HIM

Members: Ville Valo, Lily Lazer, Mig Amour, Gas Lipstick, Emerson Burton

Active: 1995 - Present

HISTORY

HIM is a band from Finland formed in 1991 by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Viljami "Linde" Lindstr?m, and bassist Mikko Henrik Julius "Mig?" Paananen. As of 2006, they are the first and only Finnish rock band to sell Gold in the USA. The band's name was His Infernal Majesty at the beginning, but was changed to just "H.I.M." or "HIM" after people started associating the band with Satanism in Finland. They were also known as HER and HIM and HER for a brief time while in the United States and Germany, respectively.

HIM started out as a cover band of artists such as Type O Negative, KISS, Danzig, Black Sabbath and Depeche Mode.

After many lineup changes and a hiatus from 1991 to 1995 caused by the members' military services, the band now consists of the three founding members plus keyboardist Janne Johannes "Burton" Puurtinen and drummer Mika Kristian "Gas" Karppinen.

The band released their first studio album, Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666, on November 20, 1997. The album features covers of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" and Blue ?yster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". After gaining popularity in Europe, particularly their homeland, with the success of their second album, 1999's Razorblade Romance, HIM broke out into the mainstream in the UK in the early 2000s. The group became more well-known in America and internationally when professional skateboarder and TV personality Bam Margera began using the band's heartagram logo and promoting them extensively on his MTV series Viva La Bam.

Razorblade Romance reached some stores in the United States, but HIM was not allowed to use their name for sales in the U.S. because another American band owned the rights to that name. Therefore, they changed their name to HER only for the U.S. and Razorblade Romance. The full rights to HIM were finally bought, and copies of the album bearing the name HER were discontinued and replaced by a HIM version. During this time, they also used the name "HIM and HER" briefly while touring in Germany.

In 2001, before the group's third release, members of HIM formed a new band, Daniel Lioneye, as a side project. Daniel Lioneye produced hard rock/ sleaze rock music with blues-based guitar solos throughout. The band was composed of Lindstr?m as "Daniel Lioneye" on vocals and guitar, Paananen as "Mig? Amour" on bass, Valo on drums, Kai "Hiili" Hiilesmaa on keyboards, and Ike on sound effects. They released one album, The King of Rock'n Roll, in September of 2001.

In August 2001, HIM released Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights. This was the band's first album with new keyboarder Emerson Burton, the final addition to the current line-up. On April 14, 2003, HIM released Love Metal. This was the first album that did not feature singer/songwriter Ville Valo on the cover. Instead, it featured a gold heartagram, the band's well-known logo.

HIM's fifth studio album, 2005's Dark Light, became their breakout in the U.S., debuting in the top 20 of the Billboard Top 200 and spawning two major rock hits, "Wings Of A Butterfly" and "Killing Loneliness", both of which have accompanying videos. The success of Dark Light has also allowed a number of HIM's previous albums (including Love Metal) to chart in the U.S.; however, it has been given mixed reviews by critics.

In addition to their studio albums, HIM has released several compilations. These include the Love Metal Archives DVD, the many-disc Singles Collection, a greatest hits titled And Love Said No, and a DVD collection of their videos through 2003.

In May 2006, Valo announced in the UK magazine Kerrang! that HIM will start recording their next studio album in the summer of 2006 and release it around September or October of 2007.

HEARTAGRAM

HIM is widely recognisable by their heartagram logo. It consists of a heart and a pentagram, which symbolizes the contrast or perfect balance between life and death or love and hatred, or even love and death together. Valo has said that "the heartagram stands for HIM as a band, as an entity, and for 'love metal' in general," and claims the band is a "love metal band". Many fans of the band have gotten tattoos of heartagrams or other emblems associated with the band (such as the single heart on Valo's right wrist), and fan-submitted photos of such tattoos decorated the lyric booklet for the limited edition of Dark Light.

STUDIO ALBUMS

1997 - GREATEST LOVESONGS VOL.666

1. Your Sweet Six Six Six

2. Wicked Game

3. The Heartless

4. Our Diabolikal Rapture

5. It's All Tears (Drown In This Love)

6. When Love And Death Embrace

7. The Beginning Of The End

8. (Don't Fear) The Reaper

9. For You

10. Track 66 is an instrumental-demo of an old HIM song

2000 - RAZORBLADE ROMANCE

1. I Love You

2. Poison Girl

3. Join Me In Death

4. Right Here In My Arms

5. Gone With The Sin

6. Razorblade Kiss

7. Bury Me Deep Inside Your Heart

8. Heaven Tonight

9. Death Is In Love With Us

10.Resurrection

11.One Last Time

12.Sigillum Diaboli

13.The 9th Circle

14.Your Sweet Six Six Six (Remix)

15.Wicked Game (Remix)

2001 - DEEP SHADOWS AND BRILLIANT HIGHLIGHTS

1. Salt In Our Wounds

2. Heartache Every Moment

3. Lose You Tonight

4. In Joy And Sorrow

5. Pretending

6. Close To The Flame

7. You Are The One*

8. Please Don't Let It Go

9. Beautiful

10.In Love And Lonely

11.Don't Close Your Heart

12.Love You Like I Do

13.Again

14.In Joy And Sorrow (String Version)

15.Pretending (The Cosmic Pope Jam Version)

16.Pretending Video

17.In Joy And Sorrow Video

2003 - LOVE METAL

1. Buried Alive By Love

2. The Funeral Of Hearts

3. Beyond Redemption

4. Sweet Pandemonium

5. Soul On Fire

6. The Sacrament

7. This Fortress Of Tears

8. Circle Of Fear

9. Endless Dark

10.The Path

11.Love's Requiem

12.Buried Alive By Love Video

2005 - DARK LIGHT

1. Vampire Heart

2. Rip Out the Wings of a Butterfly

3. Behind the Crimson Door

4. Killing Loneliness

5. Dark Light

6. Drunk on Shadows

7. Under the Rose

8. Play Dead

9. Face of God

10.Night Side of Eden

11.Venus (In Our Blood)

12.The Cage

EP'S

1996 - 666 Ways To Love

LIVE AND OTHER RELEASES:

2004 - And Love Said No - The Greatest Hits 1997-2004

2006 - Uneasy Listening Vol. 1

SINGLES

1996 - "Wicked Game" - Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666

1997 - "When Love and Death Embrace" - Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666

1998 - "Your Sweet Six Six Six" - - - - Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666

1999 - "It's All Tears (Drown in This Love)" - Greatest Lovesongs, Vol. 666

2000 - "Join Me in Death" - Razorblade Romance

2000 - "Right Here in My Arms" - Razorblade Romance

2000 - "Poison Girl" - Razorblade Romance

2000 - "Gone With the Sin" - Razorblade Romance

2001 - "Pretending" - Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights

2001 - "In Joy and Sorrow" - Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights

2002 - "Heartache Every Moment" - Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights

2002 - "Close to the Flame" - Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights

2003 - "The Funeral of Hearts" - Love Metal

2003 - "Buried Alive By Love" - Love Metal

2003 - "The Sacrament" - Love Metal

2004 - "Solitary Man" - And Love Said No: Greatest Hits 1997-2004

2004 - "And Love Said No" - And Love Said No: Greatest Hits 1997-2004

2005 - "Wings of a Butterfly" - Dark Light

2006 - "Killing Loneliness" - Dark Light

2006 - "Under The Rose"