Helloween: Difference between revisions

[[File:helloween_cover.jpg|frame]]

 

 

The band has it's roots in 1978, under the name Gentry, by Kai Hansen and Piet Sielck. Sometime later, they were joined by bassist Markus Grosskopf and drummer Ingo Schiwchtenberg, and changed the name again, this time to Second Hell. There was another change in the name (Iron Fist) before the definitive took of the name Helloween. From this point, Sielck left the band. Michael Weikath, who was playing in the band Powerfool, joined them after the disbandment of his band. And so, the first line-up (and official birth) of Helloween was formed, in 1984.

 

 

Kai Hansen, foresawing the difficulties to take the lead guitar and singing roles, decided to focus just on the guitar part, and so the search for a new vocalist begun, which ended in the former Ill Prophecy singer Michael Kiske being hired. This lineup change was key in the band's success, with the albums ''Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. 1'' and ''Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. 2''.

Sadly, just as they were on the verge of breaking to a wider audience -- even flirting with American success -- the band's meteoric rise was rudely interrupted by internal strife and a string of bad business decisions. Hiring Kiske ultimately proved a double-edged sword -- his iconic work with the aforementioned ''Keeper'' albums was what set up said meteoric rise in the first place, but he then decided he wanted to move away from [[Power Metal]] towards a [[Lighter and Softer|lighter]] [[Hard Rock]], a decision which cost them the departure of Kai Hansen, who would later start [[Gamma Ray (Music)|Gamma Ray]], with Roland Grapow, from Rampage, replacing him. And to top it all, the band was also in a legal dispute with Noise Records about a bunch of nasty legal stuff, which resulted in them not being able to release anything for some time. Everything resulted in two disastrously mellow albums (''Pink Bubbles Go Ape'' and ''Chameleon'') which are best not discussed, [[Canon Dis Continuity|even by the band themselves]], and very nearly finished off the band. As a result of this, both Kiske and Ingo were sacked for the band, although for different reasons. Kiske was fired because Michael Weikath refused to work with him any further, while Ingo was released due to mental and drug-related issues.

 

 

In 1995, however, there was sad news: Ingo Schiwchtenberg was profoundly depressed and [[Driven to Suicide|committed suicide]] by throwing himself to the subway rails. This hit hard in the band, who dedicated the album ''The Time Of The Oath'' (a [[Concept Album]] about a Nostradamus prophecy) to his memory.

1999 saw the band celebrating fifteen years of music, thus it was a perfect occasion to release something. This something was a [[Cover Album]] called ''Metal Jukebox'', containing metalized covers from numbers such as [[ABBA]], [[Jethro Tull]], [[David Bowie]].

 

 

 

The final lineup change came in the form of Dani Löble, from Rawhead REXX, replacing Stefan, who left the band for [[Creative Differences]]. This lineup survives to our days, and recorded three albums (''Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. 3: The Legacy'', ''Gambling With The Devil'' and ''7 Sinners'') and a [[Lighter and Softer]] compilation album called ''Unarmed''.

[http://www.helloween.org/ The official site].

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=== The band shows examples of: ===

 

* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: "Mr. Torture", from ''The Dark Ride'', is a parody over [[Cold-Blooded Torture]] made by a man who ''sells pain''.

* [[Cool Cat]]: "Crazy Cat", from ''Chameleon''.

** [[Cover Album]]: ''Metal Jukebox''. The japanese version also has "[[Deep Purple|Rat Bat Blue]]".

* [[The Cover Changes the Gender]]: "[[ABBA|Lay All Your Love On Me]]", from ''Metal Jukebox''.

** The unfortunately-titled "Get It Up", from ''Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. 3: The Legacy''.

** "Heavy Metal (Is the Law)", from ''Walls Of Jericho''.

** "Are You Metal", from ''7 Sinners'', parodies the trope.

* [[Heavy Mithril]]

* [[The Jimmy Hart Version]]:

** "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXxBXcpQL_E&fmt=18 Revolution Now]", from ''Chameleon'', has a riff very reminiscent of "[[Red Hot Chili Peppers|Give It Away]]".

** [[Word of God]] states that Weiki had to change the melody of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7y9vh-G3y0 "Salvation"], from ''The Dark Ride'', because it sounded too much like [[Stratovarius]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxegqv87JhA "Father Time"].

* [[Letters 2 Numbers]]: "Sun 4 The World", from ''Rabbit Don't Come Easy''.

* [[Lighter and Softer]]: Michael Kiske preferred this style in general and had been pushing for it for years, finally getting his wish granted with ''Chameleon'', which got him kicked out as part of the album's backlash. He even recently released a solo album entitled ''Past in Different Ways'', which was essentially a fluffy dreamy acoustic version of every old Helloween song he had written while still with them.

The kids will say it's just a stupid lie!!! }}

** In "The Dark Ride", from the eponymous album, this line:

** "Heavy Metal (Is The Law)", aside of being a [[Heavy Meta]] hymn, has this following paragraph:

** The [[B Side]] "Les Hamburgueois Walkways" is inspired by [[Gary Moore]]'s "Parisiennes Walkways".

** The rhythm section during Weikath's solo in "Cry For Freedom", from the ''Helloween'' EP, was taken from Mania's "Shadows Under Your Eyes".

* [[Survivors Guilt]]: "Sole Survivor", from ''Master of the Rings''.

* [[Take That]]:

* [[Up to Eleven]]: If you thought Andi Deris was a [[Large Ham]] in their music videos ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8U8gjFx9Vk which he is]), try seeing them live!

* [[You Can't Fight Fate]]: "Victim Of Fate", from the ''Helloween'' EP.

 

 

== Misc tropes ==

* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: In the fourth page of the booklet of the remastered ''Walls Of Jericho'', the band takes shots at many people into the section "Into pumpkins". Then, the last part goes this way:

* [[Mascot]]: Jack-o-Lantern and Fangface; the latter went to Gamma Ray along with Kai Hansen.

* [[Power Metal]]: Credited as the [[Trope Maker]] of the European style. Some give them credit for creating power metal as a whole, but this isn't entirely accurate as the American style of power metal had been around for a couple years before Helloween released their debut.

{{quote| ''"WARNING! Everybody Who Will Be Writing HELLOWEEN With An "A" Or Tries To Distribute Pamphlets With An "A" Will Be Turned Into A Pumpkin!!!"''}}

* [[Take That]]: The fourth page of the ''Walls of Jericho'' remaster contains one towards many people. In the third and most of the fourth pages, many people receive "fangs" (in a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Mascot|Fangface]]) but the "Into Pumpkins" section has the band taking shots at many people for many reasons.