Finnish singles chart #1s: 2001
Welcome back to another round-up summary of my continuing journey through the Finnish #1 singles history. The full list and thoughts are found on RateYourMusic, with individual song reviews, but these blog posts act as handy little summaries for non-RYMers on the year's highlights.
2001 is marked by some absolutely enormous Finnish hits. No doubt this is partly major bias - we are in considerable formative years territory for me now so everything from this time period is going to sound more groundshaping and evergreen than maybe it actually was. But also, there were some genuine huge hits. A number of the Finnish songs that made it to this list were on major rotation on radio and TV, giving many of these artists involved some of their most enduring hits. And in some cases, namely Bomfunk MC's and Anssi Kela, I finally get to talk about these artists in this list after their gigantic debut album eras somehow never spawned a #1 single. It's a strong year, all things considered.
Flint's Top 5 Hits of 2001
1. Apulanta - Reunalla (2 wks at #1)
The preceding single and album lead single "Viivakoodit" (7 wks at #1) may have been the bigger hit, but anecdotally - "Reunalla" ("On the Edge") was the definitive Apulanta song of 2001. It felt like it was everywhere, its brutal fun being just ripe for the summer holidays and the Jyrki program certainly adored its video, playing it almost constantly. But to reiterate, that's a wholly subjective anecdote and I have a reason to believe it may not be entirely accurate. That's because "Reunalla" is the first Apulanta song I liked. You see, my appreciation for the band has only come with age, both on account of my changing music tastes but also my appreciation for a lot of Finnish music I used to dismiss has grown. I really didn't like Apulanta growing up because they were just too harsh for my young sensitive ears - I just didn't enjoy loud rock music with heavy riffs, at all. Apulanta being constant hitmakers was just a fact of life, but also one I didn't care for - always interrupting my enjoyment of watching those music video programs.
But "Reunalla" was the first time I felt that changing with Apulanta, and I really can't say as to why. Perhaps by 2001 I had already grown a bit, as I was certainly listening to a lot more rock music. Perhaps it was the undeniable groove of it, swinging wildly between the cryptic moodiness of the verses and the intentionally repetitive, brutalist nature of the chorus - both dark and fun, at the same time. A lot of it is also likely down to the video, featuring the trip all dressed up in uncanny valley latex masks of frontman Wirtanen (including Wirtanen himself), prancing about in their hometown of Heinola and making incredible use of weird camera angles and repeating shots. The video is a really arresting visual display despite its simplicity and definitely lent the song its own vibe, adding a kind of extra-musical context into its mood - I still think of those abruptly repeating cuts in the chorus whenever I listen to it.
Whatever it was, "Reunalla" became a little bit of a favourite: the first Apulanta song I actually remember being excited to hear when it came on the TV. It's grim and moody but also cheeky and raucous, a little bit of a smile behind its swagger. It's still my favourite Apulanta song, plain and straightforward as it may be - but it's the perfect example of how the trio's particular formula can be really effective, too.
(A short side tract about the name, given the video calls this "Reunallat" as does the album back cover. "Reunallat" means nothing and is a grammatical abhorration: the -t suffix is a plural suffix, meaning literally translated the song name would be "On the Edges" but not in a way that makes any linguistic sense. Why it's called that is because when Apulanta were finishing up Heinola 10, they noticed that every single song title on the album was a plural noun, ending in the -t suffix - that is, every single song except "Reunalla". And so, they decided to call it "Reunallat". They renamed it back to "Reunalla" for the single release just to make it less confusing)
(P.S. if this is the first time you're reading my Finnish #1 single reviews, Apulanta have been one of the biggest rock bands in Finland since the late 1990s, releasing albums almost annually with insane success consistently. This project has effectively part-time transformed into an Apulanta singles discography rate. This is why the blurb here is shorter than the other ones before - I have already talked so much about Apulanta by this point.)
2. Kwan - Late (3 wks at #1)
Finnish pop culture - for better and worse - has always had a keenness for fusion, combining ideas and elements together fearlessly and making something new out of it. Sometimes that's been a car crash, as we witnessed during the heydays of Finnish rap being synonymous with cheesy eurodance. Other times, it results in acts like Kwan who were very much one of a kind in the Finnish music scene of the early 2000s.
Kwan were formed in 2000 and though the band members are numerous, the key figures were the lead vocalists Mariko Pajalahti and Tidjân Ba. The two shared a wide vocal range, being able to both rap with a vengeance as well as croon softly and sweetly. They also shared a wonderful chemistry that was the heart and soul of Kwan - their voices both contrasted and complemented one another, being able to easily swap sides and roles in the middle of a song so that it was never a given who'd be doing which roles, and no matter what they did there was a spark between the two. They were also, to be brutally honest, a visually unique and striking duo: female rappers were still incredibly rare in Finland at this point, as were PoCs in general in the wider domestic music industry. With two rare sightings appearing side by side as an united force, Kwan couldn't help but be noticed. Having a couple of killer introductionary singles helped: the debut single "Padam" immediately made people pay attention, but it was the second preview "Microphoneaye" that really broke them through. They were dramatic and in-your-face but the seemingly regular cello and sudden melodic intervals cut through the more muscular rap sections in unexpected ways, adding a sense of surprise. They didn't really sound like anyone else in the Finnish rap scene, and it worked in their favour.
But once again, in a manner as true and tested as time, it was the ballad that gave them their first #1.
By the time "Late" became a single the debut album Dynasty was already out and had become a notable chart success, but this was the song that picked up all the stragglers who hadn't yet bought a copy (Dynasty would eventually go platinum). After the first two singles showed the group's energy and rap chops, "Late" was an intentional opposite: the focus is now entirely on those melodic elements. The bombast in the group's sound is now driving a deep sense of melancholy - and Mariko and Tidjan sell the hell out of it. Both switch to a gentler register, with Tidjan appearing as more of a narrator than a rapper in the way he delivers his rhymes. But this is Mariko's spotlight song: her longing, quietly mournful delivery in the chorus combined with that absolutely aching melody is what makes "Late" pop. It's a song that sounds like a deep moment of solitary contemplation late at night, where you know in your heart that things will be alright but you're stuck in a moment with thoughts racing and worrying. It hits something deep and beautiful - and it revealed a massively different side of Kwan to the wider public who was only listening to the singles. If it wasn't for "Late" I'm not sure they'd have become as big as they had - and similarly, if it wasn't for this song I'm sure their trajectory would have looked different as well.
But that's a story for another entry. "Late" became Kwan's first #1 single but not their last, as they rose to be one of the more prominent names of the early 2000s in Finland.
3. The Rasmus - F-F-F-Falling (8 wks at #1)
Chances are you, Dear Reader, are not Finnish and thus the moment the words "The Rasmus" are uttered, you're thinking of emo Myspace boys with black feathers in their hair, singing moody pop songs. "In the Shadows", right? One of my favourite things to do with non-Finns is to casually drop Rasmus' debut single (back when they were still called just Rasmus, no definite article) in the conversation and watch everyone's reactions. You should give it a click. I bet your reaction is great too.
Suffice to say, (The) Rasmus had a long history before their international breakthrough. The group were formed in 1994 by vocalist Lauri Ylönen (who originally was going to play the drums but his sister "forced" him to sing instead) and bassist Eero Heinonen, with guitarist Pauli Rantasalmi and drummer Janne Heiskanen soon joining in: all four were just high school kids. But they had spunk, charisma and energy and their first EP caught the attention of Warner Music Finland who signed the kids up. The debut album Peep (the one with "Funky Jam", linked above) wasn't a critical success, with many reviewers not taking the group seriously due to their young age and the rather slapdash nature of the music, but it became a small word of mouth success and eventually sold gold. The second album Playboys came out the following year and contained the band's first actual hit, the title track: the video was a regular on the generation-defining Jyrki music program and the song became a summer smash - and the critics started to warm up to the band now too, as some of the rough edges had been honed down on album #2 and the band's endless enthusiasm was starting to show potential in writing genuinely catchy songs. The real breakthrough came with 1998's Hellofatester: going with tried and tested emotional ballad single route, the string-laden "Liquid" became one of the biggest hits of the year, though never caught that #1 spot to my surprise.
After Hellofatester the band's contract with Warner finished and after half a decade of non-stop touring and recording they decided to take a break. Heiskanen quit the band to travel in India and the merch stall salesman Aki Hakala was promoted to drum duties. The quartet eventually found their new label in Sweden with Playground Music; in the process they changed their name to The Rasmus so as not to get mixed up with the then-popular-in-Sweden DJ Rasmus. Sweden has famously been the land of pop glory and so with the country's native well-oiled production machine behind them, they took to record their fourth album in Swedish studios with producers Martin Hansen and Mikael Nord Andersson - both still relatively new to the album production game. They'd become pretty popular soon, thanks to their work with this random Finnish band who'd found a second home in Sweden.
"F-F-F-Falling" was inescapable: you can see it from its chart success right there, only broken for a couple of weeks by the new Apulanta single - and even that was defeated by the song's second helping at the pole position. I was in high school at this time and suddenly my class was full of The Rasmus fans: one of them brought the "F-F-F-Falling" (god that's annoying to type repeatedly) CD single in school one day and we'd repeat-play the A-side on the class CD player at the start of every lesson before the teacher would walk in. Even my pop-hating music nerd friends were begrudgingly loving it. The video wasn't just played on music video programs - one of the TV channels began using it as an insert in-between shows whenever the scheduling had a random empty block between programs that they couldn't fill it with ads (to be fair, they also did this with other videos and not just The Rasmus, but they loved this song in particular). Meanwhile Ylönen became the number one teen heartthrob, his posters filling up the bedroom walls of teenagers everywhere. If you wanted to pick the song of 2001, there's only one option and it's this.
"F-F-F-Falling" is a giant leap ahead from The Rasmus' early days. A couple of years of experience, matured songwriting and the Swedish pop industry backing have all helped to hatch the beast that was always secretly lying within the band. The energy is still present but it's now channeled with a focus: rather than representing wild pogoing in a sweaty room, it now drives a sense of urgency and pathos on a long highway towards the sunset and freedom. Ylönen is no longer the gremlin who accidentally became a frontman, but a charismatic leader who grabs the listener by their hand and soars with them through the sky, held by the wings of that gigantic chorus that swoops in and takes lead. But it's all the little details that really showcase just how professional and serious The Rasmus suddenly are with their craft: the little production details that blip for a moment, the emotional gravitas injected even in the happiest parts, the little "uh-uh" that breaks the second verse and sticks with you. It's a masterful pop song, and 25 years later it's proven itself to be a timeless one as well: it somehow sounds fresh again, and I maybe appreciate more now as a piece of music than I did back then when it was just part of the general culture. While I love The Rasmus' early ragtag energy, this is their best song by far.
It's obvious at this stage but "F-F-F-Falling" and Into, the album it came from, turned The Rasmus into a sensation - and I likely wouldn't be wrong if I said that this era is the one closest and dearest to the hearts of all the Finns. Subsequent singles were a success as well, and the follow-up single "Chill" in particular was another inescapable mega smash. The album gobbled up awards and rewards throughout the year and eventually it would land another #1 hit as well. That's one for 2002.
4. Bomfunk MC's - Super Electric (5 wks at #1)
How have I not talked about Bomfunk MC's on this list yet? "Freestyler", the iconic pan-European hit (most sold single in Europe in 2000!), only made it to #4 in the Finnish charts despite basically being on rotation for an entire year when it first came out? The similarly smashing "Uprocking Beats" and "B-Boys & Fly Girls" weren't chart-toppers either? Well I never.
Bomfunk MC's formed in 1998, featuring Raymond Ebanks (vocals), Ismo Lappalainen aka DJ Gismo (DJ), Ville Mäkinen (bass and synthesizer) and Ari Toikka (drums) - though Ebanks and Gismo became the joint face of the group and you could've been fooled to think it was a duo project. Another key player in their story is their producer Jarkko Salovaara AKA JS-16, one of the hottest producers in Finland around the turn of the millennium: we've already heard his handiwork with Darude on this list. Salovaara's magic touch specialised in snappy, glitzy hi-fi electro and he briefly became a good name to know if you were looking for a hit. Bomfunk MC's drew their inspiration from both hip-hop and dance music and they didn't quite sound typically Finnish either, which played in their favour: their international sound managed to break them through internationally, after Finland had first fallen in love with them of course. The debut album In Stereo was a phenomenon, not only spawning "Freestyler" but reaching double platinum in a couple of years. The Bomfunks felt like a force to be reckoned with.
"Super Electric", the lead single from the difficult second album Burnin' Sneakers wasn't just a hit because it followed a hugely popular album: it slaps in its own right. There was a lot of pressure hanging on this song after the debut album's success and "Super Electric" manages to hit all the right notes - it is very identifiably Bomfunk in its attitude and sound, but they've grown from the somewhat naïve bravado of the debut album. It's less bedrooms and garages, more high-end studios and big dancefloors - but that's exactly the kind of environment that this laser-bright, razor-sharp kind of dance pop thrives in. The double chorus is madly excellent, with two sets of earworm hooks (the first part's robot vocals, the second part's synth riff) over that insistent hyperactive bass drum restlessly pounding you forward. It's glossy, in every best way possible. I just get this rush of energy every time it appears, which works very well in tandem with the video where that very same thing occurs - but I'm not going to be doing those dance moves, no sir.
The rest of the world forgot about Bomfunk MC's after "Freestyler" and merrily moved on from that one hit wonder with the funny garble vocals and fun video. In Finland, the Bomfunks enjoyed continued success. "Super Electric" wasn't the only #1 single off this album either!
5. Anssi Kela - Milla
How have I not talked about Anssi freaking Kela on this list yet???
It is very difficult to describe exactly the magnitude of a hit that Kela caused in 2000 when he arrived in the Finnish consciousness. Well, re-arrived: before the new millennium, Kela had been the lead singer and guitarist of Pekka ja Susi, which he had formed together with his brother and high school friends. Pekka ja Susi won the Rock SM band competition in 1993 and got a record deal out of it; the following year their debut single "Karhun elämää" ("A Bear's Life") garnered enough buzz that some people have called it "a small hit". The band's rise fell short - their debut album was shot down by the critics and didn't sell enough to chart at all. Soon after members started leaving, the second album sessions were abandoned after they had finished recording the lead single and the band broke up in musical differences in 1999. Shortly after, Kela started recording demos in his home and on a whim sent them to Asko Kallonen, the man who had signed Pekka ja Susi all those years ago. Kallonen was prepared to reject them but then he actually listened to them and, well...
Kela's solo debut single "Mikan faijan BMW" ("Mika's Dad's BMW") was released in October 2000 and slowly kept building in popularity until it engulfed everything, and I would've bet money I could have found the song in this list. The beat was contemporary in its hip-hop influence but the man and the guitar in front of it were made of classic singer/songwriter flair, echoing the great storytellers of music history. Because that's what Kela had decided during his short-lived limbo to strive for: to be a narrator. It helped that he came with a story as well, coming from a small town and following in the footsteps of both his father and grandfather who had both been musicians as well local heroes, and who had both died young (Pekka ja Susi was written out of the biographies altogether). Kela's debut album Nummela was released in March 2001, named after the small town he called home and the booklet of which featured photos of his father and grandfather; the songs were mostly based on the demos he had recorded at home, coming with a distinctly bedroom-fi sound but with modern production touches that made it sound both old and new. He'd tell detailed stories in each song, laying out character vignettes of lost souls in urban environments and story twists for people whose lives had taken a turn for the worse; the album's concluding number, its title track, told the story of Kela himself in a manner that immediately mythologised his own backstory. It was the country's number 1 album for 15 weeks, sold multi-platinum and is the 13th most sold domestic album in Finland of all time. Nummela was a cultural event the likes that few albums are. Even my grandmother had a copy - though she herself was born in Nummela and as my grandfather once memorably quipped, she "would've bought a heavy metal album if it came from Nummela".
"Milla" (the feminine first name, not a word) is not from Nummela, though later reissues would include it as a bonus track. Instead, it was written for and released as the promo single for the film Minä ja Morrison - a film that held some level of pop culture fame in its day but has largely been forgotten since, and even back then a good chunk of its reputation came from the fact that Anssi Kela had done its theme song. It made sense to hire Kela, a storyteller, to front a film soundtrack - who better to bring out the film's themes than a narrator? Milla is the name of the film's female lead character who (per Wikipedia) "cannot take responsibility of her own life", and the song is mostly sung from her perspective describing how she fits that description. In the ever-so-catchy chorus, the perspective switches to other characters who warn that she needs to stop and think - "Milla, hey, you have got to change".
Anyway, it's a great song and I can't really listen to this objectively. I loved Nummela when it came out, it was one of those foundational records for me that taught this little anglophile idiot that Finnish language music had some merits to it, and I listened to it intensely for a good couple of years. I got the "Milla" CD single as a present in Christmas 2001 and though it only had the titular song (no b-sides, cheapskate Finnish singles), I repeated that one track often. I don't think it's quite as great as most of the songs on the debut album but it was a good follow-up, proof that at least at that point, Kela hadn't ran out of songs. Plus, it showed a little bit of an evolution in sound. Nummela had its homespun sound, but it was only half-intentional at the time (turns out if your demos are great, why bother re-recording them?). In order to perform live Kela pulled together a band around him (which featured some of the members from Pekka ja Susi, including his brother) and on stage, the songs started rocking a little louder. "Milla" is the first sign of that on record, coming in with a lively band dynamic and all those little flourishes like the lush slide guitar parts.
Despite his insanely successful debut era priming him to be a superstar, this is the first and last time Kela will appear on this list. The difficult second album Suuria kuvioita showcased a more free-rocking sound: the lead single "1972" takes place in a class reunion and both celebrates and quietly mourns the different and unexpected paths that our lives can take us on, and it became a huge hit in its own right reaching #1 on the radio airplay lists even if not the singles chart - now, courtesy of its subject matter, it's basically nostalgia fodder for every generation ever. The album sold platinum but wasn't as astronomically successful as the debut, which Kela had been prepared - he knew he couldn't pull off the same trick again so he opted not to worry about it. But he couldn't predict just what kind of free-fall he'd end up having: none of the other singles from the album did anything and each subsequent single and album would sell less and less. The tragicomical bottom was reached when his ambitious concept album Aukio sold a grand total of 4,000 copies. Kela, at that stage, figured his career was over.
There is a happy ending to this. A few years after Aukio flopped, Kela returned to the public for the first time in a while by being one of the support acts for Eric Clapton's arena concert. Kela has described the audience's overwhelmingly positive reaction as a turning point in his life, realising that there was still some love left for him and his songs. He started making more appearances: an anniversary tour for Nummela, a select few TV appearances in different music shows and eventually signed a brand new recording contract. While working on new material, Kela had the idea to stop being ashamed to try some of the musical sounds he earnestly loved and on a whim recorded the extremely 80s-influenced "Levoton tyttö" ("Restless Girl"). He previewed the song on live TV in 2013 and 15 minutes after the performance was over, his mobile phone exploded of messages. "Levoton tyttö" became the most played song of 2013 (not a #1 single though!) and effectively turned his career over. Since then, Kela has been enjoying a comfortable second wind: his albums have taken on a decidedly more 1980s tone and whilst they're not necessarily all hits (though some have some spawned sizeable singles), they've comfortably retained his popularity and ensures his frequent tours are being sold out. He's also embraced becoming a music media personality of sorts, with his insightful and often earnest blog and social media posts as well as frequent TV appearances - and in 2017 he starred in his own TV program where each week he and a guest would cover famous Finnish hits.
So goes the rise and fall and rise again of Anssi Kela, a musician that in 2001 I was madly in love with. He's represented in this list with a song that's not one of his best or most quintessential, but a great song nonetheless.
The Metallica Award for the Worst #1 of the Year:
Eminem - Stan. I don't actually think this is a bad song, but it was a strong year and something's gotta go in this running joke of a section now that I've made it a thing. Out of anything on this list, this is probably the song I'd return to the least; the full review is on RYM but tl:dr, that Dido sample does a whole lot of heavy lifting.
And up we go to 2002, a very... interesting year in many ways.