I was just reading Popjustice and came across a 'How did you get into Eurovision?' thread which I found very interesting, and I wondered if there was a similar thread here too. Turns out there is! :D

 

Anyway, my first memory of watching Eurovision was in 2001 where Estonia won. I think the main thing that attracted me (I was only around 6 at this point) was my obsession with flags and countries and how it was a competition to get the most points. In 2002 I can remember watching the whole show properly and since then I've got more and more into the music side of it and have eventually become obsessed! :kink:

 

It was around 2008 when I remember first looking at the Eurovision.tv Preview Video Player and watching all of the videos prior to the contest and the first non-UK national final I can remember watching was the 2009 Estonian national final when Urban Symphony won (and it was the entry I wanted to win too! :D). Since then I've watched more and more national finals, and the most ever this year!

I started watching in 2008 when I got into the Song For Eurovision contests, but I properly got into Eurovision in 2011 after I heard everyone on this forum go on about it - I properly watched it to see what all the fuss was about! :kink:

I would have been just about 6 as well, I remember watching the 2003 contest when Sertab Erener won and Jemini got the infamous nul points!

Oh. I actually created this thread. :o

 

 

It's really crazy to think I ACTUALLY MISSED THE SEMIFINAL OF EUROVISION 2007 BECAUSE I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT IT. LITERALLY NO EXCUSE. FLOPPEST FAN EVER MUCH?

I would have been just about 6 as well, I remember watching the 2003 contest when Sertab Erener won and Jemini got the infamous nul points!

 

I can remember that Sertab was my least favourite of all the entries that year at the time and I just couldn't understand why it won! I think I wanted t.A.T.u to win as I loved their songs at the time! I do like 'Everyway That I Can' now though!

First year I watched live was 2005 (10 and a half years old) and I remember just about staying awake to see Greece win. Since then I've gradually increased the degree to which I've followed the whole thing to the point where 2013 is the first year I'll have followed NF season right from the start.

Edited February 26, 201312 yr by LexC

The year Brotherhood Of Man won it

I have no idea when I first saw this, I'll go ahead and assume the 90's but I didn't properly get into it until 2009 where on shitty broadband in a national forrest I streamed the final live from Europe despite being GMT+10. I also watched the final the next day with my flatmate and had watched the tape delayed Semi's on SBS the day after broadcast. (In reality about 16hrs)

Somehow I managed to completely avoid it until 2010 - when I was in one night alone or something.

 

Turned it on and saw Safura (yey). I must have been dozy because the only two entries I remember taking in from it were Safura and OPA! - thought Satellite was a nothingy winner at the time.

I think my fandom has escalated quite quickly.

I think the first time I ever saw Eurovision would've been in 1993 when Sonia represented us. I know she had her own song selection show (Song For Europe?) where she sang about 10 different songs and the public voted for their fave. There was one song I liked more than 'BTDYK' but I'll never know how it did in the results or how the UK might've fared with a different song.

 

I don't recall 1994 at all but vaguely remember Love City Groove in 1995. :lol: By 1996 with Gina G, I think from that year onwards I got more interested in watching Eurovision just to see how well (or badly) the UK would fare.

1993 was my first time when I was 8. I had no idea what it was until Sonia had her pre selection in 1993 for the UK. I only remember my parents wanting "Better The Devil You Know" winning as that was the most Eurovision friendly song.

 

I became a bit of an ESC loon in 2002 following national finals. 2007 has to be the worst contest. Me and an ex guessed all points correctly and most of it was a fag break.

 

Since last year my interest is not the same. I feel now the contest has a lack of identity and with most songs in English and hiring rent a Swede composers...its not the same. I am watching 2013 but as your average member of the public not as a fan.

Edited February 27, 201312 yr by StAndrews1875

 

First contest : 1997

First memories : 2002 - Jessica Garlick - Comeback :heart: [First ESC song, which was # 1 in my weekly charts]

First hype : 2005 (I really love 4 songs from this year : Israel, Estonia, Ireland, Switzerland)

Eurovision fan : 2012, when I watched all contests from 1956 to 2012 on Youtube

It must be 1998 because of Guildo Horn representing Germany that year. He changed the ESC for the Germans after several years of less interest (and less success :D ).

2000

I remember watching "Making Your Mind Up" in 2006 and voting for Daz but 2007 was the first year I watched the final from start to finish and printed out scorecards. 2008 was when I first watched an international heat (Melodi Grand Prix, the one that "Hold On Be Strong" was in and then that went on to be my favourite entry of the year), bought the CDs/DVDs and watched all the shows live in full. Then since 2009 it's been more of an obsession but never to the extent that I'd watch a NF aside from the main few (UK, Norway, Denmark, Sweden etc.)

I can remember watching it as far back as 1993 but 2007 was the first one I watched religiously from start to finish and since then I have never wanted to miss it. The 2009 Romanian final with Elena winning it with The Balkan Girls was the first international final I watched.

Edited February 28, 201312 yr by zenon

Don't really remember.

 

I think I started watching it properly and actually remembering it around 2003 but I had watched it many times before when I was smaller....I just don't really remember.

It was 2002, still remember how much I was excited coz of Vesna Pisarović :lol: :wub:

I remember seeing Buck's Fizz winning in 1981, but had no idea what was going on. I used to love watching the votes coming in and would watch that every year, amazed that my parents would guess where each douze poits would go to (I was politically and geographically naive).

The first contest I ever saw was 2000. I remember clearly Ines' hat singing for Estonia. But I was more into registering all the countries in Europe and their capitals onto a piece of paper.

 

3 years later I tuned in and it was all "OMG WHY IS THIS SHOW SO AMAZING". I made my dad buy me the compilation album and was obsessed with Claudia Beni's Vise Nisam Tvoja for MONTHS. (yes, I know...)

 

Die hard fandom came in 2006 which was the first year I started actively following online and I haven't stopped yet. I was working in a café during the 2007 contest and forced everyone there to watch it too even though they were screaming for me to put on the news. Meanwhile my VCR was taping everything for me at home. In 2008 I ended up paying a HUGE Internet bill because I had to stream Semifinal 1 since our lovely Portuguese broadcaster failed to put in on the TV for us.

In 2009 I watched it all with close friends and in 2010 I put up my first Eurovision party. 2011 and 2012 were spent now in London in pubs and a friend's Euro-houseparty.

And now this year I am actually going to Malmö to watch it all live.

I guess I'll be representing some country next year by the way things are escalating! haha :D