Nightwish Performing at Eurovision qualification 2000

[Stargazer]

This is a weird day. Stuff just keeps happening. Today there was this video in my Youtube feed. No expalantions required.

 

 

[Fugazi]

Interesting story behind this one. I can't say I love the song, but it fits the required format for the contest. I don't remember what was the thought process behind the band applying for Eurovision, I would need to re-read the biography. Was it the label pushing for it, was it a "let's do this to piss them off" decision while they were all drunk... Anyway I guess it has paid off in some way, just like Floor showing up on Beste Zangers -- getting non-metal folks engaged.

[Stargazer]

I think that nobody knows for sure. We can just guess. But in hindsight, it maybe wasn’t the smartest move to push Nightwish for Eurovision so hard…

[Fugazi]

8 hours ago, Stargazer said:

I think that nobody knows for sure. We can just guess. But in hindsight, it maybe wasn’t the smartest move to push Nightwish for Eurovision so hard…

Do you think this has damaged their credibility as a metal band?

[Stargazer]

It is very difficult to simplify this subject into one statement.

Nightwish was an established band already back then (year 2000.) Maybe not super famous. I can't remember so much from that time, because I was 6 years old in the year 2000. I don't completely agree to the statement, that ALL publicitiy is good for marketing etc. But I want to point out, that there is risk promoting a new band too widely too quickly. A lead singer for a band may be, for instance, 20 years old. Young people need quite a lot of mental and other support as well. So, for a young artist, if a band encounters some kind of harsh media brutality early on, it affects mental health and other things. We have spoken about mental health for at least 20 years, right? In an outbreak, the band may not get all the support they would need, because everybody wants to secure their own side. But the band should get support of course. A good psychologist is a valuable tool at this point, for instance. I am 27 years old (and male), and I can handle myself independently in this world. Not all people survive these media outbreaks. So, if a media outbreak occurs, and, let's say two of the band members have to take a break (because of burnout or mental health reasons). They may need, for instance, 6 months of recovery. If fitting session musicians aren't found OR the fanbase doesn't recognize the new session musicians, the whole band could break up permanantly. Note, money flows into everyones pocket, as long as the band is performing and making albums etc. So after this kind of band breakout, almost all moneyflow stops basically to the wall (also to the recording company. On the other hand, let's say the singer is 20 years old and female. She is praised for 5 years and when an outbreak happens, the inbox sems to flow of only hate comments, the singer may feel somewhat "betrayed". And maybe the singer doesn't want to do any music any more, because she feels the music business is too brutal, even though she would be a reasonable artist.

Band members (and all other people and workers) are human and need quite a ot of emotional support. And also, media outbreaks can just occur just "randomly" without anybody doing anything wrong. So, people in charge need to make sure, that if a band is supported very fast and very haevily, that especially young band members get all the support they need (Not the least emotional/mental support.) I cannot say so much for the Eurovision thing, but after studying the "End Of An Era" -hassle 2005 later in life (I was 11 back then, it came form the Finnish news.), it (the End Of An Era thing) should definitely be avoided. THAT was not risk free. But I cannot point any fingers, and I won't. In these kind of situations, there is so much false or incorrect information out there, that it is really difficult to point out whose fault something was (and there are always many people and parties involved.) It is never only 1 person's fault. Everybody makes mistakes. But make less mistakes.

From the artist's side. You need to be determined that this vocation (music in this case) is really what you want to do. An artist needs passion for his/her art (I am speaking as an artist). When a storm arises, an artist without passion usually applies for a diferent job quite fast, if you know what I mean. And for an artist, no matter how much support you get, everything is not done for you. Sometimes you need to solve some problems yourself, maybe the best mixer of record company just left in the middle of the album making process and nobody knows what to do. 

Don't do extremely stupid stuff (many obstacles in this world could have been avoided this way.) Use a little bit of wit sometimes.

Answer to your last question. When you have gone through "The Fire And Flames" in your career (Nightwish in this case) I think nobody questions your credibility as a metal band (you don't have to love the music.) Even though you don't like the music or somebody's work, please have a little bit of respect for people's work. It is not too much required.

Edited November 5, 2021 by Stargazer

[Fugazi]

I see what you're getting at, it was perhaps a risky move for them and it could have backfired badly, but I wasn't there at the time and I don't know if they got lots of shit for taking part in Eurovision. If they did, it doesn't appear to have led to long-term damage, perhaps they even managed to widen their appeal beyond the usual metal crowd by doing that. In any case, it's true that at such a young age successful artists are often fragile emotionally and hardships could lead to break-ups or depression... Like for instance, firing Sami was a difficult thing to do for Tuomas, and he went and disbanded Nightwish before someone talked some sense into him. But at the same time, taking risks has also paid off for them in ways that we cannot always calculate. As for the Tarja split, I think it came as a necessity not a choice, at least the way they explained it. After a while, no amount of discussion, negotiation or compromises could make them work together smoothly, and it all had become toxic for everyone involved. I'm not saying that it couldn't have been avoided, had a number of decisions been different, but by 2005 there were probably too many years and too many bad decisions to be able to put things back and to recover innocence lost.

[Fugazi]

For the record, this performance was recorded at the Lord Hotel in Helsinki on February 12 2000, before the Wishmaster World Tour started in May.

http://natfinals.50webs.com/90s_00s/Finland2000.html

There was a singer doing backing vocals for Tarja during the live performance, anyone know who that might be?