Are Cyprus true rock’n roll kids?

Let’s talk about the fact that Minus One is basically Nickelback, Cyprus edition.

There. We said it. It certainly hurt, but we had to get it off our minds after our friend Marthe ever so carefully put it in there (thanks a lot). There are things to be said about Nickelback, and ultimately about the bands that resemble them. We feel they ruined rock music.

We mean; we grew up not only as Eurovision lovers, but more importantly as two of the many who finally found their teenage belonging in rock and punk. There we were, in point blank rural Norway, where everybody loved a bad shot of moonshine and horrendous disco, clueless of what life had to offer. Until we discovered Sex Pistols. And PJ Harvey. And Elvis Costello. All with one thing in common: They were hot, subversive and they clearly didn’t give a damn if anyone liked them. For that we really liked them, of course.

That’s what we got from punk. And that’s also what we get from Eurovision, mind you. Do we get it from Nickleback, though? Nah.

Somewhere along the way, the wrong people regrettably decided rock music has huge commercial value and planted popularized generic crap right in that main stream. Enter bands like Nickelback, shitting all over rock musicians with no meaning at all, other than a bunch of golems shouting “Hey, kids! I have a huge tattoo. Fire up your iTunes account!”. How they remind us of nothing.

So when Eurovision is filling up with rock bands this year, it should come of no surprise. Neither should the fact that Thomas G:Son started writing songs for them. And that leads us to Minus One. Their song “Alter Ego” certainly fits the G:Son scheme. It’s allready high on the rankings, and we have no problems supporting that. The band is tight, the build up is right and they will certainly create a fantastic vibe in Globen Arena. Also, we do like that guitar solo, which we suspect has nothing to do with G:Son.

Do we, however, feel a bit screwed over as they stand with their tatooed solar systems under those glorious high voltage lines of Cyprus? Well, yes. Minus One certainly seem a bit less genuine than…let’s say a group of 20 year olds from Montenegro delievering highly sexual content in their own style with absolutely no sense of shame. After all, they want to get inside women while Minus One is stuck inside a fairy tale. Then again, there are worse things than being screwed over by Minus One. And when interviewing them we realized these guys mean business. We found a heart for Minus One that we’ll never locate for Nickelback. We are even getting close to liking Thomas G:Son.

It’s a common misunderstanding that the Eurovision audience is easy to please, but it is always proven wrong. When Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan won Eurovision with their Rock ‘n Roll Kids, we believe it was because they were themselves no matter what Eurovision wanted them to be. We could say the same about Conchita, Marija Šerifović and most other winners. Somehow we think Minus One posess this quality too. We don’t think they’ll give a rat’s ass if someone compares them to commercial, mass-produced crap. Maybe they’ll even tell us that daring to be or like Nickelback is the new edgy and hip. They are in fact entertainers. And surely, they’ll give all they have in Stockholm and then some. They seem unstoppable enough.

For that, we truly heart them.