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Lordi and Eurovision
May. 23rd, 2006 10:17 amI think that Lordi are the perfect Eurovision act.
Point One: They have achieved the ultimate aim of any Eurovision act in that they appear to be a hollow pastiche of their chosen genre and sound acceptable without actually being innovative. Innovation being a dirty word in Eurovision circles.
Point Two: In order to ensure Eurovision success, you really need to ensure that you have a crowd and TV audience pleasing 'schtick': be it removable skirts, german cowboys, being Irish (which appears to have been enough to win in the past) or having drums to bang.
In this sense Lordi hit on the ultimate gimmick, being a pseudo-metal monster rock band competing in sugar-pop competition. Bravo!
Point Three: In the few countries where there is actually a democratic vote, rather than a selection by committee* i think that Lordi attracted a protest vote on a large scale. "Kids Do you Hate Eurovision? The Vote Lordi for a Laugh"
*(where the vote is inevitably for your neighbouring countries e.g. Ukraine to Russia 'we will give you 12 points but please don't cut off our gas again...')
Once again Terry Wogan is the only reason to watch the show as his banter gets better every year, and better through the night.
I just wish that I had put teletext 888 on earlier in the evening. I had not realised that it provides an English translation of the foreign language songs, and there is some humour to be derived from watching the subtitle writers trying to catch up with Terence's rambling.(Apparently the red button on a digibox performs this function too.)
Point One: They have achieved the ultimate aim of any Eurovision act in that they appear to be a hollow pastiche of their chosen genre and sound acceptable without actually being innovative. Innovation being a dirty word in Eurovision circles.
Point Two: In order to ensure Eurovision success, you really need to ensure that you have a crowd and TV audience pleasing 'schtick': be it removable skirts, german cowboys, being Irish (which appears to have been enough to win in the past) or having drums to bang.
In this sense Lordi hit on the ultimate gimmick, being a pseudo-metal monster rock band competing in sugar-pop competition. Bravo!
Point Three: In the few countries where there is actually a democratic vote, rather than a selection by committee* i think that Lordi attracted a protest vote on a large scale. "Kids Do you Hate Eurovision? The Vote Lordi for a Laugh"
*(where the vote is inevitably for your neighbouring countries e.g. Ukraine to Russia 'we will give you 12 points but please don't cut off our gas again...')
Once again Terry Wogan is the only reason to watch the show as his banter gets better every year, and better through the night.
I just wish that I had put teletext 888 on earlier in the evening. I had not realised that it provides an English translation of the foreign language songs, and there is some humour to be derived from watching the subtitle writers trying to catch up with Terence's rambling.(Apparently the red button on a digibox performs this function too.)
