Why Sweden really matters...

Sweden won Eurovision Song Contest 2015 - they have Måns Zelmerlöw and 'Heroes' to thank for that and for seeing off the strong competition from Russia;  Polina Gargarina and 'A Million Voices'. Sweden, even more so than the rest of Scandinavia, is astonishingly good at producing writers, artists and producers of pop - and indeed Eurovision success. The UK on the other hand is not, at least in recent Eurovision terms, but is very good indeed at exporting music more generally.
Sweden has given us in recent years the alt-country sounds of First Aid Kit, with which the Söderberg sisters have made themselves a fixture on both sides of the Atlantic.

That their songs sometimes, indeed rather often, have a melancholic bent leads nicely on to this...  If Sweden did snarly, gloomy --- a garage kind of sound --- but still with two female artists at the helm, what might that sound like?

Much like this...

 

Pale Honey is the work of Tuva Lodmark (vocals and guitar) and Nelly Daltrey (drums) from Göteborg. Their music has divided opinion - some say it is one dimensional - and that is an accusation often aimed at guitar/drum duos. Another is that it is melancholy (see above). Well it often is a bit that way, I suppose, but is that a fault? I'd say not - it has made my day better to be honest - and that is why I'm writing this. I'd wager that, seen live, Pale Honey would be astonishing.

What the Hell. It's what we were born to do.

I hope I don't need to tell you about the three women who were today sentenced to two years in prison for singing a song.  It is true that it was controversial in its lyric and that they chose a rather dangerously high profile location to do it, but even so.

What they did may well have been wrong, illegal indeed under the law that prevails there, and so some punishment due. On the other hand, ask yourself this. Is the outrage, let alone the sentence of two years in prison, a reflection of a system that is not really at peace with its own identity; uncomfortable politically, religiously and culturally?
Maybe it is not for me to comment but here, because you had the nerve to do it, is my slightly irreverent (because that was the whole problem here) take on it:
  
Poor choice of venue maybe, Pussy Riot.  Had you chosen Frome's Cheese & Grain instead we would have bought you drinks and looked after you rather than arranging for your arrest.
Look at it this way:  Did we arrest and then imprison 'The Sex Pistols', back in 1977, for their seditious version of 'God Save The Queen', our National Anthem, because it was arguably in rather poor taste? No.
They had their day as anti-heroes and punk remains a vital part of the curious thing that is British culture. Her Majesty The Queen, very respectfully, waited a further thirty-five years before taking her revenge by appearing with James Bond.

Why Eurovision might actually matter.

So I haven't added much lately?
That is right and I must admit that it is my fault alone, as I've been off to see my family, but we did watch the Eurovision Song contest together. The UK came last again, but even that is amazing given that there was a qualifying round. The Spanish entry (Baila Chi Chi) had a free-pass to the final round that, in retrospect, should hardly surprised any of us! For goodness sake, if Eurovision needs shit music we can surely be relied upon to provide it! It was a Public Holiday weekend here too, which means that today (Monday) is also a day off so, guess what, it is windy, wet and cold. That is quite typical.

The Russian song was co-written by a UK songwriter so maybe the gas will stay on for a little while longer. That said I rather liked this year's Serbian entry - in fact I'd have been delighted had it won - and the acts from Finland (for their sheer devotion to the cause of heavy guitar rock), Greece and the "angels and devils" from Azerbaijan.
The voting is determined by politics but why care too much about that? Voting is politics, at least in any fairly democratic situation, so perhaps it is a good thing whatever the outcome! It is a fine excuse to get a now quite remarkable collection of nations together to a common end and I can see no harm in that. If all the music was totally shit, and it certainly wasn't, that would not actually matter much.
The fact is that twenty years ago it is impossible that Russia would have been a competitor, let alone the winner singing a song in English co-written by an English songwriter, and ten years ago it would have seemed equally implausible that the contest in 2008 would be held in Belgrade with other parts of the former Yugoslavia involved. If the northern and western European nations are losing out on the scoreboard it is surely a very small price to pay.
Don't make excuses - back in the Iron-curtain days there was less incentive and far less competition - most of our Eurovision entries were still shit! Maybe we have no chance of winning now, and it may not survive in its current form, but I'm not at all convinced that the Eurovision Song Competition is any the worse for that. Whoever wins, and whatever the music, the fact that so many nations want to take part is probably far more important than anything.