thisispop

14. Cyprus // Jon Lilygreen and The Islanders "Life Looks Better in Spring" Boyband type singer with guitar performs "Moon In June" type cliched power ballad. (Visuallises Louis Walsh watching this at home, thinking this will make a great Boyzone album track!) 5.5/10

13. Bulgaria // Miro "Angel si ti" Soomebody should tell the singer that "the Gary Barlow circa 1992" is not a good look. This dance tune is clearly looking to get somewhere, but it fails to find its destination. 4.5/10

12. Ireland // Niamh Kavanagh "It's for You" I don't know what to make of this. It is clearly a good song. But it is lacking that .... something. But it is clearly not a patch on her previous Eurovision winning entry. 6.0/10

11. Slovenia // Ansambel Žlindra and Kalamari "Narodnozabavni rock" Ladies & Gentleman I think I have found the worst entry in this year's ESC. A ghastly disjointed mess with horrendous vocals and guitars. This joke does not work at all. 1.0/10

10. Romania // Paula Seling and Ovi "Playing with Fire" This should be terrible, but is the very opposite. I really like the Sex In The City style running up the piano motif. A very catchy tune. As for the male & female singers ... if this does well we have to send Adrian Chiles & Christine Brinkley as our entry next year. Just realises one of the vocal hooks is from Lady GaGa's Poker Face isn't it. 8.0/10

09. The Netherlands // Sieneke "Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie)" This is surely a mickey take? This sounds like 1980s Scouse red head Sonia covering a nondescript Shakin Stevens track. And it is equally as dated. 3.5/10

08. Ukraine // Alyosha "Sweet People" I really like this, even though this moody bluesy track is non Eurovision friendly. Certainly not everyone's cup of tea but I really like the vocals and the whole rock bombast. 7.5/10

07. Azerbaijan // Safura "Drip Drop" Let's be honest .... if this was a brand new single by Britney, Rihanna, P!nk, Leona, Shakira, etc ... this would be a worldwide #1 hit. A killer song by any definition. 10.0/10

06. Sweden // Anna Bergendahl "This Is My Life" Is Anna struggling with a bit of a throat infection as she sounds a bit raspy in places (but at least she is in tune). A very good tune this hits 4th gear very quickly, but fails to find the Top (5th) Gear and land a knock out punch. 8.5/10

Off topic. Was that your comments that were read out on BBC 6 Music Round Table tonight?

05. Switzerland // Michael von der Heide "Il pleut de l'or" Are they having problems on stage, as this is the third male vocallist on the bounce with "keying issues". This song is striving to be good. But ultimately its melody falls short to my ears. Plus the lead singer looks like a bloke out of Stars In Your Eyes who wants to be Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters) but is refusing to shave off his beard. 5.0/10

04. Denmark // Chanée and N'evergreen "In a Moment Like This" Abba/Roxette-tastic (yes I know they are Swedish). A great male/female duet, even if it feels like I've heard it before as if the keyboardist wants to launch into playing The Winner Takes It All meets (Simply) The Best type mash up. 8.5/10

03. Israel // Harel Skaat "Milim" Jewish Gary Barlow does his best Rosie Ribbons sings Abba / Emilie (Over The Rainbow) sings ... nearly anything impression. It soundfs like a really good song. But his vocals were out of key for significant passages of that performance 7.5 (for the song)/10

02. Armenia // Eva Rivas "Apricot Stone" Imagine a cross between Lea Michelle & Angelina Jolie ..... mind drifts off elsewhere. You know what I really really really like this .... a lot. That traditional old man was bonkers though. 9.0/10

01. Lithuania // InCulto "Eastern European Funk" Modern Romance meets Madness meets Take That with all the good bits taken out. Well that sums up this entry. At least the tune was not annoying. 4.0/10

United Kingdom: Josh Dubovie "That Sounds Good to Me" So Pete Waterman knows how to write an ESC winning hit does he? Josh does his best over a quite frankly forgettable track with a ghastly tepid production that makes this track sound like a rejected outtake from a Steps album. More like "That Sounds Bland To Me" ... and I hate bland. But hey who am I to argue with Pete Waterman? (After all when Daniel Pearce, who was arranger and co-writer of some of One True Voice's songs left the group in the summer of 2003 after a bust up with Pete Waterman over the choice of the Rick Astley penned 2nd single Shakespeare's (Way With) Words, Pete Waterman confidently predicted that Daniel Pearce would never become successful within the music industry. Shortly after, the band split up. Come Sunday night at 7PM I wonder who will look more stupid. Me thinks it wont be Daniel Pearce). 1.5/10

Norway: Didrik Solli-Tangen "My Heart Is Yours" Westlife ballad ahoy!!!! But thankfully it is not oversung nauseatingly by 4 "Oirsh-men" getting off their bloody stools at the last key change for the overdramatic Finale. Altogether now : "You raise me up so I can stand on mountains / You raise me up to walk on stormy seas ....." 7.5/10 Spain: Daniel Diges "Algo pequeñito" Urrgggh, this is an awful tinkly waltz type ballad. Just about bareable watching some celebs dance to on Strictly Come Dancing. But having to actually listen to this .... Nope. 3.5/10

OK, to get me in the mood (& ween me off listening to BBC Radio 6 Music) I will now youtube and review the five Final prequalifers (The Big Four + Last's Year's Winning Nation): France: Jessy Matador "Allez Ola Olé" Oooh, I swear I've heard this song for early coverage of the Football World Cup. A catchy calypso rap type track. It reminds me of the BaHa Men. But it is way too generic for my liking, even though it is clearly good. 6.5/10 Germany: Lena Meyer-Landrut "Satellite" The German answer to Kate Nash releases a very quirky, but catchy melodic female pop tune. A huge hit all over Europe this is clearly going to do well in the contest. But the big negative for me is its hook is way to near (& not as good as the old soul classic) Jimmy Soul's - If You Wanna Be Happy For the Rest of Your Life. Altogether now when this plays: "If you wanna be happy for the rest of your life / Never make a pretty woman your wife / So from my personal point of view / Get an ugly girl to marry you ....." 7.0/10

Fool On The Hill

Criminal World Ricochet v White Light/White Heat (Live 1973)

Apples, Holidays on the Isle of Wight & Prostitution. Which American artist did John Lennon produce in the 1970s?

Juke Box Jury

What a load of cobblers. It became pretty obvious midway through Series 1 that all the characters died in the initial plane crash on that island, and were already in purgatory. Lost was pretty much a six season long version of Ghost Whisperer or The Sixth Sense. To believe otherwise is clutching as straws. Or are you SERIOUSLY trying to tell me that all the too many to mention unusual things that happened on the island were normal. :rofl: In short Lost was a six series show about characters going on a journey to eventually escape purgatory on that bizzarre island.

I think the key issues are as follows: 1. The lack of profile of the charts on the BBC. From the 1960s through to the early 21st Century you had on TV the flagship show Top Of The Pops which was a weekly must see event for all the family. Since that has gone a lot of younger and older people are unaware of certain new acts, as it is harder to breakthrough unless they appear on the X-Factor. 2. The Radio 1 Chartshow. In 1955 the BBC Light Programme introduced Pick Of The Pops its own weekly chart show. This quickly became the most listened to radio show in the country. Indeed when Alan Freeman's Pick Of The Pops transferred to Radio 1 in 1967; it was one of a few shows to be simulcast on Radio 2 as well. Until the 1990s the Chart show was always the most listened to Radio show on the BBC network, as getting the presenting gig was regarded as a major honour, and people cared about the charts. But since 2003 with falling ratings it is clear that the BBC don't care about the charts anymore due to the ramshackle way they are currently presented. Hence the current chart show gets an average 1.6 to 1.7 million listeners on a Sunday compared to Chris Moyles getting over 7.0 million listeners on a weekday morning; when in the past just two decades earlier nearly 11 million were tuning in on a Sunday evening for the new chart to listen to Bruno Brookes countdown the chart. 3. The death of the physical single/the rise of downloads. Due to the death of the physical single you are more limited than ever as to what you can physically buy in your local Woolworths; Virgin; Our Price; WHSmiths; HMV. In contrast the rise of the internet and downloads means that a library of music to listen to and buy has never been greater. Hence more people are buying tracks that are old and wont reach the charts; and less are buying tracks that will make the charts in proportional terms. Therefore the singles chart is becoming less relevent. 4. The rise of other leisure activities. With music getting cheaper and cheaper, less money is being spent on buying records in real terms than there has been since the late 1950s. This has coincided with the rise of Computer console format; the boom of interest (post 1990 WC/Sky Sports) in Football; and the activities available through the internet. 5. Music as an entertainment medium has been badly devalued. Anyone who watched the brilliant BBC4 BAFTA Award winning 3 part documentary on the Post World War II history of popular music will know the strong theme/theory of Part 3 that Stock Aitken & Waterman were the catalyst for music as a medium to shift product by 40 year olds in suits using attractive younger teenagers as their vehicle, as opposed to the classic Beatles; Stones; Bowie; Pink Floyd; Kate Bush; etc ideal that music was an artform and an expression of youth. (the mid 1990s BRIT Pop movement was regarded as the last hoorah, that is now as discredited today as the legacy of Tony Blair once he agreed to invade Iraq). Nearly 10 years on from the first Popstars reality TV show the cancer festered by those parasites Louis Walsh & Simon Cowell has really spread. Hence the UK's biggest popstar today is the fame hungry tabloid friendly talent freezone that is Cheryl Cole. Also thanks to these reality TV shows and to a degree the rise of the internet, the degree of mystique in music has died due to the past decade's obsession of fame. As the music is no longer the key factor it was back in the 1960s/70s/80s; as the sob story/what you were famous for previously/profile in the tabloids/glossy magazines is more important and influential today. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Personally, I think it is no coincidence that the genre of music that is currently most successful is Urban music as that is the genre of music that has been least affected by the five issues I've raised. As it is the genre of music most liked by 15-24 year olds who don't like the X-Factor; and through the UK grime scene going overground and becoming commercial, it is probably the most creative genre at the moment. As an example could you imagine a credible UK Urban/grime act coming through the X-Factor mentored by Louis Walsh. :rofl:

8 out of 10. My Top 7 were spot on, as was my prediction that horrid Russian entry would reach the Final. But sad to see Slovakia & Finland fail at the expense of Bosnia & Herzegovina & Portugal.