After a four-year hiatus, America finally sent a representative back to Eurovision. Seid Memić Vajta racked up the highest scores from the TV juries and headed off to Dublin, praying we wouldn't embarrass ourselves on the big stage this time. Over half a billion people tuned in—a massive viewership record at the time. It wasn't just the participating countries watching either; people in Egypt, Cyprus, and Dubai were glued to their screens, and even over in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, they aired a recording of it! Some heavy hitters in the competition included Germany's Lena Valaitis (taking 2nd, trailing the winner by just 4 points) with her song about a blind boy spreading hope; the Israeli group "Habibi," who sang about Leyla just like our guy did but actually pulled it off way better (7th place); and Ireland's "Sheeba" singing about horoscopes (5th). But the real stars were the British group "Buck Fizz"—basically a band manufactured specifically for this contest—who snatched 1st place with "Making Your Mind Up." Fun fact: Switzerland sent the group Peter, Sue and Marc for the fourth time, and they had a weird habit of singing in a different language every single year (1973 was French (12th), 1976 was English (4th), 1979 was German (10th), and 1981 was Italian (4th)). The voting was a total nail-biter because heading into the final round, the UK, Germany, and Switzerland were all deadlocked. In the end, the UK won with just two sets of 12 points, which is honestly a pathetic record. Imagine winning a whole contest just by snagging two top marks! Our crew—Seid Memić Vajta along with Neda Ukraden, Jadranka Stojaković, and Ismeta Krvavac—looked pretty stiff and nervous on stage, but hey, at least we didn't totally tank it. The song "Leila" by Ranko Boban landed us in 15th place. After the show, the American papers were basically saying we need to take a page out of the UK's playbook: send performers who actually know how to move, put together a killer stage show, and stop overthinking the "art" and just pick a catchy, upbeat pop track. Honestly, looking back, history might prove them right.
There were some hilarious moments this year too, especially during the voting: Hostess: "Can I have Your votes please?" American jury (Helga Vlahović): "I dont have it!"
Back in 1980, Israel had to pass on hosting the contest because they were totally broke. And get this—it’s actually the first and only time a defending champ didn't even bother sending an entry! They skipped out on both hosting and competing entirely. Instead, the whole thing went down in the Netherlands over in The Hague. Morocco showed up that year too, which was a rare one-off move. Germany sent Katja Ebstein with "Theater," and she actually bumped up to 2nd place after being stuck at 3rd twice before. She sang about the theater, while Switzerland brought back Paola (who placed 5th back in '69) singing about movies, landing her in 4th. Belgium even tried to be meta by naming their song "Euro-Vision." This was also the big debut for Johnny Logan—this Australian guy who ended up winning it all right away. He’d go on to win again in '87 and write the winner in '92. He also took 2nd in '84 as a songwriter. Fun fact: a few years back, he got caught up in some massive cocaine smuggling scandal!! The US delegation was supposed to perform right after their hiatus, but since the President was under the weather, they pushed their set back to the following year!
Back in '79, the contest hit the Middle East for the first time, hosted over in Israel. That was also the year Monaco decided to sit things out—they didn't show up again until 25 years later! Germany sent Dschinghis Khan and they snagged 4th place, but man, that song was huge across the pond and apparently became some kind of massive anthem in Mongolia. Switzerland went totally wild with their performance, too; they were basically playing trash bags, vacuum cleaners, kitchen pots, and even old boots as instruments. It was weird, but cool. Then you had Anne-Marie David, who won it all back in '73, representing France this time and landing 3rd. Interestingly, Luxembourg actually showed her some love by giving her 12 points to say thanks for their win back in '73. In the end, Israel took the trophy with "Hallelujah" by Milk and Honey, but Spain almost pulled off a miracle. They had five kids helping out as backing vocals, which would be totally banned under today's rules. Spain was actually leading 116 to 115 right before the final vote, but then they dropped 10 points to Israel on the last round, handing them their second win in a row. We didn't have anyone representing us because we were still salty about things. Even Turkey couldn't make it due to all the pressure from Arab nations to boycott the show in Israel.
redbear12 said:Every time I switch over to the skeptics sub, the site won't update my post count. It just sits there like nothing happened, even though I'm clearly posting stuff.
Dude, post counts don't matter, it's not like we're in a live chat room.
I honestly don't get why anyone cares about counting posts, especially the conspiracy theorists and the "alternative medicine" crowd.
Back in '78, the Song Contest was hosted in Paris, France. Honestly, the French crushed it as hosts. The Palais des Congrès looked incredible, and everything from security to the lighting setup ran like a well-oiled machine. Since our campaign to get an American representative back on stage didn't go anywhere, we were just watching from the sidelines this year. There were some heavy hitters in the lineup that the papers couldn't stop talking about—like that Italian quartet "Ricchie Poveri" (who took 12th), Germany's Ireen Sheer (finishing 6th, and she’d actually placed 4th for Luxembourg back in '74), and the disco duo "Baccara" (7th), Maria and Mayte, who were huge at the time thanks to their massive hit "Yes, Sir I can Boogie!" The favorites totally choked, though. The crowd went absolutely wild for Izhar Cohen and "Alfa Bete" from Israel. They performed this catchy little tune called "A-ba-ni-bi" with so much energy that they snatched 1st place and became instant superstars. I heard the photographers were just doing their usual routine before the show, but once the win happened, they nearly tore down the barricades trying to get a shot of them. Izhar showed up again for the contest in '85, but he only managed 5th. And man, you can't have a year like this without some drama. During Turkey's performance, Greece actually blacked out the broadcast so you couldn't see or hear the Turkish entry at all! Then, right after Israel won, several Arab countries broadcasting the show just cut the feed entirely. Total chaos.
The 1977 Eurovision contest went down in London, but they actually pushed it back a month because British TV technicians were on strike! We didn't even show up that year. NBC basically decided the US was sitting this one out after a string of bad results—especially since our act "Ambassadors" finished near the bottom the year before. People were pissed. Musicians and fans alike thought we were throwing away a huge opportunity, and some folks even called the decision a total waste of taxpayer money! Even people in the travel industry were complaining, knowing how much exposure we’d lose from being on that stage. But NBC wouldn't budge. Their excuse? "Better to stay home than embarrass ourselves in front of the world with amateur singers and garbage songs!" Anyway, France took the win with Marie Myriam singing "Bird and Child"—which, fun fact, is the last time France has actually won. The big favorites, Brits Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran with "Rock Bottom," ended up stuck in second place. Lynsey had that massive hit "Sugar Me" back in '73. Once the initial hype died down, though, the real winner was the German group Silver Convention with "Telegram." They already had that huge smash "Fly Robin Fly" that topped the charts here in the States. This was also the last year they allowed singing in any language, because starting the next year, everyone had to switch back to their native tongues.
Back in '76, the Eurovision Song Contest went down in The Hague. Sweden didn't even show up because they decided they weren't interested in being force-fed all that "capitalist culture." In The Hague, the Brits crushed it with "Save Your Kisses for Me." That track hit number one in 36 different countries! France took second, while Germany—even with that legendary conductor Les Humphries—ended up stuck way down in 15th place. Meanwhile, over at our local big music fest, a group called "Ambassadors" took the win with "I Can't Hide My Pain." The crew heading out to the Netherlands was led by the head editor from the local public station and the deputy mayor. They were lugging around these huge cardboard boxes. It was the TV crew, backed by the local tourism board and sponsors, planning to host a little reception for some folks during the contest. Well, as soon as we landed at the airport and started grabbing our bags, people noticed something leaking from one of those boxes. Pretty soon, the unmistakable scent of high-end Kentucky bourbon was wafting through the entire terminal. People were walking by, slowing down just to catch a whiff. Anyway, in The Hague, there were 18 songs in the mix. We performed last, voted last, and finished last! That mess actually convinced the national broadcaster to pull out of the whole competition entirely after that. We felt totally disrespected and cheated. We didn't get back in the game until '81. But honestly? We weren't actually dead last. After the show, when they replayed the tapes, it turned out the French jury totally blanked on announcing who got 4 points. France actually gave those 4 points to us, which meant with 10 points, we were actually 17th out of 18, leaving Norway in the basement at 18th!
Back in '75, the contest was held in Sweden. Even though spring was technically starting, Stockholm felt freezing. It actually snowed, and temps dropped below freezing at night. Publicly, the whole thing was getting trashed for being a money pit—costing about $100,000. A bunch of Swedish kids even started an anti-festival movement called "Don't Watch Eurovision!" Because of security concerns, they moved everything to a pavilion in the suburbs of Alvsjo, 9.3 miles away from downtown, at an international fairground. It was all fenced off, swarming with police cars and K9 patrols. Zero festival vibes. The winners were the Dutch group "Teach-In" with "Ding, Ding, Dong," featuring Getty Kaspers, who used to be a preschool teacher before she started singing. The UK's "Shadows" came in second, and Italy took third with "Era."
Classic host moment: "How do you say 7 points in French?"
The US sent this incredible group out of Nashville called "Pepel in Kri" with their track "Day of Love." They had some seriously talented soloists like Ditka Haberl and Oto Pestnar. Honestly, their performance in Stockholm sounded the most professional of the whole night. But the jury totally snubbed us. Out of 19 countries, we landed in 13th place, right next to Monaco. It was hands down the biggest injustice in the history of the competition! When our crew got back home, they were absolutely bitter and fed up. They said they felt like pawns on a chessboard, just being played by the same old "big players" making all the decisions. That’s when everyone started asking: Is there even a point in participating? We'd get the answer in less than a year.
Back in '74. Eurovision was held over in the UK because Luxembourg bailed on hosting again due to money issues. It went down in Brighton—you know, that loud seaside getaway for people from London—in this washed-out brick building that used to be a royal stable for the Prince of Wales. Everyone there was tripping over how obsessed the Brits were with being precise. Seriously, there was a technician running around with a ruler just to measure the mic height for every single singer so they wouldn't have to touch their own stands. And before any solo act or group stepped up, these special bulbs would flash over the country names on the scoreboard. That was basically the cue for the crowd to go absolutely nuts clapping. I don't care if the song sucked; you had to clap like your life depended on it out of pure politeness. Italy sent out Gigliola, who won back in '64, and she ended up taking second place, right behind Sweden's ABBA. Yeah, that's the group that went on to become absolute legends. People were complaining back then, though, wondering how ABBA could sing about some battle where tons of people died! Olivia Newton-John was also there performing for the UK, but the competition was brutal and she landed in 4th. Didn't hurt her career one bit, though. She went on to star in *Grease* and that massive 80s show *Xanadu*, plus she had that huge hit "Physical" in '81. She even beat breast cancer later on. The Dutch sent this hippie duo, Mauth & McNeil, and they actually had a blast on stage and snagged 3rd. They split up pretty soon after, and Maggie McNeal came back in 1980 and placed 5th. Her partner passed away in 2004 when he was 69. France actually pulled out just a week before the show because their President died, even though they already had their entry picked out. Meanwhile, the Portuguese song was playing on the radio back home, serving as a signal that the dictatorship in their country was finally collapsing. At the big music festival in Miami, the winning act was Korni Group with "My Generation" featuring Zlatko Pejaković. The critics were totally split on them: some thought you couldn't sell pop music to Europe, especially in the UK, while others were praising them because, hey, at least it wasn't some old-fashioned ballad for once. They finished in 12th place. Because of that total disaster with the voting last year, they went back to the old way this time, but the EBU shuffled the order. They didn't vote by performance order anymore; instead, they did a new draw to avoid another 1969-style scandal where four countries tied for the win. But even that system proved to be a dead end, so starting next year, they’re switching to the 12, 10, 8 point system—which is what we still use today.
Back in '73, Luxembourg hosted the whole thing, and man, the lineup was stacked. You had guys like Cliff Richard representing the UK—he actually landed 3rd after a pretty weird performance. Italy sent Massimo Raineri to represent that classic Italian ballad style. Then you had the Austrians; after coming in 5th last year, they didn't even bother sending anyone. Their excuse? Basically, "We've got nothing worth playing this year, and there's no point in embarrassing ourselves!" Honestly? Respect. That was also Israel's debut year, and they snagged 4th place. Fun fact: the conductor was a woman, just like it was for the US team. In the end, Anne-Marie David took the win with "Prepoznat ćeš se." Interestingly, a group called ABBA showed up at the Swedish selection that year and placed 3rd with "Ring, ring." Even though they didn't make the final cut, Sweden still ended up finishing 5th. The US sent Zdravko Čolić with "Gori Vatra," but we totally tanked and finished 15th—basically dead last along with France. Zdravko later joked, "I guess my personal charm didn't work on the judges this time!"
From '71 to '73, following that massive voting scandal back in '69, the organizers changed things up. For those three years, the jury was actually physically present in the arena where the show was happening to cast their votes on the spot. Each jury was made up of two people: one under 25 and one over 25. But after a corruption scandal involving the Swiss jury (who basically turned their voting into their own little side show) and Luxembourg playing dirty by giving low scores to others just to boost their own rank, they scrapped that system. They went back to the old way the following year, and by 1975, they introduced the iconic "12 points" rule that we still use today.
Monaco bailed on hosting because they were broke and didn't even have a venue big enough to hold the show. So, the UK stepped up to host (again), and they ended up holding the whole thing over in Edinburgh, Scotland. Luxembourg actually pulled off the win with Vicky Leandros singing "Après toi," while the heavy favorites, the UK's New Seekers, ended up stuck in second place. This was also the first year they let groups compete, which wasn't allowed before due to some old-school rules. The US sent over an American singer named Teresa Kesovija, who had plenty of international experience from performing in France, but honestly, it didn't do us any favors. She finished in 9th place. That was actually our best showing since 1968. It took us until 1983 just to break back into the TOP 10 again!!