Hard Rock Hallelujah

"Hard Rock Hallelujah"
Single by Lordi
from the album The Arockalypse
Released	19 May 2006 (Finland) 5 June 2006 (UK)
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	4:09 (album version) 3:01 (Eurovicious radio edit)
Label	Drakkar
Writer(s)	Miss Awa, Mr. Amen, Mr. Kalma, Mr Kita Mr Lordi
Producer(s)	Jyrki Tuovinen
Lordi singles chronology
"Blood Red Sandman" (2004) "Hard Rock Hallelujah" (2006) "Who's Your Daddy?" (2006)
"Hard Rock Hallelujah" Eurovision Song Contest 2006 entry Country Finland Artist(s) Lordi Language English Composer(s) Mr Lordi Lyricist(s) Mr Lordi Finals performance Semi-final result 1st Semi-final points 292 Final result 1st Final points 292 Appearance chronology ◄ ""Why?"" (2005)    ""Leave Me Alone"" (2007) ►

"Hard Rock Hallelujah" is a song by Finnish hard rock band Lordi. "Hard Rock Hallelujah" was released as a single in 2006, reaching the #1 spot in Finland and also peaking in the UK Top 40 at #25.^[1]

Lordi performed "Hard Rock Hallelujah" in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest and won the contest with 292 points. It was voted as the most popular Finnish Eurovision entry in the forty years the country had participated.^[2] It held the record for most points until it was beaten by "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak of Norway with 387 points three years later. On 26 May 2009, the Finns broke a world record for karaoke songs, when about 80,000 people sang "Hard Rock Hallelujah" on Helsinki's Market Square.

Track listings

Finnish edition:

1. Hard Rock Hallelujah (Eurovicious radio edit)
2. Hard Rock Hallelujah (Album version)
3. Mr. Killjoy (Previously unreleased track)

GSA edition:

1. Hard Rock Hallelujah (Eurovicious radio edit)
2. Supermonstars (Anthem of the Phantoms)

GSA Special limited DualDisc edition:

1. Hard Rock Hallelujah (Eurovicious radio edit)
2. Hard Rock Hallelujah (Album version)
3. Mr. Killjoy (Previously unreleased track)
4. Hard Rock Hallelujah (music video)
5. Blood Red Sandman (music video)
6. Devil Is A Loser (music video)

Release as a single

The song peaked at #1 in the Finland singles chart upon its release and in addition, released as a physical single during the week starting on 5 June 2006 in the United Kingdom, on the BMG label. Download sales for the previous week were therefore eligible to be counted for the 4 June 2006 Official UK Singles Chart, which led to the single to chart at #59. It made a small but significant impact in the Top 40, peaking at #25 in the 11 June 2006 chart as the band's only single so far to ever be released in that country. The single also starts off-beat.

Videos

The video starts with a shy female hard rock fan walking through the corridors of a school, singing softly along to the song playing on her headset. She reaches an entrance to the gym, where she stands watching the cheerleaders practice. Suddenly, the lights flicker and go out, and a wind starts to blow. As the chorus starts to play, the doors to the gym are blown off of their hinges by Mr. Lordi, who enters and crushes the now-screaming cheerleaders with a wave of his hands killing them. There is a fiery flash, and the entire band appears in the centre of the gym, playing the song.

The fan is terrified, but approaches Mr. Lordi as he points to her, singing "... you will see the jokers soon'll be the new kings". He raises the dead cheerleaders as zombies, and they stand around the fan pumping their fists in the air along with the music. The end of the video shows the fan, now confident and unafraid, leading the zombies through the school halls as students run away. She stops and punches the air with her fist as the zombies rush around her towards a group of students who are trapped by the closed main doors.

The video was directed by Pete Riski. The fan is played by Leina Ogihara.

Another version was filmed specially for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 opening, directed by Antti J. Jokinen. Video starts with titles: "Arctic Circle, Finland, Rovaniemi". A troll runs through the Arctic landscape obviously showing signs of a bad limp in one of his legs. As the Troll reaches a frozen lake, it sudden shatters in a straight line behind him and as vast chunks of ice fall around him the troll changes into a wolf to pick up speed and escape death. Meanwhile, Mr. Lordi and the band play in a hut at the deep dark forest and then they set the woods on fire with the flame forming lines that become Lordi's symbol—the monster mask. The Troll changes back to his previous form once he reaches the entrance of the dark forest as night begins to fall. The troll is next seen arriving at a small village filled with orcish creatures in the dead night and as he walks down a path leading out of the village, the troll comes across a huge hut made from a tree. Entering the hut the Troll comes face to face with Mr. Lordi who seems to be the chief of the other creatures and as the band continues to play a whirlwind of flames surround them all. Mr. Lordi then unleashes his demonic wings and seemingly burns the troll by manipulating the flames, As the fire fades away Mr. Lordi and the rest of band are seen at a concert in Finland surrounded by their fans who sing the final chorus of the song along with them.

At Eurovision

As Finland had not qualified for the final in their previous attempts, the song was performed in the semi-final. Here, it was performed sixteenth, following Ukraine's Tina Karol with Show Me Your Love and preceding the Netherlands' Treble with Amambanda. At the close of voting, it had received 292 points, placing first in the 23-strong field and qualifying for the final.
In the final, it was performed seventeenth, following Greece's Anna Vissi with Everything and preceding the Ukrainian entry. Having led the voting for most of the telecast, it ultimately received 292 points again, winning the competition, breaking the previous record (held by Ruslana with Wild Dances) for the highest points tally in Contest history as well as achieving the unusual feat of emulating its semi-final performance exactly.

Commentators were generally positive about the band and the song, with even the notoriously acerbic Terry Wogan seeing it as something of a good thing for the Contest (Although he sarcastically compared Mr. Lordi to Roy Wood).

It is the second Eurovision song with the word hallelujah in its title. The first one is Israel's Hallelujah, which got first place at the 1979 Eurovision Contest

Performance

The semifinal and final performances of "Hard Rock Hallelujah" at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest were similar; the lead singer, Mr Lordi, stated before the final that the only planned changes were that "We'll scream louder. And turn the amps up." The performance took place on a fairly bare Eurovision stage, with banks of video monitors in the back displaying abstract images of fire, and the band in their usual monster costumes.

The band brought a hat including flag of Finland to the performance, wore by Mr Lordi in the actual performance and by Amen during the encore after the winning. For the final performances Mr Lordi also used two of official stage props from Lordi's live concerts, two-headed battle axe and bat-like wings. During the whole performance, the band members remained relatively stationary, with the exception of guitarist Amen, who hopped back and forth energetically.

The song had frequent use of pyrotechnics, starting with flames bursting from the stage during the song's introduction, and bursts of sparks, particularly during the chorus. The final chorus of the song had an extended pyrotechnic display, with the whole stage covered in sparks, including jets shooting from the ends of Amen's guitar and Ox's bass as they were being played, and from the two-headed axe that Mr Lordi held up above his head.

The encore performance after they were announced the winners was much simpler, as the pyrotechnics were obviously not available and Mr Lordi's wings did not unfurl.

On 26 May 2006 the Guinness World Record of karaoke singing was broken when approximately 80,000 people gathered to sing "Hard Rock Hallelujah" in Helsinki, Finland, to celebrate victory in Eurovision.^[3]

Charts

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Participation 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Artists 1960s Laila Kinnunen Marion Rung Laila Halme Lasse Mårtenson Viktor Klimenko Ann Christine Fredi Kristina Hautala Jarkko & Laura 1970s 1970 Markku Aro & Koivistolaiset Päivi Paunu & Kim Floor Marion Rung Carita Pihasoittajat Fredi & Ystävät Monica Aspelund Seija Simola Katri Helena 1980s Vesa-Matti Loiri Riki Sorsa Kojo Ami Aspelund Kirka Sonja Lumme Kari Kuivalainen Vicky Rosti & Boulevard Boulevard Anneli Saaristo 1990s Beat Kaija Kärkinen Pave Maijanen Katri Helena CatCat 1995 Jasmine 1997 Edea 1999 2000s Nina Åström 2001 Laura 2003 Jari Sillanpää Geir Rönning Lordi Hanna Pakarinen Teräsbetoni Waldo's People 2010s Kuunkuiskaajat Paradise Oskar Pernilla Karlsson Krista Siegfrids Softengine Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät Sandhja
Songs 1960s "Valoa ikkunassa" "Tipi-tii" "Muistojeni laulu" "Laiskotellen" "Aurinko laskee länteen" "Playboy" "Varjoon - suojaan" "Kun kello käy" "Kuin silloin ennen" 1970s 1970 "Tie uuteen päivään" "Muistathan" "Tom Tom Tom" "Keep Me Warm" "Old Man Fiddle" "Pump-Pump" "Lapponia" "Anna rakkaudelle tilaisuus" "Katson sineen taivaan" 1980s "Huilumies" "Reggae OK" "Nuku pommiin" "Fantasiaa" "Hengaillaan" "Eläköön elämä" "Never The End" "Sata salamaa" "Nauravat silmät muistetaan" "La dolce vita" 1990s "Fri?" "Yamma, yamma" "Tule luo" "Bye Bye Baby" 1995 "Niin kaunis on taivas" 1997 "Aava" 1999 2000s "A Little Bit" 2001 "Addicted To You" 2003 "Takes 2 To Tango" "Why?" "Hard Rock Hallelujah" "Leave Me Alone" "Missä miehet ratsastaa" "Lose Control" 2010s "Työlki ellää" "Da Da Dam" "När jag blundar" "Marry Me" "Something Better" "Aina mun pitää" "Sing It Away"
(Note: Entries scored out are when Finland did not compete)