684 replies to this topic

[laslowe]

It's on Saturday, May 15, and can be watched on a couple of satellite channels in the U.S.
Twenty-four countries will duke it out and viewers at home will vote for their favorite song. The country with the most points wins.
Those who like "American Idol"" will love this contest.

[Tackhead]

Isn't this the contest which gave the world such dubious musical achievements as ABBA, Spice Girls, and tATu?

Can't wait.

[katisha66]

Can't blame Eurovision for the Spice Girls, but feel free to also blame them for Buck's Fizz and Brotherhood of Man. Except US viewers probably haven't heard of either of those acts. Never mind!

[Andrew's Mommy]

I believe that Katrina and the Waves were also involved with Eurovision somehow. I'm wondering if Nena and her 99 Luftballons were involved at some time.

I agree laslowe, anyone who appreciated Diana from WI singing in her own language will appreciate this. Mind, Eurovision craps on WI from a great height.

We get quite a "good" coverage in Australia of Eurovision. Our "ethnic" TV channel, SBS (aka Soccer Broadcasting Service) is having a "Countdown to Eurovision" show every night this week. They have been known to do two coverages, one serious, one snarky.

A couple of years ago however, they went in a different hosting direction here, possibly involving too many drag queens.

Anyhoo, its' not the show bumping my Iron Chef pleasure when its' on. Blame the Danish!

[SimonAndOn]

Actually, Eurovision didn't give us Tatu, but Russia entered them after they had their stupid, stupid fame.

Anyway, Eurovision has to be the most snarkworthy few hours of the year. Even after the music ends, you get to laugh at the hosts from every country. It rules.

[jinxiejinx]

Do you guys have favs yet?

I am kinda for Turkey (mostly credit for being ska and different) although the French entry isn't bad (ok, so I think the boy is pretty and he is a french idol winner, yeah?)

[Andrew's Mommy]

Is this the French Idol fella who they didn't enter in WI?

[katisha66]

The latest issue of Who magazine featured a Eurovision party guide complete with drinking game. I thought about doing it for a nanosecond, then I realised I already have enough bad singing in my life through my sad American Idol additiction.

[rack]

Also Celine Dion, who won the Eurovision back when she was Swiss, with a French-language song called "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" ("Don't Leave Without Me", incongruously voiced in the formal second person). And Cliff Richard's career took off when "Congratulations" came in second back in the early Triassic period. And a very hirsute Irish band called The Hothouse Flowers did well, albeit briefly, out of the Eurovision, not by not entering but by having the interval show just being the video for their song "Don't Go", which got more airplay than all of the contestants that year combined.

So, yes, the contest is responsible for an awful lot.

[trustno1]

And don't forget Johnny Logan, who has won twice, as well as writing a third.
Interestingly enough, when he won in 1980, he was still an Australian citizen.
Of course, the 1994 interval act was also very memorable - it was something called "Riverdance".

[Andrew's Mommy]

Here's a link to a Sydney Morning Herald article about this year's Eurovision.

the competition did discover Abba, Buck's Fizz, Katrina and the Waves, Plastic Bertrand and Celine Dion.

Plastic Bertrand? EWWW!

[Bill1978]

Is this the French Idol fella who they didn't enter in WI?

Yes it is, Jonatan Cerrada, the Belgian who won 'French' Idol. Now I'll have to watch Eurovision this year, to watch him perform. I've been debating whether to purchase his album and now I have an oppurtunity to fully decide. Stage presence is always a factor with me.

Plastic Bertrand? EWWW!

Can I take your EWWW! and raise you are WHO???

And Cliff Richard's career took off when "Congratulations" came in second back in the early Triassic period.

BWAH!

Edited to add: Don't forget Eurovision gave us Gina G's Ooh Aah..Just A Little Bit. The last true international Eurovision hit. Even though it only placed 7th.

Edited by Bill1978, May 13, 2004 @ 7:55 PM.

[Andrew's Mommy]

Yeah, didn't she represent England that year? (A long time after Ooh Aah was released here?) Weren't the Spice Girls good enough? Hee!

I wonder if that Zany Polish chick from WI will turn up for this??

Plastic Bertrand was responsible for the atrocious song Ca Plane Pour Moi. Refer here for lyrics.

[katisha66]

Plastic Bertrand was responsible for the atrocious song Ca Plane Pour Moi.

Ah, yes, Andrew's Mommy, I remember it well. When I was learning French at school we asked my teacher what it meant. She said it was a load of crap, basically, but that "Ca plan pour moi" VERY loosely translated as, "This is the life for me," or something. I even remember the film clip, which featured Plastic pogoing frantically in a vinyl jumpsuit. Yum!

[obtabius]

Do you guys have favs yet?

I am kinda for Turkey (mostly credit for being ska and different) although the French entry isn't bad (ok, so I think the boy is pretty and he is a french idol winner, yeah?)

As long as it isn't Latvia, I don't care. Dear God why Latvia.

Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy?

[BrandyAlexander]

Eurovision for me is all about Terry Wogan. I refuse to watch it on any channel other than BBC1. The man is a God. At last years show the Latvian[?] organisers didnt want him snarking so they banned him from drinking. The result was him being possibly snarkier than ever. I saw him interviewed a couple of weeks ago where he was talking about the year it was in Denmark. At one point in the broadcast he had referred to the hosts as "Dr Death and The Toothfairy". They were livid.

I. Can't. Wait.

[jinxiejinx]

I miss Terry! Australia used to get the Terry Wogan comments but no, now we have our own commentator, damn Des. I don't find him funny at all. Bring back Terry!

As long as it isn't Latvia, I don't care. Dear God why Latvia.

I liked the latvia entry! Too bad they didn't make it to the finals. And I was gutted Denmark was cut! Noo!! The Swiss coming with 0 was funny, tho.

I am starting to like the Macedonia song. And I admit, the song from Bosnia might be pure queer and cheese but I love it.

[SimonAndOn]

Is Terry commentating this year? Definately? Because I read that someone was retiring from Eurovision and was under the impression it was him.

Also, last year, everyone in Australia complained about the lack of Terry so SBS repeated Eurovision during the day a week or two later with Terry goodness.

[Anne Katharina]

Wow, these were truly not the results I expected. At least Cyprus - which I voted for - got rang 5, while most of my other favorites gathered somewhere in the lower places.
Though I missed some of the performances I wasn't overly thrilled by this year's competition. It's either me getting older or the competition getting less exciting with every year.
At least Germany made rang 8, which was less than I hoped for, but as long as neither Malta (Mr. Siegel, please just GO!) nor Austria (to every country that voted for that song, please know, you are so close to losing my respect) beat it, I can deal with that.

I noticed again how there were some results that didn't surprise me at all, because they are the same every year, but they don't seem to affect the final result, since we wouldn't have those unexpected winners every year (as far as I remember the last few were: Denmark, Latvia, Turkey and now Ukraine, so if anybody sees a pattern in here, let me know, cause I definitely don't).

To all of you who haven't seen the show, which as I assume are most of the TWOP-Users, you haven't really missed anything. Half of the contestants couldn't sing and some of the performances were really badly mixed (at least I got the feeling, because I had trouble hearing the singers). Apart from that there were like five or six songs that in my opinion are worth listening to, so jsut don't mind. If you don't live in Europe I wonder if it can be any fun at all (despite, of course, mocking like all the time).

[SimonAndOn]

If you don't live in Europe I wonder if it can be any fun at all (despite, of course, mocking like all the time).

That's what MAKES it fun. Ah, Eurovision. And you say all the songs are really bad? That's totally getting my hopes up. This'll be fun.

[mariposa]

Two years ago, they ran a feed of Eurovision online. Well, without commentary from Wogan (or anyone, really). I remember the foxy boyband representing Cyprus (their song was fun too!), the scary Greek guy who dressed like the Borg and did a Kraftwerk cast-off (which was so bad it was actually good)... There was the Spanish singer who won Operación Triunfo and pronounced "Europe" like "New York" (huh?), the Swedish R&B group that called themselves Afro-Dite, and the Slovenian drag queens dressed as flight attendants. The winner was a Latvian chick who sang a terrible Ricky Martin cast-off. Good times.

Damn. I think I should move to Europe. Between this and Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar, us Yanks are seriously deprived of utterly bad musical TV shows.

[Anne Katharina]

Yeah, I remember voting for the Slovenian drag queens. I thought they were cool and (no, I actually am serious) I kinda liked the song.

And hey - the second season of DSDS wasn't that bad. But then again, what do I have to compare it to?

[SimonAndOn]

Oh God... Why was Bosnia & Whatevina's entry pretending to be interested in the female dancers? He was wearing a pink shirt that revealed his stomach and has a bleached mohawk, and sung of his passion for DISCO! HORRIBLY! I love Eurovision.

[squiggles]

Words cannot express my love for Terry Wogan at this moment! He managed to always say what I was thinking only in a much snarkier and funnier way than I could manage.

Did anyone understand the relevance of the bald woman dancing weirdly on stilts during France's performance? I think it was trying to get across some kind of message, god knows what though.

[Anne Katharina]

Did anyone understand the relevance of the bald woman dancing weirdly on stilts during France's performance? I think it was trying to get across some kind of message, god knows what though.

Well, it was hard not to notice her. My boyfriend and I kept asking ourselves the same question, but we were not able to come up with some satisfying answer either. My guess is that it was some kind of art. The background singers weren't a lot better either.
Did you notice how she was dancing completely out of rhythm? She was just making some kind of bizarre hectic movements that had no relation whatsoever with the song. I think her appearence spoiled the performance more than it helped it. But maybe that out-of-rhythm-ness was meant to be some kind of message as well, but I'm not sure I would even want to know what they were trying to see. It was creepy enough to just see it.

[Justin Cognito]

Two years ago, they ran a feed of Eurovision online. Well, without commentary from Wogan (or anyone, really). I remember the foxy boyband representing Cyprus (their song was fun too!), the scary Greek guy who dressed like the Borg and did a Kraftwerk cast-off (which was so bad it was actually good)... There was the Spanish singer who won Operación Triunfo and pronounced "Europe" like "New York" (huh?), the Swedish R&B group that called themselves Afro-Dite, and the Slovenian drag queens dressed as flight attendants. The winner was a Latvian chick who sang a terrible Ricky Martin cast-off. Good times.

...[speechless]...

Note to self: Spend semester of Junior year- nay, entire Junior year- in London.

[thigeroo]

Why don't I ever gamble on this thing? I'm apparently somehow connected to the entire European soul of bad music, since i'm always able to predict the winner. Ukraine, people, was that song anything but a bunch of "Hay, hey" and the weird stoneage costumes? Well, at least it was slightly amusing.

I love the sheer politics in the voting, oh Cyprus gave Greece 12 points? Big surprise there. I was also amazed that all the former ex-Yugoslavia countries voted for Serbia, and Greece gave Turkey six points? I guess European integration actually means something. But honestly, 36 countries voting? Far to much, it just wouldn't end.

There just wasn't enough really strange songs, like the Austrian rapper last year with the cardboard cutouts? That was a classic.

[Cuckoo]

Ahh thigeroo, Alf Poier! Alf Poier was the God of Eurovision 2003 with his animal-song.

I think they should stop the televoting-thing. Either that, or don't let 36 countries join in on the vote. But this is just coming from a bitter person from Holland. My vote went to Cyprus, by the way. Lovely song, lovely voice.

Other highlights of the show; Russian Avril's arm getting smeared with one of her dancer's red bodypaint. The French performance that made me go all 'le wtf, pour qoui eh?' The male host's freaky hair. The female host's bright yellow freaky dress. The hosts' complete inability to ad lib their presentation when it was taking so damn long for the winners to come on stage. Terry Wogan! ("the Netherlands won Eurovision 29 years ago. Make that 30.")

[Just'sin]

I picked Ukraine to win. I personally thought the song was the best one of the lot, Eurovision wise.

I am so buying the CD and DVD.

[mariposa]

Note to self: Spend semester of Junior year- nay, entire Junior year- in London.

While that may at first sound like a good plan to get to the Eurovision cheeze, believe me, it may not work...

1. Study-abroad programs let out in early May, before Eurovision comes on
2. Your spoiled, obnoxious American flatmates will use the flat TV to watch some shitty American movie they could always watch when they get back home (this happened to me... not with Eurovision, but with the Brit awards).