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Monsters of Pop Take Eurovision Title
ATHENS, Greece -- There's a giant stadium, highly toned participants, intense rivalry and flag-waving fans from many nations. It's not the Olympics: It's the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual kitsch extravaganza, known for its bland dance music and bubble-gum pop, that sees acts from 24 countries face off before tens of millions of television viewers.

But in a stunning upset for the contest that launched the Swedish group ABBA, a Finnish metal band with monster masks and apocalyptic lyrics won the contest late Saturday. The band Lordi scandalized some of their compatriots when their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" was chosen to represent the nation.

 At a press conference, the band's frontman said his plan for the final was to "scream louder. And turn the amps up." Combining crunchy guitars, a catchy chorus and mock-demonic imagery, Lordi is reminiscent of U.S. '70s stars KISS -- an acknowledged inspiration of Mr. Lordi.
CNN.com, May 21, 2006


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"A Stunning Upset" Sets A New Musical Tone
Category: CULTURAL TRENDS
By: Pete Kendall, May 21, 2006
In the fall of 1968, as the secondary stock bull market was preparing to enter its top, 'Heavy Metal' music entered the scene, as hits by Iron Butterfly, Deep Purple and Steppenwolf all entered the charts concurrently. The sudden popularity of this new style at the bottom of the correction preceding the final peak foreshadowed the stock market top.
The Elliott Wave Theorist, August 1985

Here's more info on the Eurovision contest and it's aftermath:
Discord Over 'Protest' Eurovision Vote
"Hard Rock Hallelujah" may have triumphed over "Never Let You Go" but, for some Russians, Eurovision was a scandal.

One day after five Finns in monster masks edged out a Russian heartthrob at Europe's largest and most-watched pop music contest, some Russians complained Sunday that the vote was skewed against their country. One aggrieved woman said the result was the latest in a series of anti-Russian moves by Europeans.

"'We are First!' That's exactly how many Russians are reacting to the results, the anchorwoman for state-run Channel One -- which broadcast the contest live -- said as the channel led its noontime newscast.
Associated Press

In this article, there's several socionomic manifestations. One is on the winner and its type of music, another is about the exclusionary feelings from Russians who believe they are being rejected by Europe (Europeans are closing their borders).

On another note, the contrasting images between the Finnish group and all other participants is quite remarkable ! From clean cut good citizens to a live demon, rather shocking.
-- Alain Laverdiere

Monstor of PopIt’s the same as the battle between Sugar Sugar by the Archies and the emerging “metal” or “acid rock” in 1969 (for more on the emergence of the late 1968 break-through in heavy metal see entry on In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida and Iron Butterfly the excerpt from the April issue of EWFF in Additional References ). As we’ve said before, the bear market is the reason that even more brazenly bearish musical forms like KISS came along in the 1970s, and it’s the reason turning up the amps and screaming out a “Hard Rock Hallelujah” is playing so well right now.

The "Monsters of Pop" headline is also enlightening. It reminds us that the "King Of Pop," Michael Jackson, the performer socionomicists refer to as the "musical hero of Cycle V" is hiding out in Dubai. If you've been following our coverage of  the swing from up-to-down in Dubai's stock market in recent issues (some of it is also included in Additional References), you are fully aware of the emotions that underpin Lordi's surging popularity.

Additional References
April 2006, EWFF
Planet Earth’s Big Stress Test
The January issue of EWFF pointed to one of the last mania outlets for the Grand-Supercycle-degree peak, Saudi Arabia, and said:
With the more established blue chip shares continuing to falter, this blatant disregard for weakening stock market leadership actually confirms EWFF’s contention that 2005 is nothing more than a supersized 1968, when an all-time high in speculative shares accompanied a smaller scale secondary peak for the Dow.
The chart showing a 28% decline from a late February peak on page 2 of the March issue of The Elliott Wave Theorist confirms this assessment. A closely related hyperbolic rise and an even steeper 53% plunge occurred in the Dubai Index (see chart on page 4 of that issue). As EWT asserted, these rumblings are not likely to remain distant for long. The depth of the link to 1968 is underscored by a Fidelity Investment advertisement for its International Discovery Fund, which displays the fund’s latest performance numbers against a psychedelic, flower-power cartoon background a la Peter Max. The ad features iron butterfly’s 1968 hit, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” a song that accompanied the stock market top in 1968. The Elliott Wave Theorist explained the importance of this and other heavy metal progenitors way back in 1985:
Then in the fall of 1968, as the secondary stock bull market was preparing to enter its top, ‘heavy metal’ music entered the scene, as hits by iron butterfly, Deep Purple and Steppenwolf all entered the charts concurrently. The sudden popularity of this new style foreshadowed the stock market top in December 1968.
Fidelity isn’t one of the world’s largest mutual fund families for nothing. It knows how to harvest the fruits of a peak social mood. In this case, the parallel to 1968 comes with an ironic twist. Fidelity is using the counter-culture ethos of that era to promote the establishment practice of buying stocks. As EWFF has said many times before, average investors buy foreign shares only at the end of a long rise. The ad is a massive sell signal because it shows how totally established the once-risky practice of investing in international stocks is.
While the set-up has much in common with 1968, other factors suggest that the extent and speed of the upcoming decline will be more like that of 1929-1932. One literally massive piece of evidence is the construction of the world’s tallest building in Dubai (for more on this see the Cultural Trends section below). Another screaming parallel is the response to the initial plunge in Dubai and other once-remote financial outposts. The chief investment strategist for a major Wall Street firm termed the Dubai’s 53% collapse “an adjustment phase” and told a Dubai daily newspaper, “We believe that Dubai is the Shanghai and Hong Kong of the Middle East.” He’d better hope not. The Shanghai Stock Index remains down 42% from its bull market peak nearly five years ago, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is still down 13% from a peak in March 2000. Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal reports, “Analysts say the selloff in the Gulf shows few signs of spilling over broadly.” It’s a global “What, me worry?” in a mad world.
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