The world of heavy metal started this year with two important pieces of news. Both involve the vocalists and guitar players of two renowned bands in the heavy metal scene. The first news is about the death of Alexi Laiho, the ex-vocalist and ex-guitarist of the Finnish metal band Children of Bodom. The Official Facebook account of Alexi Laiho reported on January 4 that the guitarist passed away in his Helsinki home in the last week of December.
The second news is about Jon Schaffer, the guitarist, and vocalist of the American heavy metal band Iced Earth. On January 6, Donald Trump supporters breached the security of the United States Washington Capitol. After the riot happened, the F.B.I posted a series of pictures on social media where they asked for public assistance and information. One of the people identified in those pictures is Jon Schaffer. Jon Schaffer was part of the riot in the Washington Capitol.
The next charts show the search popularity of Alexi Laiho and Jon Schaffer from January 4 to January 11 by country:
Why are these guitarists popular in different countries?
Heavy metal media outlets from all around the world covered this pair of news. However, according to data from Google trends, search popularity by country of each guitarist was different. Alexi Laiho is from Finland, and where he was searched the most. He didn’t have as much reach in other countries, but some of the other countries where he was popular have Children of Bodom Facebook groups with thousands of followers. Jon Schaffer is from the U.S.A, but he was not searched as much in the U.S.A as in other countries. He was most searched in European cities, but Iced Earth popularity has big popularity in Europe, especially in Greece. Jon Schaffer told Rock Overdose Greece in a 2019 interview that “he has a great bond with the Greek fans.”
Alexi Laiho passed away at the age of 41, and he had health issues during recent years. Jon Schaffer turned himself in on January 17, and he is facing six charges related to the riot of the U.S.A Capitol.
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