Trivia / Stratovarius

• Colbert Bump: The use of their music in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai games increased public knowledge of the group significantly.
• Creator Backlash: Tolkki has described the Self-Titled Album as "60% Stratovarius album".
• Creator Breakdown: Timo Tolkki suffered from a particularly bad mental breakdown in 2004, as a result of constant stress and the pressure of touring and recording, resulting in Timo Kotipelto and Jörg Michael getting kicked out of the band for vague reasons and being replaced with Anders Johansson, Jens's brother who plays drums in a band called Silver Mountain, and Katriina "Miss K" Wiiala, a female vocalist. Fans were not happy with this decision, but thankfully, after Tolkki was admitted to a mental hospital, he restored the band to its former glory.
  • "Venus in the Morning" is a song Tolkki wrote about his father.
  • Many songs actually relate to Tolkki's dead father or his own mental illness. The opening vocals in "Destiny" were among the first music that Tolkki wrote right after his father's death; when he first wrote this melody in 1978 Tolkki also had the words "Why did you leave me daddy, I love you". "Forever" is another one. Tolkki also wrote about his bipolarity directly in "Awaken the Giant".
• Fatal Method Acting: During a 2010 gig at the Starlite Room in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, a ceiling-mounted PA speaker caught fire. The concert was stopped halfway through, and no one was injured.
• Throw It In!: "I'm Still Alive" ends with a conversation between two (presumably) band members.
• What Could Have Been: Jens auditioned for Dream Theater and was rejected before joining Stratovarius.

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