Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 3:36 pm  

Haven't put this in the Music section as, well, it isn't really, but was sort of looking forward to seeing what Bonnie Tyler would come up with as our entry for the next contest. May be knocking on a bit but hasn't lost her voice.

Sadly, as you can verify by judicious pasting of the phrase "Bonnie Tyler - Believe In Me (Live in Germany 2013) - UK Eurovision 2013" into a popular video site, the news is not good. A really poor, dirge-like, formula verse-and chorus mass-produced pap effort, without even a decent finish, and no hook worthy of the name, nothing novel, no excitement, it's a bit of a disaster, and a right no-hoper.

Who's in charge of this perennial fiasco now for us? I mean, Engelbert last year was cringeworthy and at least she'll probably finish a few places higher, but surely they could come up with a thousand better prospects than this "song". The favourite at the moment is the Denmark entry "Only Teardrops", by Denmark's answer to Janet Devlin, which isn't great, but at least has some urgency about it, and it would sound a whole lot better and be a shorter priced favourite if Tyler was given the opportunity to get her sturdy tonsils round it.

The point is, though, if that's all there is to beat, surely a country which leads world music should easily be able to piiss this contest, it's not as if we'd even need Adele or Muse to beat the might of other nations, is it?

Bloody irritating.

[Wildthing]

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 3:39 pm  

Bonnie Tyler

Didn't we learn anything from last year?

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:06 pm  

I always wondered why decent British acts don't have a go at it.

You get the chance to show how good you are to tens of millions around Europe in one go.

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:33 pm  

Guys, guys ... Eurovision is the musical equivalent of Jeux sans Frontieres.

Winning it is not a prize, it merely labels the winning country as a wannabe cultural desert.
Why anyone would want to win is is mystery to me.

[Durham Giant]

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:02 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

Guys, guys ... Eurovision is the musical equivalent of Jeux sans Frontieres.

Winning it is not a prize, it merely labels the winning country as a wannabe cultural desert.
Why anyone would want to win is is mystery to me.

ABBA ( cough).

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:15 pm  

Durham Giant wrote:

ABBA ( cough).

OK, Abba, I grant you, made a mint.
But what else has Eurovision ever done for us?

BTW ... my comment about the cultural desert still stands.

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:57 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

Durham Giant wrote:

ABBA ( cough).

OK, Abba, I grant you, made a mint.
But what else has Eurovision ever done for us?

BTW ... my comment about the cultural desert still stands.

"Power to the boys that play rock 'n' roll, and make my life so sweeeeeet..."

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 5:59 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

Guys, guys ... Eurovision is the musical equivalent of Jeux sans Frontieres.

Winning it is not a prize, it merely labels the winning country as a wannabe cultural desert.

Disagree entirely. It's the majority of the songs that do that.

There is no reason why there couldn't be a contest once where there was a significant number of songs from leading /bang-up-to-the-minute acts from a significant number of countries, which would instantly change the whole ethos and status of the competition. Indeed as would the participation of even one decent turn. It would go hand in hand with a different demographic tuning in to watch. If for just a top of my head example, we had put up Kaiser Chiefs, in the year they made their breakthrough, with, say, I Predict A Riot, it would have walked the contest, attracted a whole new young audience and forced other countries to do something completely different to the Europap or novelty stuff. Which is only churned out because that's how it's always been.

There's no reason it has to stay that way.

El Barbudo wrote:

Why anyone would want to win is is mystery to me.

Well, Abba would be one case in point, they were a brilliant group, with a brilliant song, and used it as a showcase which gave them instant fame plus millions, not that that's the be-all and end-all but you get the point. . This is what you want, new, hungry and brilliant musicians being given the gig and let them do what they want with it. The present format is an over-expensive, dire flop, even the organisers surely know it, but I don't see why a simple change in what acts are entered couldn't change the whole thing round overnight.

If I went to see a concert in Hyde Park in 2012 and all the acts were rubbish, I don't really see what relevance that has to what they could make of the 2013 concert. It's a blank page.

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:13 pm  

Meanwhile real British talent writes for a country that takes it seriously...

Meanwhile real British talent writes for a country that takes it seriously...

[Durham Giant]

Re: Eurovision 2013 : Thu Mar 07, 2013 10:04 pm  

Big Graeme wrote: Meanwhile real British talent writes for a country that takes it seriously... almost as good a guitarist as Randy Rhoads

Big Graeme wrote: Meanwhile real British talent writes for a country that takes it seriously... almost as good a guitarist as Randy Rhoads