There is a popular saying one hears here in Germany from time to time: You haven’t got a chance, use it. And although Germany’s wildly popular teeny rockers Tokio Hotel (wildly popular in Germany that is) were realistic enough not to expect winning the nomination for Best New Artist during the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles last night, reality caught up with them (and the rest of us) and bit them in a big way anyway. And now they’re just kicking back and letting it bleed, as Mick Jagger might say. They used their no chance situation and won gold all the same, in other words.

Stranger things have happened in the pop music award industry I am sure, but I couldn’t imagine what. Not only was the relatively unknown “post-apocalyptic” German quartet with the androgynous singer the only non-American nominee in the running, they were up against the more than formidable female foes of Jordin Sparks and Miley Cyrus, as well. And although just being nominated was probably honor enough I suppose, they now suddenly find themselves playing in the big leagues, all dressed up (albeit a bit strangely) and with nowhere to go. Nowhere to go but further up, it seems.

 “We don’t expect it, so for us, it’s so cool to be nominated,” singer Bill Kaulitz had told MTV News just shortly before the event. “I think it’s really, really special for us – it’s America and it’s our first American award, and that’s so huge.” Well huge it was, the nomination, as was their win, as it was hugely rewarding to see that huge things can still happen for “outsiders” in America, despite all the odds. And now it appears as if Tokio Hotel’s international popularity, like their command of English I assume, will also surely begin growing in a huge way.

It remains to be seen what kind of staying power this exotic Teutonic group will have now that they have “arrived” on the other side of the pond of course, but if their song Ready, Set, Go! is any indication, it looks like this could be just the beginning – of something big?

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