There's no need to be unhappy in Finland!
August 26, 2007 8:04 PM Subscribe
I'ts fun to stay at the... N-M-K-Y!
The opening shot of the keyboard player alone is worth the price of admission. And so what if Gregorius couldn't carry a tune in a bucket? He's singing in Finnish, anyway, which is already an impossible feat.
Oh, and excellent use of the shortshorts tag.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:11 PM on August 26, 2007
Oh, and excellent use of the shortshorts tag.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:11 PM on August 26, 2007
Wow... something GAYER than the Village People!
not gayist
posted by papakwanz at 8:16 PM on August 26, 2007
not gayist
posted by papakwanz at 8:16 PM on August 26, 2007
Just goes to show that Pekka Pohjola (bass) can do no wrong.
posted by Sailormom at 8:20 PM on August 26, 2007
posted by Sailormom at 8:20 PM on August 26, 2007
I love the internet. How did my parents ever get on without shit like this?
posted by billysumday at 8:22 PM on August 26, 2007
posted by billysumday at 8:22 PM on August 26, 2007
Wow, Sailormom, that's impressive: you really know your Finnish musicians!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:23 PM on August 26, 2007
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:23 PM on August 26, 2007
Man, I really need to find something that proves to me that not all of Finnish music and pop culture sucks. Everything I've seen so far leads me to believe that the entire society is tin-eared and unable to groove. That isabhell video Burhanistan linked to is alright, but I'll need far more than that to overcome this irrational belief in the incredible suckitude of Finnish offerings.
posted by jmhodges at 8:41 PM on August 26, 2007
posted by jmhodges at 8:41 PM on August 26, 2007
Also, thanks for the link, miss lynster. I enjoyed it. :)
posted by jmhodges at 8:42 PM on August 26, 2007
posted by jmhodges at 8:42 PM on August 26, 2007
I really need to find something that proves to me that not all of Finnish music and pop culture sucks
My Nokia phone has a nice ringtone.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 8:48 PM on August 26, 2007
My Nokia phone has a nice ringtone.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 8:48 PM on August 26, 2007
Me, I love the socks pulled up all the way to the knees.
Very hip, that.
I don't normally quote YouTube comments, because most of them are cretinous and wastes of everyone's time, but this one is a keeper:
Got to love the yellow & black combination with the red sneakers BUT the Village People still own the corner on GAY no matter how gay these guys are.
posted by jason's_planet at 8:57 PM on August 26, 2007
Very hip, that.
I don't normally quote YouTube comments, because most of them are cretinous and wastes of everyone's time, but this one is a keeper:
Got to love the yellow & black combination with the red sneakers BUT the Village People still own the corner on GAY no matter how gay these guys are.
posted by jason's_planet at 8:57 PM on August 26, 2007
When I'm not reading Metafilter, I'm watching The Soup, which included this as it's "Kick-Ass Clip of the Week" this week. BTW, for Finnish-language parodies of English-language songs, Aki ja Turo [in Finnish only] are kind of fun. They had a nice Finnish-language version of the Sex Pistols' hit "Anarchy in the UK" several years ago. Of course, they are no Loituma. (Apologies to Finnish Metafilterites who undoubtedly know the subject much better than I do.)
posted by smrtsch at 9:25 PM on August 26, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by smrtsch at 9:25 PM on August 26, 2007 [1 favorite]
jmhodges, the Helsinki Complaints Choir won't change your opinion of Finns, but they're pretty cool.
posted by anthill at 10:00 PM on August 26, 2007
posted by anthill at 10:00 PM on August 26, 2007
He's dressed like the Scandinavian version of Richard Simmons.
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:38 PM on August 26, 2007
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:38 PM on August 26, 2007
jmhodges: I understand why you'd think that. I'm a Finn, and stuff like this is really embarrassing and evokes an irrational "must prove to foreign strangers online that Finnish culture is not all ridiculous crap" reaction.
I'm no expert on the subject, but I think this NMKY video, the older disco tutorial, the "worst music video ever" etc. represent the zeitgeist of Finland during an era often called "Kekkoslovakia", specifically the portion of it between the late sixties and the early eighties.
Kekkoslovakia is a play on words, combining the names of the rather-too-long-time president Urho Kekkonen and Czechoslovakia. It's usually used by Finns when scoffing at the culturo-political atmosphere of the Soviet era, when Finland, though not part of the Soviet block nor communist, could be seen as heavily influenced by Soviet interests, with Kekkonen as the Soviets' trusted man. The word is invoked whenever elements of that atmosphere are seen as resurfacing in some visible facet of Finnish life.
During the Kekkoslovakia era, the USA was seen by a lot of Finns like something of a dream land, an actual beacon of freedom and kingdom of plenty in a completely non-ironic way. (Nowadays these terms are painfully ironic, and what's happening in the arrogant superpower is mostly a subject of ridicule.) These videos are sad, idolatrous, cargo cult-like attempts at replicating some sort of "U.S. Cool" in a time when our exposure to western pop culture was insignificant compared to today. And as with all cargo cults, the end results just don't work, even though I'd imagine these attempts at being all western and hip didn't seem that preposterous here back then.
It's different now, with Finland having gotten thoroughly westernized in the last two decades. Still, our country of 5+ million people collectively suffers from an annoyingly low self-esteem in the face of the world. It seems to be an unescapable feature of the Fenno-Ugric mindset.
I won't bother digging up counterexamples of decent Finnish modern (pop) culture here, but be assured that there is a nice enough quantity of it around, much of which just never enters global consciousness because of the language barrier.
As an aside, I found it troublesomely hilarious that Kekkoslovakia on Wikipedia simply redirects to the article on Finland.
posted by lifeless at 5:14 AM on August 27, 2007 [7 favorites]
I'm no expert on the subject, but I think this NMKY video, the older disco tutorial, the "worst music video ever" etc. represent the zeitgeist of Finland during an era often called "Kekkoslovakia", specifically the portion of it between the late sixties and the early eighties.
Kekkoslovakia is a play on words, combining the names of the rather-too-long-time president Urho Kekkonen and Czechoslovakia. It's usually used by Finns when scoffing at the culturo-political atmosphere of the Soviet era, when Finland, though not part of the Soviet block nor communist, could be seen as heavily influenced by Soviet interests, with Kekkonen as the Soviets' trusted man. The word is invoked whenever elements of that atmosphere are seen as resurfacing in some visible facet of Finnish life.
During the Kekkoslovakia era, the USA was seen by a lot of Finns like something of a dream land, an actual beacon of freedom and kingdom of plenty in a completely non-ironic way. (Nowadays these terms are painfully ironic, and what's happening in the arrogant superpower is mostly a subject of ridicule.) These videos are sad, idolatrous, cargo cult-like attempts at replicating some sort of "U.S. Cool" in a time when our exposure to western pop culture was insignificant compared to today. And as with all cargo cults, the end results just don't work, even though I'd imagine these attempts at being all western and hip didn't seem that preposterous here back then.
It's different now, with Finland having gotten thoroughly westernized in the last two decades. Still, our country of 5+ million people collectively suffers from an annoyingly low self-esteem in the face of the world. It seems to be an unescapable feature of the Fenno-Ugric mindset.
I won't bother digging up counterexamples of decent Finnish modern (pop) culture here, but be assured that there is a nice enough quantity of it around, much of which just never enters global consciousness because of the language barrier.
As an aside, I found it troublesomely hilarious that Kekkoslovakia on Wikipedia simply redirects to the article on Finland.
posted by lifeless at 5:14 AM on August 27, 2007 [7 favorites]
lifeless, thanks so much for your considered and informative comment. And let me just say that "troublesomely hilarious" is a brilliantly unexpected turn of phrase, and if I may be so bold, perhaps one that only a Finn would've ever come up with!
OK, maybe a Hungarian.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:32 AM on August 27, 2007
OK, maybe a Hungarian.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:32 AM on August 27, 2007
Oh, and Finnish culture watchers will note that today's BBC front page has a feature on the Finnish Mobile Phone Throwing Tournament! It's under the "Audio and Video News" banner.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:41 AM on August 27, 2007
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:41 AM on August 27, 2007
I keep watching this video. Over and over. It is absolutely perfect.
posted by billysumday at 5:43 AM on August 27, 2007
posted by billysumday at 5:43 AM on August 27, 2007
Cargo cult: good explanation lifeless. I didn't know that.
Rest assured that for most people here the only association they have with Finland is Nokia. Which is not to bad I guess.
posted by jouke at 6:22 AM on August 27, 2007
Rest assured that for most people here the only association they have with Finland is Nokia. Which is not to bad I guess.
posted by jouke at 6:22 AM on August 27, 2007
As an aside, I found it troublesomely hilarious that Kekkoslovakia on Wikipedia simply redirects to the article on Finland.
Why don't you rewrite the article?
posted by jason's_planet at 6:51 AM on August 27, 2007
Why don't you rewrite the article?
posted by jason's_planet at 6:51 AM on August 27, 2007
Not that I disagree with Mr. Lifeless whose comment was pretty much spot on, but as mentioned elsewhere this not really a serious musical performance (couple of other tidbits of information there, as well).
As a Finn-in-exile, I must say that there's quite a lot of things that just get lost in translation and stuff like this is really tedious to explain. Sure, we're supposed to serious and all that, but there's a lot of really dry humour going on which might be easily missed.
There, that was my 2 cents of "must prove to foreign strangers online that Finnish culture is not all ridiculous crap".
(bonus youtube link: for those interested in more cultural detritus from Kekkoslovakia see here. Well... maybe comedy just wasn't our thing...)
posted by phax at 7:08 AM on August 27, 2007
As a Finn-in-exile, I must say that there's quite a lot of things that just get lost in translation and stuff like this is really tedious to explain. Sure, we're supposed to serious and all that, but there's a lot of really dry humour going on which might be easily missed.
There, that was my 2 cents of "must prove to foreign strangers online that Finnish culture is not all ridiculous crap".
(bonus youtube link: for those interested in more cultural detritus from Kekkoslovakia see here. Well... maybe comedy just wasn't our thing...)
posted by phax at 7:08 AM on August 27, 2007
Martin Mull is really versatile.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:19 AM on August 27, 2007
posted by kirkaracha at 7:19 AM on August 27, 2007
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posted by miss lynnster at 8:05 PM on August 26, 2007