credit for their balls to do things no one else has dared to do; from being arrested in the USA for their stage act and the latest video just to name a few. In their long career (since 1994) the band has remained the same without changes in members or producer, sold 18 million albums (3 of them in the USA) and has been nominated twice for Grammys. In Finland the four latest albums have made it to #1. And I have always thought they would have been a good choice for Germany and Eurovision but maybe that time has already passed in this post-Lordi era? I kinda like Reise, reise , Seeman , Ohne dich , Rosenrot and especially Du hast and Amerika that is maybe their best track so far. But they have also recorded Nicole's Ein bisschen Frieden .... And if you are a fan you can...

Rammstein enters the Finnish album chart at #1 followed by another new entry, Irina . Samuli Edelmann 's Maa on niin kaunis -Virsiä 3 climbs to #4 and Vesa-Matti Loiri's Hyvää puuta to #7. Laura Voutilainen is on the way up six places to #13 while Jari Sillanpää drops one to #24. Pentti Hietanen also drops to #20 and Maria Lund stays at #38.