VERY well said, TiP, you have managed to say very well what I was thinking to Rob.

 

Rob, you are wrong mate, live with it :P

:o I didn't realise Fairytale was on our iTunes :o

 

 

SBS must have got enough viewers to make that happen! Ha! and my flatmate said nobody watches SBS.

Rob.

 

By your standards the posts you have made regarding Eurovision are embarrassing.

 

Firstly, let's look at your pathetic comments regarding the UK entry. Before the competition you said our entry would do badly predicting it would finish in the bottom six and definitely the bottom half of the table. Yet our entry finished 5th out of 25 Finalists. That is in the top 20% of the acts.

 

Yet afterwards you still claim that the UK did poorly.

 

In the previous years (2003 - 2008) the UK scored: 0 - 29 - 18 - 25 - 19 - 14.

 

In 2009 the UK scored 173 Points. That is six times more points than in any of the previous six years (and 68 more points than the previous six years put together!). Yet you still call the result a failure. :rolleyes:

 

Still you confidentally predict that Jade Ewen will sink without trace.

 

But hang on a minute, this is the same Jade Ewen who has signed an international record deal with Geffen Records and Polydor in the UK and has been working with songwriters/producers Gary Barlow (Take That, Blue, Delta Goodrem), Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams, Beverley Knight, Eros Ramazzottii, Melanie C), Eg White (Will Young, Natalie Imbruglia, James Morrison, Daniel Merriweather), Cutfather (Pussycat Dolls, Jordin Sparks, Kylie Minogue) & Kerry "Krucial" Brothers (Alicia Keys, Angie Stone, Nas, Keyshia Cole) with an album due for release in September preceded by a single (hopefully the brilliant "Ruthless" :heart: ).

Next onto your criticism of Graham Norton and the interest in the Eurovision Song Contest.

 

Firstly, Graham Norton has got near universal praise for his first attempt replacing Terry Wogan. Not least for his preparation and attention to detail. Unlike the BBC's previous ESC commentator who flew in on the Friday just in time for the final, Graham was in Russia in time for both Semi Finals, whilst he prepared notes on all the finalists explaining their background and popularity in their native & neighbouring countries. This was something that Terry Wogan missed out when he completely failed to mention in 2007 that the eventual winner Serbian artist Marija Šerifović had already had #1s in 9 different countries selling 9 million records before the contest; or in 2008 the Russian winner Dima Bilan had already had #1s in 7 different countries selling 18 million records before the contest. Little wonder the official Eurovision Song Contest organisers praised his performance, and the change of the BBC's attitude towards the competition. Unless you think getting an artist who has starred in a West End Musical (The Lion King) with a song written by a composer whose musicals have been watched by over 350,000,000 paying customers and musical soundtracks have sold over 60,000,000 records collaborating with an American songwriter whose composition's have sold over 75,000,000 singles/downloads worldwide is not as good as a TV reality talent show loser and former binman without a record contract, or the year before an old defunct 3rd rate Steps (Deuce were second rate) with a lead singer famous for hosting late night gambling shows is better.

 

Tellingly, Graham Norton's interest of the ESC was matched by the UK's public gaining an average 7.8 million viewers (34.9%), which was up 700,000 on last year and more importantly the highest percentage share since 1999 in the UK. Whilst viewing figures all across Europe were up (13%) on the previous year resulting in the 2009 ESC being the most watched contest of all-time.

 

As for it being a poor Eurovision Song Contest. :rofl:

 

In 1974, the year which Eurovision fans regard as the greatest ever contest, resulting in 4 songs from the contest charting in the UK Top 40 charts. This contest was won by Abba's Waterloo which won by a very large margin (one third more points ahead of the second placed song), and nearly double the points of the third placed song. Therefore pretty similar to 2009, or do you think that makes the 1974 contest poor as a result?

 

Whilst currently on iTunes Alexander Rybak is #3 and is very likely to debut in that position on the UK chart on Sunday becoming the highest charting non UK ESC winner since Johnny Logan in 1987.

 

He is also expected to top singles charts around the world after his record-breaking Eurovision success last weekend. The 23-year-old Norwegian singer's self-penned track 'Fairytale' has shot to the top of download charts across Europe two days after securing the most Eurovision votes in the competition's history.

The song is in pole position on iTunes in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden and is in the top five in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, France, Austria and Portugal. Rybak's popularity has extended beyond Europe, with 'Fairytale' at number 39 on Australia's iTunes. The song is also Top 20 in New Zealand, Philippines, Japan and South Korea.

 

In stark contrast the 2008 winner did not chart in the UK (the same as the 2007 winner) and did not go Top20 in any Western European country.

 

Whilst several other Eurovision songs are doing very well on ITunes throughout Europe. Just looking at the UK iTunes chart and you have seven other non UK ESC songs in the Top 100, with the runner up from Iceland well inside the Top 40 and a serious prospect of being a Top 40 hit on Sunday. In short a "plethera of good tracks" in the competition.

 

As for cheating going on a mini tour. :rofl:

 

I mean isn't it outrageous that Jade Ewen went on touring around other European nations taking the contest seriously. I mean just because most of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia send their equivalents of Will Young, Take That, Girls Aloud, Coldplay, Leona Lewis who then when selected to represent their nation go on promo tours throughout Europe to drum up support for the contest does not mean we have to send some hopeless reject who never was any good to the contest does it? Yet throughout the last decade that was exactly what the UK did. Yet we (Terry Wogan and co) arrogantly expect ourselves to finish in the Top 10 each year even though we were treating the contest with contempt. This year the UK & France took it as seriously as a lot of other European nations and both gained their best results in 7 years. In short the UK's attitude to the ESC has been like sending Northampton Town to the European's Champions League and then expecting them to beat the likes of AC Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, etc.

The moral of this post is, if ever you did yourself into a hole, the best thing to do is own up ....... and not carry on digging. :lol:

 

im sure you could have said all that in one paragraph m8..:lol:

 

i DID own up to the fact i said it would finish in the bottom half of the chart (points wise it DID! being closer to the bottom placed points then the top!) great what you can make statistics say isnt it!

 

who says it was the best contest with quality songs for x long?.... its all down to personal oppinion and in mine it was poor.

 

i said i WANTED and HOPED that jade would sink without trace...unfortunately this wailing bint is set to take over from mariah et al :(

 

again... im not bothered what others think...just because they say graham norton did a good job doesnt mean i have to agree!!!! my criticism is that he was clearly trying to copy wogan in his manner...

 

i DID own up to the fact i said it would finish in the bottom half of the chart (points wise it DID! being closer to the bottom placed points then the top!) great what you can make statistics say isnt it!

Get the f*** over it mate.

 

You were wrong.

 

End off discussion, stop digging your hole and move ON.

 

 

Oh and as for the above ^ Norway's score would be discounted in Statistical data for being what is known as an outlier, therefore making Iceland's 211 points the top marker and completely disproving what you've said in an instance.

 

Yes you can make stats say what you want, as long as you follow the bloody rules.

How was Norton AT ALL trying to copy Wogan? :mellow: I didn't hear bitter xenophobia with every comment, all I heard was an occasional quip where it was justified. And going by your ridiculous manipulation of statistics, only the top 3 were in the top half of the chart! :rolleyes: NOBODY in Europe would say that Jade was a failure...and given that ALW before the contest even said that the most he was hoping for was top ten, this year was a resounding success for us!

 

In short mushy, you're just trying to downplay it all because you didn't like the song! :P

How was Norton AT ALL trying to copy Wogan? :mellow: I didn't hear bitter xenophobia with every comment, all I heard was an occasional quip where it was justified. And going by your ridiculous manipulation of statistics, only the top 3 were in the top half of the chart! :rolleyes: NOBODY in Europe would say that Jade was a failure...and given that ALW before the contest even said that the most he was hoping for was top ten, this year was a resounding success for us!

 

In short mushy, you're just trying to downplay it all because you didn't like the song! :P

 

it was in his manner m8, it was blatant from line #1, maybe its because he wasnt being his usual hyperbolic self and with his irish accent came across like wogan. anyway, that aint the issue, i wasnt being critical of norton just saying he sounded like he was wogan.

 

:lol: yeah you could be right .

Get the f*** over it mate.

 

You were wrong.

 

End off discussion, stop digging your hole and move ON.

Oh and as for the above ^ Norway's score would be discounted in Statistical data for being what is known as an outlier, therefore making Iceland's 211 points the top marker and completely disproving what you've said in an instance.

 

Yes you can make stats say what you want, as long as you follow the bloody rules.

 

id be happy to have had iceland at #1, im ok with norway winning it...

 

i was wrong merely in respect of predicting it wouldnt finish in the top half of the chart...a fact i acknowleged the day after, but i said it had 'no chance' and in that respect i was RIGHT! it lost by over 200 effing points! :lol:

Nothing stood a chance against the Norwegian song.

 

It did exactly what it was supposed to, it appealed to everyone. It's just an inoffensive catchy good track.

 

I'd have prefered Iceland to win by that amount likes, but Norway was a deserving and very good winner

actually i will address the points you make more thoughroughly, my replies are emboldened.

 

 

Rob.

 

By your standards the posts you have made regarding Eurovision are embarrassing.

 

the only embarrassment i feel is the fact that this goddamn awful dire track was voted for by more then i expected

 

Firstly, let's look at your pathetic comments regarding the UK entry. Before the competition you said our entry would do badly predicting it would finish in the bottom six and definitely the bottom half of the table. Yet our entry finished 5th out of 25 Finalists. That is in the top 20% of the acts.

 

i fully acknowleged the day after that i didnt think europes voters tastes were that bad! :lol:

 

Yet afterwards you still claim that the UK did poorly.

 

losing by 200 points is pretty poor imho

 

In the previous years (2003 - 2008) the UK scored: 0 - 29 - 18 - 25 - 19 - 14.

 

In 2009 the UK scored 173 Points. That is six times more points than in any of the previous six years (and 68 more points than the previous six years put together!). Yet you still call the result a failure. :rolleyes:

 

sorry but this track by lloyd webber was supposed to be the one that WON it for us, thats why he was drafted in, we did NOT win therefore he/we FAILED to win...

 

Still you confidentally predict that Jade Ewen will sink without trace.

 

please quote me correctly <_<. i said i HOPED she would sink without trace, just how many wailing bints can we take?

 

But hang on a minute, this is the same Jade Ewen who has signed an international record deal with Geffen Records and Polydor in the UK and has been working with songwriters/producers Gary Barlow (Take That, Blue, Delta Goodrem), Guy Chambers (Robbie Williams, Beverley Knight, Eros Ramazzottii, Melanie C), Eg White (Will Young, Natalie Imbruglia, James Morrison, Daniel Merriweather), Cutfather (Pussycat Dolls, Jordin Sparks, Kylie Minogue) & Kerry "Krucial" Brothers (Alicia Keys, Angie Stone, Nas, Keyshia Cole) with an album due for release in September preceded by a single (hopefully the brilliant "Ruthless" :heart: ).

Next onto your criticism of Graham Norton and the interest in the Eurovision Song Contest.

 

i did NOT criticise his presenting ability, i...WE .. though he sounded or was trying to present the show in a woganesque way, a view shared by several ive met.

 

Firstly, Graham Norton has got near universal praise for his first attempt replacing Terry Wogan. Not least for his preparation and attention to detail. Unlike the BBC's previous ESC commentator who flew in on the Friday just in time for the final, Graham was in Russia in time for both Semi Finals, whilst he prepared notes on all the finalists explaining their background and popularity in their native & neighbouring countries. This was something that Terry Wogan missed out when he completely failed to mention in 2007 that the eventual winner Serbian artist Marija Šerifović had already had #1s in 9 different countries selling 9 million records before the contest; or in 2008 the Russian winner Dima Bilan had already had #1s in 7 different countries selling 18 million records before the contest. Little wonder the official Eurovision Song Contest organisers praised his performance, and the change of the BBC's attitude towards the competition. Unless you think getting an artist who has starred in a West End Musical (The Lion King) with a song written by a composer whose musicals have been watched by over 350,000,000 paying customers and musical soundtracks have sold over 60,000,000 records collaborating with an American songwriter whose composition's have sold over 75,000,000 singles/downloads worldwide is not as good as a TV reality talent show loser and former binman without a record contract, or the year before an old defunct 3rd rate Steps (Deuce were second rate) with a lead singer famous for hosting late night gambling shows is better.

 

Tellingly, Graham Norton's interest of the ESC was matched by the UK's public gaining an average 7.8 million viewers (34.9%), which was up 700,000 on last year and more importantly the highest percentage share since 1999 in the UK. Whilst viewing figures all across Europe were up (13%) on the previous year resulting in the 2009 ESC being the most watched contest of all-time.

 

.... so all this was a complete waste of time :lol:

 

As for it being a poor Eurovision Song Contest. :rofl:

 

In 1974, the year which Eurovision fans regard as the greatest ever contest, resulting in 4 songs from the contest charting in the UK Top 40 charts. This contest was won by Abba's Waterloo which won by a very large margin (one third more points ahead of the second placed song), and nearly double the points of the third placed song. Therefore pretty similar to 2009, or do you think that makes the 1974 contest poor as a result?

 

you are SERIOUSLY not comparing alexander rybak with abba are you? :lol: i posed the question, was norways gianormous win a result of the song being good or as a result of the opposition being poor. now whilst i dont mind norways entry, do you seriously think it was that much better then 'waterloo'? :lol:

 

Whilst currently on iTunes Alexander Rybak is #3 and is very likely to debut in that position on the UK chart on Sunday becoming the highest charting non UK ESC winner since Johnny Logan in 1987.

 

im happy for him... that track is certainly better then many in our current chart ..... but 'waterloo' it is NOT

 

He is also expected to top singles charts around the world after his record-breaking Eurovision success last weekend. The 23-year-old Norwegian singer's self-penned track 'Fairytale' has shot to the top of download charts across Europe two days after securing the most Eurovision votes in the competition's history.

The song is in pole position on iTunes in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden and is in the top five in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, France, Austria and Portugal. Rybak's popularity has extended beyond Europe, with 'Fairytale' at number 39 on Australia's iTunes. The song is also Top 20 in New Zealand, Philippines, Japan and South Korea.

 

In stark contrast the 2008 winner did not chart in the UK (the same as the 2007 winner) and did not go Top20 in any Western European country.

 

Whilst several other Eurovision songs are doing very well on ITunes throughout Europe. Just looking at the UK iTunes chart and you have seven other non UK ESC songs in the Top 100, with the runner up from Iceland well inside the Top 40 and a serious prospect of being a Top 40 hit on Sunday. In short a "plethera of good tracks" in the competition.

 

so what?..... good for him!

 

As for cheating going on a mini tour. :rofl:

 

oh ffs, i though YOU more then anybody could have detected the nuance in that statement <_<

 

I mean isn't it outrageous that Jade Ewen went on touring around other European nations taking the contest seriously. I mean just because most of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia send their equivalents of Will Young, Take That, Girls Aloud, Coldplay, Leona Lewis who then when selected to represent their nation go on promo tours throughout Europe to drum up support for the contest does not mean we have to send some hopeless reject who never was any good to the contest does it? Yet throughout the last decade that was exactly what the UK did. Yet we (Terry Wogan and co) arrogantly expect ourselves to finish in the Top 10 each year even though we were treating the contest with contempt. This year the UK & France took it as seriously as a lot of other European nations and both gained their best results in 7 years. In short the UK's attitude to the ESC has been like sending Northampton Town to the European's Champions League and then expecting them to beat the likes of AC Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, etc.

 

tbh i dont believe we were treating the contest with contempt, it was ALWAYS a bit of a laugh, it was never hyped up the way it is now nor taken so seriously. in fact the general public treated the contest in an nonchalant style...if we did well alls well and good, if we failed...so what. its only in recent times that the reality show mentality has taken over what was supposed to be a jolly jape of a contest and are trying to make it more important then what it ever was. theres probabally a paralell with football here, with results, glitz, hyperbole counting for more then what the contest was EVER meant to be, a bit of a laugh.

The moral of this post is, if ever you did yourself into a hole, the best thing to do is own up ....... and not carry on digging. :lol:

Rob, your posts are the epitome of "clutching at straws". Jade came fifth, so it's completely irrelevant how many points the winning song got. Who cares if she was closer to the bottom than the top? Who cares if she was 200 points away? It makes no difference at all to how well she did. I think the majority of people here would respect you more if you admitted you were wrong instead of trying to create this strawman's argument. You aren't going to convince anyone she didn't do amazingly well despite you twisting figures and statistics.

Rob, your posts are the epitome of "clutching at straws". Jade came fifth, so it's completely irrelevant how many points the winning song got. Who cares if she was closer to the bottom than the top? Who cares if she was 200 points away? It makes no difference at all to how well she did. I think the majority of people here would respect you more if you admitted you were wrong instead of trying to create this strawman's argument. You aren't going to convince anyone she didn't do amazingly well despite you twisting figures and statistics.

 

but m8... i HAVE admitted i was wrong , i clearly underestimated europes response to what i considered was an goddamn awful track!

 

however, i dont accept that she did 'amazingly well', just better then anticipated (by many, not just me). facts are...she was an 'also ran'.

however, i dont accept that she did 'amazingly well', just better then anticipated (by many, not just me). facts are...she was an 'also ran'.

I can appreciate your opinion, Rob (from what I know of your music taste, I would never think you would like Jade!), but the facts do support that it was a huge success - the most that was hoped for was top 10, and we got top 5. However you want to warp the stats, the UK were 5th. By any stretch of the imagination by rational poeple, that is a success!

I just hope we have a good go at it again next year. Jade was all a bit bit of a fluke for us. Had the Twins won, we would have finished about 25th and it could all go wrong if we go back to picking from washed up singers or gamble on the public picking a new talent. Then there's the chance that Andrew wont be playing a big part with picking/writing/performing our entry next year, which really helped us.

 

I get the feeling that this year was a bit of a fluke and we'll be back to average singers with no prolific name behind us next year.

I can appreciate your opinion, Rob (from what I know of your music taste, I would never think you would like Jade!), but the facts do support that it was a huge success - the most that was hoped for was top 10, and we got top 5. However you want to warp the stats, the UK were 5th. By any stretch of the imagination by rational poeple, that is a success!

 

maybe im harking back to the times when we naturally were in the running, from winning in 67 through to bucks fizz in 81 we either won it or came in the top three..... 5th would have been a 'disaster'... wever done crap ever since katrina 12 years ago (with an occassional blip) so i can see why some youngsters would regard this as a 'success'.

Jade Ewen is an actress and was a member of an internationally successful band.

Alexander Rybak is a wash-out from the semi-finals of Norwegian Idol.

The composer of Jade's song is Andrew Lloyd Webber, "the most successful composer of our time."

The composer of Rybak's song is a wash-out from the semi-finals of Norwegian Idol.

 

It's sort of like a Ford Fiesta winning a car race, with a Renault 4, Volkswagon Bus, and Yugo coming in second through fourth, and then everyone applauding that the UK's Formula One car finished fifth. The UK did not get a result in line with its monetary/artistic effort. That's not to say the UK did not deserve to be fifth.

 

Which internationally successful band was Jade a member of? I don't think you can count Trinity Stone here :kink:

:heehee:

 

I'm still wondering how Rybak didn't win in their Idol? :drama:

Jade Ewen is an actress and was a member of an internationally successful band.

Alexander Rybak is a wash-out from the semi-finals of Norwegian Idol.

The composer of Jade's song is Andrew Lloyd Webber, "the most successful composer of our time."

The composer of Rybak's song is a wash-out from the semi-finals of Norwegian Idol.

 

It's sort of like a Ford Fiesta winning a car race, with a Renault 4, Volkswagon Bus, and Yugo coming in second through fourth, and then everyone applauding that the UK's Formula One car finished fifth. The UK did not get a result in line with its monetary/artistic effort. That's not to say the UK did not deserve to be fifth.

 

EXACTLY! .... which is WHY 'we' were unsuccessful, this is why imho we DID 'fail' ... surely 5th behind these other nonentities for a composer the calibre of alw is embarrassing! technically we should have PISSED IT, but 5th, 200 odd places behind this amateur with no track record is failure. 'we did well'?... well no we didnt! taking this into consideration.

Jade Ewen is an actress and was a member of an internationally successful band.

Alexander Rybak is a wash-out from the semi-finals of Norwegian Idol.

The composer of Jade's song is Andrew Lloyd Webber, "the most successful composer of our time."

The composer of Rybak's song is a wash-out from the semi-finals of Norwegian Idol.

 

It's sort of like a Ford Fiesta winning a car race, with a Renault 4, Volkswagon Bus, and Yugo coming in second through fourth, and then everyone applauding that the UK's Formula One car finished fifth. The UK did not get a result in line with its monetary/artistic effort. That's not to say the UK did not deserve to be fifth.

Yeah because THAT'S how it works. Obviously the eldest and most experienced singers and songwriters HAVE to be the best. If, next time Madonna releases a single, but it stalls at two behind Lady Gaga esque debut it will obviously be a MASSIVE FLOP! :manson:

 

Oh, and one of the Azerbaijani singers had major success throughout Europe, so you can change the VW bus for a Bugatti Veyron!

Edited May 21, 200916 yr by RabbitFurCoat

Thought Jade might be doing better in some of the European I-Tunes charts seeing as some of the charts are full of ESC entries - She is currently #24 in Sweden, #90 in Ireland etc, and for some reason not available to download in Greece who gave us 12 points!