It’s Eurovision… not tunnelvision.
Last night, Great Britain (and Northern Ireland, lest we forget - although they’d probably rather wish we did) came bottom and last in the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The third time in eight years.
Although I didn’t need to listen to Josh Dubovie’s Mike Stock/Pete Waterman-penned number That Sounds Good To Me to know it didn’t stand a chance, I did. It’s not so much that’s it a horrible song, with awful, anachronistic production (it is all of those things), but that it is an utterly joyless listening experience. And there’s the rub; for you can be many things as a Eurovision entry - yes, even awful - but if you’re going to be joyless, frankly, what’s the point in showing up? Eurovision is a continental party, which celebrates quirky diversity as well as gentle nationalism.
It’s stating-the-bleeding-obvious to say that success in the Eurovision Song Contest bears absolutely no relation to a nation’s pop music acumen. If so, musical acts from Norway, Russia, Serbia and Finland - the last four winners preceding Germany yesterday - would certainly be darkening the doors of the UK charts as we speak. Nevertheless, the GB folk seem to be under the impression that shoving a below par entry by a successful songwriter/composer should do the job. How’s about a superstellar entry by anyone; name or not?
And it is slightly ironic that in an era of Britain’s Got Talent and Pop Idol, which produce variety acts such as Jedward, Susan Boyle and the dance crew Diversity, who all have - whatever else they may lack - a sense of entertainment that we would do better to tap into for future entries.
