NIGHTWISH Keyboardist: The Songs That Changed My Life

NIGHTWISH leader/keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen recently spoke to Britain's Kerrang! magazine (web site) about the "songs that changed his life."

"Walking In The Air" by HOWARD BLAKE:

Tuomas: "This is the song from the animated movie 'The Snowman' and it's the song that I would take with me to a desert island. I think it's the most beautiful piece of music ever written, and it brings back a lot of memories for me because in Finland every Christmas Eve they show 'The Snowman' on TV, which makes it a really big part of Christmas. We decided to cover it in homage to the greatest song ever written."

"One" by METALLICA:

Tuomas: "I really was not into hard music at all until I saw METALLICA in Kansas City in 1992 when I was 15. I was on a foreign exchange thing and the family took me to see METALLICA and GUNS N' ROSES in this huge arena. I remember when I saw METALLICA I didn't expect anything, but when METALLICA came out with all the pyrotechnics and explosions and stuff I was like, 'This is the coolest thing I've ever seen' and I turned into a metal fan immediately."

"Why So Lonely?" by THE 3RD AND THE MORTAL:

Tuomas: "When I heard this song on Finnish radio was when I discovered females in metal music. That album is still one of my favourites to this day; it brought in this whole new idea of females singing with metal bands, F and definitely without it NIGHTWISH would not exist."

"Over The Hills And Far Away" by GARY MOORE:

Tuomas: "This was the first music video I saw about 20 years ago and I just immediately fell in love with the song and especially the video. I think it's filmed in Ireland, it's Gary Moore playing among all of this really beautiful Irish scenery, which just looks incredible."

"The Battle" by HANS ZIMMER:

Tuomas: "From the soundtrack to the movie 'Gladiator'. This is probably the best piece of film music ever written, and it really started me off as a film music maniac. It's about 10 minutes long, and it really captures everything that's great about that movie soundtrack, you can really visualise bits of the movie in the music, which is something I really got into from seeing that film."

"Fields of Coral" by VANGELIS:

Tuomas: "If I had to name one song I've listened to the most times in my life, it would be this song. Literally thousands of times and it really hasn't lost any of its appeal at all. It's seven minutes of the same thing over and over again but that atmosphere in it is huge. I've fallen asleep so many times to this song, it is so heavenly."

"Sear Me MCMXCIII" by MY DYING BRIDE:

Tuomas: "MY DYING BRIDE have had a massive impact on me, particularly in my lyric writing; I think Aaron Stanthorpe is one of the best lyricists in the whole world. When I was at high school there was this girl, and she didn't know anything about me, until one day I went to her and gave her the lyrics to this song and said 'This is how I feel about you'. After that we were together for a couple of years!"

Guilty Pleasure: "Frozen" by MADONNA:

Tuomas: "This song itself is incredible, but what makes the song great for me is the video, because it's probably the best one ever made. I love all the imagery and atmosphere in the video; It's quite dark and looks like something we might do, with all the landscapes and the girl dancing and stuff"

Tuomas also loves:

CARCASS - "Heartwork"
QUEEN - "The Show Must Go On"
RAMMSTEIN - "Sonne"
HERBIE HANCOCK - "Chameleon"
PANTERA - "Mouth For War"
XENTRIX - "For Whose Advantage?"