Kojo – Bomb Out (1982)

This post will no doubt be very amusing to all of my Finnish readers. Why do I have this album? To be honest, I have no idea. I've probably just gotten it from my grandmother's house where probably one of my uncles has left it years ago. In Finland, everyone will know the singer Kojo as "Nolla-Kojo", which translates to "zero-Kojo". He's thus named, because he was Finland's entry in the Eurovision song contest back in the early 80's and he got zero points for his performance. Eurovision wasn't used to rock music back then. That might be one of the reasons why Kojo didn't get any points. Also, the song, Nuku Pommiin, a Finnish translation of the song Bomb Out, isn't that good of a song. This attendance at Eurovision is the only reason why many younger generations know Kojo in Finland at all.



I was really surprised to learn that Kojo actually started his career by singing in English. I was one of those people who had just heard his Eurovision entry. In the late 70's Kojo had some success with his songs playing on the radio in Finland. His songs were written by UK-born musician Jim Pembroke, who had moved to Finland in the 60's following a Finnish girl who had stayed in UK as an au pair. Jim Pembroke founded one of the greatest progressive rock bands Finland has ever seen, Wigwam. I have a lot of respect for Wigwam, and I was surprised that the frontman of Wigwam was actually behind Nolla-Kojo's songs.

The album is actually a collection of Kojo's early hit songs. It's quite basic rock music with some funk and pop elements. The music on this album doesn't really sound that bad at all. There are some really good moments on this album and Kojo's singing sounds a lot more international than I would've expected. It's a shame that back in the day Eurovision acts had to be sung in the native language, because Kojo is one of the few Finnish artists that could've really pulled off singing in English. He also has quite a good raspy voice that works in rock music. I wouldn't say the album is very innovative though. Many of the songs sound like versions of other similar songs that were popular at the time. There are some reggae and funk elements in the rock music in a similar way as The Clash, The Specials and Madness had them at the time.

The first song on the album, So Mean, is a catchy stadium rock song with big vocals and catchy chorus. Green Dollar has some reggae influences that were popular in new wave music at the time. This is one of the best songs on the album. Veronica Hillside is mostly a ballad with some Greek-style mandolins or some similar instruments anyway. De Soto Sweet is a proper rock n' roll song with fast tempo and humorous backing vocals. Francoise sounds more like a show tune of the 50's. There's some Dixieland-style horns in that song as well. Only Lonely is a proper 80's rock hit with catchy melodies and strange organ sounds. Stay by You is Elton John style theatrical rock ballad. As you've probably figured out by now, the styles are very varied on this album and it's difficult to really see what Kojo's own style is. However, despite of different styles, his music is very recognisable because of his vocals. The album ends with the Eurovision hit's English version, Bomb Out, which is a protest song against nuclear weapons. I just have to also link here the video of the Eurovision performance. In addition to a very 80's style video, this is a great reminder of how Eurovision song contest looked like in the early 80's. The presentation video at the beginning is quite something in terms of design.

I would've never bought this kind of album myself, but it's fun to also own strange peculiar albums that I can listen to with friends at home and laugh at. Kojo could've probably had some chances of becoming known outside of Finland because of his good English and vocals, but I guess he was discouraged by his bad results in the Eurovision song contest.

Listen to the album on Spotify.