HIM (Finnish band)
- For other uses of the abbreviation HIM, see HIM (disambiguation)
HIM (formerly His Infernal Majesty or HER in the US; see History below) is an alternative rock band from Finland. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Hermanni Valo, along with Mikko Viljami "Linde" Lindström (Lily Lazer) and Mikko Heinrik Julius Paananen (Migé Amour). After many lineup changes, the band now consists of Ville, Linde, Migé, their 3rd Keyboardist Jani Purttinen (Emerson Burton), and their 2nd drummer Mika Kirstian Karppinen (Gas Lipstick). The band is also widely recognizable by their heartagram design. It consists of a heart and a pentagram, which symbolizes the contrast between life and death or love and hate. Ville has also said that "the heartagram stands for HIM as a band, as an entity. And for love metal in general." Despite a common misbelief, HIM is not a satanic band.
History
The band released their EP in 1996, titled 666 Ways to Love: Prologue, which features the only publicly known picture of Valo's mother, Anita. They became reasonably well-known throughout Finland because of their cover of Chris Isaak's hit "Wicked Game". In 1997, they received a large amount of exposure in Scandinavia, when their first full length album was released, titled Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666.
In 2000, the band released their second full-length album titled Razorblade Romance, which was recorded in Wales. The album received a large amount of exposure in Europe, when a track titled "Join Me" was featured in the European version of the sci-fi movie The Thirteenth Floor, which reached the top of the German charts in 2000. After the European success they went on to release three more singles from the same album entitled: "Right Here In My Arms", "Poison Girl", and "Gone With The Sin".
The album also reached some US stores but HIM were not allowed to use their name for sales in the US because another American band owned the rights to that name. Therefore they changed their name to HER only for the US and Razorblade Romance. The full rights to HIM were finally bought and all HER Razorblade Romance's were discontinued and were replaced by a HIM version.
In 2001, the band released their third full-length album titled Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights. They released four singles off that album: "Pretending", "In Joy and Sorrow", "Heartache Every Moment" and "Close To the Flame". After recording Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights, three members of the group formed a rock and roll group called Daniel Lioneye. The members of that band include Linde, Ville Valo and Migé Amour.
In 2003, the band released their fourth full-length album titled Love Metal, which was well received by the United States media, in particular Kerrang magazine and also the Rolling Stone magazine. The band did not develop a wide following in the United States until the release of this album. After the release of the album, the band did a United States tour in February of 2004 and then another one later that year.
HIM released their fifth album, Dark Light on September 26, 2005 internationally and on September 27, 2005 in the USA. Songs on this album include "Vampire Heart," "Killing Loneliness," "Behind the Crimson Door" and the first single "Wings of a Butterfly". In addition, "Wicked Game" was featured on Smallville and it's soundtrack album.
Genre Controversy
The US Media in particular has frequently labeled the band as being part of the Gothic Rock subgenre. This is primarily due to the popularity of the band amongst Gothic teenagers and social groups. Valo himself has denied this statement and classifies the group as being "Love Metal". Most respectable critics like to classify the group as being Alternative Rock.
Trivia
The band's manager, Seppo Vesterinen, is also the manager of The Rasmus and has worked with Hanoi Rocks, a 1980s (though still going strong) glam rock band that was for a long time the most internationally successful Finnish band.
HIM is the favorite band of professional skateboarder Bam Margera. Bam’s house is decorated with a huge heartagram and he has the same tattoos on his lower stomach, arm and wrist as Ville Valo. HIM has appeared several times on his TV show, Viva La Bam and in his movies, CKY.
Juliette Lewis (Actress and singer for Juliette and the Licks) appeared in the video for “Buried Alive by Love”, which was directed by Bam Margera.
Discography
Studio releases
- Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 - (1997)
- Razorblade Romance - (2000)
- Deep Shadows And Brilliant Highlights - (2001)
- Love Metal - (2003)
- Dark Light - (2005) #18 US
EPs
- 666 Ways To Love: Prologue [EP] - (1996)
Live And other releases
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Mainstream Rock | UK Singles Chart | German Mediacontrol Charts | ||||
| 1996 | "Wicked Game" | - | - | - | Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 | |
| 1997 | "When Love and Death Embrace" | - | - | - | Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 | |
| 1998 | "Your Sweet Six Six Six" | - | - | - | Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 | |
| 1998 | "It's All Tears (Drown in This Love)" | - | - | - | Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666 | |
| 1999 | "Join Me in Death" | - | - | #1 | Razorblade Romance | |
| 2000 | "Right Here in My Arms" | - | - | #22 | Razorblade Romance | |
| 2000 | "Poison Girl" | - | - | #34 | Razorblade Romance | |
| 2000 | "Gone With the Sin" | - | - | #19 | Razorblade Romance | |
| 2001 | "Pretending" | - | - | #10 | Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights | |
| 2001 | "In Joy and Sorrow" | - | - | #17 | Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights | |
| 2002 | "Heartache Every Moment" | - | - | #20 | Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights | |
| 2002 | "Close to the Flame" | - | - | - | Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights | |
| 2003 | "The Funeral of Hearts" | - | #15 | #2 | Love Metal | |
| 2003 | "Buried Alive By Love" | - | #30 | #27 | Love Metal | |
| 2003 | "The Sacrament" | - | #23 | #22 | Love Metal | |
| 2004 | "Solitary Man" | - | #9 | #17 | And Love Said No: Greatest Hits 1997-2004 | |
| 2004 | "And Love Said No" | - | - | - | And Love Said No: Greatest Hits 1997-2004 | |
| 2005 | "Wings of a Butterfly" | #21 | #10 | #10 | Dark Light | |
| 2006 | "Killing Loneliness" | - | - | - | Dark Light | |
Current members
- Ville Hermanni Valo, Vocals, 1991-present
- Linde Lazer, Guitar, 1991-present
- Migé Amour, Bass Guitar, 1991-present
- Gas Lipstick, Drums, 1999-present
- Emerson Burton, Keyboards, 2001-present
Former members
- Antto Einari Melasniemi, Keyboards, 1994-1998
- Jussi-Miko "Juska" Salminen alias Zoltan Pluto, Keyboards, 1998-2000
- Juhana Tuomas "Pätkä" Rantala, Drums, 1994-1999