Eurovision: The Yuppie years

So, where were we? Oh yeah, we had got to the end of the 1970's and Isreal had won twice. Wisely deciding the cost of hosting the competition twice in a row was too prohibitive, they asked the Dutch to host the 1980 contest, where after ten years Ireland scores another win with this ctachy little number...



So the Irish get to host the contest again, and the British decide to do a nice, quiet, contemplative little number that wins for the fourth time.



So back to Blighty, and they hold the contest in the cultural capital of the country - Harrogate. Now consider the world at this time - the attrition between the US and Russia was the worst it had been since Kennedy, and people wnated the tension to end. Who would have thought Germany would provide the winning song along those lines?



What should be obvious by now is that, unlike the seventies, the contest in the eighties was throwing up some very interesting surprises. So in 1983, the contest comes to pre-unification Hamburg. As this was the era of the power ballad in the charts, it was probably time for another one to win, and lo and behold Luxembourg provide one for us.



So off to the principality we go in 1984. Ten years previously Sweden had surprised everyone with Abba, and this eyar they surprised everyone again with a boy band singing about the joys of their golden pixie boots.

Honestly.



so we're back in the Nordic countries in 1985. A few years earlier, Norway had the ignomy to become the first country to score nil points in the voting, so how do you bounce back from that? You do it by winning is how...



Ah, that Eurovision beat, how we've missed it.

The following year Oslo put on a show, and another country that had never won before picks up the title with another first - the youngest ever entry at the time at 13 years old. this is Sandra Kim from Belgium.



By 1987, the show was still going strong, but the biggest surprise of all was when, for only the second time, a past winner came back to win the contest again for their country.



We will hear more from Mister Logan later....

So, back to Ireland in 1988, and another little surprise is waiting. The Eurovision has a fine tradition of bringing in singers from elsewhere to represent them, so when the Swiss asked a little known Canadian singer to sing a power ballad for them no-one batted an eyelid.

So, you know who to blame now, don't you?



Finally, in 1989, the winner came from a country in the Adriatic that, just a few short years later, would tear itself apart.



A sign of things to come with the contest? Not yet, but things were changing, and the Irish still had a part to play in that...

Singing the praises of the 70's

The 1970's was the decade when Eurovision really took on the character it has today. Let's review..

1970 saw the first ever win by an act from Ireland - a foretaste of things to come, but who knew then that this sweet little convent girl would create a behemoth that might bankrupt a television company?



So Ireland hosts the contest the following year, and we start to see the developmetns of that particular 1970's style with the Uk entry from Clodagh Rogers.



The winners, however, were tiny Monaco with this little ditty.



So it's off to the principality in 1972, where the winner is someone we saw in an earlier post - Vicky Leandros, who wins with a recognisable song we know as "Come What May"



So on to 1973, and Luxembourg win with this little number.



Here's the song that came second...



1974 comes all too quickly, and we go to Brighton for some reason where a little known Swedish group make a surprise hit...



The following year the winner is the song, that rather than Abba, to me epitomises the essence of Eurovision in this period. Enjoy the deep meaningful lyrics sung by Teach-In...



So we're off to Holland in 1976, the wackiest stage set ever, and the second clear win for the UK. If you can, track down the Kernickie version of this number...



So it's back to Blighty in 1977. I had started studying French as an exam subject in this year, so this song was drummed into my head at the time.



Here's a trivia question - what was the first non-European country to win Eurovision? Here's a hint from 1978...



This, by the way, is one of the great misheard lyrics of all time. All together now, "I wanna be a polar bear...."

Finally, in 1979 Israel decided they liked hosting the contest they won again with this ditty to peace.



They would go on to win in future years, but there was a behemoth waiting in the wings - a behemoth that is known now as Mister Eurovision. More on him tomorrow, but in the meantime enjoy THE performance from 1979 - the German entry...

That was unexpected.....

I hadn't planned to be away from the blogosphere for quite as long as that. My apologies if anyone was wodnering where I was?

You were wondering, right?

Doreen came through her operation just fine, although she's still a bit sore some five weeks later. She had to stay in overnight, and she had a little trouble with discomfort for a while, but she's getting there and hopes to go back to work next week.

I've also been in the US for two weeks, and while I did intend to blog from there I ended up doing 12 hour days every day for the two weeks, except for the Sunday if the middle weekend when I had brunch with a friend and slept. Well, I am only human, after all.

Sadly, I'm not going to be able to complete the Eurovision project before it takes place on Friday, but I'll do a second post today with winenrs from the 1970's to show how the show - evolved.....

As for my boys, Alastair has started to sit his GCSEs, thirty years after I did my equivalent, and I don't think the full panic has hit him yet.

Yet.

More later...