Fastball: Big In Finland

10/20/1998 8:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(10/20/98, 6 p.m. PDT) - "No. 1 In Finland!" That was the headline in a back-page ad for Fastball in a recent issue of the music industry trade magazine Billboard. In much smaller type, the ad went on to mention that the single, "The Way," had hit No. 1 at radio; the video clip for the song was designated as a VH1 Inside Track and MTV Buzz Clip; and that the band has appeared on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, and The Late Show With David Letterman. In addition, the ad noted, the band has sold out shows, received a nomination for Best New Artist in MTV's Video Music Awards, and scored a platinum album in the U.S.

Although the Billboard ad may have been making light of Fastball's success in Finland, the band is hugely popular in the country, best known musically for spawning '80s glam band Hanoi Rocks. This Summer in Finland it was impossible avoid hearing Fastball's hit "The Way."

In addition, the Texas trio made not one, but two visits to Helsinki. On July 27, the band played a sold-out show at the legendary, intimate rock club Tavastia. The trio of Miles Zuniga, Tony Scalzo, and Joey Shuffield were taken by surprise by the devotion of the audience, which sang along to the songs from both of the group's albums. After a U.S. tour, the trio returned to Helsinki on Sept. 21. Zuniga even sported a Helsinki T-shirt.

How did the Finnish Fastball craze start? "There was a vast demand right after the stations started to play 'The Way' on air this Summer," says Timo Saarikivi, the owner of the popular Helsinki record store the Popangel. "I would say the great gigs added to the success as well. The typical buyer is a young guy. Also Fastball seems to be to the liking of the Finnish musicians. What makes something a big hit? It is a mystery in the end. It's probably a sum of many coincidences."

Click here to read a full feature on Fastball, or here to read a Fastball Q&A that took place during this year's South By Southwest convention.

-- Pirjo Koppanen, Helsinki