On the Wolves LUG recently, there was a thread about those of us with kids, realising we are turning into our parents. In light of this I had to laugh, when on Saturday night, with nothing else worthy of interest being on, Nicole and I sat and watched the Eurovision Song Contest.
Not unsurprisingly the Brits got a real bashing. We were the last country to get award at least one point, and ended up sitting on the bottom for ages. I think it was Ireland who gaves us the first points. A bit unfair for Javine, as although not my kind of music at all, it wasn't bad enough to get such a low number of votes.
Terry Wogan's comments however were superb. They were so politically UNcorrect, I was amazed the BBC didn't take him off air. He really didn't like the Malta entry (she sounded like Celine Dion) and kept making references such as "C'mon, get granny off the top". It was probably the best comedy show on Saturday night. The presenters were terrible, but Terry made it better by continually referring to them as 'Ant and Shreech'.
One thing that Terry pointed out towards the end, that kind of puts the show into perspective, is that the 4 largest contributors to the Eurovision contest, in terms of finance, are Spain, United Kingdom, France and Germany, who made up the bottom 4 spots in the voting. If all 4 decided not to bother any more, there would be no more Eurovision. Even the host nation, Ukraine, only made 5th from bottom. All the new Baltic countries were voting high for each other, as did many neighbouring countries, which just added to the comedy element, as Terry was taking the p*** predicting who they were going to vote for.
For the rockers out there, you might have enjoyed the Swiss entry, Vanilla Ninja. A Euro version of Vixen. Not a great song, but they have potential. Or if you're into really bad glam metal, like Tigertailz or The Darkness, you might enjoy the Norwegian entry, Wig Wam. If you're in to Nu-Metal, like Linkin Park, you might enjoy the pub rock offering that the Ukraine entered, Greenjolly.
Everything else was standard EuroPop really. Nothing memorable at all.
Terry obviously did like all the scantily clad young ladies taking part. Especially the German entry, Gracia [4], who he claimed would entertain the 'Mac brigade'. She came on with a long black coat, which opened to reveal a very skimpy outfit as she launched into the song.
My other half asked a very interesting question though. Do the other countries treat Eurovision as big a joke as we do? I suspect not, seeing as this is probably the only international forum for many of the countries. But then again, aside from the winner, I doubt we'll hear any of them again. Even the winner will disappear after next year.
Thanks to Terry, it was good fun though :)
My other half asked a very interesting question though. Do the other countries treat Eurovision as big a joke as we do?
Well at least a part of Austria does. Util some years ago to very funny and anarchic radio comedians (Stermann & Grisseman) would comment on the song contest live in their radio show. So people turned off the volume on their TV and listen to the hilarious comments from Stermann & Grisseman.
We do.
Even the winner will disappear after next year.
Didn't Eros Ramazzotti enter the contest and won, perhaps ten years ago?
Re:Yep
barbie on 2005-05-23T14:28:55
who?Didn't Eros Ramazzotti enter the contest and won, perhaps ten years ago?I am perhaps being a little unfair, as I'm sure there are many performers who have gone on to be well known in more than their own country. But with those singing their own language, it's a lot harder to break into other territories, especially the UK and the US.
The contest even marked a death knell for Katrina And The Waves, as even though they won, a year later they had all but disappeared from view. They were a great little pop band before they went on Eurovision. Even The Bangles thought so!
Re:Yep
cog on 2005-05-23T16:10:00
Ramazzotti is an Italian singer.AFAIK, he is well-known in Italy, and he is also well-known in Portugal.
I thought people in other countries had also heard of him
:-)
Re:Father Ted and Dougal sure believed in it ...
barbie on 2005-05-23T14:33:01
Ah, the Song for Ireland episode. Apparently RTE ran into financial difficulties because Ireland won 4 times in 5 years! Perhaps one of the reasons they didn't try so hard to win the semi-finals perhaps;)
