caddyman: (eurovision)
[personal profile] caddyman
It took me a long, long time to ‘get’ the Eurovision Song Contest. When I was a kid, it was something that was on telly once a year and that was it.

You go through phases with it, or at least I did; things may be different in these days of hundreds of digital TV channels, the intarwebs and digital radio. When I was a kid, there were two TV channels (three from 1969), computers were in films only and radio was the BBC. And I didn’t have a record player of my own until I was nearly twelve…

To begin with you’re just too young to care, if you’re even allowed to stay up while it’s on. Then comes the point when you endure it, because it’s on telly and it’s better than going to bed, this may evolve into a shortish period where you quite like it, or actively detest it according to taste, but that is rapidly replaced with indifference as the hormones of puberty take hold and anything that is vaguely mainstream is to be avoided like the plague. The next stage is simple habit; having avoided/detested the entire cheesy concept through your teens, you then become old enough to go to the pub, meet the opposite sex, set fires, that sort of thing. You just forget it’s on.

And one day, one Saturday in May, a few years down the line, you find yourself at home at a loose end. Your friends have all inconveniently gone away for the weekend to avoid you, have run out of internet, can’t be bothered to read and have nothing to do that calls to you so you switch the telly on and stare at it. You flick the channels and, because by definition, TV is rubbish, you keep coming back to the Eurovision Song Contest. You still ignore it, the first time, but when you happen upon the voting towards the end of the night, there is a reasonably strong possibility that you will stop and see what happens. Which country is going to snub its biggest rival? Which of the small East European countries will attempt to incur the wrath of the Bear by allocating fewer than 10 points to Russia. And will France even acknowledge the existence of the UK entry (though frankly, who would this year?).

And then you’re hooked.

With the advent of Twitter and FaceBook, where you can be as rude and/or hilarious as you like with your pithy comments, it just gets better.

The trick is, and this is the bit that takes the learning, Eurovision Song Contest is just a name. It’s not about the songs at all, not for us in the UK at least. It’s all about funny foreigners trying to show that they understand pop music when frankly, they don’t. It’s all about national rivalries but without the guns.

This year the Spanish state broadcaster has asked their entrant not to win, because Spain can’t afford to host the show in 2013. We could be in for a bumper year if a lot of the other shaky economies out there take a similar view.



Visually, 2011 was the year of the Gorgian hypno-muff, though that well-known European state, Azerbaijan somehow won the contest on buggins’ turn. I wonder what the most appalling visual of 2012 will be? Or the most appealing?1

And remember, with everyone desperately trying to lose this year, vote for Greece. They need cheering up.

1It’s probably too much to hope to see Jedward being taken out with a sniper rifle…

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-25 11:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com
I'm already distraught that Georgia didn't get through. He starts dressed as a satanic monk, does some weird poppy thing then howls in a pseudo-operatic piece before nding up Elton style on his piano while dancers gyrate around him. How could that not get through.

Well at least we have the Moldovan 'Hey Girls, Check Out My Trumpet' song and the Turkish 'In The (Vampire) Navy' camp masterpiece left to giggle at. I also loved the day-glo skirts the dancers were wearing in the Ukraine (I think) entry. Actually the theree themes of Eurovision 2012 so far seem to be:

Brunette women warbling (as spotted by Amy)
Blokes in skirts
Awful Faux-Band with terrible miming (especially from the drummers)

In future most former Yugoslavia members should be banned. Their songs are dull and they all vote for one another seemingly (hey if you can't butcher one another, why not support each other in a pop contest - makes sense)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-25 01:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvet-the-cat.livejournal.com
The other trend (common in a lot of years) is 'singing knickers' - birds in VERY short skirts singing Euro-pop/disco a la Greece and Cyprus for exanple. I must credit our next door neighbour for naming this trend.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-25 11:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com
Regarding 1) Surely it would be morse subtle for Jedward to be fried in a freak electrical accident...all that water around, should be easy to do.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-25 11:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] caddyman.livejournal.com
That is a more than acceptable substitute.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-25 01:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] velvet-the-cat.livejournal.com
Nah, I like Jedward - they're just bonkers and are so much more fun than the traditional yawn-worthy Euro-ballad pushers of former years. And according to an Irish commentator, they are set on coming back every year until they win it!

Admittedly, they'll struggle with that until they master singing live, but hey ho... ;o)
(deleted comment)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-27 08:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bluesman.livejournal.com
I had to google Jedward. One more reason for me to be glad I'm living somewhere where such acts are unknown.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-27 09:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] caddyman.livejournal.com
You say that, but the States is crawling with such drivel.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-28 12:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bluesman.livejournal.com
Trew, trew; you'll slip on dog turds everywhere, but there's a certain amateurish cardboardiness (???) to such UK acts that even the worst, most plastic of acts in the USA can not stoop to, no matter how manufactured and instantly ignorable they are. Look at Renee & sodding Renato, for heck sakes, and godawful Shakatak, and as for those horrific eurotossers who perpetrated the brain-buggering Macarena... There's a cheapness to such euroshite, as if the record company knew that these people had a short shelf life - if any - so they put 4,000 quid into the recording as opposed to 40,000 dollars over here. Of course, it's all moot, as rubbish is rubbish, no matter how well-funded it is.

Mind you, you're correct when one thinks of all the rap/hip hop/glutinous R&B/dance-pop sewage over here.
(deleted comment)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-28 12:55 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bluesman.livejournal.com
Now and then, when I hear about something/someone that the populace is mad keen on, I'll take a look for myself, hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Most of the time, it's crap and I come away bemused by people's gullibility. Standing apart and letting the idiots get on with it has been a wise move for me.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-25 01:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sixtine.livejournal.com
If Spain can't afford it, I'm not sure cheering up Greece by voting for them will help!

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-25 02:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] caddyman.livejournal.com
I was being a bit of an imp suggesting that ;-)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-25 05:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ellefurtle.livejournal.com
I am hoping for a good wind machine count!

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