The Eurovision Memories Game

[Malagant]

This is a simple game where you add some Eurovision (ESC) memories you have of an entry, a singer, a performance.

It does not have to be connected to the previous entry in the thread, just something that caught your attention during ESC (either good, bad, funny, interesting, intriguing, something you love, something you did not like etc).

No political stuff or ranting (anti-Israel/Russia etc, that will be removed through Moderation) but if you did not like a particular ESC-entry one year from f.ex. Israel/Russia you can of course include that, as long as it has nothing to do with political/real world situation.

You can mention some favourite songs, or entries that you remember particularly well, and write as much or little as you want. If you want to include a Youtube link for the entry you are talking about, include the link only, not the video itself!

This is meant to be a fun supplement to the FSC-based games here in the FSC Social/Games subforum.

Have fun!

 

[Malagant]

Okies, I can begin.

There have been many great ESC-entries over the years but my favourite Eurovision (ESC)-entry of all time is Luxembourg 1972, Vicky Leandros who won the contest with "Apres Toi"

Vicky Leandros - Apres Toi

I have always loved French ballads and this is a wonderful example of the genre in ESC. The song became very popular in Europe at the time and Vicky Leandros, Greek of origin, had a long career, especially in Germany where she became almost an icon.

I have many other ESC-favourites also, of course, but can talk about some of them at a later time

 

[Zorjan]

I got a Eurovision compilation CD as a kid.
Though there were obviously a lot of good songs, I particularly found one song interesting, and eventually ended up loving it:
In the beginning I found "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" by France Gall a bit noisy, but now it's probably my favorite ESC-winner ever

 

[HarryUK]

Okay so I'm going to be serious for a change

Watching Conchita win for me is a huge memory for me - watching a queer act win whilst I was coming to terms with my sexuality as a teen/young adult was absolutely heart warming. I had tears rolling down my face, and I remember listening to her post-victory speech and feeling it in my soul - she did THAT for OUR community. It will always stick with me and I will forever be grateful to Conchita and to Austria for giving her that platform.

 

[Judas]

Ooh good old days

My earliest memory is from Eurovision 2004 when I was only 9. It holds a special place in my heart because it was hosted in Istanbul, which made the whole thing more special for my parents. They were already watching it yearly, but I never paid extra attention. That year, however, the final show coincided with a significant event in our lives - we were moving to a new city the next day. That night, as we sat on our nearly empty house as all our stuff was packed and ready to move, the only things left were our small 35" TV and the anticipation of the move. It was a surreal and lonely feeling when you think about the fact that you are about to leave the city you grew up in behind, but watching Eurovision together brought warmth and joy back into our home. It was a memorable evening to remind us that even in times of change, we could find comfort and happiness in each other's company and Eurovision was a big part of it.

 

[Malagant]

Talking Eurovision 2004, Ukraine Ruslana's winner "Wild Dances" is perhaps the biggest WOW-moment I can recall in ESC when it comes to show/performance and impact! It blew me away, those primal rhythms and beats, the captivating costumes and melody, and, of course, the beautiful woman herself! My whole family loved it - and it was my nr 1 favourite with Zeljko Joksimovic's "Lane moje", another wonderful entry, my second favourite. Great memories!

 

[anabanana2000]

After fliting in & out of ESC throughout most of the 00's and really having a bit of a love-hate relationship with the contest, more so due to the pure crap Ireland was sending at the time, I tuned in in 2010 to see my childhood idol Niamh Kavanagh return, but to my surprise it was Harel Skaat's entry for Israel with beautiful Milim that touched me so much I had tears running down my face and ultimately it was that song that sparked my new love and total obsession for the contest again!

 

[Malagant]

Let's talk ESC 2009.

Possibly the best ESC-year in the past few decades in my opinion. So many great songs and I had 3 songs which I loved (my 12-pointer songs) and I would have been happy with either as the winner:

Norway
Azerbaijan
Iceland

I also was very fond of

Estonia
Albania
Sweden

Also nice

Malta
Greece
Turkey

My favourite ESC-songs ever from Azerbaijan, Iceland, Estonia and Albania. And close to favourite from my homeland Norway.

The surprising thing for me, since there were so many great songs in ESC 2009 that were to my taste, was that Norway became the runaway-winner. I thought it would be a tight battle between several songs.

I remember that ESC-year partly because of the cherished Norwegian victory, but almost just as much for the high standard of entries that year. It was a Golden ESC-year for sure!

 

[Codeword Iroquois]

My introduction to the contest came in 2021; I'd been in a public speaking class at my high school and the teacher decided to give us a break and have us watch the recap of the first semi that year; I remember being absolutely floored by Shum; it was so unlike anything I'd ever heard but it clicked almost perfectly for me.

 

[Zorjan]

2009 was an amazing year, among my favorites in the 00s.
It was the first year I went all in watching NFs. And I was hooked from the very beginning when Kejsi Tola won in Albania!
"Carry Me in Your Dreams" is probably my favorite Albanian entry, and Albania is usually in my top 3.
Estonia and Slovakia sent absolutely beautiful entries too.
Back then I really enjoyed Norway, Sweden and Bulgaria, all in my top 10, but I'm not so keen anymore.
Though I did like the Czech entry too, it got so annoying cause one of my class mates loved it and played it constantly in school. On repeat!

 

[Malagant]

1995 was another Golden ESC-year in my opinion.

There were 4 songs I loved:

Norway
Croatia
Sweden
Israel

All 4 were 12-pointer-songs for me but if I had to choose 1 of them it's Croatia with 'Nostalgija", the best Croatian ESC-song ever in my opinion

However, Norway's Secret Garden (which won) has endeared itself to me and become one of my favourite Norwegian music projects

In addition to the 4 above, I also liked a lot

Spain
France
Slovenia

A great ESC-year indeed!

 

[Malagant]

Well, I can keep adding to this theme to keep it alive.

Another ESC-year I wish to share some reflections of.

Namely, ESC 2001 from Denmark.

I remember this ESC-year well because I had at least 5 songs I thought were better than the winner from Estonia and that made the end result extremely disappointing for me.

France (gorgeous ballad, my winner! and among the best French ESC-entries ever)
Greece (excellent song which also would have been a great winner)
Slovenia (one of the best Slovenian entries ever)
Sweden (great ABBA schlager-type song)
Spain (great latino-song)

I could not quite believe that Estonia beat all these great entries. Even the Danish entry which came 2nd and which I had around 10th on my personal list was better than the ok but pretty average imo disco-song winner from Estonia. But Europe voted for Estonia so taste differs as always.

As an add-on, France sent another wonderful ballad in ESC 2002 and that one did not win either (came 5th). Underrated imo but then again I love such French ballads

 

[Rxllinson]

I first started watching Eurovision in my late teens because of Blue reuniting to represent the UK in 2011. I watched the grand final with my family and had a great night hearing the beautiful music from across Europe. I then bought the CD and also the DVD and remember the excitement of realizing there were more songs to listen to and semi finals for me to enjoy! From then, I was instantly hooked and I haven't missed a semi final or grand final since. Over time I followed the contest more closely and each year I enjoy hearing the songs as they are announced in the build up to Eurovision week! One of the greatest memories of my life will be attending both semi finals live in Liverpool in 2023! There are many songs and moments that are memories I will treasure, but rather than list them all, I thought I would share with you my personal favourites from each of the editions since I fell in love with Eurovision in 2011:

2011 - Georgia - Eldrine - One More Day
2012 - Switzerland - Sinplus - Unbreakable
2013 - Norway - Margaret Berger - I Feed You My Love
2014 - Finland - Softengine - Something Better
2015 - Romania - Voltaj - De La Capat / All Over Again
2016 - Cyprus - Minus One - Alter Ego
2017 - The Netherlands - OG3NE - Lights and Shadows
2018 - FYR Macedonia - Eye Cue - Lost and Found (my all time favourite!). Special Mention too for Lithuania - Ieva Zasimauskaite - When We're Old, this song will always mean so much to me, it was the first time I cried watching Eurovision (although not the last time!) as my grandad was dying from cancer, we lost him a few weeks later. As sad as that year was, 2018 was the most special edition of Eurovision for me.
2019 - Iceland - Hatari - Hatrid Mun Sigra
2020 - Switzerland - Gjon's Tears - Repondez-moi
2021 - Switzerland - Gjon's Tears - Tout l'Univers
2022 - Czech Republic - We Are Domi - Lights Off
2023 - Slovenia - Joker Out - Carpe Diem
2024 - France - Slimane - Mon Amour

 

[Zorjan]

Not strictly ESC, but close... JESC-memory:

I remember JESC in Copenhagen in 2003 when the Croatian Dino Jelusić (now known as Jelusick) won. It was such a charming boy in his red jacket that made the hearts of all girls in school melt. And his song "Ti Si Moja Prva Ljubav" was amazing too
I was still on Team UK though, and the song by Tom Morley is still among my favorite JESC-songs (I haven't watched the contest for about 15 years though).
There was a girl on the neighboring school that looked exactly like Anne Gadegaard, and she was called Anne too and about the same age, so I was absolutely certain that she was the one representing Denmark. Sadly I turned out to be wrong...

 

[Rxllinson]

Have been looking back at my rankings of previous Eurovision's and listening to some songs I ranked highly that didn't even qualify from their semi finals. Thought I would share some that looking back I simply can't believe didn't make the grand final that year! (Of course there are many many more I could include, such as Eye Cue but I'll leave that one out as I think it's fairly obvious I loved that entry!)

Belarus 2012
Portugal 2015 (btw it's criminal this one didn't get through!)
Denmark 2016
Switzerland 2017
Iceland 2023

Do you guys have any DNQ's that you still can't understand how on earth they didn't go through to the final?

 

[Adi025]

@Rxllinson I have many songs who I still can't understand the choice of Europe like San Marino 2008, Slovakia 2010, Bulgaria 2011, Slovenia 2012, Montenegro 2013, Israel 2014...

 

[Rxllinson]

Bulgaria 2011, Slovenia 2012, Montenegro 2013, Israel 2014

Agreed - these were fantastic entries, especially Bulgaria and Israel!