Re: Eurovision 2013 : Tue Mar 19, 2013 2:11 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

:lol: ....To be fair, and with all due respect, this reply probably exhibits more about your lack of knowledge of music, than any slight on the musical talent of either band.

Where does it put me? I am unmoved by all three.
In the 1980's I realised that I had been feeling a degree of ennui with popular music, a feeling which had started sometime in the 70's ... so much of it was same-old, same-old overproduced pap or was derivative and boring.
Since then I have been very selective indeed and cannot bear to listen to the sort of radio station that covers the kind of contemporary stuff that might expand my "knowledge of music" in and among the rubbish.
Hence, I tend not to be exposed to Elbow and Arctic Monkeys etc. very often ... I am aware of them but they didn't make me sit up and think "Hey, here's something".
Sometimes I do hear something that engages my interest (as an example and to avoid the "there's nothing good nowadays", Amy Winehouse did make me "hmm, might listen to some more of this ...") but it doesn't happen often.

Maybe it's me age and my back catalogue is that big now that maybe I've run out of hard-disk space.

[Wildthing]

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:05 pm  

Dead Man Walking wrote:

I can name many ABBA songs but nothing from Arctic Monkeys or Elbow.

Have to agree. But then I'm a pop music fan (although my taste is rather eclectic). Not a cool thing to admit but heyho.

I do quite like the ECS. About 25% of the songs I do actually like.

As for this year, Cascada must be a good bet, they have (or her, I'm never sure!) had number 1 hits in must European countries and its a decent little pop song.

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:20 pm  

Wildthing wrote:

Have to agree. But then I'm a pop music fan (although my taste is rather eclectic). Not a cool thing to admit but heyho.

I have nothing against people who say they have never heard a song from the likes of Elbow or The Arctic Monkeys, that is perfectly valid because music is a very personal thing. However, it was the dismissal of both bands as failing to register a blip on musical history, which shows the poster up to be rather laughable and also ignorant.

I presume the Elbow he is dismissing is the same one that has won multiple awards for their work??....Or the Arctic Monkeys that he derides are the same band who have the fastest seling debut album in the UK??...

Like I say, music is a personal choice, but to have somebody laud somebody's work through their sales and acheivements, while dismissing other bands, without having a clue what they have actually done, is a tad silly.

[Wildthing]

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Tue Mar 19, 2013 8:39 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

I have nothing against people who say they have never heard a song from the likes of Elbow or The Arctic Monkeys, that is perfectly valid because music is a very personal thing. However, it was the dismissal of both bands as failing to register a blip on musical history, which shows the poster up to be rather laughable and also ignorant.

I presume the Elbow he is dismissing is the same one that has won multiple awards for their work??....Or the Arctic Monkeys that he derides are the same band who have the fastest seling debut album in the UK??...

Like I say, music is a personal choice, but to have somebody laud somebody's work through their sales and acheivements, while dismissing other bands, without having a clue what they have actually done, is a tad silly.

I have heard of both bands, but don't really know any of thier songs (tracks). I wouldn't dismiss them (I don't think DMW actually was to be fair) they have obviously been very successful.
They just aren't my cup of tea, as I know Eurovision isn't ... to a lot of people!!

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:02 am  

Wildthing wrote:

I have heard of both bands, but don't really know any of thier songs (tracks). I wouldn't dismiss them (I don't think DMW actually was to be fair) they have obviously been very successful.
They just aren't my cup of tea,...

A bit of nail hitting the head there, really. To find out about the Arctic Monkeys, or Elbow, you can only do it by giving them a decent listen. To give them a listen, you have to be interested. You're clearly not, and there is nowt wrong with that, everyone does their own thing. The only point I'd make is that once you stop looking out for music and stop really listening, it's incorrect to say that either band are "not your cup of tea", because they might very well be your best ever teapot. You'll just never know.

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Wed Mar 20, 2013 10:07 am  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

:lol: ....To be fair, and with all due respect, this reply probably exhibits more about your lack of knowledge of music, than any slight on the musical talent of either band.

Quite the opposite in fact and I certainly wasn't having a pop at either band in the slightest - just having an opinion.

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Wed Mar 20, 2013 12:20 pm  

Back to the Eurotwaddle topic..........
I heard Bonny Tyler twice yesterday ....once on Radio 2 and then she appeared on the One Show.
Her song is not that bad, better than the Hump's song from last time I think.
It won't win of course and I would love for us to enter a song that would meet FA's criteria of a great song, because at the moment I don't think that anything we had to offer would circumnavigate the loathing that we seem to attract from our fellow Europeans.

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Wed Mar 20, 2013 12:55 pm  

Stand-Offish wrote:

Back to the Eurotwaddle topic..........
I heard Bonny Tyler twice yesterday ....once on Radio 2 and then she appeared on the One Show.
Her song is not that bad, better than the Hump's song from last time I think.
It won't win of course and I would love for us to enter a song that would meet FA's criteria of a great song, because at the moment I don't think that anything we had to offer would circumnavigate the loathing that we seem to attract from our fellow Europeans.

Bonnie still has that raspy voice too. I think the winner will be from one of the former Eastern European countries again and some of the women reading the results from last year were stunners.....I may have to go to Slovenia, Ukraine and a few more nations out there

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Wed Mar 20, 2013 1:10 pm  

Stand-Offish wrote: Back to the Eurotwaddle topic.......... I heard Bonny Tyler twice yesterday ....once on Radio 2 and then she appeared on the One Show. Her song is not that bad, better than the Hump's song from last time I think. Yes. "Not that bad" is about as good as it gets though! Stand-Offish wrote: It won't win of course and I would love for us to enter a song that would meet FA's criteria of a great song, because at the moment I don't think that anything we had to offer would circumnavigate the loathing that we seem to attract from our fellow Europeans. But honestly, that's simply not true. really it isn't. Look, if we ever enter a good song but it finishes last then I'll concede you have a point but that just isn't borne out by events. The last time we had a fair crack at it was 2009 when Jade Ewen sang "It's My Time", which we'd got Lloyd-Webber and Diane-friggin-Warren ('Unbreak My Heart', 'How Do I Live', 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now' etc) to write yet still they came up with a song that was palpably mediocre, and just never came within coo-ee of the heights that those musical geniuses have consistently managed. Why that was, I have no clue. BUT - and here's the point - it was a steady effort, if not spectacular, YET FINISHED FIFTH. If some concept of loathing the UK was abroad, then that couldn't happen, could it? We got 173 points, ffs! No, the reason in recent years we have finished often near the bottom of the pile is, as Occam would agree, because the entries have been dire. The year after Jade Ewen for example we came up with a piece of utter bilge which was lucky to finish last, it was that bad, it 'peaked' at 179 in the UK charts and that was only because Pete Waterman downloaded a copy. Any loathing it attracted from other people in Europe can't have been any worse than mine! If the identity of the UK is a factor in the voting, maybe that's because so universally admired is UK music across Europe that when our eagerly anticipated entry turns out to be disappointing dross, the disappointment is reflected in the votes? They and their composers and singers largely want to be English! Have a look at any of the European charts - including the European 100 - and as usual they are dominated by English acts http://top40-charts.com/chart.php?cid=31 Indeed most of the Eurovision entries are English songs. Do these forriners suspend their loathing of us for record buying purposes? (And don't point out that several of those chart acts are US - in any Loathing Contest, they must surely be more loathed than us!)

Stand-Offish wrote: Back to the Eurotwaddle topic.......... I heard Bonny Tyler twice yesterday ....once on Radio 2 and then she appeared on the One Show. Her song is not that bad, better than the Hump's song from last time I think. Yes. "Not that bad" is about as good as it gets though! Stand-Offish wrote: It won't win of course and I would love for us to enter a song that would meet FA's criteria of a great song, because at the moment I don't think that anything we had to offer would circumnavigate the loathing that we seem to attract from our fellow Europeans. But honestly, that's simply not true. really it isn't. Look, if we ever enter a good song but it finishes last then I'll concede you have a point but that just isn't borne out by events. The last time we had a fair crack at it was 2009 when Jade Ewen sang "It's My Time", which we'd got Lloyd-Webber and Diane-friggin-Warren ('Unbreak My Heart', 'How Do I Live', 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now' etc) to write yet still they came up with a song that was palpably mediocre, and just never came within coo-ee of the heights that those musical geniuses have consistently managed. Why that was, I have no clue. BUT - and here's the point - it was a steady effort, if not spectacular, YET FINISHED FIFTH. If some concept of loathing the UK was abroad, then that couldn't happen, could it? We got 173 points, ffs! No, the reason in recent years we have finished often near the bottom of the pile is, as Occam would agree, because the entries have been dire. The year after Jade Ewen for example we came up with a piece of utter bilge which was lucky to finish last, it was that bad, it 'peaked' at 179 in the UK charts and that was only because Pete Waterman downloaded a copy. Any loathing it attracted from other people in Europe can't have been any worse than mine! If the identity of the UK is a factor in the voting, maybe that's because so universally admired is UK music across Europe that when our eagerly anticipated entry turns out to be disappointing dross, the disappointment is reflected in the votes? They and their composers and singers largely want to be English! Have a look at any of the European charts - including the European 100 - and as usual they are dominated by English acts http://top40-charts.com/chart.php?cid=31 Indeed most of the Eurovision entries are English songs. Do these forriners suspend their loathing of us for record buying purposes? (And don't point out that several of those chart acts are US - in any Loathing Contest, they must surely be more loathed than us!)

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Mon May 13, 2013 2:14 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark some time ago wrote:

...

The bookies have Denmark as a clear favourite but the problem this year is that even that is not a good song. It is very much formula Eurocrap. So it is vulnerable as it won't pick up many floating voters.

My main bet, since you ask, is on Norway (Margaret Berger- I Feed You My Love). As long as it finishes in the first four I'll make a profit. It's not great, but it's the sort of song with enough about it that it would make the top 5 in the UK chart if released by a known UK artist, and I reckon that the slow pace and statuesque performance will appeal to enough Eastern European countries to clinch a good result.

My half-size bet is on Denmark as the blatant formula is a clever one - from Titanic-esque flute opening to blokes with big drums (which seems to go down well in many places)

If you want my sneaky outsider then you could do worse take Betfred's 25/1 on Azerbaijan, who seem to get near the top 4 every year whatever they do, and have a tuneful young fella on the case.

If you just have too much money and want to get rid of some, risk-free, bet on us.

As the contest approaches, the bookies have firmed up Denmark as the clear favourite, 6/4 is now as good as you'll get.

Norway has been backed down to 3rd favourite - but you can still get 8/1

Azerbaijan is 5th favourite but you can still get 20/1

The "bolter" is Ukraine, with a weird "anthem meets house" song by a statuesque young lass, with a memorable if very annoying pizzicato accompaniment throughout and some background rapping. Weird. Second favourite now, between 3/1 and 4/1 - if you want to make your mind up then type "Zlata Ognevich - Gravity - Eurovision 2013 Ukraine" into a popular search engine.

I've seen Bonnie performing her effort on Graham Norton. Cringe-TV, awful. Your-drunken-mum-at-a-wedding stylee. IMHO of course - you may have loved it, Graham's audience seemed to. But it also emerged that the song was selected when an un-named BBC executive was for some reason provided an advance copy of Tyler's new album, heard the song, and chose it for us. Some selection process, eh?.