Before the Finnish band Lordi won the Eurovision Song Contest in May with its hard-rock anthem "Hard Rock Hallelujah," its many critics warned that the latex- wearing 합성고무재질의 옷 monster mutants 돌연변이, 변종 would embarrass Finland, inspire Satanic 사탄의, 악마의 worship and scare children by blowing up *Barbie dolls on stage. *금발에 푸른 눈의 플라스틱 인형
But after ending Finland's 40-year losing streak at the world's biggest celebration of kitsch, the demonicquintet has been transformed from national scourges to national heroes - suggesting that, even in self-effacing Finland, the winner takes all, even when he or she dresses like a chainsaw-wielding Gothic troll.
The lionizing of the former outcasts has reached such surreal heights that there are plans in the works for a Lordi postage stamp, Lordi action figures, a Lordi comic book series, Lordi commemorative coins and Lordi, the movie - a horror film starring the band members as themselves.
It is a sign of our times that a Nordic country of five million people, renowned for its cellphones, flourishing economy and generous welfare state, has come to view the former pariahs as role models and a potent source of national pride. So much so that in Finland, Lordi has entered the pantheon of one-name celebrities like Santa, Sibelius and Cher.
President Tarja Halonen, once lobbied by horrified Finns to withdraw Lordi from Eurovision, recently praised its retractable Satan wings and slasher-film inspired lyrics as "Finnish quality work." Pepsi has begun advertising its drinks in Finland with the slogan "Hard Drink Hallelujah," and Finnish magazines are publishing cut-out Lordi monster masks that children can wear at school.
Town officials in Rovaniemi, home of Lordi's lead singer (and Santa Claus), near the Arctic Circle, recently renamed a large central square after Lordi and built a wall of fame with the band's handprints.
Previously derided for polluting the morals of Finnish youth, the band's drummer, Kita, has had a youth center named after him in his hometown of Karkkila, in south Finland, while Mantasala, the birthplace of Amen, the band's guitar-playing mummy, has paid homage by erecting an abstract rock sculpture called "Hard Rock" near his old high school.
"Lordi's victory shows us that with hard work and belief in your own abilities even the greatest dreams come true," said a proud Santa himself, in a statement released from Rovaniemi.
Finnish observers say the Lordi fever sweeping the nation is part of a general sense of cultural assertion as Finland grows into its role as European Union president, basks in a high- tech economy, and sheds any complexes about what it means to be Finnish. Even Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen is solidifying his hard-rock credentials and was recently photographed with the band, with his pinky, index finger and thumb raised in a hard rock salute.
"We are now seen as the miracle of the north, the land of Nokia and high- tech, one of the most competitive economies in the world, and a country that is rocking and rolling," said Alex Stubb, a Finnish member of the European Parliament. "Any inferiority complex was something in past - and Lordi is part of that."
Tomi Putaansuu, the band's leader and lead singer, has a theory about Lordi's sudden rehabilitation. "Being a hero is easy, you just have to win the Eurovision Song Contest, apparently," Putaansuu said recently. "Until a few weeks ago the whole nation was against us totally - they did not want us to represent Finland. Now all the magazines in Finland are printing Lordi masks for children. There's not much logic going on inside. But let's face it, people are stupid."
Kita says Lordi members could barely believe their red-demon eyes after trouncing other eccentric acts, including an overly confident Lithuanian band that sang "We are the winners of Eurovision/we are. We are!"; a German country music ensemble consisting of perma-smiling men in 10-gallon hats; and a Croatian lyricist who crooned "hop, hop, hop, hop, come on, my chicken."
"We have changed the way people view what it means to be Finnish, and those people who didn't believe in us have been forced to go into hiding," said Kita, who once composed church music for children and whose character now devours a (fake) smoking canine laced in acid on stage.
Mark Fry, director of marketing at Sony BMG in Finland, Lordi's record label, says the band has broken conventional marketing paradigms in Finland by showing that eccentricity can be as successful an export as hockey or reindeers.
Since the band won Eurovision, he says, companies ranging from candlestick manufacturers to chocolate makers have been jockeying to cash in on Lordi's success. In Finland the Esso service station chain now advertises its hot dogs with the slogan "Hard Dog Hallelujah," while an outdoor furniture company wants to market garden gnomes modeled after the band.
"Lordi is a marketer's dream because they have a positive shock effect on consumers and have a fan base that ranges from teenagers to hard-rocking grannies," Fry said. "It may change the way Finnish - and Scandinavian - companies market themselves because Lordi has shown that being different can be a strength."
In order to preserve Lordi's gruesome cachet, the band's mainly blond and blue-eyed members seldom appear together in public without their costumes. And the public apparently agrees: In June, after the Finnish weekly Seiska published an old photograph of Putaansuu without his mask, more than 220,000 people jammed a protest Web site, forcing the magazine's publisher to issue an apology and close its offices for the day.
The band is currently perfecting its Freddy Krueger-influenced pyrotechnics for an upcoming autumn tour of 30 European cities. In addition to smoking canines, the effects will include flying zombies, a roadie who will explode when drenched in acid and a female character based on the film "Poltergeist" whose head will spin 360 degrees.
The band's success shows little sign of waning. Their winning song, "Hard Rock Hallelujah," has topped the charts for 11 weeks in Finland and their album, The Arockalypse, has been in the top 10 in Germany, Austria, and Sweden. But Kita, the drummer, says Lordi is bracing for the inevitable backlash. "Some people are getting tired of Lordi, they say the monsters are getting too arrogant," he said. "If we had lost, they would have blamed it on Lordi, but because we won, Finland is a winner."