On Friday night about 1200 mainly British fans turned up at a preview party at Londons Scala venue where several of the 2008 entrants performed. By all accounts it was a terrific success. As well as the entrants who performed, Dustin the turkey was interviewed by host Paddy O'Connell and, not surprisingly, was booed. We all know that Dustins timely attack on the current state of the contest has divided opinion, to say the very least. But UK performer Andy Abraham came on, and he also was apparently widely booed. Why? something he said? some devious cheating that won him the UK final? .......... Well no, these are British Eurovision fans booing their own representative because they don't like his song. Well done guys (and they were almost exclusively guys to be sure). These are the people who probably think Nicki French should represent us every year.
The BBC's support for the contest is on the table as rumours grow of Sir Terry's defection to ITV (or just plain retirement) and without Wogan the Eurovision's place on a BBC1 saturday night schedule is highly dubious. Andy Abraham is a classy singer and a lovely guy who deserves much better than boos from a bunch of hissy queens who may well wake up one morning and find there are no more British Eurovision parties, in part because of them.
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Sunday, 27 April 2008
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
French Outrage Is Misplaced
Well, well, another Eurovision season and the language thing rears it's head again. A French politician has protested about their 2008 entry containing mostly English lyrics. Newsflash! in both 2001 and 2007 their song contained a section in English, and even in 1986 and no free languages their entry contained lyrics like "Boy George et Lady Dee" (sic). It's a quarter of a century since the French first withdrew from the contest calling it a "monument to drivel" and obviously some of our Gallic friends still take it far too seriously.
They would have been far better to have to criticized French television in the last few years when their entries have once or twice been shamefully bad, two years ago the song even hjad to be replaced (to no great effect) at the last minute, it was so mediocre. 2008 sees France leading the way with the hippest entry in the contest, "Divine" performed by the popular electro artist Sebastien Tellier, taken from his critically acclaimed "Sexuality" album. It's no classic Eurovision song so is unlikely to trouble the top end of the scoreboard in Belgrade, but it's a handsome effort that will grace the Euro stage on May 24th.
They would have been far better to have to criticized French television in the last few years when their entries have once or twice been shamefully bad, two years ago the song even hjad to be replaced (to no great effect) at the last minute, it was so mediocre. 2008 sees France leading the way with the hippest entry in the contest, "Divine" performed by the popular electro artist Sebastien Tellier, taken from his critically acclaimed "Sexuality" album. It's no classic Eurovision song so is unlikely to trouble the top end of the scoreboard in Belgrade, but it's a handsome effort that will grace the Euro stage on May 24th.
Monday, 7 April 2008
Whats Up With The Big Four?
So another Eurovision season is upon us, and yet again the so-called big four are tipped to populate the bottom of the scoreboard. Is this just lazy fan prediction based on the past few years with no regard to this years songs? And have the big four fared badly because their songs are only heard once, because viewers actively resent their need to qualify and so boycott them, because they have no diaspora, or are their songs just crap?....
For the casual visitor I should point out that the big four are the countries who never have to qualify for the contest, however bad their results, that being France, Spain, Germany and the UK (well all of them had to qualify in 1996, and Germany didn't, which caused one hell of a stink). Each years Eurovision is funded mainly by the European Broadcasting Union, and the biggest national contributions come from the said four countries. Each year since 1997 they've received a free pass into the contest final regardless of the previous years results. Since the semi final system was instituted in 2004 their results make stark reading:
France: 15th, 23rd, 22nd, 22nd
Germany: 8th, 24th, 15th, 19th
Spain: 10th, 21st, 21st, 20th
UK: 16th, 22nd, 19th, 23rd
Now it could be argued that their songs fail badly because they're heard only once and evidence from the four years of the semis suggests indeed that the songs performed in the semi do have an advantage in the final because a lot of the voters will have heard them twice and had more opportunity to be enthused to vote for them. However it has equally been shown that some direct finalist songs do a hell of a lot better than the big four, if the song is strong enough.
One theory that has some currency on internet forums is that because they are always direct qualifiers, some viewers automatically don't vote for them!. Whilst this may be the case for some embittered fans, I find it hard to believe that Joe/Jose/Josef Public out there thinks this way.
A far more likely contributory factor in this day and age is that they have no army of ex-pats to blindly vote for them. That isn't of course what's keeping them from winning, but keeping them from the middle table finish and the veneer of respectability. Ever year the Macedonias and Armenias (never mind the Serbias and Russias) have a guaranteed bedrock of dozens of points from their ex-pats. The big four don't have that, because basically, their people are generally happy with their lot and don't leave the homeland to search out a better standard of living (at the end of the day if it's "A Nice Lifestyle" vs "Success At Eurovision" I guess even the most passionate fan knows which they'd plump for!).
So finally we come to the notion that the big four are falling flat on their arses because, well. they're not motivated to send anything decent by always being in the final, and so their songs just aren't any good. I think this allegation merits closer consideration by looking at those last four years again (and 2008) :
France stubbornly kept singing in French, which is fair enough after some success in the early 2000s, however their standard in 2005 and 2006 was very low. The last two years have seen two outstanding efforts that are probably too quirky for mass votes, but top marks for creativity. Their 2008 entry by Sebastien Tellier is state of the art electronic dance and available in your local HMV on his latest album.
Germany are probably unfairly up for scrutiny here. Apart from their 2005 debacle, they have sent quality songs these last few years that haven't been afraid to be different. Their 2006 entry by Texas Lightning did however produce a startling result after being a huge pre-contest favourite. In 2008 they have a cracking contemporary Sugababes type song that may do very well indeed.
Spain, like France, did well at the start of the millennium, and have stayed true to a recognizable style, but it hasn't washed with the voters across Europe. In 2008 they're going for a rather lame gimmick song that is highly rated on the internet, for no obvious reason.
Lastly the UK. After Jemini's debacle the revamped "Making Your Mind Up" has produced decent viewing figures and domestic hit singles but barely any improvement on the Eurovision scoreboard. In 2005 Javine sank without trace after a dozen entries turned up in the same style, Daz Sampson was highly innovative a year later but stymied by the live vocal rule and Scooch... well... In 2008 Andy Abraham has a funky number that's just lacking a great hook.
So... the big four. Probably destined for another disappointing year. But is it deserved?
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For the casual visitor I should point out that the big four are the countries who never have to qualify for the contest, however bad their results, that being France, Spain, Germany and the UK (well all of them had to qualify in 1996, and Germany didn't, which caused one hell of a stink). Each years Eurovision is funded mainly by the European Broadcasting Union, and the biggest national contributions come from the said four countries. Each year since 1997 they've received a free pass into the contest final regardless of the previous years results. Since the semi final system was instituted in 2004 their results make stark reading:
France: 15th, 23rd, 22nd, 22nd
Germany: 8th, 24th, 15th, 19th
Spain: 10th, 21st, 21st, 20th
UK: 16th, 22nd, 19th, 23rd
Now it could be argued that their songs fail badly because they're heard only once and evidence from the four years of the semis suggests indeed that the songs performed in the semi do have an advantage in the final because a lot of the voters will have heard them twice and had more opportunity to be enthused to vote for them. However it has equally been shown that some direct finalist songs do a hell of a lot better than the big four, if the song is strong enough.
One theory that has some currency on internet forums is that because they are always direct qualifiers, some viewers automatically don't vote for them!. Whilst this may be the case for some embittered fans, I find it hard to believe that Joe/Jose/Josef Public out there thinks this way.
A far more likely contributory factor in this day and age is that they have no army of ex-pats to blindly vote for them. That isn't of course what's keeping them from winning, but keeping them from the middle table finish and the veneer of respectability. Ever year the Macedonias and Armenias (never mind the Serbias and Russias) have a guaranteed bedrock of dozens of points from their ex-pats. The big four don't have that, because basically, their people are generally happy with their lot and don't leave the homeland to search out a better standard of living (at the end of the day if it's "A Nice Lifestyle" vs "Success At Eurovision" I guess even the most passionate fan knows which they'd plump for!).
So finally we come to the notion that the big four are falling flat on their arses because, well. they're not motivated to send anything decent by always being in the final, and so their songs just aren't any good. I think this allegation merits closer consideration by looking at those last four years again (and 2008) :
France stubbornly kept singing in French, which is fair enough after some success in the early 2000s, however their standard in 2005 and 2006 was very low. The last two years have seen two outstanding efforts that are probably too quirky for mass votes, but top marks for creativity. Their 2008 entry by Sebastien Tellier is state of the art electronic dance and available in your local HMV on his latest album.
Germany are probably unfairly up for scrutiny here. Apart from their 2005 debacle, they have sent quality songs these last few years that haven't been afraid to be different. Their 2006 entry by Texas Lightning did however produce a startling result after being a huge pre-contest favourite. In 2008 they have a cracking contemporary Sugababes type song that may do very well indeed.
Spain, like France, did well at the start of the millennium, and have stayed true to a recognizable style, but it hasn't washed with the voters across Europe. In 2008 they're going for a rather lame gimmick song that is highly rated on the internet, for no obvious reason.
Lastly the UK. After Jemini's debacle the revamped "Making Your Mind Up" has produced decent viewing figures and domestic hit singles but barely any improvement on the Eurovision scoreboard. In 2005 Javine sank without trace after a dozen entries turned up in the same style, Daz Sampson was highly innovative a year later but stymied by the live vocal rule and Scooch... well... In 2008 Andy Abraham has a funky number that's just lacking a great hook.
So... the big four. Probably destined for another disappointing year. But is it deserved?
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