I know there has been a lot of talk about the Eurovision in the past week. All the "UK will withdraw" and the "Bloc voting in out of control" is now boring. But I will give you my views on the whole contest. Beware: I rant, rave, and I can talk for Europe. :mellow:

 

 

 

First issue: Bloc voting...

When I was younger I believed all of this East bloc voting mayhem. But as I got older, I realised that the west are just as guilty. The eastern bloc voting is just more noticed because there are more countries over that direction. If the UK was 4 countries and the Basque was independent as well as the Isle of Man, Jersey, Greenland etc then it would be just as noticeable here.

People keep dissing the east over this, but we do exactly the same. And the longer we harp on about it then the more of a problem it will become. Ireland, in recent years, tend to give points to eastern countries due to diaspora. But guess what? Most of the Polish, Latvians, Lithuanians, Czechs are leaving the country and returning home. So, 12 points will be going to the UK again soon enough!

 

 

Second issue: Format...

Woah. What's up with the 43 countries?!?!? Please, I want my EUROvision back. No Israel, No Turkey (Yes, I know a small proportion of it is in Europe, does that mean that the whole island of Ireland is the UK, NO!), No Armenia, No Georgia, No Azerbaijan. As much as I like the Caucus countries, I don't think they should be included. I KNOW that they are all members of the EBU, but it's hardly EUROvision. It's supposed to be uniting Europe. Not Europe and a bit of Asia.

 

The semi-final stuff is good. But the final is awful. WHY have all the rejected countries voting in the final. WHY? MONEY! THAT'S WHY! Only having the finalists vote means $h!tty money intake. Pity really. We could have some worthy winners otherwise! :angry:

 

 

Third issue: Songs + Performances

The past few years, the winning songs have been AWFUL.

2004 - dire, but it was great visually.

2005 - dreadful, but the skimpy dress and performance got it in the bag.

2006 - need I say more?

2007 - fair enough. Great song. No performance. Worthy winner!

2008 - OK song. Wouldn't have won if we didn't have the ice-skating and open shirt exposing the flesh.

 

I want the countries to win because of the SONG and not because of the famous performer or the Olympic ice-skating person. I don't want monsters to win simply because of appearance. I don't want a country to get votes because the performer wears a napkin on stage! -_-

 

 

Discuss. :rolleyes:

 

 

actually its been proven that having only the finalists vote would hardly change the final results drastically.

Fair enough. But wouldn't it be fairer? Whats the point of splitting it into 2 semis otherwise? :wacko:

Only finalists should vote - makes a far more interesting and exciting voting procedure. I'd disagree with saying that all the winning songs have been awful. I like them all quite a lot aside from Finland's in 2006 tbh, but then that obviously appealed to a different sort of person to me! Having all these former Soviet countries is a bit annoying tbh, but what can you do? I think Armenia and the rest are classed as Europe now too, as they're in UEFA as well in the football...

Ohh, so the Europe - Asia border has changed... kinda. It's all very confusing now! :mellow:

I'm not going to answer every point you raised, but please not that this isn't out of rudeness, just that I feel like I'm having the same argument over and over again :lol:

 

The only thing I really take issue with is that the last few winning songs haven't been worthy winners.

 

2004 - As you credit, visually stunning, and actually a very original concept I thought. I remember listening to it on repeat for about 2 weeks after the concert, so it must have made a good impact on me!

 

2005 - I'd go so far as to say this is my favourite winning Eurovision song ever (or at least top 2/3), I love Helena's voice, and loved the song - best winner since Diva IMO.

 

2006 - I loved the originality of HRH - it's staging took eveyone by surprise and I think that contributed most to it's success, but it was also a bloody good rock song, engaging and grabbed you and made you pay attention to it! What more do we want from a Eurovision song than one which has everyone talking about it the next day?!

 

2007 & 08 - I thought these two songs were just blissful. If in English, even more people would have raved about Molitva, and I thought it was just beautiful to listen to. As for Dima, I thought this was another great song, brilliantly produced, and of course the skater, violinist and ripped torso helped - but maybe we're just jealous we didn't think of it first ;) You can't hold the fact that they put together an extraordinary performance of the song against them!

Edited May 30, 200817 yr by Andrewy

2006 - I loved the originality of HRH - it's staging took eveyone by surprise and I think that contributed most to it's success, but it was also a bloody good rock song, engaging and grabbed you and made you pay attention to it! What more do we want from a Eurovision song than one which has everyone talking about it the next day?!

 

People still talk about Lordi winning two years on... :lol: So, I reckon that they were worthy winners - as you say, it was a good, fun Hard Rock song in an Alice-Cooper/Ozzy Osbourne style, recognisable to everyone.. And when they play shows here, the rock crowd turn out for them... So, frankly I dunno how people can b**ch about them...

Must just be my taste in music...

I suppose all of the winners from 2004-2008 have been very different so it would be unusual to like all of them.

 

Personally I loved Helena in 2005 and Lordi in 2006, and Ruslana and Marija grew on me but they did take a while.

 

I'm still trying to find some appeal in Dima's offering to be honest -_-

here's marks out of 10 I would give the winners of this decade

 

2000 - Olsen Brothers Song: 8/10, overall package (performance, staging, gimmicks etc...): 4/10...total: 6/10

2001 - Tanel Padar & Dave Benton - Song: 10/10, overall package: 10/10: total: 10/10

2002 - Marie N - Song: 5/10, overall package: 7/10: total: 6/10

2003 - Sertab Erener - Song: 4/10, overall package: 6/10: total: 5/10

2004 - Ruslana - Song: 10/10, overall package: 10,10: total: 10/10

2005 - Helena Paparizou - Song: 10/10, overall package: 10/10: total 10/10

2006 - Lordi - Song: 5/10, overall package: 9/10: total 7/10

2007 - Marija Serifovic: Song 7/10, overall package: 7/10: total 7/10

2008 - Dima Bilan: Song 7/10, overall package: 8/10: total 7.5/10

 

no winners have been disastrous, though I was less than pleased in 2002 and 2003...

I think my favourite is 2003 definitely, just love Every Way That I Can. And its the only Eurovision song from the 00s that Vh1 Europe still plays nowadays