Mr Lordi: 10 Records That Changed My Life

Features
By ( Metal Hammer ) published

King of Eurovision, Mr Lordi, picks the albums and songs that made him the ghoul he is today

Mr Lordi of Lordi performs on stage at O2 Academy Islington on April 5, 2015
(Image credit: Getty Images)

THE FIRST ALBUM I EVER BOUGHT WAS…

KISS

DESTROYER [CASABLANCA, 1976]

“I was eight. It’s awesome! It’s still my favourite album. I chose it because of the cover, but it didn’t disappoint. The feel in Destroyer is amazing. If I’d had Dressed To Kill I would have been a bit disappointed.”

THE BEST ALBUM ARTWORK IS…

TWISTED SISTER

COME OUT AND PLAY [ATLANTIC, 1985]

“It’s the concept, with the TS logo on a street. When you have the vinyl, it’s like you’re owning a piece of that street. You can open out the gatefold and Dee Snyder looks so cool and menacing there.”

THE ALBUM I WISH I’D MADE IS…

ALICE COOPER

TRASH [EPIC, 1989]

“Trash and Hey Stoopid are awesome, the writing with Desmond Child. That was the moment their stars collided perfectly. I’m a big fan of those two albums from Alice. I love a lot of his other albums too, but those… [sigh]”

NO ONE WILL BELIEVE I OWN A COPY OF…

SHAMPOO

WE ARE SHAMPOO [FOOD, 1994]

“I was a big fan of Shampoo. They were fairly big everywhere… for about five minutes. I liked the attitude, and I liked the choruses – Viva La Megababes and songs like that. I like girls singing.”

THE ALBUM I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED FOR IS…

LORDI

TO BEAST OR NOT TO BEAST [AFM, 2013]

“No band should be let out of the studio before they think it’s their best work yet. Otherwise what’s the point? If you feel ‘Well, it’s a good album, but it’s not nearly as good as our previous one’, you go back – close the door. Do some more. You have to believe it’s your best work so far. Only after five, six, seven years can you really tell, after you’ve got some distance.”

A KID ASKS ME WHAT HEAVY METAL IS. I HAND THEM A COPY OF…

TWISTED SISTER

STAY HUNGRY [ATLANTIC, 1984]

“For me, that is a perfect combination of power, melody and attitude. It’s in your face, ‘Fuck you!’ It gives you the chills – you want to raise your fist and shout along. I could say Painkiller by Judas Priest but, for me, that’s heavy metal. Dee Snyder was the first loudmouth, and he was the first to give the big finger to everybody. He was the first to stand for metal, the first defender of metal.”

THE ALBUM I BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT TO IS…

WRATHCHILD AMERICA

3-D [ATLANTIC, 1991]

“When I got my driver’s licence, that’s the album I was listening to. The song 3-D Man made me push the pedal to the metal. It’s really fucking cool. It’s fast and furious.”

THE ALBUM THAT SHOULD NOT BE IS…

NIRVANA

NEVERMIND [DGC, 1991]

“I bought the album and so guess I was part of the problem, but that and grunge in general killed the great hair metal thing that was going on. All rap and hip hop albums as well – except Body Count and all the stuff in the late 80s, but that wasn’t hip hop in my book, that was aggressive poetry. Everything that comes after that… [shudders]”

THE ALBUM I WANT PLAYED AT MY FUNERAL IS…

THE MUPPETS

THE MUPPET SHOW [PYE, 1977]

“It’s not so serious – it’s more like ‘Come on, have some fun!’ – so everyone’s still happy. Some King Diamond would do also. That would be awesome.”

THE ALBUM THAT BROKE MY HEART IS…

ROB ZOMBIE

EDUCATED HORSES [GEFFEN, 2006]

“That made me really sad, because that was really disappointing. I wanted to like it so much, and I just couldn’t. I had to give up, I don’t like it – I tried my hardest. The same thing has happened to a couple of W.A.S.P. albums and Alice Cooper albums – you want to like them but sorry, I can’t help it.”

This article originally appeared in Metal Hammer #242.