Eurovision song contest

[Cartimand]

My earliest memory of Eurovision was, as a very small boy, being allowed to stay up to watch it on my parents' (rented) black and white TV.
I remember Vicky Leandros singing L'Amour est Bleu and thinking it was the most beautiful song I'd ever heard.
Was terribly disappointed that she didn't win!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD4ib9-laGY

My musical tastes developed in the 70s and 80s into heavy metal and prog rock, but I've always maintained a certain fondness for Eurovision and will certainly be watching tonight.

[George 1978]

I sometimes think of the Eurovision song contest as being a little bit like the FA cup. Back in the day the latter was percieved as being quite an event, unlike the comparatively nondescript occasion it is now. you'd switch the box on in the morning and there'd be live coverage before kick off, brief interviews with fans on their way to Wembley, the players getting ready etc, a real sense of building up the atmosphere before the game. To some extent Eurovision was similar, there was more of a feeling of anticipation if memory serves me well. TV was largely a more collective experience anyway, with only two or three channels at your disposal and no internet hardly surprising!

The ESC does have comparisons with the FA Cup Final, and the World Snooker Final - both are usually shown in May, and in some years, both the Eurovision and the FA Cup have been on the same day.

Got that Now That's What I Call Eurovision CD in the post in the week which is advertised on the NOW music channels - the CDs are mostly winning songs and UK entries obviously. Still great, though - I can't think of anyone else who has put songs from across the years on one compilation, although I do get the annual official Eurovision CD every year - used to get mine from my local HMV before the Lockdown.

[Cartimand]

Well the songs have finished and the politics are about to start!

i reckon the top 3 were Portugal, France and Italy, but who knows?

Been great fun though!

[George 1978]

James Newman's Embers have been finally burnt out - more like old woman than new man. Congratulations to Italy who won for the first time since 1990 which was then a very Italian year back then with them holding the World Cup.

Does anyone think that the United Kingdom should continue to enter the Eurovision Song Contest next year and in future years? Or do you think we should take a back seat and have a "neutral" perspective instead? I have a feeling that Graham Norton might quit the commentary job - look at Wogan in 2008 and the reason why he quit. And I bet people are putting two and two together and blaming Brexit ad infinitum.

[Semi42]

I think Norton stepped in to Terry’s shoes with full knowledge of the situation and even then I think it was, politically voting wise! a worse contest than it is now.
I do agree that the UK should pull their funding and go the semi finals route.
Embers certainly wasn’t the best song but it really wasn’t the worst but in terms of live performance, it was down there .
I’m a big rock fan and at work yesterday , I gave up Planet Rock’s to radio 2 just get me hyped up for the contest .
Congrats to Italy’s but their winner is in my opinion fairly dull. It may grow on me but the Swiss and French songs were , for me, superior.

next year we need a novelty song
the lyrics should be about everything good that the Uk has given the world ( TV, World Wide Web, phone, railways etc ) and call it “ please just give us , just one point”

[beccabear67]

I was pulling for Portugal but Italy winning bodes well for rock and roll. Iceland placed quite well too and I thought they were unique. There are lots of fun winners and also-rans from the '60s-'70s... Clodagh Rodgers, Mary Hopkin, Lulu... but the top of my personal nostalgic Mount Eurovision would be 1974 and 1975; Waterloo by Abba and Ding-a Dong by Teach-In, Sweden and Holland.

Oops, forgot to express condolences for the the 0 votes showing... pipped at the post by Germany for that ignominious bottom placement.

[Cartimand]

Well I did guess right with Italy - which was the song I voted for. Was great to see some serious guitar riffing in a Eurovision song.
My wife (who is French) was getting quite animated during the voting and was very disappointed that "Voila" didn't win.
the UK song was ghastly and he even managed to sing a bit flat when performing it too, so the nul points were no surprise (last time we achieved that was in 2003).
My favourite comment of the night was about the "Marmite" German song (also achieving zero in the public vote), which someone described as the worst thing Germany had done in its entire history!

[George 1978]

I think Norton stepped in to Terry’s shoes with full knowledge of the situation and even then I think it was, politically voting wise! a worse contest than it is now.
I do agree that the UK should pull their funding and go the semi finals route.

I don't think that it would make much difference if we weren't part of the Big Five to be honest - however, if we didn't get through, we would have a more neutral perspective of the contest by not having an entry submitted. Ireland didn't get through this year like it didn't in the last few years - compare that with when they were winning three years in a row back in the 1990s. We will never know how well that would have done - it could have done as badly as the UK entry which in that case it was a good job that it didn't go through. Mind you, not being part of the Big Five would bring a sense of impartiality from a British perspective.

I thought that Wogan must be turning in his grave - I had Radio 2 on the DAB in the kitchen and heard Ken Bruce almost being speechless when the televoting revealed that we had another lot of zero points - I wouldn't have blamed him for using choice language to be honest in shock.

I was thinking about the Brexit angle and thought that Norway being bottom for several years in the 1970s and 1980s was a coincidence and had nothing to do with the fact that they had never joined the EU, but that is just a sideline. It also made me think whether the UK should submit a previous entrant that has done well - Katrina Leskanich or even Cheryl Baker! Looking back on how Johnny Logan did in the 1980s twice made me think of that situation, things have changed since then although the contest was indeed all Wogan and Logan back then.

I liked the German song, although perhaps it wasn't right for an ESC audience - the "H from Steps"-alike singer's optimism and the "Land of the Giants"-sized hand and pointed finger (which when I first saw it on YT a couple of months ago made me think about another body part for some reason), was the "glass half-full" optimism which made me support it. In hindsight, it might as well be Agadoo (and don't forget that Black Lace themselves represented the UK back in 1979).

[George 1978]

I heard UK were bottom placed 2nd year in a row

It was quoted that the UK has been bottom five times now, but it feels like 15 to be honest.

Perhaps we should turn to song writers such as McCartney, Lloyd Webber, Elton John or someone in that vein? Jade Ewan benefited from this, but that was over a decade ago...

[Cartimand]

Problem is that, as the biggest financial contributor to Eurovision, the UK automatically gets an entry in the final, no matter what dross we submit.

Hence we seem to have become totally complacent about the quality of songs that we - one of the world's premier music-making nations, produce.
I mean, how could we expect a dreary song that didn't even make the UK top 100, to be successful?

That must irritate other countries - notably those whose songs, probably a damn sight better than ours, are eliminated in the qualifying rounds. That could well be a reason why they wouldn't vote for us.

I reckon we should scrap the funding, put a shortlist of songs to the public vote (as we used to do) and go through the qualifying rounds just like other countries.
That should ensure no further embarrassments in the final.

[Semi42]

Just reading about funding, it’s the Beeb that stumps up the cash , over 300k in 2012 , lord knows how much this year, paid to the European Broadcasting union.
the true total cost of the BBC broadcasting Eurovision runs in to millions . But a lot of airtime, Tv and Radio, consumed by it so the powers that be must deem it good value
I agree the funding that automatically gives the UK a place in the final should be scrapped ,but I predict that viewing figures would tumble should the UK fail to qualify .

[George 1978]

Problem is that, as the biggest financial contributor to Eurovision, the UK automatically gets an entry in the final, no matter what dross we submit.

We could opt out a la Brexit (I was the complete opposite back in the day if you know what I mean, being "pro" and not "anti"), but what I am saying is that we can decide to call it a day at any time, surely? Ironically, this year's winners Italy had opted out for much of the late 1990s and 2000s - I assume that the contest was seen on TV in their country but without participation.

Just saw on BBC News about who could represent the UK next year, and Bill Bailey was mentioned as an act. What??? Cannot see it myself is the answer. Who is Britain's answer to Johnny Logan exactly?

Saccharine groups like Steps would be more realistic (even though I thought they had split up back in the 2000s, more or less), but that makes me think of Scooch in 2007 doing their poor man's British Airways performance. We went down the novelty route and it got us nowhere.

[George 1978]

I was thinking last year when Italy was the biggest country in Europe affected by coronavirus and when last year's ESC was cancelled due to COVID - I bet that if Italy had won in 2019, and (would have) hosted it last year, the decisions would have been made sooner than if the Netherlands had hosted it. Just a thought.

[Semi42]

And now it’s tainted with accusations of on-air drug use from the victors front man

pure Eurovision !!

[darren]

the brits didnt do to well did they last again.

saturday 12th may

will you be flying the flag?:d or thinking oh what a drag?
we are being represented by a band called scootch, do we stand any chance, or is it now about much more than music?