History Music / HIM

** "Stigmata Diaboli" eventually became "Sigillum Diaboli". They are essentially unique songs now - the latter completely omits the opening and closing riffs of the original, instead including a guitar solo, and Valo's singing definitely matured from one to the other.

** [[DownplayedTrope Probably the closest one that qualifies]] is "The Sacrament", implying that the narrator feels that religions in general are based too much on being judgmental rather than accepting and loving, and essentially saying his religion is the relationship he has with his true love.

** [[DownplayedTrope Probably the closest one that qualifies]] is "Venus (In Our Blood)", which contains a line implying Jesus Christ isn't the girl's potential savior (though this could just be in a romantic sense, not a spiritual one). Valo, while of course saying he would not reveal ''every''thing in the song, said the song is about a youth who should be allowed to figure out the world on her own rather than being indoctrinated into something throughout her upbringing, as far as religion goes... and maybe politics too.
** There are tinges of this trope in "The Sacrament" as well, implying that the narrator feels that religions in general are based too much on being judgmental rather than accepting and loving, and essentially saying his religion is the relationship he has with his true love.

* RearrangeTheSong: "Stigmata Diaboli" eventually became "Sigillum Diaboli". They are essentially unique songs now - the latter completely omits the opening and closing riffs of the original, instead including a guitar solo, and Valo's singing definitely matured from one to the other.
* ReligionRantSong: [[DownplayedTrope Probably the closest one that qualifies]] is "Venus (In Our Blood)", which contains a line implying Jesus Christ isn't the girl's potential savior (though this could just be in a romantic sense, not a spiritual one). Valo, while of course saying he would not reveal ''every''thing in the song, said the song is about a youth who should be allowed to figure out the world on her own rather than being indoctrinated into something throughout her upbringing, as far as religion goes... and maybe politics too.

** Definitely not one the band made for themselves: A copy-protected promo of ''Venus Doom'' listed the artist as Walter Payton, the late running back for the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball Chicago Bears]]. Listing them as such was likely a tactic to hide the band's identity from shifty promoters until the album could be released properly without risk of leaking it early; an album from an unknown and unproven artist is worth far less than one from a proven band like HIM, so no one's going to bother leaking an unreleased album if the artist's name is one no one has heard of before. A similar tactic was undertaken for ''Dark Light'', but for that album they were called Harry Hits Parade, which may not be a shout-out - if it is, who knows what it refers to?

** Definitely not one the band made for themselves: A copy-protected promo of ''Venus Doom'' listed the artist as Walter Payton, the late running back for the [[UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball Chicago Bears]]. Listing them as such was likely a tactic to hide the band's identity from promoters until the album could be released properly without risk of leaking it early. A similar tactic was undertaken for ''Dark Light'', but for that album they were called Harry Hits Parade, which may not be a shout-out - if it is, who knows what it refers to?

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: Their ''Uneasy Listening'' series, which collected only some of their ''many'' B-sides. Volume 1 had softer tunes, mostly acoustic renditions, whereas Volume 2 was all about hard rock covers and demos of songs that were heavier before being softened for release on one of their main albums.

* OfficiallyShortenedTitle: Their name is not an acronym, but it ''is'' the result of shortening their original name, His Infernal Majesty. Being that this is another name for [[TheDevil the Devil]], it combined with their occult themes gave everyone the idea that they were hardcore Satanists. On top of that, their label disliked the name for how long it was; it didn't exactly roll off the Finnish tongue. The word HIM was found to be neutral enough while "sounding the same in every language" and having the letters of their original name in it. Sometimes, however, you might see their name given by music vendors as "H.I.M." or "H.I.M. (His Infernal Majesty)", both of which are '''not''' correct.

* OfficiallyShortenedTitle: The band was previously referred to as His Infernal Majesty, which predictably led to accusations of satanism and infant sacrifices. The name HIM was eventually adopted to quell suspicion. Also the record company wasn't too fond of their name due to it's sheer length. They changed it to HIM since "it's definitely short enough and sounds the same in every language."

** They invert it via "For You" which mentions "666 ways to love", which was part of the name of their debut EP (on which "For You" doesn't appear anyway).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: 'It's All Tears' contains the lyrics "I'll violate you in the most sensual way". Pretty self-explanatory.

*** This is probably because the album version ends in a glitchy way, to make the listener think the CD is damaged. That would be pretty hard to replicate in a live setting. This raunchy bit is a piece of Music/MonsterMagnet's "Wall of Fire", though Valo sings it over the rest of the group playing "TV Eye" by the Stooges.

-->"For You", originally the first track on their debut full-length album

->''You know our sacred dream won't fail...\\
The sanctuary tender and so frail...\\
The sacrament of love,\\
The sacrament of warmth is true,\\
The sacrament is you.''
-->"The Sacrament"

* RockOpera: A mini-one in the epic ballad 'Sleepwalking Past Hope', for sure.

* DualMeaningChorus: The vast majority of the band's song lyrics contain multiple levels of meaning in every line. To list every double entendre, reference to classic literature, shout-out to other rock/metal ballads, and so forth would be accordingly impossible.

* ShoutOut: Probably to a lot of different things, but in particular they like to homage the underworld. ''Venus Doom'', in its base edition, was said to have nine songs in reference to the nine circles of hell in ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', though Valo admitted later he couldn't recall if that were true or not. What ''is'' certain is the full title of ''Screamworks'', which references Creator/AleisterCrowley's ''Magick in Theory and Practice''.

* LyricalColdOpen: Occasionally, such as in "In Venere Veritas", "The Funeral of Hearts", and "The Heartless". In particular, when the band found that the opening to "In Venere Veritas" so powerful that when mastering its album, ''Screamworks'', they made it the first track on the album.

* LyricalColdOpen: Occasionally, such as in "In Venere Veritas", "The Funeral of Hearts", and "The Heartless".

* RockMeAsmodeus: Relax, they're not Satanists. The only reason they drop 666 so often in their lyrics is due to a fascination with the occult, which is very rock & roll according to them. However, they've often found themselves in a peculiar spot - MoralGuardians consider them too close to Satanism to be anything ''but'' Satanists, but ''actual'' Satanists have actually requested that the group publicly distance themselves from any actual Satanic faction since they're not part of one.

* WickedHeartSymbol: Their logo is a fusion of a heart and an inverted pentagram. The band characterizes their style as "love metal". One of the first songs they ever recorded was a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game".

** He later designed another one by crossing a heart with a unicursal hexagram, a shape made famous by occultist Aleister Crowley. He had it tattooed on himself for reference, but doesn't seem to have done anything else with it.

* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: Many fans were pleased to learn that the band had split from Warner due to creative differences following Screamworks.

** ''Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666" doesn't have one, but 666 influences nearly everything on the album.

* NonAppearingTitle: HIM love to dance around this trope:
** ''Greatest Love Songs Vol. 666" doesn't have one, but 666 influences nearly everything on the album.
** The closest they get on ''Razorblade Romance'' is with "Razorblade Kiss".
** Skip a few records, and they FINALLY play it straight on both ''Dark Light'' and ''Venus Doom''...
** ...before ''Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice Chapters 1-13'' receives only this much via "Katherine Wheel": "Love in Theory and Practice, Chapter One".
** Then ''Tears on Tape'' plays it straight again to close out the band's career.

* TitleTrack: Inverted with 'For You' in which "666 Ways to Love" appear in the lyrics. Played straight with "Dark Light" and "Venus Doom", then twisted in Screamworks with the subtitle phrase "Love in Theory and Practice" appearing in the song "Katherine Wheel".

* NonAppearingTitle: Playing with this trope is among HIM's pet peeves. Greatest Lovesongs Vol. 666 is never fully mentioned on the album, but literally EVERYTHING had something to do with the number. Razorblade Romance is a song called Razorblade Kiss instead. Deep Shadows and Brilliant Highlights, and Love Metal never appear on the albums, but Dark Light and Venus Doom are title tracks. Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice: Chapters 1-13 is vaguely mentioned in the song Katherine Wheel in a part where Ville sings "Love in Theory and Practice Chapter One."

The bands final lineup consisted of vocalist Ville Valo, guitarist Mikko "Linde" Lindström, bassist Mikko "Migé" Paananen, Janne "Emerson Burton" Puurtinen on keyboards, and Jukka "Kosmo" Kröger. [[RevolvingDoorBand Things weren't always been this way, however...]]