Nightwish/YMMV

Everything from Nightwish is so over-the-top that it dances on the edge of Narm, and what one person finds to be Crowning Music of Awesome can easily fall flat for someone else.

The reasoning behind Tarja's dismissal from the band is up for debate, too. Of course, many fans on either side of the argument just read one letter or the other.

Also, whether the creator breakdown songs are Tear Jerker material or Wangst/Deus Angst Machina material is dependent on the listener.

YMMV entries related to Tarja go to her YMMV page.

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See also:

• Crowning Music Of Awesome

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• And the Fandom Rejoiced: Marco already had a massive reputation in the Finnish metal scene for his work in Tarot, Sinergy, and other projects. Consequently, his arrival in Nightwish in 2002 was highly praised and seen by many as the move that pushed the band to international stardom.
• Broken Base: Tarja Turunen or Anette Olzon? You pick. (Apparently you're not allowed to like both.)
  • Actually this goes at least as far back as 2002, when Century Child was released. A lot of people didn't like the change in the band's style, and Tarja's less "operatic" vocals on that album.
• Covered Up: Many people thought that "Over The Hills And Far Away", by Gary Moore, is an original song of the band.
• Crack Pairing: Tarja/Anette is a pretty popular pairing among members of Team Switzerland.
• Crowning Moment of Funny: When End of Innocence isn't being incredibly depressing, it's being extremely hilarious.
  • End of an Era, when the pyrotechnics attempted to assassinate Marco.
• Die for Our Ship: Tarja/Tuomas supporters can be.... weird. Also comes in Ho Yay flavor, but it's far harder to find. Somewhat fueled by the recurring Beauty and the Beast theme in Nightwish's own lyrics. In this regard, the following lines of "Bye Bye Beautiful" did not really help.

Did you ever hear what I told you
Did you ever read what I wrote you
Did you ever listen to what we played
Did you ever let in what the world said

• • And especially if you consider the fact that these words from "Ever Dream" are some of their lyrics:

Ever felt away without me
My love it lies so deep

• Ear Worm: The band mostly goes for completely over-the-top Epic Rocking, but a few of their songs still manage to worm their way into your head and not let go:
  • From "Bye Bye Beautiful":

How blind can you be
don't you see
you chose the long road
but we'll be waiting.
BYE, BYE, BEAUTIFUL!

• • The chorus to "Erämaan Viimeinen". Most Nightwish fans know it by its instrumental name, "Last of the Wilds", however it originally had lyrics. In Finnish. As soon as you learn the words, it will not leave your head. For hours.
  • "Wishmaster", which has the honour of being the most misinterpreted song ever:

Master! Apprentice!
Heart born, seventh seeker!
Warrior! Disciple!
In me, the Wishmaster!

• • From "Wish I Had An Angel":

I WISH I HAD AN ANGEL
FOR ONE MOMENT OF LOVE
I WISH I HAD YOUR ANGEL TONIGHT!

• • "Amaranth" and "Escapist" are major earworms.
  • There's also "End Of All Hope" and "Nemo".
  • "Storytime". I am the voice of Never-never-land...
  • And also from Imaginaerum, Rest Calm and The Crow, The Owl And The Dove.
• Ending Fatigue: a few of the Epic Rocking songs have points that they could've ended at much sooner.
  • Almost every YouTube video for The Poet and the Pendulum cuts it off 3 minutes from the end, at the point where most would assume the song would end...
  • And the "misheard lyrics" spoofs sometimes have a pic of a dude looking at his watch during some of the especially drawn-out bouts of epic rocking.
  • "Slow, Love, Slow", from Imaginaerum has an ending consisting of a ticking clock/metronome that goes on for over thirty seconds.
• Fandom Rivalry: Tarja fans accuse NW fans of being delusional fools that treat the band like some sort of cult with Tuomas as the God, Marco as the Prophet, and Tarja as the Heretic. They see NW fans as crazed fanatics that swarm over anyone that DARES attack their dear Ocean Soul. The fanaticism in both sides sometimes reaches a level equal to Twilight fans. On the other hand, NW fans accuse Tarja fans of being bitter jerks that see Tuomas as the devil incarnate. They say NW fans are impossible to talk with, yet they shoot down any NW fans that may approach kindly on a forum with arrogant and scathing self-righteousness. What Tarja fans hate the most are pragmatists that like both Tarja and NW, for it is a TRAVESTY to like both My Winter Storm and Dark Passion Play.
• Fanon Discontinuity:
  • Some fans discard Dark Passion Play, because of no Tarja.
  • Some others discard everything before Dark Passion Play.
  • Rarer, but not unheard of, is the belief that nothing before Marco joined the band, and that a few notable tracks such as Wishmaster or Sleeping Sun were demos.
  • And even on the flip side is the belief that Tuomas went through with ending the band after Wishmaster. This belief isn't out of a hatred for Marco but more of a distaste in the band's music shift beginning with Century Child.
• Ho Yay: Extremely subtle, most of the time, but sometimes pretty dang obvious.
  • That? Is nothing. You should see what Tuomas gets up to with his other Finnish metal musician friends... Example and example (Tuomas in the background on the left). Actually the whole Finnish metal scene is pretty bromantic. Guys are openly cuddly and affectionate with each other, occasionally even kissing for shits and giggles.
    • Case in point. Yes, that's Marco. On live TV. Being broadcast nationwide. And his eight-year-old twin sons were in the front row in the studio.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: The most common version is the Real Person Slash and/or Ho Yay version... and in that case, the launcher is Tuomas. In all fairness, he does make a really cute and pretty Uke.
• Memetic Mutation: the "epic maneuver" YTMND meme uses a clip from "Ghost Love Score", and the song has gone on to become a Standard Snippet for other What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome? moments.
• Misattributed Song:
  • No, they DIDN'T do a cover of "Fear of the Dark". That cover was done by Sturm und Drang, another Finnish metal group, for their album Rock 'n Roll Children.
  • They didn't had as well a song called "Lothlórien". This one belongs to Enya, from her album Shepherd Moons.
  • Neither did they ever do "A final dream". That's by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Especially weird, since the singer's voice very obviously has nothing to do with Tarja's...
• Mondegreen - numerous examples, several of which have been made into YouTube videos.
• More Popular Spinoff: Sort of. Nightwish has a much larger fanbase than Marco Hietala's original band, Tarot, despite Tarot being over a decade older.
• Narm / Narm Charm: Nightwish's fondness for the overdramatic, combined with Tarja's limited proficiency in English and Tuomas' liberal use of Truck Drivers Gear Changes, will have one of two effects: it might make their music fall flat for you, or you might simply enjoy it as part of their signature style. Perhaps the narmiest song in Nightwish's repertoire is End of All Hope, which sounds like a dance metal version of some military march, and has Wangst-filled lyrics about, well, hope and innocence forever lost.
• Non Sequitur Scene: In the form of a keyboard homage to "Moskau" during the instrumental break of "Sacrament Of Wilderness".
• One True Pairing: An example of Real Life Shipping where some fans swear that Tarja and Tuomas belong together. This can take them to do verycreepy and ^{[dead link]} weird things.
• Painful Rhyme: Inverted in "Elvenpath"— "It's the honesty of these worlds/Ruled by magic and mighty swords" actually works because Tarja mispronounces "swords."
• Purity Sue: Eva from the song of the same name.
• Replacement Scrappy: Poor Anette may not be forgiven by rabid Tarja fans for not being Tarja. But early listens of the Imaginareum album may have her Rescued from the Scrappy Heap.
  • Sure enough, quite a bit of this was relieved once the album was released and Anette started to learn how to properly sing some of the band's older songs in concert. Cue sane fans calling hallelujah across the globe.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Imaginaerum, the second album with Anette (seventh overall), is a vastly different album than the first go-round with her, Dark Passion Play.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Tarja fans have been stockpiling flamethrowers for the coming arockalypse since Tarja's dismissal. So have Anette fans.
• Wangst: Century Child was all about this, and Once and Dark Passion Play also had a lot of it. On other albums, however, the band's lyrics are mostly wangst-free.
• The Woobie: Tuomas.
• Yoko Oh No: Do not mention the idea of Tuomas having a girlfriend to his more...insane...fangirls. It's not pretty.
  • In his open letter to Tarja, Tuomas stated that he thought her husband had made her a greedy and selfish person.