Euro Music Talk

Time flew by. I have survived MTV Europe Awards 2007 that happened today at Olympiahalle in Munich Germany. It didn’t hurt. But I don’t recognise the “new sound of Europe” in Estonia’s The Bedwetters. They competed against Turkey’s Yakup, my favourite bet, and Romania’s Firma.

They are young. But they lack innovation. The saving grace might be that their sound don’t differ from the same bands crowding the radio stations today craving for the fans who favour this kind of sound.

“Everything is possible when you believe in yourself!” Shouted their lead singer Joosep Järvesaar as he and his group finished performing their first single “A Dramatic Letter to Conscience.” It was dramatic indeed complete with his stunning grimaces amidst the jubilating audience. The unsigned Bedwetters won a local band contest this year and was awarded to film their own video. They are scheduled to release their debut album in 2008. The band describes their musical influence from pop to rock.

So who are the winners and the losers? Who brought home the stinky cheese and the MTV trophy?

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I have sworn off MTV a long time ago. I don’t watch it now for the sake of watching it. It started as a harbinger that mutated itself into one of the reasons you’ve hated television.

Unlike when I was 12 where my day wasn’t complete without having to tune it to MTV. Well, it has proved to be a wise decision.

After its successful reception from the Europeans it launched in 1994 an award show that should be relegated to Europeans. Well, judging by the sound of it. Instead what happened is just another award-giving body to promote American mainstream music. The regional categories wherein several European musicians are nominated seemed to be an afterthought.

Surprisingly I am not the only one who has this opinion.

This year’s Europe Music Awards, which will happen on November 1 at the Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany, is another dismal offering of the video channel not to showcase or celebrate what is truly happening in the European music scene.

Not because the emcee is an American. But the only Central European acts that have managed to be admitted to major categories are the German teenager boys from Tokio Hotel for Best Inter Act and the French electronic duo Justice while the rest are Americans and a few UK acts.

Justice is well-known for its reworking of Simian’s “Never Be Alone.”

Maybe, it is wrong to ask MTV for more substance. In the first place, they’ve been known not to supply the audience with an alternative.

For the complete list, check out Wikipedia.

MTV Europe Music Awards 2007, Tokio Hotel, Justice, Simian

Ahhh, to be young and to have lots of fans.

For more than two years, the kids of Tokio Hotel are driving every female teenager and prepubescent girls in Europe on fire. I cannot say I don’t like them. But I admire their ability to to play music and their determination to reach the zenith of fame.

Luck? Talent? The band, which comprises of identical twins Bill (vocals) and Tom Kaulitz (lead guitars), George Listing (bass) and Gustav Shäfer (drums), is steadily climbing on top of the charts and garnering more fan base.

So far, they released three albums in German and one album in English (”Scream”) and has won several awards notably in Germany. Everyone expects them to get awards in the upcoming MTV Europe Awards.

The German rock boy band is from the urban city of Magdeburg, somewhere on the eastern part of the country. They were initially named Devilish in 2001 but changed it to Tokio Hotel their new manager. The boys said to have loved Tokio, the German version of the Japanese capital, and have stayed for several times in a hotel during touring. Hence, Tokio Hotel.

The first time I saw a clip of their first single, “Durch den Monsun” (Monsoon), I was pretty sure that the vocalist was a female. I learned later that the androgynous Gothic-looking singer was a boy. Bill is the most popular member of the group. And lately, he was the subject of a, shall we say, nasty rumour.

There’s nothing wrong with being a homosexual. But if many female adoring fans are ready to give their body to Bill, it would be a mistake to come out of the closet at this stage. Supposedly that was the thought of his band’s record label. The French gossip magazine, Voici, the equivalent of Star, reported that on September 1 Bill wrote a blog entry after a series of heavy partying on the night of his 18th birthday that he likes boys and he would be in league of the Greek philosophers Aristotle, Plato and Socrates.

Fans in every corner of Europe regarded this as trash and so speculations easily vanish. Still, in a world of black and white, it would be nice if Bill is straight and his appearance is to taunt the establishment, which by the way likes him very much.

The band launched its first English album in United Kingdom titled “Scream” in June. And if it would be successful, get ready United States for Tokio Hotel.

Tokio Hotel, Bill Kaulitz, gay, schwul