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The DS Eurovision General Discussion Thread (Part 61) |
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#451 |
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: Manchester
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I love how at 8 years old you were there question Israels participation and place in the world
. I only know the European map because of Eurovision I think. ![]()
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#452 |
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Join Date: Sep 2010
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My first memory is 1997, when I was 5, as I distinctly recall being in my grandparents back garden and my mum announcing that the UK had won.
My first proper memory, though, is a postcard from Israel 1999, when someone used the salt from the Dead Sea to draw a heart on their back. Would love to see that again but have never been able to find it! The first song I ever remember moving me is Iceland 2003, when I was 11. It was the first contest I had actively looked forward to and the UK got 0! Birgitta remains an all-time fave for me. Open Your Heart has a very, very special place in my personal history. Yes! I love this one! I know I watched 1998-2002 but I only have snippet memories. 2003 is the year I remember dearly. Iceland is also one of my all time favourites. As is germany that year .I do love all the Eurovision build up, but I do miss the old days (up until 2010) where I'd not heard any songs until the actual contest. I'd sit with my scorecard and rank them as they came along . Once I left uni in 2009 and had much less to do, I was into the pre season too.
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#453 |
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Join Date: Sep 2010
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I was (am) a big geography nerd! I remember at primary school having to name books we had read and everyone else had story books and my list consisted of encyclopaedias and atlas!
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#454 |
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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I was born in January 1994. So I was 4 months old at the 1994 contest and my Dads fondest memory was watching Riverdance, feeding me and it was a bit of a moment for him.
All this talk about Australia, Israel etc competing in ESC. I was surprised when I learned Canada competed in Eurovision Young Dancers. |
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#455 |
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Birkenhead
Posts: 21,816
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Quote:
My first memory is 1997, when I was 5, as I distinctly recall being in my grandparents back garden and my mum announcing that the UK had won.
My first proper memory, though, is a postcard from Israel 1999, when someone used the salt from the Dead Sea to draw a heart on their back. Would love to see that again but have never been able to find it! The first song I ever remember moving me is Iceland 2003, when I was 11. It was the first contest I had actively looked forward to and the UK got 0! Birgitta remains an all-time fave for me. Open Your Heart has a very, very special place in my personal history. https://youtu.be/Am4C1iI46F0?t=1h55m9s They had some strange Postcards in 1999 |
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#456 |
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Milton Keynes
Posts: 12,730
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I feel rather isolated in the sense that I can't say I really grew up with Eurovision as nobody else in my family watches it.
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#457 |
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 698
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Ah, nostalgia....
My first Contest was 1990 - although because I was eight my mother sent me to bed during the voting and then found the results on Ceefax (remember that?) for me the next day - and so it continued for 1991, 1992, 1993.... I wasn't overly thrilled by 1990, too many references to the fall of the Berlin Wall and stuff. 1991 was much better, really enjoyed Carola for Sweden, I was happy she won, although I liked the French entry that came second very much too. 1992 I was so hoping for Michael Ball.... I can still remember my excitement charging downstairs on the Sunday in 1993 so absolutely sure that Sonia had triumphed only to be told "sorry sweetheart, the Irish girl won" and "never-mind, there's always next year...." Bugger! I will say it, Poland was robbed in 1994! Robbed I tell you! The first Contest I was allowed to stay up right to the end was 1995 where Love City Groove failed to bring it home (and committed the heinous crime of introducing rap to the Contest - yes, you want to know who we have to blame for Trackshittaz, it was us) - though I must say, I took it on the chin and was hoping Norway would win, which they did! I just about wanted to die with the horror of Gina G which I just found overdone, too much information maybe, because everybody I knew thought it was about sex. 1997 I screamed with delight at the TV when such improbable countries as Hungary, Russia and France - France people! gave us the much longed for douze points. We got points from absolutely everybody and five 12 points in a row. I danced around my living room and then ran outside shouting at the top of my voice to the cul-de-sac "we've won! We've won! Katrina won Eurovision!" My mother was furious and sent me to bed at once and I was grounded for well over a month. Well worth it for the sheer euphoria (no pun intended) of that moment. It is incredibly naff but it was a moment of unadultered joy for and I'm not too proud to admit it. I can't imagine 1998 was edge of your seat voting, a fantastic top-5, although I would argue that Israel was my least favourite of the five (as much as I respected just the gesture that Dana International represented at the time) and as my as I loved Imani which sounded very modern indeed then and holds-up well now I think, a small part of me would have liked Croatia to win. I also have a real soft spot for Chiara from Malta and who can forget "Guido Loves You!" and him climbing up the scaffolding in the set! A classic Eurovision moment - you wouldn't get something like that now, they're all much too well behaved. We'll never come that close to winning again.... Given my dual-citizenship and Australia loosing out in the tele-vote - I now have the pleasure of having two countries to feel robbed over - just my luck.... On other matters, it's quite sad but probably inevitable that the few credible songs die in the charts. The big publicity push is over and maybe nobody wants to push a song that didn't win? Even if it was a really good one. The contrast with Katrina who did four consecutive Top of the Pops appearances - yes, seriously, four, complete with audiences waving Union Jacks at an American (which must have been an odd experience for her being the daughter of a US Air Force Colonel) - is just enormous. It gave Katrina and the Waves an album deal they wouldn't have gotten other-wise. I wonder whether there wasn't a recognition that the staging adds so much to so many entries now that its harder to see them as a song without being a full-on major production? Like listening to a show-tune on The Elaine Paige Show on Radio 2 on Sundays, that somehow the show-tunes loose context outside of their source musical no matter how strong the song is? Maybe Eurovision is like that now? |
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#458 |
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Cardiff
Posts: 3,142
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Aah, loving all these memories
![]() I've shared mine far too many times, and seeing which contests you lost your respective Eurovision virginities to makes me feel older than Lys Assia ![]() ![]() Has anyone mentioned the 80s yet?
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#459 |
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: East Mids
Posts: 42,922
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Yes! I love this one! I know I watched 1998-2002 but I only have snippet memories. 2003 is the year I remember dearly. Iceland is also one of my all time favourites. As is germany that year
.![]() I didn't get properly hooked until the year after with t.A.T.u. I was a huge stan for them and couldn't believe it when I found out they were competing, given they were absolutely massive at the time.
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#460 |
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Welwyn, Herts
Posts: 6,189
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Quote:
My first memory is 1997, when I was 5, as I distinctly recall being in my grandparents back garden and my mum announcing that the UK had won.
My first proper memory, though, is a postcard from Israel 1999, when someone used the salt from the Dead Sea to draw a heart on their back. Would love to see that again but have never been able to find it! The first song I ever remember moving me is Iceland 2003, when I was 11. It was the first contest I had actively looked forward to and the UK got 0! Birgitta remains an all-time fave for me. Open Your Heart has a very, very special place in my personal history. Quote:
[/b]
Yes! I love this one! I know I watched 1998-2002 but I only have snippet memories. 2003 is the year I remember dearly. Iceland is also one of my all time favourites. As is germany that year .I do love all the Eurovision build up, but I do miss the old days (up until 2010) where I'd not heard any songs until the actual contest. I'd sit with my scorecard and rank them as they came along . Once I left uni in 2009 and had much less to do, I was into the pre season too. |
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#461 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 3,136
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First fragment of memory - Dad saying that Estonia should win 02 & being deeply confused about how a host could win
![]() First contest & song I remember - 03. Even as an 8-year-old, I knew Gemini were a slow-mo car crash. First full contest - 07. I remember Sir Terry's 'fluorescent tube' line during the interval like yesterday
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#462 |
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,078
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Im back. Did I miss anything?
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Birmingham 98 was my first. Feeling old.
![]() [quote=Jason C;82469637]I vaguely remember seeing bits of Contests from the late 80s/early 90s but the first one I can really remember watching fully was Millstreet 1993. Strong year and very exciting finale Quote:
Aah, loving all these memories
![]() I've shared mine far too many times, and seeing which contests you lost your respective Eurovision virginities to makes me feel older than Lys Assia ![]() Quote:
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#463 |
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,078
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Same, a lot of fractured and planted memories in the hazy years when ESC was just on in the background as a kid. The first full contest I remember was 02 as we were on a family holiday in Cornwall at the time and I stayed in and watched the contest while the adults all went out for the evening. (Spindiddly will like this part) I was rooting for Sahlene to win.
![]() I didn't get properly hooked until the year after with t.A.T.u. I was a huge stan for them and couldn't believe it when I found out they were competing, given they were absolutely massive at the time.
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#464 |
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 23,307
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I can't believe that this time last week I'd just got back to my hotel from the Jury Final. Where does the time go?
![]() On the bright side, only 51 weeks to go to the next Eurovision! ![]()
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#465 |
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 17,388
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I can't believe that this time last week I'd just got back to my hotel from the Jury Final. Where does the time go?
![]() On the bright side, only 51 weeks to go to the next Eurovision! ![]() ![]()
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#466 |
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 23,307
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You mean you weren't getting your groove on at euroclub?!! tut tut
![]() My beauty sleep comes first. Sounds like you had a good time though.
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#467 |
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 17,388
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I leave that sort of thing to the young bucks like your good self these days.
My beauty sleep comes first. Sounds like you had a good time though.![]() But yes 8 straight nights of bopping away til 5am to all the Eurovision classics was like heaven on earth ![]()
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#468 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 6,284
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Lovely memories posted so far. My memories begin in 1997 when I was still just five years old, I can recall Ronan Keating being the host, which was a big deal to me cause Boyzone were quite popular at the time. 1998 I can recall the mad German fella climbing the scaffolding, and I think I remember Dana International being referred to as a transsexual but not knowing what that meant. 1999 I can remember Say It Again by Precious being my favourite song, I think because I had seen them perform on Top of the Pops. I recall being totally baffled as to why they only finished in 15th place!
The memories get a lot clearer after that. 2000 I remember Alsou for Russia because she had already had a couple of moderate chart hits in Ireland & Britain at the time, as well as the fact it was one of the last times Ireland did truly well. In 2001 I bizarrely remember that the Bosnian entry was my favourite, and my mother not allowing me to vote for it ![]() For the 2002 contest I can recall Malta was by far my favourite entry, and was bitterly disappointed when it was beaten by that Latvian tripe. I also recall 2002 for Jessica Garlick, as me and my sisters were big into Pop Idol at the time. 2003 would be the first contest I remember very well, t.A.T.u would be one of the reasons for this as All The Things She Said was a huge hit that year. Me and my family were very confused as to how they could be the favourites to win when they sounded so bad live! I also remember being quite proud of myself for accurately predicting and voting for the winner Sertab, only to find out a few years later that my vote was entirely useless ![]() After 2003 I remember everything quite clearly, the only thing that's really changed is I'm pretty much the only one in my family who still watches It all seemed so much more innocent back then too, no Russia/Ukraine drama, no Azeri vote-buying, no Nagorno-Karabakh.. I miss it in a way. The final all felt a lot more exciting hearing the songs for the first time, no YouTube back then to help you out. One thing I don't miss is the feeling of emptiness when the competition ended. Now I know a lot of us still experience post-Eurovision depression, but back then once the show ended.. that was it! Nothing for another year. You'd maybe get a couple of newspaper articles but that was it. Couldn't imagine going back to that
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#469 |
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,978
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Dear God this really is the page to make feel old isn't it! Thank you Portugal for being someone closer to my generation!
I can't say I have too many dyed in the wool memories, but I know that we always have it on. I think I remember bucks fizz being on all the kids shows afterwards |
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#470 |
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Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Berkshire
Posts: 27,887
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[quote=portugal;82471575]No. Total Harmony on here and 100% backing on result ![]() 81 for me and the Fizz....God I hate youth... ![]() Quote:
I vaguely remember seeing bits of Contests from the late 80s/early 90s but the first one I can really remember watching fully was Millstreet 1993.
Strong year and very exciting finale That's why we need to educate that Eurovision didn't begin 10 years ago The best postcards ever were from Birmingham 98'... Seriously check them out. Very clever. |
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#471 |
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,746
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I feel rather isolated in the sense that I can't say I really grew up with Eurovision as nobody else in my family watches it.
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#472 |
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Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Stratford-Upon-Avon
Posts: 37,533
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#473 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 4,456
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Me and OH have been watching Eurovision as a ritual (scoring, eating, drinking etc
) since 1998. Even now, the four 'winners' that always come to the forefront of my EV memory-bank are Diva, Take Me To Your Heaven, Every Way That I Can and Wild Dances. Those were the days!
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#474 |
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 3,136
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I'm intrigued by the comment about it seeming more innocent in the mid-00s. I can sense that a little bit too, & I'm trying to pinpoint when it was that the contest became more politicised & argumentative.
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#475 |
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 698
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I agree with the poster above about the appearance innocence. Maybe it was only the appearance of it, but hey. It wasn't that there was no politics back in the 1990s, hell, there was a fair bit of controversy about Dana singing for Ireland whilst being from the place now known as Derry/Londonderry at the height of the Troubles in 1970 (and born in London) and let's not forget the famous vase of tulips in the Jordan broadcast when Israel won in 1978. It just seemed to be better handled or more proportionate.
I like not seeing the entries, listening to them is alright, but not seeing them before the Big Night. I want to be impressed on the night, I don't want to have too many expectations about what works and what doesn't. I watch the clips of the Semi-Finalists who don't qualify, just to see the staging and see what went wrong (still puzzled by Iceland though), so that I am still surprised and still get the main impact of the 26 Finalists on the Big Night. I like to judge as much as possible based on what they do on the night, only then do I go back and watch the videos. I think this is a reasonable way of maintaining excitement and surprise. The presentation videos are themselves a bit of a mixed bag. Italy's video was much better than their staging on the night. The Czechs had an ironic video 'I Stand' sung lying down - quite liked the flowers metaphor. Naked with wolves was completely unnecessary and gimmicky. San Marino was hilarious. Macedonia must have thought that they were being clever yet it looked Kaliopi odd and cut-out during the chorus. I do not like Russia throwing everything and the kitchen-sink at it, it makes it impossible for the poorer countries to win, it feels over-done and like they are using money to cheat their way to a win because they can and that's not what the Contest is supposed to be about. Belgium and Spain's both embodied the fun aspects of their songs which I like. Estonia's just makes me wonder what went wrong on the night. The closest staging I think to the video, after Iceland was probably the Austrians and that was to their favour given how likeable and sweet the song was. After that you can have fun by looking at the Jury votes versus the Tele-vote. Rather nerdy and old fashioned isn't it. YouTube, blogs etc may just kill this Contest by sucking out the surprise and priming you too much before-hand. I also think there's a geography PhD in this just looking at the statistical allocation of votes. The problem I think is that there's no colour anymore, everybody basically sounds like each other with a few exceptions. It's lost the qualities that made it interesting and culturally valuable, few countries are bringing their own culture or neighbourhood into play and those who do, Bosnia, Macedonia and Greece, don't get through. I think Marcel Bezençon would have a few sharp words to say about that.... Singing for other countries has always happened. Luxembourg was reknowned for it - Vicky Leandros won whilst being Greek in 1972. Nana Mouskouri, another Greek came only 8th in 1963. Jean-Claude Pascal won in 1961. Françoise Hardy sang for Monaco in 1963. I suppose that is one rather less pleasant option for under-performers like the UK or Portugal in the future if the desperation is there.... Anybody seen this by the way - bizarre, but probably a bit true and somebody's taken a huge amount of time and effort on this clearly. And on other silly matters, any favourites for the Barbara Dex Award? My prediction is Jamie-Lee with Greta in second. |
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. I only know the European map because of Eurovision I think. 




