History Music / Helloween

Sascha Gerstner from FreedomCall replaced Grapow, but the band struggled with the position of drummer. The first drummer hired was Mark Cross from Metalium, who abandoned the band after some medical issues. Finally, Stefan Schwarzmann (formerly from Music/{{Accept}}, and Music/RunningWild, among [[HeyItsThatGuy plenty of other bands]]) took the role, although he wasn't hired in time for the recording sessions of ''Rabbit Don't Come Easy'', the follow-up to ''Dark'', where the drums were played by [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Mikkey Dee]].

Helloween is a German power/speed metal band. Alongside Switzerland's CelticFrost and Sweden's {{Bathory}}, Germany's Helloween were possibly the most influential heavy metal band to come out of Europe during the 1980s. By taking the hard riffing and minor key melodies handed down from metal masters like Music/JudasPriest and Music/IronMaiden, then infusing them with the speed and energy introduced by the burgeoning thrash metal movement, Helloween crystallized the sonic ingredients of what is now known as PowerMetal.

* CoverVersion: "[[Music/TheBeatles Something]]", "[[Music/JudasPriest The Hellion/Electric Eye]]", "[[{{Kiss}} I Stole Your Love]]", "[[GrandFunkRailroad I'm Your Captain (Closer To Home)]]", "[[CarlPerkins Blue Suede Shoes]]", "[[JeanMichelJarre Magnetic Fields]]", "[[StatusQuo Rain]]", "[[{{Queen}} Sheer Heart Attack]]" and "[[Music/{{Accept}} Fast As A Shark]]". Also, during the "Master of the Rings" tour, they did a version of Pink Cream 69's "Where The Eagle Learns To Fly".[[note]]Said band was Andi Deris's previous band before joining to Helloween.[[/note]]
** CoverAlbum: ''Metal Jukebox''. The japanese version also has "[[DeepPurple Rat Bat Blue]]".
* TheCoverChangesTheGender: "[[{{ABBA}} Lay All Your Love On Me]]", from ''Metal Jukebox''.

** ''Gambling With the Devil'' is mostly more mature, and one could almost conclude that Helloween finally grew up if they were to compare [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHWK0gzIgM0 "As Long as I Fall"]] to their [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8U8gjFx9Vk older]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAegHGGwru8 work]]... except for the fact that ''Gambling With the Devil'' also gave us [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fFNTdJXAAo "Can Do It"]]. Still, if nothing else, it was definitely the album where Helloween TookALevelInCynic.

* TookALevelInCynic: ''Gambling With The Devil''.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Mostly on the idealistic side (which is unusual for a metal band), though they have gotten a bit more cynical since ''Gambling With The Devil''.

** ''Straight Out Of Hell'' is a slight step back in this regard, falling somewhere between ''Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy'' and ''Gambling With The Devil'' in terms of hardness and seriousness. ''My God-Given Right'', despite its more political (for Helloween) overtones, is also pretty light compared to the band's 2007-2010 material.

** ''Straight Out of Hell'' was this to ''7 Sinners''.

** Averted, though, with their new album ''Straight Out Of Hell''. Which contains no clearly Christian songs but does contain the song "Church Breaks Down", which is a potshot at religious extremism.

** ''Straight Out Of Hell'' is a slight step back in this regard, falling somewhere between ''Keeper Of The Seven Keys: The Legacy'' and ''Gambling With The Devil'' in terms of hardness and seriousness.

** To some extent, ''Gambling With The Devil''.

** ''Gambling With the Devil'' is mostly more mature, and one could almost conclude that Helloween finally grew up if they were to compare [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHWK0gzIgM0 "As Long as I Fall"]] to their [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8U8gjFx9Vk older]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAegHGGwru8 work]]... except for the fact that ''Gambling With the Devil'' also gave us [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fFNTdJXAAo "Can Do It"]].

The final lineup change came in the form of Dani Löble, from Rawhead REXX, replacing Stefan, who left the band for CreativeDifferences. This lineup survives to our days, and recorded four albums (''Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. 3: The Legacy'', ''Gambling With The Devil'', ''7 Sinners'' and ''Straight Out of Hell'') and a LighterAndSofter compilation album called ''Unarmed''.

The final lineup change came in the form of Dani Löble, from Rawhead REXX, replacing Stefan, who left the band for CreativeDifferences. This lineup survives to our days, and recorded three albums (''Keeper of the Seven Keys Pt. 3: The Legacy'', ''Gambling With The Devil'' and ''7 Sinners'') and a LighterAndSofter compilation album called ''Unarmed''.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: After getting kicked from the band, and a very bad string of mishappenings (such as the death of his father) Ingo Schwichtenberg committed suicide. The band dedicated the album ''The Time of the Oath'', and Michael Kiske wrote the song "[[GriefSong Always]]", (in his solo album ''Instant Clarity'') both to his memory.
* CreativeDifferences: Kai Hansen quit the band after being unable to stomach Michael Kiske's LighterAndSofter direction. Kiske himself was thrown out after the rest of the band got fed up with his ever-increasing ego, with ''Chameleon'' being the last straw. Later, Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch wanted to continue in a DarkerAndEdgier direction after ''The Dark Ride'', and were promptly shown the door. They went on to form Masterplan after being fired from their former band. It's also quite easily hearable in the examples: compare "Ride the Sky", from ''Walls Of Jericho'', to, pretty much, any of the later songs.

* BannedInChina: The lyrics of "Mr. Torture" claims that the eponymous character is banned in ''20 countries''.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
** "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXxBXcpQL_E&fmt=18 Revolution Now]]", from ''Chameleon'', has a riff very reminiscent of "[[RedHotChiliPeppers Give It Away]]".
** In "World of Fantasy", from ''7 Sinners'', the intro sounds like the opening of ''WesternAnimation/KingArthurAndTheKnightsOfJustice''.
** WordOfGod states that Weiki had to change the melody of [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7y9vh-G3y0 "Salvation"]], from ''The Dark Ride'', because it sounded too much like {{Stratovarius}}'s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxegqv87JhA "Father Time"]].

* TheWikiRule: [[http://helloween.wikia.com/ Helloween Wiki]].

** "Crazy Cat", from ''Chameleon'', is inspired by ''Franchise/FritzTheCat''.

* FilkSong: "Gorgar", from ''Walls Of Jericho'', is based on a ''pinball'' game with same name.

* CoverVersion: "[[Music/TheBeatles Something]]", "[[Music/JudasPriest The Hellion/Electric Eye]]", "[[{{Kiss}} I Stole Your Love]]", "[[GrandFunkRailroad I'm Your Captain (Closer To Home)]]", "[[CarlPerkins Blue Suede Shoes]]", "[[JeanMichelJarre Magnetic Fields]]", "[[StatusQuo Rain]]", "[[{{Queen}} Sheer Heart Attack]]" and "[[Music/{{Accept}} Fast As A Shark]]". Also, during the "Master of the Rings" tour, they did a version of Pink Cream 69's "Where The Eagle Learns To Fly".[[hottip:*:Said band was Andi Deris's previous band before joining to Helloween.]]

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: '''PUSH!!! EN-FORCE!!! YOUR!!! IN-DE-PEN-DENCE!!!'''[[hottip:*:"Push", from ''Better Than Raw''.]]
** '''I-WANT-OUT!!! TO-[[LargeHam LIIIIIIIIIVE-MYYYYYY]]-LIFE-A-LONE!!!'''[[hottip:*:"I Want Out", from ''Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. 2''.]]

In 1995, however, there was sad news: Ingo Schiwchtenberg was profoundly depressed and [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide]] by throwing himself to the subway rails. This hit hard in the band, who dedicated the album ''The Time Of The Oath'' (a ConceptAlbum about a Nostradamus prophecy) to his memory.

* LoudnessWar: Arguably, their latest releases, from ''Keeper Of The Seven Keys Pt. 3: The Legacy'' onwards.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In the fourth page of the booklet of the remastered ''Walls Of Jericho'', the band takes shots at many people into the section "Into pumpkins". Then, the last part goes this way:

* {Portmantitle}}

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: This comes from the fourth page of the booklet of the ''Walls Of Jericho'' remaster: