Tim: Straight out of the bag labelled ‘songs you’d expect Tim to hate’ comes this, which actually I enjoyed.
Tom: “I walk a lonely road / The only one I’ve ever known”
Tim: What? Anyway, why do I like it? I’m not sure. It’s the sort of track that tends to get stuck halfway through some metal albums – the token not so heavy piece that actually has a tune and is there to give it a slight piece of mainstream appeal – and that for some reason, I really like.*
Tom: “Don’t know where it goes / But it’s only me to me and I walk alone”
Tim: Um, OK. Well, it’s not a standard Melodifestivalen track, obviously, although it did get straight through to the final by coming second in its heat.
Tom: “I walk this empty street / On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
Tim: OH MY GOD YES – how did I not hear that? As for the performance, it’s not note-perfect by any means, and there’s no stage show to speak of. But dammit, it’s got a bloody great tune to it, and that’s what does it for me. Well, that and the key change, obviously.
Tom: Comparisons to Green Day aside, I actually really enjoy it as well – and I think this could have done rather well in the contest itself. And I’ll take glass-projected guitarists and waving red lights as a stage show: I think, even without those gimmicks, his presence would have done the job just fine. This is going on my playlist.