Not yet "Big in the States"
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By Jarkko Jokelainen
The worldwide march of Finnish pop music is still one vitally important destination short of an itinerary. The big fish still has to be landed: no band from these parts has managed to secure chart success in the world’s biggest music market, in the United States. Marginal victories have been won, but a place on the Billboard Top 200 lists is not easy to come by.
There has been no shortage of willing candidates. In the 1980s, in the wake of glam-rockers Hanoi Rocks, there was a small-scale westward exodus of Finnish bands, but one after another they were dashed to pieces by the American music biz juggernaut. Names like former Hanoi Rocks’ front-man Michael Monroe and the band Havana Black made promising starts before record label snafus and management problems blew things apart and sent them home disappointed.
Not even success in Europe has been a guarantee of opening doors in the States or securing the release of albums there. At the same time as Bomfunk MC’s, Darude, and H.I.M. were dominating European singles or album lists, across the Atlantic they were barely even a blip on the record labels’ radar. Right now The Rasmus are in exactly the same position, with a mountain to climb on the new continent despite relative success here in Europe.
H.I.M., too, ran into record company problems in the U.S., but their years of determined hard work are starting to pay dividends. The band now has a fervent fan base in the States and the response to gigs has been overwhelmingly positive. This augurs well for the new album to be released by Warner’s Sire label next year.
Helsingin Sanomat, first published in print 16.11.2004
More on this subject:
 H.I.M. and The Rasmus: Trying to break in America
The Rasmus are still small fish in the U.S. pond
JARKKO JOKELAINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jarkko.jokelainen@hs.fi
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