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HIM is a band from Finland formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Viljami "Linde" Lindström, and bassist Mikko Henrik Julius "Migé" Paananen. As of 2006, they are the first and only Finnish rock band to sell Gold in the USA. The band's name was His Infernal Majesty at the beginning, but was changed to just "H.I.M." or "HIM" after people started associating the band with Satanism in Finland. They were also known as HER and HIM and HER for a brief time while in the United States and Germany, respectively.
History
HIM started out as a cover band of artists such as Type O Negative, KISS, Danzig, Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode.
After many lineup changes and a hiatus from 1991 to 1998 caused by the members' military services, the band now consists of the three founding members plus keyboardist Janne Johannes "Burton" Puurtinen and drummer Mika Kristian "Gas" Karppinen.
Their very first recorded demo, Witches and Other Night Fears (1992), has seven tracks and is rumored to only have 1 existing copy, which is kept by Ville Valo.
Their second demo, This is Only The Beginning (1995), was duel tape, and was only released in Finland. Ville Valo also played drums since they had no full-time drummer at the time. Their cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" ensured a contract with BMG Finland.
Side One:
1)Serpent Ride
2)Borellus
3)The Heartless
Side Two:
1)Stigmata Diaboli
2)Wicked Game
3)The Phantom Gate
Then, in 1996, they came out with their EP, 666 Ways To Love. Their were only 1,000 copies made and are worth up to $700 today. The women on the front cover is a picture of Ville's mother when she was young.
The band released their first full album, Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666, on November 20, 1997. The album features covers of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" and Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". After gaining popularity in Europe, particularly their homeland, with the success of their second album, 1999's Razorblade Romance, HIM broke out into the mainstream in the UK in the early 2000s. The group became more well-known in America and internationally when professional skateboarder and TV personality Bam Margera began using the band's heartagram logo and promoting them extensively on his MTV series Viva La Bam.
Razorblade Romance reached some stores in the United States, but HIM was not allowed to use their name for sales in the U.S. because another American band owned the rights to that name. Therefore, they changed their name to HER only for the U.S. and Razorblade Romance. The full rights to HIM were finally bought, and copies of the album bearing the name HER were discontinued and replaced by a HIM version. During this time, they also used the name "HIM and HER" briefly while touring in Germany.
HIM
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HIM
In 2001, before the group's third release, members of HIM formed a new band, Daniel Lioneye, as a side project. Daniel Lioneye produced hard rock/ sleaze rock music with blues-based guitar solos throughout. The band was composed of Lindström as "Daniel Lioneye" on vocals and guitar, Paananen as "Migé Amour" on bass, Valo on drums, Kai "Hiili" Hiilesmaa on keyboards, and Ike on sound effects. They released one album, The King of Rock'n Roll, in September of 2001.
In August 2001, HIM released Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights. This was the band's first album with new keyboarder Emerson Burton, the final addition to the current line-up. On April 14, 2003, HIM released Love Metal. This was the first album that did not feature singer/songwriter Ville Valo on the cover. Instead, it featured a gold heartagram, the band's well-known logo.
HIM's fifth studio album, 2005's Dark Light, became their breakout in the U.S., debuting in the top 20 of the Billboard Top 200 and spawning two major rock hits, "Wings Of A Butterfly" and "Killing Loneliness", both of which have accompanying videos. The success of Dark Light has also allowed a number of HIM's previous albums (including Love Metal) to chart in the U.S.; however, it has been given mixed reviews by critics [1].
In addition to their studio albums, HIM has released several compilations. These include the Love Metal Archives DVD, the many-disc Singles Collection, a greatest hits titled And Love Said No, and a DVD collection of their videos through 2003.
In May 2006, Valo announced in the UK magazine Kerrang! that HIM will start recording their next studio album in the summer of 2006 and release it around September or October of 2007. [2]
Heartagram
HIM is widely recognisable by their heartagram logo. It consists of a heart and a pentagram, which symbolizes the contrast or perfect balance between life and death or love and hatred, or even love and death together. Valo has said that "the heartagram stands for HIM as a band, as an entity, and for 'love metal' in general," and claims the band is a "love metal band". Many fans of the band have gotten tattoos of heartagrams or other emblems associated with the band (such as the single heart on Valo's right wrist), and fan-submitted photos of such tattoos decorated the lyric booklet for the limited edition of Dark Light.
ALBUMS/SONGS
666 Ways to Love: Prologue
1. "Stigmata Diaboli"
2. "Wicked Game" (Chris Isaak)
3. "Dark Sekret Love"
4. "The Heartless"
Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666
1. "Your Sweet Six Six Six" (Valo)
2. "Wicked Game" (Isaak) -
3. "The Heartless" (Valo) -
4. "Our Diabolikal Rapture" (Järvinen, Lindström, Valo) -
5. "It's All Tears (Drown in this Love)" (Valo) - 3:43
6. "When Love and Death Embrace" (Valo) -
7. "The Beginning of the End" (Valo)
8. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" [ Blue Öyster Cult cover] (Roeser)
9. "For You" (Lindström, Valo)
Razorblade Romance
1. "I Love You (Prelude To Tragedy)"
2. "Poison Girl"
3. "Join Me in Death"
4. "Right Here in My Arms"
5. "Gone With The Sin"
6. "Razorblade Kiss"
7. "Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart"
8. "Heaven Tonight"
9. "Death Is In Love With Us"
10. "Resurrection"
11. "One Last Time"
Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights
# Salt in Our Wounds"
# "Heartache Every Moment"
# "Lose You Tonight"
# "In Joy and Sorrow"
# "Pretending"
# "Close to the Flame" ?
# "You Are the One (Limited Edition)"
# "Please Don't Let It Go"
# "Beautiful"
# "In Love and Lonely (Limited Edition)
# "Don't Close Your Heart"
# "Love You Like I Do"
Love Metal
1. "Buried Alive By Love"
2. "The Funeral Of Hearts"
3. "Beyond Redemption"
4. "Sweet Pandemonium"
5. "Soul On Fire"
6. "The Sacrament"
7. "This Fortress Of Tears"
8. "Circle Of Fear"
9. "Endless Dark"
10. "The Path"
11. "Love's Requiem"
And Love Said No: The Greatest Hits 1997-2004
1. "And Love Said No"
2. "Join Me In Death"
3. "Buried Alive By Love"
4. "Heartache Every Moment"
5. "Solitary Man" (Neil Diamond Cover)
6. "Right Here In My Arms"
7. "The Funeral of Hearts" ?
8. "In Joy and Sorrow" ?
9. "Your Sweet Six Six Six" ?
10. "Gone With the Sin"
11. "Wicked Game" (Chris Isaak Cover)
12. "The Sacrament"
13. "Close to the Flame"
14. "Poison Girl"
15. "Pretending ?
16. "When Love and Death Embrace"
Dark Light
1. "Vampire Heart"
2. "Wings of a Butterfly"
3. "Under the Rose"
4. "Killing Loneliness"
5. "Dark Light"
6. "Behind the Crimson Door"
7. "The Face of God"
8. "Drunk on Shadows"
9. "Play Dead"
10. "In the Nightside of Eden"
11. "Venus in our blood
12. "The Cage"
13. "Poison Heart"
Members
Ville Valo
Ville Hermanni Valo is the vocalist, songwriter and frontman of the Finnish "Love metal" band HIM. He was born on November 22, 1976 at 8:28 a.m., in a small wood-house suburb of Helsinki called Vallila. Valo was born to Finnish father Kari and a Hungarian descent mother Anita. Valo is one of the founding members of HIM, a band that have gone on to enjoy success across Europe and the US. He currently lives in Finland and is known to be friends with skateboarder and 'Jackass', Bam Margera. Valo also appeared in Bam's MTV show Viva la Bam.
The somber and often introverted Valo has drawn comparisons to late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Jim Morrison of The Doors (whom Ville played in The 69 Eyes video 'Wasting The Dawn'). Ville Valo's first musical step was as a three year old bongo drummer. Aged nine, Valo attended the Pop and Jazz Conservatory in Helsinki, where he studied several different musical genres. Soon after his birth his family moved to the riverside community of Oulunkylä, where his father eventually opened a sex shop; during his late teens Ville spent a period working in the shop before launching his career in music.
As a child he was influenced by his music-loving parents, who exposed him to the songs of popular Finnish performers such as Tapio Rautavaara and Rauli Badding Somerjoki, while an older cousin introduced him to the heavier sounds of bands like Kiss, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. His interests gradually expanded to include reggae, early blues and country-oriented material such as Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Neil Young. From a young age, Valo's enthusiasm for music also took a more active form of expression, and he participated in a large number of different Helsinki-based bands: B.L.O.O.D. (1986-89), Eloveena Boys (1987-88), Kemoterapia (1989-97) and numerous other, more obscure projects.
He started out by playing bass for his band HIM, however he had to sing for their first demo as they couldn't find a vocalist. He then became full-time vocalist for them. He also plays drums and guitar on some of HIMS SONGS
Mikko Viljami Lindström
Mikko Viljami "Linde" Lindström (also known as Lily Lazer and Daniel Lioneye) has played guitar as a founding member of the Finnish alternative rock band HIM since 1991. He was born on August 12, 1976, to parents Olli and Riitta Lindström, in a suburb near Helsinki, Finland. During Lindström's childhood, his father worked as an engineer and his mother as a stewardess on Finnair, the national airline. Lindström's father has always been an avid music fan and especially loves Elvis Presley. Lindström was given a guitar at an early age, and when he was fifteen years old, he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
Lindström is known to have a particular fondness of Guns N' Roses guitar hero Slash as well as Iggy Pop, whom he was reportedly very pleased to meet at an award show. He also idolizes Steve Vai.
Some time before the third HIM release, Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights, Lindström formed his own band, Daniel Lioneye and the Rollers. They released one album, King of Rock'n Roll, in September 2001, with HIM members Migé (on bass) and Ville Valo (on drums) and two other musicians. The single "King of Rock'n Roll" is featured as the opening song for Bam Margera's hit tv series Viva La Bam.
Equipment
Lindström played a Gibson Flying V in the video for "Right Here In My Arms" in 2000. In numerous articles, he has said that he has played Gibson SGs for the last six years. He has three different models: a red SG Standard, a classic white SG Standard , and a black SG Goth. He also owns an ESP with reverse headstock and arrowhead inlays, a Les Paul, a strat shaped, and another similar to a strat but different.(Al have Duncan pick ups) Lindstrōm played an SG double neck guitar in the video for "In Joy and Sorrow" and an SG Custom with maestro tremelo (which is almost identical to the Angus Young signature SG) in the video for "Buried Alive By Love".
Migé Amour (bass)
Emerson Burton (keyboard)
Gas Lipstick (drums)
Killing Loneliness
"Killing Loneliness" was the second single released by HIM, a Finnish alternative metal band, and was released in April 2006 from their 2005 breakthrough Dark Light. The song is currently enjoying moderate rock play in the U.S..
On the May 11, 2006, episode of Loveline, Ville Valo confirmed that the song was inspired by skateboarder Brandon Novak, who blamed his heroin addiction on a need to, as he put it, "kill the loneliness". In other interviews however, he said "Killing Loneliness" is a self-explaining song, in which the loneliness gets killed by his girlfriend. Ville is known for giving other answers to the same question at a time, so the final meaning of the song is still blurry.[1]
There are two versions of the song's music video: a European and U.S. version. The U.S. version of "Killing Loneliness" was filmed in April 2006 and released in May. Making a guest appearance in the video is tattoo artist Kat Von D, known from the reality television series Miami Ink.
Wings of a Butterfly
Wings of a Butterfly", also released as "Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly", is a song by the Finnish metal band HIM. It is the second track on the 2005 album Dark Light and was released as the album's first single that year. The song reached #1 on the Finnish charts, #10 in Germany and the UK, and #20 in the U.S., making it the biggest hit so far from Dark Light. The music video, filmed at Union Station in Los Angeles, was # 1 on the Rock Countdown on MTV2 for five weeks until it retired.
Wicked Game
"Wicked Game" is a song that was originally released by Chris Isaak in 1989. It can be found on his Heart Shaped World album. Despite being released in 1989, it didn't become a hit until January of 1991, when it reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The lyrics have many interpretations: "What a wicked game to play, to make me feel this way / What a wicked thing to do, to let me dream of you"; The "wicked game" is played by a woman who appears to have tricked the singer into loving her, or a woman so captivating that the singer falls in love with her even though he wishes not to (love is itself a "wicked game"). The popular music video directed by Herb Ritts featured top model Helena Christensen rolling on the beach with Isaak. Christensen was topless through most of the video, all though clever camera angles concealed any actual nudity. Viewers still reacted to Christensen's sexually suggestive performance, and the video was later featured on MTV's "Sexiest Video of All-Time". A previous version of the video was commissioned for the Wild at Heart soundtrack, and was directed by David Lynch [1]
The song was also used in the episode of Friends, The One Where Ross and Rachel...You Know, accompanying the 'you know' moment.
Cover versions
* The Finnish band HIM remade this song, first using it in their demo, then their EP 666 Ways To Love: Prologue, then another recording on their first album Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666, and lastly on the British and American versions of their sophomore album Razorblade Romance. The last recording they made of it then reappeared on their compilation album And Love Said No - The Greatest Hits 1997-2004. With "Wicked Game" on their EP and first album, HIM gained quite a bit of fame in their native Finland. HIM frontman/singer/songwriter Ville Valo had this to say about "Wicked Game": "I went to Pasila's library and borrowed the soundtrack-vinyl of Wild At Heart and recorded it on tape. So with Linde we tried to 'learn' the song from the tape. It was kind of funny, that we learnt the song a bit wrong. We didn't hear the guitar parts well enough from that 'bad quality' tape. We also heard the lyrics wrong, and when the song was later recorded to our first EP, there were a few funny mistakes in the
Join Me in Death
"Join Me in Death", also released as "Join Me", is a song by the Finnish band HIM. Featured initially on the album Razorblade Romance in 2000 and released as a single, it is the band's best-known song in Europe, where it made HIM a household name after being featured in the sci-fi movie The Thirteenth Floor.
Four versions of the song's video exist: three "lazer versions", two of which includes different scenes from the Thirteenth Floor movie., and the fourth - "ice version", with a vague Romeo and Juliet theme also attributed to the song. This has met with controversy regarding its subject matter. "A couple of people blamed me for a suicide someone committed over here saying that 'Join Me' is an invitation to kill yourself," HIM frontman Ville Valo told the European magazine Metal Hammer in 2003. "What I was trying to do was sort of rip-off 'Don't Fear the Reaper' by Blue Öyster Cult, making a rock track of Romeo And Juliet."[1] Lyrics such as "Would you die tonight for love?" have contributed to the misconception that the song is about suicide, which Valo denies, claiming the lyrics refer to giving things up for the sake of love. "It's not about suicide, that song. It's about giving it all away," Valo told the magazine Modern Fix.[2]
"I think this is one of the weaker tracks on the album," Valo has also been quoted as saying. "The piano is nice, but maybe the song doesn't mean anything to me because it's not about real life. This is an old song?the first demo was done in January '98?and I've already gotten sick of it, because it's just the same simple thing over and over." [citation needed] The song was jokingly called the "Funny Song" by the band for a while because they never thought it was that good of a song, despite its contribution to their popularity.[citation needed]
In addition to its release on Razorblade Romance and in the film The Thirteenth Floor (though not on its soundtrack), "Join Me" was included on the Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack in 2004. The band Gregorian covered "Join Me" with Sarah Brightman on their album Masters of Chant: Volume III. Another Gregorian version exists with vocals performed by Violet.
ABOUT ALBUMS
666 Ways to Love: Prologue
666 Ways to Love: Prologue is an EP by HIM, released in 1996, only in Finland. It is produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, and was registered in Finnvox, MD and Peacemakers, Helsinki. It is their first release after a demo in 1995. Only 1,000 were produced making it worth up to $700 today.
The woman pictured on the front cover of the album, is the mother of HIM's lead singer, Ville Valo. The picture was taken when she was a young girl as a shoes saleslady in the sixties
Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666
Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 is HIM's first full-length studio album release.
Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 was produced by Hiili Hiilesmaa, who also produced their EP 666 Ways to Love: Prologue. Like that EP, this album was recorded at Finnvox, MD and Peacemakers in Helsinki, Finland. Guest vocals were provided by Sanna-June Hyde and Asta Hannula on "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "For You", respectively. A special Digipak version of the album was also released with "For You" moved to the first track. Another special edition was released in Germany with the bonus track "Stigmata Diaboli", taken from 666 Ways to Love: Prologue.
Razorblade Romance
Razorblade Romance is the second album by HIM, released on January 24, 2000. It was produced by John Fryer and distributed by the local BMG company. All songs and lyrics on the album are composed by Ville Valo.
This is the album that made HIM huge in Europe when their single Join Me in Death was featured in the sci-fi movie The Thirteenth Floor. It reached #1 on German sales charts, going platinum, and is the biggest-selling single in Finnish music history.
Razorblade Romance was released shortly after in the U.S. under the moniker "HER". There was a jazz band in Chicago named HiM who did not want to give up the rights to their name, but eventually HIM bought the rights to use their name in the United States and now can release their albums under it. The American albums were released under Jimmy Franks Recording Company, run by Jimmy Pop, singer of the Pennsylvania band Bloodhound Gang. They released the HER 'Razorblade Romance' around the Boston area, and once HIM regained the rights to their name, they rereleased 'Razorblade Romance' nationwide under Universal Records.
Multiple versions of this album exist, including the Finnish and German version with tracks one to eleven below; a German limited Digipak edition with two bonus tracks; a vinyl version in a run of 1,200 copies, released in March 2000; and a new British version in 2000 with new versions of "Your Sweet Six Six Six" and "Wicked Game"; two different U.S. versions with the British tracklisting, plus "Sigillum Diaboli" and "One Last Time" (one had a Parental Advisory label and one did not); another U.S. edition released under the name "HER" with "The 9th Circle" added; a special U.S. vinyl released in 2005 featuring the same track listing of the U.S. CD; and a few others.
Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights
Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights is the third album by HIM, which was released on August 27, 2001. This is the first album that new keyboarder Emerson Burton took part in. The Digipak version also includes two bonus songs 'You Are The One' and 'In Love And Lonely'. On November 26, 2001 a special limited "Christmas" edition was released which featured three bonus tracks: 'Again', 'In Joy And Sorrow (String Version)' and 'Pretending (Cosmic Pope Jam Version).
Love Metal
Love Metal is HIM's fourth album, released on April 14, 2003. The digipak edition of this album also includes the bonus track 'Love's Requiem'. This is HIM's first album that made the band popular to a wider public.
This is HIM's first album that does not feature singer/songwriter/frontman Ville Valo on the cover. Instead, it features the heartagram, the band's logo.
On February 1, 2005 the regular edition of this album was released in the U.S. under Universal Records licensed by Jimmy Franks Recording Company.
And Love Said No: The Greatest Hits 1997-2004
And Love Said No - The Greatest Hits 1997-2004 is HIM's first Greatest Hits album. It contains two unreleased songs: 'And Love Said No' and 'Solitary Man', the latter of which is a Neil Diamond cover. It also had a rerecorded version of 'When Love And Death Embrace' and the British version also had a rerecorded version of 'It's All Tears (Drown In This Love)'. The digipak version of this album came with a DVD with six songs live at Semifinal Club in Helsinki, Finland
Dark Light
Dark Light was Finnish Alternative Metal band HIM's fifth full length album. This album was released on September 26, 2005 internationally and on September 27, 2005 in the USA with a limited edition pre-release of 20,000 some days before. This limited edition came in a tin case with a 24 page booklet with hand written lyrics by the bands lead singer, Ville Valo, a certificate of authenticity and a key chain flash light that flashes the bands infamous Heartagram. It debuted in stores, however, with a glossy black plastic wrap covering the front, so in order to see the real cover you needed to purchase it. This album was originally supposed to be produced and mixed by Andy Wallace, an accomplished Americas producer, but vocalist Ville Valo said he made HIM sound too 'American' and they fired him, hiring Tim Palmer with whom they had worked before on Love Metal and And Love Said No. The first single released from the album was "Wings of a Butterfly" and the second single was "Killing Loneliness".
The album charted at #18 in both the US and in the UK. In Germany "Dark Light" reached #4.
"Dark Light" was the first Finnish album to sell gold in the United States. It has sold over there over 500 000 copies, and 900 000 copies worldwide.
Genre controversy
HIM's widely-debated musical style is often referred to as "love metal" by Valo and by the group's fans, while critics commonly refer to them as gothic metal or gothic rock. However, their musical style varies between albums, and songs. Ville Valo has stated that the band started as a "Black Sabbath tribute band of sorts"[3], which further solidifies the band's heavy metal leanings.
Some of the more common genres applied to their music include:
* Alternative metal [citation needed]
* Alternative rock [4]
* Goth metal [5]
* Goth rock [6] [7][8]
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