Good ´ole Eurotrash
T
his may be extremely sad, but the highlight of my weekend was the Eurovision song contest. Europe has had a rough year...
...what with the Norwegian massacre, the Eurozone crisis, etc – and this weekend Europe’s eardrums were put to the ultimate punishment, the Eurovision Song Contest.
I know that this is no movie spotlight, however this week it was a big TV event, so I’m going to make a thing about it – here goes!
Since 1956 the Eurovision Song Contest has kept us greatly amused, and though most Eurovision acts do their little song and dance and then are never heard of again, some are actually good and are still around today. The funny thing is Spain and England have very different attitudes towards the Eurovision song contest, Spain take it really seriously even though they have only had two wins, in 1968 (Massiel – “La, La, La”) and 1969 (Salomé – “Vivo Cantando”). In 1969, there were four winners at Eurovision, Spain, England, France and Holland. Who could forget little Lulu with her “Boom-bang-a-bang” performance”? The weird thing is, even though the UK have had twice as many wins than Spain, their last win was rather forgettable. In the 60s, 70s and 80s everyone remembered the songs, but not anymore. Any entries from the 90s to date, no one remembers – probably, because of shows like the X-Factor and Britain´s Got Talent, no one cares about the Eurovision entry.
It seems as though, the UK only take part out of politeness, however, the Spanish make sure that even if they didn´t win Eurovision, then their entry will be number one in Spain, because they believe it was a brilliant song. Whenever you´re at the feria and some 60s sounding song is playing, it´s probably an old Eurovision entry. Would you believe that Julio Iglesias entered Eurovision in 1970? Azucar Moreno, Sergio Dalma, David Civera, even Las Ketchup have had a go. Pastora Soler, who represented Spain this year, is quite famous (in Spain), and her entry will no doubt make it into the charts.
Now, let´s talk about this year – I personally wanted either Jedward or the Russian grannies to win, so you can imagine my upset. Sweden’s entry by Loreen won by a landslide, but I can´t help but feel like I know this song from somewhere. Many people have debated this on the web, and so far, her “Euphoria” is a mix of Rihanna´s “We Fell In Love”, Katy Perry´s “Firework”, Britney Spear´s “Till the Word Ends” and One Direction´s “Stole My Heart”. All in all, it´s a pretty catchy tune, however I seriously doubt that Loreen will have the same success as ABBA.
If you fancy a good little giggle, check out Sweden´s winner from 1991, Carola. OMG! The choreography is hilarious, I´m sure there were better songs that year, but it must have won on entertainment value. Look for it on youtube, believe me, it will have you in stitches.
Long live Eurovision!
By Amy Thomas
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