Finnish #1 Chart Hits: 1997
Ooh, I seem to be clearing these years once a month. That'll stop eventually when the charts get more hectic - but the nineties have been nice and tidy!
>> Go check it out! (1997 starts about halfway down this page) <<
As so hinted and hyped up in the previous few blog entries around this subject, we've now reached the peak years of popularity for homegrown rock music and the charts won't be the same again for a good few years. The Finnish alternative rock scene had living its golden period across the 1990s: several seminal albums saw their release in the early 1990s and they built the foundation for both the artists who released them as well as ones that were inspired by them to grow in popularity. The problem of only looking at #1 singles is that you miss out on reviewing the rest of the charts, but for a good few years they had already been signalling that these often quirky and art-oriented rock acts were breaking through to the mainstream one by one. It took one trio of former punks to cause the levee to break: the scrappy young lads of Apulanta were relative newcomers and aimed for a more direct, emotive sound, but they became a phenomenon: all four of their singles from their 1997 album Kolme became platinum-selling #1 hits. Behind them came many of their peers as well as already established acts. 1997 is a real landmark year where you can see the tide change.
Flint's Top 5 Hits of 1997
- Neljä Baritonia - Pop-Musiikkia
- U2 - Discothequé
- Tehosekoitin - C'mon baby yeah
- Scooter - The Age of Love
- Paradisio - Bailando
The Trash Can Award for the Worst #1 of the Year: Klamydia - Perseeseen
Onwards to 1998!