BillyH

Better Off Alone is also one of my all-time top ten songs, and when I worked at a cinema it always got an great reaction from customers whenever it played on the foyer playlist I created. Sadly it didn't quite get as good a reaction when I sneaked it onto a house party playlist a few years ago that was 99% gangster rap :P What really astonished me was years later when I realised that the UK was by far its most successful audience - I always assumed it was a big, Europe-wide summer hit reaching #1 everywhere, but in fact in most places it was lower top 40! It reached #4 in Australia and and #27 in the United States (incredible for a Eurodance song of the time), both in February/March 2000 long after its UK success. Ian Van Dahl's 'Castles In The Sky' a few years later is another example of a minor Europe hit being randomly colossal and well-remembered to this day in the UK, both that and Better Off Alone pleasingly being #1 hits in Scotland too!

It was a weird moment at a house party I was at about five years ago, when a generic "party" Spotify playlist was put on, all songs being received well...until Ai Se Eu Te Pego started playing, everyone stopped dancing and looked really confused, and the person holding the party quickly changed the song. That would be utterly baffling in basically every country except here.

Now 70 in 2008 sold 383,000 in its opening week (the all-time weekly record for the series, although 1999's Now 44 is the biggest selling overall), and as recently as 2012 Now 83 did really well as there were lots of rumours that it was going to be the last one. It's interesting how they remained extremely high sellers in the download era, although I guess £10 for 40 songs was a bargain as opposed to paying 99p for each one. Spotify has most of the albums in playlist form, but from looking at them recently there's several missing songs and some exist in the wrong version/s, so they're not a great replacement for the original CDs.

I completely dismissed Spotify as a chart force until the restriction on song plays was lifted in March 2013, which from memory was also the exact point it began its ascendence above downloads.

Even in 2008 I remember HMV were selling import copies of Scooter's 'Jumping All Over The World' weeks before the UK release of the album, for £16. I ended up having to buy it twice as the eventual UK release had a few different tracks :lol: Does pain me a bit thinking how much money I was spending on CD singles/albums as recently as the late 2000s, all of which are now on Spotify for basically free.

Unfortunately you've made the common mistake of posting the wrong ATB version :P That's the original 1998 mix from Germany, but the one the UK know and love sounds very different: gmluULcV-w4 Great moment when the UK had its first trance number 1, even though I'd have loved it to have been something heavier like Carte Blanche or Gouryella! Reminds me of DJ Fresh bringing dubstep to the top of the charts twelve years later. My Love Is Your Love is also a classic of the era, even if I keep getting it confused with TLC's Unpretty in my head. Bit astonished it took a month for Take Me To Your Heaven to be released after it won Eurovision? Amazed it still managed to go top twenty despite the delay!

2019: Scatman John & Lou Bega - Scatman & Hatman 2029: Lady Gaga & Dappy - Gaga & Na-Na (Niiiii) 2039: Billie Ellish & Lewis Capaldi - Ellish & Scottish

For Stockholm 2016 I overlanded it all the way from London, getting a coach to Rotterdam and then carrying onto Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Malmo. It was fun seeing how each country was embracing Eurovision and hearing all the entries playing on local radio. All Eurovisions since I've had to stopover somewhere on the way as direct flights were too expensive, but it's given me good opportunities to see more places - Latvia for Kiev, Madrid and Porto for Lisbon, and Athens for Tel Aviv. Next year might be the first I'll be able to head straight there unless I include some time in France or Belgium!

So I just shared a plane with Katerine Duska I think :P I have a 24 hour stopover in Athens as that was the cheapest flight back to London when I booked, and at Arrivals there's a massive crowd and TV camera crew...minutes later out walks Katerine! Interview and a improptu sing-along of Better Love from the crowd to welcome her home :D

No fanclub/membership needed, there's a queuing system that randomly puts everyone in a queue at the time the tickets go on sale. This year I was 15,000+ in the queue and got my ticket fine, even though that's way above the venue capacity as not everyone actually bothers buying. On all years since I started attending there were extra chances to buy tickets nearer the time, yesterday had a few dozen extra put back on sale the morning of the contest.

My 4th live Eurovision, and despite the crazy expense of Israel (almost £10 for a McDonalds?!) the organisation was really good this year, free shuttle buses taking you to and from the venue and I was given a free 1ltr bottle of water by staff on arriving early to the queue, which in almost 30 degree heat was really appreciated. Disappointed for Malta and Greece, who were my two pre-contest favourites but neither quite worked on the night, Greece especially played to a totally disinterested crowd which they really didn't deserve. In contrast my highlight of the evening was Norway storming the televote, fantastic result! Not a great crowd where I was standing, lots of half-interested locals who only perked up during Israel's entry and many of them left the arena the moment Madonna finished performing. Someone shouted "Go home" to Michael Rice at the end of Bigger Than Us, which sums the UK reaction up. Happy for The Netherlands but ticket sales will be a bloodbath next year, its close proximity to three of the Big 5 means I can see it being the hardest to buy tickets for since Stockholm. Hoping to actually bring some friends next time too :P My results, as quickly typed on my phone after the last song: 12 Australia 10 Norway 8 Switzerland 7 Denmark 6 Spain 5 Sweden 4 Italy 3 Netherlands 2 Malta 1 Greece Azerbaiijan would have been next but thinking Slovenia could be a grower. Spain are a bit artificially high due to the arena going properly mental during it thanks to all the supportive Spanish fans - every year I think they're going to do well until the votes bring everyone back down to earth. I had no idea what the hell happened with Belarus's votes until I read this thread, I burst out laughing at the 12 point reveal - I thought they'd either got the order the wrong way around or it was some weird troll/protest result :lol: Roll on next May!

A promo code now exists that discounts all remaining rehearsal tickets to 450 shekels - over half the price of what they were before, but still about £100 each which is too much for me when I've already spent £300 on one final ticket :P So despite being in Tel Aviv already I'll resist the temptation and save my energy for tomorrow night. Just had the most expensive McDonalds meal ever to the sound of James Fox's Hold On To Our Love blasting out the store speakers.

2017 odds thread - http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=198308 2018 odds thread - http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=210581 Italy were unstoppable in the odds for absolutely ages in the run-up to Kiev, only for Portugal to start climbing after the semis and overtake Italy literally the day before the final. Last year Cyprus actually overtook Israel in the odds after the semis, but Netta still ended up winning who'd been the front-runner since the moment she was selected. 2011 and 2014 are the two years that stand out the most as no one having any idea for ages, the odds for both those years are all over the place in comparison to the actual result - again Conchita started charging up the list after the 2014 semis but I don't think anyone expected Azerbaijan in 2011 at all.

Am I going to get Moldova for the third year running? :lol: 32

Oh wow :lol:

This is my favourite out of the few I've listened to so far (I like to always save at least some for the contest itself) - I think out of all the main top 10 contenders it works best as an actual finished song, rather than the feeling you're missing bits that the staging/performance will fill in on the night. If 'Satellite' can win then I wouldn't rule this one out, and Malta so deserve a win after so long!

I love this before I've even seen the staging, would be a real shame if it did a Verona and lost out in the semis as with the right performance it could be unexpectedly huge. Quite high in the odds but then so was Verona at this stage. The sami joik reminds me of 1980's infamous 'Sámiid ædnan' and I'm thinking the moment in the middle where the song stops and the joik begins will directly reference it. AyMdsQOT8vI

Loreen to perform a synthpop banger version of Grande Amore. Lordi to perform a heavy-metal screamo version of Satellite. Brotherhood of Man to perform a gentle MOR 70s-pop version of Viszlát Nyár.

One of my favourite dance genres other than rave and trance is gabber/happy hardcore, a genre that was massive around Germany and the Netherlands in the mid-late 1990s, and even as close as Ireland and far away as Australia where it had a few chart successes. In the UK, its success was mostly confined to Scotland and the North of England, with the Scottish Singles Charts from that era showing some strong-selling examples but not enough across the rest of the country to chart really high - the likes of jungle and drum & bass had a much bigger stronghold closer to London and more of the media attention to help it do well. For a brief time in 1995-96, there was a minor push for the genre in the UK, and what I'm fairly sure was the first happy hardcore track to break the top 40 was Mark'Oh's 'Tears Don't Lie', a major European #1 over the previous winter and reached #24 here in May 1995. The distinctive melody is best known from Johnny Mathis's Christmas #1 'When A Child Is Born', itself based on an old Italian tune. Rx_G-YrLgNQ After a few hits from the likes of Scooter and WestBam later that year, the genre peaked in success in early 1996 with the release of Technohead's 'I Wanna Be A Hippy', which gained lots of attention for its controversial "stoned on marijuana" lyrics, a memorable Top of the Pops performance and concerned letters from viewers asking what the hell they'd just heard read out on BBC's Points of View. It shot up to number 6 in the UK charts. nmYi5u9BhtI More songs followed from Technohead, Scooter, Interactive and spin-off group the Party Animals through 1996, but after that it retreated back to mainland Europe. Its only appearance I can think of since was a random week in late 2002, when Nakatomi's 'Children of the Night' - a major happy hardcore release which became a club favourite for years - had a late re-release six years after charting at number 149, and this time did much better, just making the top 40 at #31. Randomly I was in Stratford-upon-Avon on a warm summer's day in 2014, and this was blasting out the speakers at a nearby mini-festival which was nice if random to hear :P O64vSP-Zj6U Any other examples of the genre? Wish it was more well-known in this country!

So I may now be pretty broke, but I got my live Grand Final ticket :) Normally I also see the Jury and Family shows too, but at this year's insane prices that would be nuts - maybe they'll realise their mistake and rapidly discount them just before the contest, like they did in Kiev two years ago. Looking forward to my fourth live Eurovision experience!

Shock win for Olivia Colman!!! That was AMAZING, so happy for her and watching that wonderful speech live at 4am was so worth the wait :D

Think it'll be Malek/Close/Ali for the remaining acting awards, which I guess is fair enough although a secret part of me wishes it was a full-on ASIB Cooper/Gaga/Elliot sweep. A surprise Colman win would also overjoy me. In order of preference for BP: 1. Roma 2. A Star Is Born 3. The Favourite 4. BlackKKlansman 5. Vice

Still no tickets on sale, which I think makes this the latest since Moscow 2009, when they didn't go on sale until March 16th. Most years since they've been available since November/December, although Kiev had a mid-February release two years ago. The prices were kinda announced a few days ago, but at hugely insane expensive levels - €366 for Grand Final standing, an increase of almost €250 from Lisbon when they were just over £100. Even the semi-final rehearsals are a nuts €85 for the cheapest seats, and to complicate things there's still no official announcement on the Eurovision website which basically says to disregard what you've heard. So maybe it's all still being discussed, as I can't imagine them selling much outside the live final at those prices. I booked my Tel Aviv flights and accomodation in October last year, so this has been an extremely long wait for me :lol: Itching to see Darude and Kate Miller-Heidke (& Madonna?) live especially! (Until then, for those who fancy a Dusseldorf throwback, Amazon are having a clearout of the 2011 CD and selling it for £1.63 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eurovision-Song-Co...9890&sr=8-1 )

I know it's not going to happen, but I love the idea of a Eurovision audience just being stunned into silence by some insane high-energy instrumental techno anthem of Sandstorm levels :P The dance version of Hungary's song last year when few in the audience knew what the hell was going on.

There's so many of these over the years, where a song spans the new year and reminds me of both at once - 'Dancing In The Moonlight' for 2000/2001, 'Hey Ya!' for 2003/2004, 'Mama Do The Hump' for 2011/2012 etc. Even a summer release like 'I Gotta Feeling' spans right through to the first half of the next year as it was a clubbing staple for months, you'd hear it twice in a night at its peak and the DJ would troll people by randomly playing the first couple of seconds only to start a completely different song :P