Eurovision Song contest

Serbia?? Really??

Pah!

 

Yeah that was our reaction.  We thought there were better.  We found their performance a bit boring actually.

I liked Serbia--not the song itself so much, but the singer:  I thought she had a terrific voice and was glad they won solely because of that.  

Still disgusted with the political b.s. that the whole voting system is.  I think the UK should pull out of the whole thing--it's like a handful of Western European countries pour all this money into an event which turns into a huge, back-slapping party for everyone else, at which they all thumb their noses at those founding (funding) countries.

Yeah that was our reaction.  We thought there were better.  We found their performance a bit boring actually.

By the time they won, I had seen this song 3 times. I agree the singer was good but.... I TRIED to give it the benefit of the doubt the last time. I tried to see what had excited so many other folk but in the end, the bit in the middle reminded me of that Celine Dion Titanic song and it was still boring......

Ah well. Not the first or the last time that my tastes are out of the norm. 

I liked Serbia--not the song itself so much, but the singer:  I thought she had a terrific voice and was glad they won solely because of that. 

Still disgusted with the political b.s. that the whole voting system is.  I think the UK should pull out of the whole thing--it's like a handful of Western European countries pour all this money into an event which turns into a huge, back-slapping party for everyone else, at which they all thumb their noses at those founding (funding) countries.

I think the UK should pull out just because the whole thing is crap and a waste of time!! It does nothing to promote genuine musical talent. Certainly our entry this year was appalling, and to think we could have entered Morrissey!

Steve seemed to think the Serbs won -- well partly because of that grouping of countries voting for each other, but also because the Serb-Croat language is spoken broadly across the region -- so lots of folks there would have understood (and apparently appreciated) the lyrics in a way that we are unable to do.  That's his theory anyway.

Apart from the obvious explanations.

Nonetheless, it would have been so much better had utter silliness prevailed - hence my preference for Ukraine, Romania, or even France!  To me, THAT'S what Eurovision is all about.

You know, the UK has been bleating about the "political" voting for years now, but to be honest I think there are many other reasons for why countries vote the way they do:

1. Expats.* Statistically you'll find a lot of expats/visitors one country over for one reason or another.

2. Cultural proximity. What is considered a good song in one country isn't one in another. Usually geography plays a huge part in this. I didn't like any of the Southern/Eastern European songs, but I can appreciate why countries around there would've. Likewise, I can appreciate that Scandinavian songs rarely appeal to countries outside Scandinavia.

3. Immigration.* You can really tell which countries have a large immigrant population from which countries. Immigrants tend to be more patriotic than people living "at home", and they're more likely to vote for "their" country.

4. The demographics of people who actually vote in the Eurovision. My guess would be that elderly people vote in the Eurovision more than others, hence why they tend to choose culturally familiar songs. The next group would be the people who throw a party and then vote for the campiest acts as a pisstake.

5. I honestly doubt the people who watch the Eurovision--and actually care--would be the ones who are politically active and/or aware.

* I separated immigrants and expats here because from this particular perspective they are two distinct groups--expats tend to roam around whereas immigrants are usually permanently settled for whatever reason.

There's been controversy about the voting in the contest for years.  It used to be a "jury" voting in each country until sometime in the 1980s when telephone polling was introduced.     

There have certainly been one or two political withdrawals over the years.  The contest is usually hosted by whichever country won the previous year (odd exceptions when the same country has won two years running).  Several times a country has refused to take part when it would mean attending a country which is not in favor; for example, one or two countries refused to enter when the contest was due to be held in Spain during the Franco period (must have been the '69 contest, as Spain won in 1968).

The 1970 line-up was also a little thin on the ground compared to normal, as several countries decided not to bother entering after the 1969 contest resulted in a four-way tie (the U.K. being one).

I gave up watching years ago when it seemed to me that the music was going downhill the same way as general pop of the time.  The last winning song I can recall that I really liked was 1982 -- Nicole for Germany with Ein Bisschen Freiden.

I say bring back catchy tunes like Puppet On A String, Boom Bang-A-Bang, Waterloo, or for foreign-language entries something like the classic and absolutely fantastic winner Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son.   

Abba was probably the most successful Eurovision act ever.  A lot of them you never hear anything about afterwards.  Are there any others that were successful?

Well, Cliff Richard sang for the U.K. twice (Congratulations, 1968 and Power To All Our Friends, 1973), but he was already extremely well-known at the time.   Neither of those won, by the way, although in 1968 we were beaten by just one point!

Bucks Fizz (Making Your Mind Up, 1981) had a few more hits during the 1980s. 

Most of our entries up until the 1970s were sung by people who were already fairly well-known in their own right at the time:  Kathy Kirby, Ronnie Carroll, Sandie Shaw, Lulu.....

This was my first Eurovision so far - I didn't know the Cold War was still happening!

Never would've picked Serbia in a million years while we were watching the acts.  Russia, which finished 3rd or 4th was plain AWFUL, but there you go.  Ukraine heavily deserved the win & you think that sheer talent/silliness would've gotten it for them, because they're also former Soviet!  I was disgusted when even the Western countries voted for Serbia - did they see something I didn't? Blech!!

Ukraine was my top pick, but Germany's song was absolutely wonderful.  Also Hungary & Romania had my votes (and I LIKED France, if for nothing else than the Frenglish).

I was highly amused by Romania's song, especially the crazy little dance at the end.  Oh, and I thought the guy who sang for Belarus was kind of cute

I thought the Serbian singer, as a singer, was fantastic.  The song?  meh.  The performance?  Wee-yard.

A lot of rock 'n roll in Finland apparently!  I thought the singer for Finland was great too (reminded me a bit of Evanescance)... that was Finland, right?

The drummer chick (and guy; can't remember the country) were awesome with the performance, but she was a terrible singer.  Loved the drumming though.

We each had a scoring sheet: 1 out of 10 in three categories: Song/Performance/Costume

I actually had the U.K. kind of high up... they were choreographed pretty well, and the costumes were certainly stand-outs!    And off-the-scale as cheese factor goes!

Loved Wogan's comment about the Romanian act -- something along the lines of 'When they sing in every language like that, it's always going to end up with this dancing.'

Every year I watch it, and every year I get angry....

The British song was fairly rubbish, but it was sort of fun, and no way did it deserve to do so badly.

My favourite was Sweden, with Hungary a close second.  I also sneakily liked the French song...it was the campest thing since Butlins, and I loved the Jean Paul Gaultier costumes...the guy singing to his cat was a classic!

But it has been years since the votes were done on merit, and the outcome was just plain wrong.  Serbia was not a good song, and shouldn't have won.  But, as Terry said, the voting is done in blocks.  back in the day, it was Scandanavia, then Benelux, then the Med countries, and of course the UK and Ireland.  Now we have the former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet states, and the Baltics.  It's all political, and it's silly.

Thank God for Malta, though!

Elizabeth - the drummer chick was Bulgaria.  They scared the bejeezus out of me!!!

Vicky

Here's a little Eurovision smorgasbord of material that I edited together quickly last night.  These are all winning entries from the first 30 years of the contest, except for two of the U.K. songs which were placed second. 

I had to restrict the frequency response to something less than hi-fi and save in mono to keep the file size down a little, but it will give you a taste of old Eurovision.    Enjoy!   

File is MP4 format, approx. 2.4 MB:

Eurovision song contest  compilation