LCMDF Strikes Out at Finland's Heavy Metal Patriarchy With a New Electro-Pop Anthem, "Rookie"

Photo by Anton Sucksdorff

Heavy metal is huge in Finland. Even without taking into consideration the country's legacy of extreme metal, the genre is big on a macro level—symphonic metal theater kids Nightwish are the country's third-best-selling band, the the country just introduced a new headbanger emoji, and children scream along in delight to Hevisaurus, a Grammy-winning band who play maddeningly catchy metal songs while dressed up like dinosaurs. It stands to reason that even people with zero interest in blastbeats or burning churches would have a working knowledge of the genre, and Finisn duo LCMDF is no exception. I never thought I'd be voluntarily covering an electro-pop song here on Noisey dot com, but I also never thought that I'd come across one that speaks to me the way LCMDF's new single "Rookie" does.

The bouncy, burbly tune is fun and all, but the lyrics are a gold mine. It's fascinating enough to think that metal is so firmly ingrained in the culture there that it makes perfect sense for a pop outfit to reference it as being part of the status quo; add in the actual lyrics, and you've got a bonafide anthem. As the chorus on "Rookie" shouts joyfully, defiantly, "I'm so done with the metal scene / I'm so done with the dudes who think they're better than me / I'm gonna make my moves, ready to break that beat / 'cause my shit's so solid, that's why I'm here."

There's a lot in there that any woman (or anyone who isn't a straight white cis dude) who's spent more than five minutes in our own metal scene can relate to. Yes, of course, most dudes who are into metal are wonderful, welcoming, understanding people—but there are always a couple jagoffs who feel the need to question your passion ("Have you even heard this band before?"), question your authenticity ("Are you buying that record for your boyfriend?"), and question your very right to be there. Don't tell me that this doesn't happen; either; I've lived it, my friends have lived it, and many, many women have spoken out about it. LCMDF singles out metal here, but that's because—as we know—metal is one of the dominent rock-based genres in their country; this is certainly not just a metal problem. The marginalization of women and nonbinary folks stretches across every genre line. It's something that's been discussed quite a lot this year, and this song adds another strong voice to an important conversation. LCMDF's sound might skew bubblegum, but their message is punk as fuck.

As Stereogum noted, LCMDF's Emma Kemppainen took to the band's Facebook page to explain the impetus behind the song, and dropped some serious fucking truths. "I wrote this song the day after a music biz dude told me that I shouldn't write good songs, but make them more stupid. Then he offered to re-write our album. I thought that was the worst idea ever, so I wrote a song to him. The metal scene I'm singing about represents the old-school male dominated music business in Finland. The lyrics are simple, but hold an important message. I’m done with the fact that several music festivals don’t book a single female act. I'm done with being compared solely with other female acts. Girl is not a genre, it’s a gender. I’m done with a best before date for female artists. I’m done with women earning less than men. And I’m done with not speaking about this."

Kippis to that, Emma!

Kim Kelly will never be done with the metal scene; she's on Twitter.