Protests
Italy boycotted the 1981 Eurovision Song contest, saying that it was too
old fashioned, while the following year France ducked out saying that
the cost was too great for such mediocre results.
Meaningful lyrics
Some of the most popular entries to the Eurovision Song contest have
including wonderful titles like, 'Boom Bang-aBang' (UK, 1969), 'A-Ba-Ni-Ba'
(Israel, 1978), 'Bana Bana' (Turkey, 1989) and 'Bourn Badaborun'
(Monaco, 1967).
Lucky Old Norway
In the 1978 competition, Norway became the first country to not receive
a single vote for their entry, 'Mil Etter Mil' (Mile after Mile).
Inspired words
1983 Turkish Eurovision entry, 'Opera' consisted entirely of the word
'Opera' being repeated over and over while Spain's cleverly titled, 'La
La La' contained no fewer than 138 la's.
Jury tampering
In the 1968 event Britain complained that Spain had not voted for their
entry (Cliff Richard's 'Congratulations') to make it lose. In 1966
Scandinavians Sweden & Norway, who finished second & third respectively
were accused of 'teaming up' to help each other.
Social Commentary
Norway entered the 1980 competition with a song written about the
construction of a hydro-electric power station. Finland, not to be
outdone by their Scandanavian neighbours scored nul points in the 1982
competition with a song protesting about the building of a nuclear power
station.
Youngsters win votes
The youngest ever winner of the Eurovision Song contest was 13 year old
Sandra Kin from Belgium in 1986. A natural result of this was that
contestants started to get younger until a furore occured in 1989 with
France's 11 year old entry and Israel's 12 year old. |
