he died, Vainio had become friends with ice hockey coach Juhani Tamminen and dined with his family. According to Tamminen, Vainio had been in good condition at the time. The following week Tamminen learned of Vainio's death from a friend who had read about it in a Finnish newspaper. The record Vainio had worked on during the final years of his life was released posthumously by Scandia in 1991 as Viiskymppisen viisut ("Tunes of a Fifty-year-old"). Especially important for Vainio had been the song Kauan sitten ("Long Ago") which he had recorded in the early 1970s. Vainio's most important collaborator during his last years was producer Jaakko Salo. Nicknames and pseudonyms Juha Vainio's best-known nicknames were Junnu and Juha "Watt" Vainio. Junnu was a familiar name also used in connection with his last name as Junnu Vainio. The name Juha "Watt" Vainio was used on the cover of several albums and was a name he was publicly known by. Vainio's friends never used the nickname Watt – for them he always remained Junnu. Among the pseudonyms used by Vainio were Junnu, Junnu Kaihomieli, Jorma Koski, Ilkka Lähde, Mirja Lähde, Kirsi Sunila and Heikki Ilmari. The name Junnu Kaihomieli was used for Vainio's bawdy songs in the late 1970s. Critical commentary Peter von Bagh regards Vainio as the pioneer of Finnish 1960s humorous songs since he began their composition before Irwin Goodman. Producer Jaakko Salo commented that Vainio's career found a new start once Vainio quit drinking. According to him, it is evident from Vainio's texts that his songs are based on his own experiences. According to writer and film director Jukka Virtanen, Vainio usually wrote his lyrics at the same time as the music. This is evident in the song Vanhojapoikia viiksekkäitä, written as a waltz and whose lyrics feature an aged bachelor who never got to dance at his own wedding. Virtanen has said that while Vainio worked at a fast pace, songs were never easy for him to write. His work did not become easier when he quit drinking, but it did become more emotional. Hobbies Vainio frequently played football and basketball in his youth and later on remained an enthusiastic spectator. He wrote the lyrics for ice-hockey team Tappara's anthem Tappara on terästä ("Tappara Is Made of Steel"), which was composed by Reijo Lehtovirta in 1976. Tappara's manager Mikko Westberg asked Vainio to write a song for