Eurovision Rubbish 2007

The title is actually a little harsh because it actually only refers to the six shortlisted UK entrants revealed publicly today.

The competition itself, while hardly a trend-setter in the wider world, goes from strength to strength and a record forty-two nations have registered to take part in 2007 (the 52nd time the Eurovision Song Contest has been staged) and twenty-four of them will contest the final in Helsinki's Hartwall Areena, more usually used for ice-hockey, on 12 May 2007. The Eurovision Song Contest can throw up the odd surprise, as Lordi proved in 2006, but I'd rather bet on any entry than those shortlisted as the UK hopefuls.

My accusation is that they are the flotsam and jetsam of the UK pop world.
The artists themselves are however only part of the problem because the song choices are almost unimaginably dire. It is, perhaps not coincidentally, the same kind of music that the French in particular still think we like - as I discovered when on holiday recently. We generally (but certainly not this blogger) think that French music has never had anything to offer and in return they unsurprisingly retaliated by playing the likes of Boney M's Rasputin.

At least as far as Eurovision entries are concerned this is actually a good thing because, to be quite honest, the would-be UK entries are firmly rooted in late 1970s and early 1980s music. That would possibly be fine if only they had anything new or truly original about them and had not simply focussed on all the most dated aspects of that time, which was however the era when the UK last enjoyed Eurovision success. Even the forthcoming TV voting show - that will determine which of the six will go forward to Helsinki (assuming the UK makes through to the final twenty-four as there is now a pre-contest) - carries the theme; it is called 'Making Your Mind Up', the title of the the song by UK act Bucks Fizz, that won the contest in 1981.

In 2003 the UK entry Jemini, with the song Cry Baby, plumbed the depths and came last out of the twenty-six entrants with, you guessed it, nul points. It seems that the lesson has not been heeded! My verdict is that we will get what we deserve in 2007 and nul points would actually be quite a good result.