Holy Eurotrash – It’s Nearly Eurovision Time!

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The 54th annual Eurovision Song Contest will be played out in Oslo on May 29th, with the UK entry Josh Dubovie readying to give his plucky rendition of the Pete Waterman-penned That Sounds Good To Me. After the shock of last year’s entry Jade Ewan finishing fifth overall, Josh has something to live up to but we fear that normal service will be resumed this year unless Euroland falls for this. But let’s be honest – even Sonia would have rejected this number. Still, that shouldn’t detract from your enjoyment of the yearly parade of Europop, so come with us as we inspect the UK’s entry further and pick our top five Eurovision moments…

If you haven’t seen or heard the UK entry as yet, then focus your eyeballs sharply on the moving images below. Josh is currently coming in at an unconvincing 67-1 to win at Paddy Power and we reckon Paddy has a point. It might sound good to Josh and Pete, but to the rest of us… The Germans are currently favourites to win, closely followed by Azerbaijan, Israel and Norway. But we won’t know until the night itself…

To get you in the Euro mood though, here’s a selection of our Top Five Favourite Eurovision Moments…

5. Bardo, 1982 – One Step Further

Following the marvellously headbanded intro from Angela Rippon and Bardo’s pre-show simpering smiles, skip to 1:20 to see their truly terribly choreographed performance and wince at the vocals. RealMusic Blog remembers watching this as a rapt ten-year-old and thinking Bardo were the bomb. Now we’re not really sure what to think, but nostalgia keeps this at no.5…

4. Dana International, 1999

She triumphed the year before with Viva La Diva even though her performance was superbly stilted, but nothing topped the moment the following year where the infamous Israeli winner tottered on stage with the trophy in her hands, only to fall on her arse in front of the watching world. And no amount of hiding behind the abundance of feathers fooled anyone.

3. Lordi, 2006 – Hard Rock Hallelujah

No run-of-the-mill Eurovision entry, 2006’s Finnish winners Lordi proved that you can look like you’ve just crawled from the crypt and woo the voters from Malta and Macedonia with ease. Rawk and proud, they’ve got the ironed-in good looks of Slipknot and their win proved that surprises can still happen in the Eurovision. All that and the singer sounds like the Cookie Monster.

2. Bucks Fizz,1981 – Making Your Mind Up

Primary colours ahoy as Bucks Fizz take to the stage for their glorious early 80s triumph, the same year Ossie Ardiles won the cup for Tot-ting-ham – good times! Like Abba before them, this was a fabulous tune, the two boys and two girls were perfect fodder for the time – check out Mike Nolan’s buoffant hair do – and their skirt-ripping antics sealed the deal. Proud doesn’t cover it.

1. Abba, 1974 – Waterloo

Agnetha and Anni-Fred look a tad wooden to begin with, but the costumes make up for that. By the first chorus though, they’re well into their silver-tinted stride, swinging their hips and even hinting at a smile. No matter the body language though – the song is an out and out winner, the vocals sublime and you get to watch superstars being born in Brighton.

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