discreet Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='charic' timestamp='1425894342' post='2711792'] Am I the only one who can hear the thomas the tank engine tune in the song? [/quote] No! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1425894633' post='2711800'] No! [/quote] Phew! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jltKnDlH_OA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Adams Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Well I think it's a credible and interesting reworking of the Thin Lizzy classic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1425839915' post='2711333'] that said, we could put in the greatest composition the world had ever heard and we still wouldn't win as the rest if Europe hate us! [/quote] This is a myth that gets trotted out every year and its just not true. The UK has won the bloomin' thing 5 times and came second fifteen times. On the "all-time" rankings we're near the top (if not actually at the top) depending on how you measure it. [url="http://www.nulpoints.net/rankings.htm"]http://www.nulpoints.net/rankings.htm[/url] [url="http://www.eurovisionhouse.nl/rankingat.php"]http://www.eurovisionhouse.nl/rankingat.php[/url] [url="http://www.eschome.net/databaseoutput122.php"]http://www.eschome.net/databaseoutput122.php[/url] We don't win because we don't try to. Things like the Norton/Wogan piss take comments are known to the other countries (last year the main coverage made a point of embarassing Norton live on air). If we stopped treating the entire thing like a joke and being really snide about the other entrants we'd be able to win it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1425900783' post='2711892'] We don't win because we don't try to. Things like the Norton/Wogan piss take comments are known to the other countries (last year the main coverage made a point of embarrassing Norton live on air). If we stopped treating the entire thing like a joke and being really snide about the other entrants we'd be able to win it. [/quote] Are you American? That sounds like a typically American attitude... act like you're into something when you're not for competitive reasons. I'm not going to pretend the entire thing is not a joke when it so obviously is! People in other European countries simply have no sense of humour and are clearly incapable of understanding ours... in any case, it's just not that important! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1425901203' post='2711901'] People in other European countries simply have no sense of humour [/quote] What a magnificently enlightened attitude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 The past few decades has been an exercise in "who likes who" i.e. countries vote for other countries that they have ties with. However in the last few years it seems to have turned into a freak show. The reason we have not won for some time is that our entries are just not freakish enough. Where's our Lordy novelty act or our beardy bloke/lady/cross dresser?! Seriously - you really want to win that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='Norris' timestamp='1425904839' post='2711965'] Seriously - you really want to win that? [/quote] Of course. What's the point of entering if you don't want to win? We seem to go out of our way to insult the other entrants and that rudeness reflects very badly on us. But sadly, we don't seem care what others think about us. You'd think being thought of as a bunch of knobs by so many of our neighbours should concern to us. That it doesn't bother us at all is a real indictment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 The Eurovision is a joke both in terms of the songs that are presented as representing current music (they do not) and the political/bias nature of the voting which is completely unrelated to the strength/weaknesses of the songs If as a nation we had any pride, we would not take part. This will not happen however as it easy/dumb tv for the BBC and there is a large and willing and dare I say dumb audience ready to lap this crap up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1425902124' post='2711914'] What a magnificently enlightened attitude. [/quote] [quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1425905663' post='2711983'] You'd think being thought of as a bunch of knobs by so many of our neighbours should concern to us. [/quote] WTF? Isn't this the UKIP Forum?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='gareth' timestamp='1425905714' post='2711985'] The Eurovision is a joke both in terms of the songs that are presented as representing current music (they do not) and the political/bias nature of the voting which is completely unrelated to the strength/weaknesses of the songs. [/quote] Thank you! Though it is of course first-world stuff and not worthy of any comment at all, but hey-ho, I'm bored. Again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I rest my case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='gareth' timestamp='1425905714' post='2711985'] The Eurovision is a joke both in terms of the songs that are presented as representing current music (they do not) and the political/bias nature of the voting which is completely unrelated to the strength/weaknesses of the songs If as a nation we had any pride, we would not take part. This will not happen however as it easy/dumb tv for the BBC and there is a large and willing and dare I say dumb audience ready to lap this crap up. [/quote] In a nutshell. However for all its faults, who doesn't like watching the car crash? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) [quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1425900783' post='2711892'] This is a myth that gets trotted out every year and its just not true. The UK has won the bloomin' thing 5 times and came second fifteen times. On the "all-time" rankings we're near the top (if not actually at the top) depending on how you measure it. [/quote] How have we done since 2000? Here's a direct quote from one of the sites you linked to: '[font=Verdana][size=2]The new millennium saw a sea change in many countries fortunes with more and more entrants from the former Soviet Union leading to a massive issue with neighbour and diaspora voting, most shamelessly in those countries and those of the former Yugoslavia, that threatened the very future of the event. The power base in Eurovision most definitely moved to the East and South of the continent and to a select bunch of countries within that region.'[/size][/font] Edited March 9, 2015 by KevB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle psychosis Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='KevB' timestamp='1425906854' post='2712004'] How have we done since 2000? Here's a direct quote from one of the sites you linked to: '[font=Verdana][size=2]The new millennium saw a sea change in many countries fortunes with more and more entrants from the former Soviet Union leading to a massive issue with neighbour and diaspora voting, most shamelessly in those countries and those of the former Yugoslavia, that threatened the very future of the event. The power base in Eurovision most definitely moved to the East and South of the continent and to a select bunch of countries within that region.'[/size][/font] [/quote] Things might have changed but not because "everyone hates us" which is the point I was responding to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Not 'everyone' but certainly exactly those countries which had become the 'power base' and which had sympathies with middle east countries such as Iraq which we invaded in 2003. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Having read through this thread, I have to say that I feel that Congratulations are in order ... http://youtu.be/us3dQ0nnlHY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I actually love eurovision and look forward to it every year... Not for the music obviously that's crap, but for the insults and general piss taking out of our european neighbours, some of which take it all far too seriously... then again I'm not a very nice person which is probably why I find it amusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HengistPod Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Nowadays, Eurovision is multi-media pure entertainment. Don't expect classy music or performers, because that's not why it's there. So there's very little point getting worked up about a perceived lack of musical quality. It's simple, throwaway, OTT high campness of the kind ultimately aspired to by drag queens up and down the country every weekend. To ignore the gay factor is to be disingenuous, because that's increasingly the core target market. Personally, I think it's great fun for an evening of brainless, worry-free entertainment. I hope Poland send the milkmaids again this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) [quote name='HengistPod' timestamp='1425908743' post='2712042'] ...It's simple, throwaway, OTT high campness of the kind ultimately aspired to by drag queens up and down the country every weekend. To ignore the gay factor is to be disingenuous, because that's increasingly the core target market. [/quote] I think it's an absolute disgrace. The world 'Gay' used to mean 'homosexual' but since it's been appropriated by young people, 'Gay' now means something that is sub-standard, egregious or just downright awful. So in those terms, Eurovision is now 'Gay' in both senses of the word. Everyone involved must be lashed until they drop. Yours, etc. Maj. Gen. Sir Herbert Gusset DSO BAR Retd. Dunkillin Acacia Road Tunbridge Wells Edited March 9, 2015 by discreet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammers Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 This would of been Germany's entry but he backed out as soon as it was announced he'd won the vote for their country. Quite a nice song I think [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLbz2zv87Fk[/media] But yeah, for the most part Eurovision is cr*p. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 (edited) [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1425901203' post='2711901'] People in other European countries simply have no sense of humour and are clearly incapable of understanding ours [/quote] [i]And[/i] somewhat closer to home, it would seem. Back OT, let's examine the idea that we don't win because the nature of the British psyche means we're uncomfortable with the idea of 'winning' as espoused by those ghastly Americans or because the British are universally hated or because Britain invaded Iraq (along with the Australians, the Poles and 36 other countries) or because of anti-Europeanism. These are not [i]explanations[/i]. They are simply pre-existing 'opinions' redeployed in a new context. They do not illuminate the Eurovision question but say much about an individual's subscription to certain popular myths about the confusing, complex world which they inhabit. I would nevertheless concur that the faux-liberal public schoolboy 'managers' at the BBC positively revel in the idea of belittling such popular culture as does not fit their template. They burnish their metropolitan image the better to demonstrate how far they are above 'ordinary people'. They look down their noses at the peppy, brightly attired contestants and presenters; they pass arch, spiteful comments and disguise them as 'irony'. The fact is, the BBC hates anything 'common' unless it can make a patronising, paternalistic documentary about it. So that's Eurovision damned because the generally upbeat populism doesn't fit the BBC's glum world view. That's [i]my[/i] popular myth subscription, anyway... The BBC's superciliousness may certainly contribute to our lack of success for no one likes to be sneered at; but the mainspring of our failure lies elsewhere. It is merely that established and successful British 'traditional' songwriters are few and far between; even the best of today's crop do not bear comparison with those of yesteryear. Domestically-produced British pop music is irredeemably fragmented between faux US R&B and a kaleidoscope of other micro-styles, very few of which might appeal to the Continentals. Even when we attempt by design to craft a 'Euro-Pop' choon the finished product lacks conviction and bears the fatal impress of pastiche. It is all very simple. With a microscopically few exceptions the British pop music market is adrift from world taste and no one outside the UK much cares for our output. That's why we lose. Edited March 9, 2015 by skankdelvar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HengistPod Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1425910626' post='2712062']Everyone involved must be lashed until they drop. [/quote] Sir Herbert - I believe you're just the fellow to dispense said justice to, in particular, the aforementioned Polish milkmaids. If not, perhaps the task could be assigned to your good lady wife, whose name for the moment escapes me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CamdenRob Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1425914906' post='2712130'] It is all very simple. With a microscopically few exceptions the British pop music market is adrift from world taste and no one outside the UK much cares for our output. That's why we lose. [/quote] To be honest if Eurovision is a window into world taste in music I'm quite happy to be adrift... It's not just our entries that are sh*t so are everyone elses... hence the suspicion that something other than pure unadulterated musical prowess may be involved in winning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myke Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 [quote name='Jenny_Innie' timestamp='1425825394' post='2711081'] Who is it who makes these decisions? Can't one of our current pop "big guns" have a go? - Florence, Sam, Ed, Emili, Ed, Paloma etc Why do we send in the non-league team? [/quote] Blue went in the other year. I'd say they were quite a 'big guns' act. They didn't win.. We'd never win, most of Europe hates us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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