Once Upon a Nightwish

by Mape Ollila

Once Upon a NIGHTWISH - The Official Biography 1996-2006 is a book about 9-year-story of the band. The book is written by Mape Ollila, extremely experienced music editor.

Year 1996: Tuomas Holopainen is on his summer cottage in Kitee, sitting by the campfire, saying to his two friends that he probably should found an own band.
Year 2005: Holopainen’s Nightwish is selling gold around the world and playing to overexcited audiences everywhere from Asia to America, critics are praising the total breakthrough-album ”Once”, and the band has become Finnish national treasure, a beloved export article that is listened by not only metal music lovers but babies and oldsters.

What has happened during these nine years? Mape Ollila answers this question in this thorough, dramatic and beautifully illustrated Nightwish-book. He has been interviewing the band members, co-workers, family members, friends, fans and colleagues for two years, the book will go through the good times and bad times, uncover members’ mind, tell unbelievable stories from touring, including even serious exposures from Nightwish-world.

Mape Ollila has a long experience as a music editor, specialized in metal music. Ollila has followed Nightwish’s career from the beginning and travelled along with the band for example in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, England and the United States

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Biography, Memoir, Finnish Literature

329 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do I think? Wow. That's what I think. This biography has taught me things that I never knew about Nightwish, a symphonic metal band. It talks about the story of what began as a small project in a small town in Finland, to a world-wide epic masterpiece. I now understand why the first lead singer, Tarja Turunen, was fired from the band. All confusions about this decision was explained, with quotes from interviews with the band members, magazines, newspapers and TV shows. I'm touched by the fact that Nightwish, is a band that dedicate everything to their music. Literally everything, all their heart, soul, emotions and mentality is present and heard in their music. I look up to this band. The lyrics are truelly uplifting and full of hope, and are 100% from true emotion. This biography, has given me a sight from a new angle to Nightwish. Before reading this, I saw them just as my favorite band. Now, after reading it, after knowing the many things that occured - the good times, the bad times - I see Nightwish as a ray of light shining from a dark tunnel, I see the band members as people of different characteristics, showing people a way to escape problems. The music makes so much sense now. The heart-felt lyrics don't come from random poetic words put together to make a song, but as emotional poetic words, connected to help let it all out. It is said in the biography that the music has saved lives, has given people hope. I listen to the music, and feel as if all my problems have vanished because all I wish to say is in the music. I would never have figured this out alone. Nightwish truey an escape from reality.

[ColinJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent biography of the drama-prone Finnish metal band.

Considering this book is now ten years old, and so much more drama has gone on in the NW camp, I think a volume 2 is well overdue.

[Raed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though at some points I had to skip paragraphs (due to boring details :P), the whole book is a masterpiece. It really tells the progress the band did over the years, and how they became world's number one symphonic metal band. Don't read the book unless you are a devoted fan. One more advice, do not take sides in the battle that happened between Nightwish and Tarja. Remember, everything happens for a reason! Just enjoy the journey and forget about the destination. Enter the world of NIGHTWISH!!

[Lisandro · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a good book until the last half where it basically becomes "How Tarja and specially Marcelo ruined poor Tuomas' life and corrupted his innocence".

[sabrina kitching · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect

Love the band! Why not get the entire back story too. Looking forward to part 2, when it gets translated into English.

[Jeilen · Rating 4 out of 5]

un libro muy interesante para todos los que le interese esta banda.
no solo por el escándalo en el que se vio envuelta, sobre eso no trata nada nuevo que cualuier fan no supiera, sino del proceso creativo, del significado de letras, de la amistad, el trabajo y la vida en una gira.

[Daniel Dolan-Derks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent compilation of the early days of Nightwish, a band now notorious for drama. It does struggle in the first half to find its groove and the format of the book being mostly endless quotes wasn't my cup of tea.

As for the handling of the big, dramatic breakup, the author does their best to thread a needle through the very 2 sided narrative, especially during the later stages of the book but it doesn't always stick the landing. It tries to remain neutral and let the unending amount of quotes sway the reader one way or another as to who's side to be on, it is obvious which side the author is on.

If someone is super into Nightwish, its an absolute must-read and you'll get a kick out of it. For people less interested in the full story and just want the tea, it might be better to read the Wiki.

[Teija · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really nice biography about Nightwish. One thing that kind of disturbed me, was that the book had a lot of similarities, stories and even replies from the End of Innocence -DVD, which is a biographical document about Nightwish. (They were done at the same time, so that explains it.) But it also contained a lot of stories about funny accidents and a lot of new information, which is always nice for a hardcore fan as myself. This is a book I could also recommend for a person who isn't interested in Nightwish or their music, since Nightwish is a well-known band all around the world.

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book about a band ever. If you only read one book this year, make it this one. It tells the store of Nightwish from the beginning to 2006 when Tarja was asked to leave the band because of the poor management of her husband and the troubles he caused the band. It's an in-depth study of one of the greatest bands in all of rock history. The band having lost their singer could have fallen flat on their face, but instead they went on to achieve greatness. If you like books on music and bands, you need to read this one!

[Scott Holstad · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, but could have been better. Maybe a more recent update would have helped...

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great read for fans of the band. Probably pretty boring for anyone else! Nightwish are a great band made up from fairly boring people, until things get "interesting."

Ollila does a pretty good job of giving equal book pages to Camp Tarja and Camp Tuomas when explaining the circumstances that led up to Tarja being fired from the band. I'm sure true die hard fans of Tarja might find this "biased" but in all honesty her own behaviour and accounts damn her...

Although I have to say, the fact that Nightwish have since had ANOTHER messy public firing with another singer does make me question my early conclusion that Tuomas and Co were undoubtedly in the right. The fact it happened again suggests the guys in the band are not as easy to work with as this book might suggest.

[Niége · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sort of knew the band’s history by reading interviews, watching their dvds and so on, but this book gives you details that weren’t ever mentioned before.
The author apparently got really close to the band and crew, bringing many honest confessions about the making of the albums, the tours and the whole drama bomb around the lineup changes.
As fan of Nightwish, I had fun on reading this book.
As a lover of books though, I think it was poorly written. I get that it can be challenging writing a biography of a band that is still active, but compared to other band biographies (such Mick Wall’s “When Giants Walked the Earth”), this one seems like a compilation of tabloid interviews and articles.
But, as a fan of the band, I find this reading interesting and fun.

[Joni Mettälä · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tää kirja on odottanut yli kymmenen vuotta lukemista kirjahyllyssä. Kerran meinasin aloittaa mutta jäi alkumetreille. Nyt sain viimeinkin luettua.

Mukava syväluotaus Nightwishin varhaiseen historiaan. Kertoo yhtyeen hyvistä ja huonoista hetkistä, avaten lukijalle tarinoita levyjen takaa ja kertoen, mitkä asiat johtivat Tarja Turusen erottamiseen.

Oon aina tykännyt Nightwishin musiikista, mutta sillä ei oo ollut koskaan mun elämälle mitään suurempaa merkitystä. Teos antoi mulle ymmärrystä, mistä yhtyeessä on loppujen lopuksi kyse.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a cool book for any obsessive Nightwish fan as it’s filled to the brim with specific (and sometimes random) details about the first decade of the band’s existence. The writing is not very good though, and I didn’t like the one-sided perspective on the band vs. Tarja-and-Marcelo drama in the second half of the book. Nevertheless a fun and enjoyable read since I’m always eager to learn more about my favourite band and the driving force behind their music.

[Mike Mulcahy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve just got into Nightwish so I thought I would find out more about them by reading this book. I’ve read a lot of rock bio’s and has to be the worst. It’s so badly written (though that may be the fault of the translator), full of exclamation marks!! , spelling and grammatical errors and is just plain dull. Just read their Wikipedia page - you’ll find out more. Avoid at all costs.

[Senkiv Zalachenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honest and informative.

As a long time Nightwish fan,a lot of this information presented in the book is new to me.Thoroughly absorbing and interesting to read.Recommend it to Nightwish fans both old and new.

[Tjaša Kirn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a must read for all Nightwish fans around the world, just to understand the beginning of a band. The two side conflict between Tarja and other band members is good presented, because there are many views of other band members and Tarja& Marcelo.

[Nenad Zubović · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story about my all time favorite band, worth the money

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you really, really love the band and were asleep/young for most of 2005, you might enjoy this.

[Michael L Rubens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

Very realistic look into the making of night wish and the answer you have looked for as to why Tarja was fired. Must read for all fans.

[Iosiv Basarab · Rating 4 out of 5]

rather one-sided, but still informative book about nightwish, well-written and revealing various things about the internal mechanisms of a successful band

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deeply fascinating read if you're a fan of Nightwish. The tea is unmatched.

[Buchdrache · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was einst als kleine Idee an einem Lagerfeuer in einem Wald nahe einer finnischen Kleinstadt begann, tourt jetzt als Band von Weltrang durch die großen Bühnen der Welt und ist selbst in Wembley bereits aufgetreten. Nightwish sind in Finnland Kult, Fans aller Gesellschaftsklassen finden sich dort. Auch außerhalb Finnlands hören längst nicht mehr nur die eingefleischten Metalheads die Jungs und Damen rund um Songwriter Tuomas Holopainen. Ihre Bandgeschichte ist bewegt, 2005 trennten sie sich von ihrer ersten Frontsängerin Tarja Turunen, auch ihre Nachfolgerin Anette Olzon war nicht so der Renner. Nun tritt Nightwish seit 2012 mit Floor Jansen; und der Wechsel der Sängerin inmitten der Imaginaerum-Tour hat sich bewährt. Nightwish steht auf dem Gipfel ihres Erfolges und nichts deutet darauf hin, dass sich so schnell etwas daran ändert. Doch werfen wir mit Mape Ollila einen Blick zurück auf die Anfänge.

Once Upon A Nightwish ist die offizielle Bandbiographie von 1996 bis 2006. Zudem finden sich etliche Farbfotos von Shows und hinter den Kulissen.

Ollila eröffnet die Biographie mit einer atmosphärischen Beschreibung des End of an Era Konzerts in der Hartwall-Arena, Helsinki, im Oktober 2005. That fells! Er hat einen Sinn für’s Dramatische, denn am Tag nach dem Konzert endete in der Tat eine Ära, als Nightwish sich von ihrer Frontsängerin Tarja trennte, deren dramatische und charakteristische Stimme einen großen Teil zum Erfolg der Band beigetragen hatte. Ollila gibt den Brief in voller Länge wieder so, wie er damals als öffentlicher Brief auf der Webside der Band erschienen war.

Man mag übrigens von der Trennung halten, was man will. Ich kam übrigens als Fan erst 2008 mit Dark Passion Play hinzu, das war also noch vor meiner Zeit als Nightwishfan (und Metalhead, das begann damit nämlich auch). Aber trotzdem: Egal, was zwischen ihnen gestanden hatte, und das war eine Menge, wie Ollila im weiteren Verlauf darlegt, so waren sie doch bis dahin eine Band, was schlicht verbindet. Das macht man einfach nicht auf diese Art und Weise … Meine Meinung.

Die Biographie gibt einen wunderbaren Überblick über die Bandgeschichte sowie einen Blick hinter die Kulissen. Ollila hat viele Interviews geführt oder für die Biographie verwendet, sodass man viel O-Ton bekommt, was der Biographie eine ganz eigene Charakteristik gibt. Außerdem beleuchtet er viele Ereignisse aus verschiedenen Aspekten.

So eine Trennung von einem Bandmitglied hat immerhin immer mehrere Seiten. So hat er auch die Trennung von Sami Vänskä im Jahre 2001 genauer unter die Lupe genommen. Hier hätte man sich allerdings gewünscht, dass er noch etwas ausführlicher geworden wäre, vor allem, wenn man dagegen stellt, wie ausführlich der Autor schildert, wie es zur Trennung von Tarja kam.

Wie es dann schließlich zum ersten großen Umbruch in der Bandgeschichte kam, hat er hingegen wirklich sehr ausführlich beschrieben. Manch einer versteht dadurch einige Dinge vielleicht besser. Auch hier hat Ollila wieder beide Seiten beleuchtet: die von Tarja und die von Tuomas und dem Rest der Band, und ging zudem auch auf einzelnen Positionen der Jungs ein.

Ollila erzählt viel aus dem Alltag einer Band, zwischen und während der Touren und lässt da so manch ein peinliches Detail nicht aus. Während so einer Tour wird viel gesoffen und gefeiert und manche Leute werden dann … wunderlich. Es gibt Dinge, die will man einfach nicht wissen. Ich wäre an dieser Stelle Ollila dankbarer gewesen, wenn er ein paar der ekligeren Details ausgespart hätte. Auf der anderen Seite hat er auch einige wirklich schräge Geschichte mit drin.

Zum Beispiel, wie Marco zu seinem coolen Bart kam: Er war nämlich schon in recht jungen Jahren langsam grau geworden. Da er die Hänseleien seiner Freunde satt hatte, hatte er kurzerhand alle grauen Stellen abrasiert. Und das ist halt, was übrig blieb. Hat halt so einen coolen Wikingerstil, wie ich finde.

Schlussendlich ist dieses Buch eine Biographie, also eher informativ denn unterhaltsam. Dennoch ist es auf jeden Fall eine Empfehlung für Fans und Musikinteressierte. Außerdem empfiehlt es sich, die Alben nebenher zu hören, da Ollila auch viele Hintergrundinformationen zu den Entstehungsgeschichten gibt, wie Tarja beispielsweise gerade am Anfang bei Oceanborn oft an ihre Grenzen kam und wie alle Bandmitglieder an ihrer eigenen Musik gewachsen waren. Mit dem Ende einer Ära endet Mape Ollila seine Biographie, doch die Reise geht noch immer weiter.



Mehr von mir auf meinem Blog: http://buchdrache.blogspot.de/

[Steve Cran · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first heard of Nightwish was on youtube while looking for Pagan themed music. The first song I came across was a song with Annette Olzson on vocals called "bye bye beautiful" I also thought the band was an all girls band until I took a second look. The next song I came across was "I wish I had an Angel" To b e honest I could not tell the difference between the two vocalists and hence liked them both. In fact Nightwish got better with each and every record. I have been hooked on every single album of theirs. Sad thing is that female vocalists keep leaving the band. I wonder why.

The book traces their beginning even before they became a band. Tuomas was a dreamy keyboard player who put together the whole thing. He loved Donald Duck and Disney Land and he writes his music in order to take you to another world. Empuu is the hyperactive guitar player who may have attention deficit disorder by the sound of things. Always energetic and yet alll overthe place and forgetting things.Sami was the bass player who partied too hard and Jukka was the drum player. Tarja the female singer was the bands figure head and the most fragile of all the band members.

All of the original members came from Kitee, Finland. At the time of Nightwish's birth the metal scene looked rather dismal and Finland never produced much by way of good musical bands. Nightwish changed all of that. All of them received their training from Plamen Dimov a Greek ,Bulgarian who emigrated to Finland. Tuamos was not only the creative force behind the band he is also the one who got it exposure. While touring with another band he let some music producer listen to the music and he liked . From their they made it into an Album called "Angels Fall First" it garnered a positive response even if it was still a bit rough..around the edges. They toured a lot of small places around Europe and the community of Kitee was instrumental in helping this band get off the ground. Ocean Born was their second effort. A totally new and improved sound and lots of new exposure. Wishmaster being the third took things to another level. Tuamas could be a taxing band leader. So taxing that he pushed Tarja until she cried. The Wishmaster tour also took them to South America where they would run into Marcelo, a somewhat devious promoter.
Things in the band have always been heavy. The book gives you glimpses behind the scenes of what rock band have to got through while traveling.Substandard living conditions, sometimes no showers, living on a bus for weeks on end and endless partying. The boys got crazy and Tarja being a classy girl was not cut out for such heavy antics. The business end of politics is often behind some of the disappointments as album releases and tours are always postponed or cancelled. Even at this stage there was tension between Tarja and the rest of the members. Part of it was that a refined woman cannot put up with excess party antics of uncouth males and number two touring is very stressful.

Later on when Tarja would marry Marcello and he became her manager. He would not only advocate for her needs but also interfere with the band business. He torpedoed deals by asking for too much money. Tarja also began thinking that she was doing the bands a favor by singing for them. In a sense it got to her head a bit. Thanks to her and Marcello they would cancel gigs and wwhole legs of a tour. Tarja hated touring. They would go on to make Century's Childe and then "Once" the album Once really broke through for them and it seems that Tarja and Marcello were holding things back.

In the end the band let her go and in Finland it generated major controversy. The book ends off with Nightwish looking for a replacement. End of review. At the end of it all they got Annette Olzson who lasted for two albums and then left mid tour of Imaginarium. Now it seems Floor Jansen is with them. I hope they can hold on to this one.

[Santino · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really great, interesting biography. I have been a fan of Nightwish for many years, but I was one of those fans who fell in love with the band after the release of the Once album, so it was very interesting to learn about their beginnings and how Nightwish grew, and then grew apart. I had initially thought this was going to be a bit biased, but there were frequent POV from Tarja, whose husband it appears was responsible for the break up of the band. I guess, despite this biography, we will still never REALLY know! A MUST read for ANY fan!

[Eleni · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong I love this band.....But the book failed to offer something.....It supposedly describes the events that lead to Tarja's leaving and how they got together but I got the feeling that they kept going on about how they fought etc. etc. blaming everybody else. In general, the story was not interesting and I failed to see why they decided to publish a book. Moreover, the Greek version was full of mistakes. Hence, my dissapointment and the bad review.

[Piadora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a Nightwish fan, I enjoyed reading this as it contained a lot of background info and details. Was it bias? Yes, it heavily favorited the band over the fired singer and the breakup took relatively high number of pages in the book but I guess that it understandable since the book was written right after the breakup. If the story was written now, not so much of emphasis would be given to the part of the Nightwish story.

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was amazing. It taught me so much about Nightwish and how they progressed over the years. There were some boring parts like how it would list what countries their album topped the charts in and stuff like that but most of it was interesting and there were some really, really funny parts too. It also helped me understand all of the stuff that lead up to the split. Great book and would recommend for all other hard-core NW fans :)

[Katelyn Fenerty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say this is a great biography! This is a must read for ANY Nightwish fan!