Eurovision 2009

[sidneykidney]

Since I couldnt find this thread anywhere else I thought I would start it here. For our stateside cousins this is something you maybe miss out on. This is an annual contest where every European country gets together, enters their own song by a singer that should be (but sometimes isnt) from that country and a previous unknown. They then sing their song and everybody votes for whose they think is best. In theory.

In reality its a case of everybody singing a song and then we all vote on who we think is the most popular country in europe. All baltic states vote for each other. Greece and Malta (I think) always give each other maximum points, regardless of how rubbish the song is. The whole show was until this year hosted by Terry Wogan (for the british coverage) and he rips the **** out of it something chronic. That may have something to do with the fact that nobody votes for the UK. Or it could be that nobody in Europe likes the UK. Either way.....

This year to stand any chance of winning we got rid of Terry Wogan. This is a shame because he made it worth watching. Now we might have a chance of getting somewhere. Or we might have done.... until we chose our entry for Eurovision 2009:

YouTube - Jade Ewen It's my time UK's Eurovision 2009 winner

[Silver]

They got rid of Wogan??!!! He was the only reason I used to watch the bloody show! The last time I got excited about Eurovision was back in 2007 when Lordi won, woohoo!!! I remember even my Dad being impressed with their show.

So the UK goes for some soppy piece of crap, while the Dutch have gone for the boy band approach (even though they do look old for a boy band), hehehe. Don't know if I can be bothered to watch it this year if Wogan isn't doing the commentary.

[Rajagra]

Oh crap! They accidentally cranked the handle on the X-Factor cliche song generator, instead of the Eurovision one!

[gugi]

Lol, Evrovision songs are so not my taste. In my country there are regular scandals surrounding the selection of the entry, but that's just how everything is done there.

Notable exceptions might be Abba and Cliff Richard.

Oh historical eurovision is so great!!!! I think I've spent hours of my life watching crazy stuff from the 60-s, 70-s, and the 80s (after that it's so bad it's not even entertaining).

BTW you forgot to add France Gall - her 1965 (not for her country too) is so bad, yet she had fairly sucessful career afterwards

YouTube - france gall eurovision 1965

[gugi]

And speaking of old entries, this is BeBerlin's favorite
YouTube - Eurovision 1979 - Germany

[LX_Emergency]

Watched it once, I think in 2002 or 2003.

Basically it's horribly slanted in favour of the countries that send out workers abroad. Back then Turkey won because there are so many turkish immigrants abroad who could all vote for turkey.

[Bruno]

To be fair to Turkey, it was a good song.
Yes, the point system sucks (Belgium and the Netherlands always swap high scores) but in the end, the winning song is ususally pretty good.

What usuaully happens for Belgium is this:

a) the walloon media network selects from a list of candidates a contestant which is original and has a catchy song. walloon contestants usually get decent final scores. A couple of years ago they came in second

b) the flemmisch media network organizes something like 'idols' in which all contestants compete against each other. The public gets to vote by sms (raking in massive profits for the network) alonside a panel of 'experts'.
This goes on for weeks, until we have something left that noone takes offense to. Usually this is some soft pop song which you've forgotten by the time the act is done. by this time, the singer has quite an ego, and people delude themselves into thinking that a mellow voice somehow gets lots of votes.
Then they get pounced on in the actual contest, and the singer and their supporters act all indignant that it was a fix, that the winner was ridiculous, etc etc. (ignoring the fact that their walloon counterparts never seem to have this problem)

[Galopede]

Well, Graham Norton is doing the UK commentary this time so it might be interesting! Not that the UK has a snowball in hell's chance, no matter what the song.

Null point...

[bj64]

It has cult status down here in Aus. People have eurovision parties ets. Say it isn't so about Wogan say its't so.

Brian

[LX_Emergency]

To be fair to Turkey, it was a good song.
Yes, the point system sucks (Belgium and the Netherlands always swap high scores) but in the end, the winning song is ususally pretty good.

Nope, not in my view. Ok before I go on I should mention that I'm a bit of a singer. So I know (by ear) whether someone can actually sing or not.

And I remember that year being amazed at how bad many of the singers really were. It sounds pompous to say that I could have done better but in most cases I actually could have.

Turkey was one of the groups that had a HORRIBLE live performance. I don't remember the song, I don't remember the singer but I do remember being appalled that a massive singing contest like this would allow such a horrible performer (this goes for many of the performers that year, not just the turkish contestant).

I watched part of it again the year after and the same thing happened. Unprofessional after unprofessional stood on that stage and made (in my eyes) a complete and utter fool of themselves. After seeing part of that second one I vowed never to watch again. I will not sit through HOURS of absolute garbage.

The songs are repetitive and uninspired, a lot of the singers are a complete joke and the fact that they'll let the public judge it (seeing as most of the public wouldn't know a good song or singer if it bit them in the nose a fact proven time and time again by the Idols concept.) is just the final drop that makes the bucket spill. (Most judges actually know what they're talking about. I know the public interaction gets higher ratings but it kills quality)

So yeah, tastes may vary.....but skill will not. And the level of live performing skill I saw those two years convinced me that I'd never need to sit through something like that again. They might be amazing in the studio...but they didn't impress live.

On the other hand I have some friends that went to see the dutch act for this year (they did a number of stadium concerts) and they said it was great. But I hate the music they do with a vengeance.....mass produced over commercialised grumble grumble grumble, if they win I might have to shoot myself grumble grumble grumble.

That said...enjoy it if you want. It only comes on TV once a year afterall