HIM, a Finnish band, were formed in 1991, originally as His Infernal Majesty (but now just “HIM”) by vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko Lindström, and bassist Mikko Paananen. “Witches and Other Night Fears”, a demo tape, was the first recording by the band, but for reasons unknown, it was not released, and the only known copy is held by Valo. “666 Ways to Love: Prologue” was released in 1996 solely in Finland, with only 1,000 copies of this album were sold. November 1997 saw the band release their first full length studio album, “Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666”, including covers of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" and Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper". In keeping with the theme of 666, the album's length is 66:06, it contains a total of 66 tracks (56 of which are blank), and one track starts at 6 minutes into the 66th track. Although sometimes perceived to have Satan worshipping references, Valo has stated that the album was never affiliated with these things.
With popularity increasing in both Finland and Europe, second LP “Razorblade Romance” was released in 1999, with single “Join Me in Death" topping the German music charts and selling over half a million copies in 2 months, and follow up singles "Right Here in My Arms" and "Gone With the Sin" reaching positions 20 and 19 respectively, again in Germany.
During a brief sojourn in 2001, the members of HIM formed a new band called “Daniel Lioneye”, producing 1 album (“The King of Rock ‘n Roll”) performing several shows and gaining a cult following. However, with new keyboardist Burton Emmerson, HIM released “Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights”, which climbed to number 1 in Finland and number 2 in Germany, with sales towards the end of 2001 threatening 400,000.
In 2002, second LP “Razorblade Romance” was re-released in the U.S. However, HIM weren’t allowed to use their name for sales because the Chicago based band, HiM, owned the rights to that name, thus they changed their name to “HER” in the U.S. Eventually, they were able to buy the full rights to the name HIM, and copies of the album began to be manufactured with their desired name on the packaging (only 1,000 copies of the album exist with the HER band name). The following year, HIM's popularity in the U.S. increased when professional skateboarder and TV personality Bam Margera began using the band's heartagram logo and promoting them extensively on his MTV series “Viva La Bam”. This coincided with “Love Metal” being offered to the public in April 2003, spawned the single "The Funeral of Hearts", which reached number 14 in the UK, and number 3 in Germany.
“And Love Said No: The Greatest Hits 1997–2004” was HIM's fourth LP, and first greatest hits album, containing 2 unreleased songs, "And Love Said No" and a cover of Neil Diamond’s "Solitary Man". Hot on it’s heels was 2005's “Dark Light”, which finally achieved success in the U.S., debuting in the top 20 of the Billboard Top 200, and allowing previous albums (including “Love Metal”) to also chart in the U.S. “Dark Light” was certified Gold in the U.S. by the RIAA, making HIM the first Finnish band to sell over 500,000 records in the U.S.
Over the course of 2006 and 2007, HIM released their second and third compilation/greatest hits albums, “Uneasy Listening Vol. 1” (featuring 15 alternate versions of their lighter songs) and “Uneasy Listening Vol. 2” (featuring 14 rare alternate tracks which highlight their heavier side). Late 2007 saw the arrival of “Venus Doom”, with single "Passion's Killing Floor" on the “Transformers” soundtrack, and a headline tour of both the U.S. and UK.
HIM's trademarked symbol is the heartagram, best described as a combination of a heart and an inverted pentagram (love & hate), which was created by Ville Valo on his 20th birthday. He has said that "the heartagram stands for HIM as a band, as an entity, and for 'love metal' in general."
