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1990.written.by.noah
Well, I got a tape
of ESC 1990 recently and I went crazy about
it. I have been wanting to hear those songs
for a long time, specifically ex-Yugoslavia's Hajde
da ludujemo. So, when I was home during
the school break, I watched the tape for at least
10 times and I reviewed it.
1. Spain: It
was very unfortunate to have that mishap so early
in the night. I laughed my ass off (as did
my parents also) while watching the confused
audience and the even-more-confused conductor who
was kind of getting frustrated judging by the
expressions on his face. Nevertheless, the
girls did a superb job and the song opened the
90's in a fabulous way.
2. Greece: This
is one of the few Greek entries I do not fancy
that much. I only like the instrumental
introduction to the song and the chorus a little
bit. It's not my type of Greek music (Anixiatika,
Pia prosefchi) so I do not like it a whole
lot. They could have chosen a singer other than
that tired-looking fashion disaster. (Now, don't
all performers in Zagreb fit this
description?) And what is with the yelling
at the end? Totally unnecessary!
3. Belgium:
I like this very much. It sounds very refreshing
and the language is so musical. What I do
not understand is why did they all need those
bands behind them? I mean, we know the
orchestra was playing the music accompanied by
backing tracks. Oh, one more thing: can someone
tell me what Macedomienne stands for?
4. Turkey:
This sounds like a child's game. I can't really
tell it's Turkish unless I see the beginning
subtitle which says so. And again: wrong
singer! He is just too old for these type
of songs. Nonetheless, the melody is catchy, even
though it is not my idea of Turkish music.
And that backing singer deserved a lot more
exposure to camera and a closer place to it, as
she sang throughout the song pretty loudly.
5. The
Netherlands: The singer has to be the best,
or at least the classiest dressed person on the
night. The song verses lack the power of the
chorus, which is very easy to listen to. That is
the only part of the song I really liked.
The verses just sound terrible sung in Dutch (no
offense, my friends :) ).
6. Luxembourg:
Like Belgium, I really liked this song from the
start, as it begins very melodically. The song is
one of my faves of the night. She could
have moved a little bit more. Anyways, it was
very nice seeing that girl play the keyboard.
7. United
Kingdom: Oh, when I heard the beginning
lyrics, I was choking from laughter. It was
so funny. Such cheesy lyrics in a UK song are
unbelievable. I don't know what it was (maybe the
accent), but her pronounciations sounded awful: playnet
etc. Oh, and the hair! The blond
backing vocal on her right (viewers'
left) can sing much better. Even my parents
thought so. A catchy melody, but a rather
bad song overall. The dance routine was a
bit unimaginative (well, at least they had one,
you're probably thinking.)
8. Iceland:
A typical 90's power-rock song. Sounds a bit
ex-Yugoslavish, catchy, happy, yada, yada,
yada. I don't place it high on my list. And
I hate how that guy moves his lips! So annoying!
9. Norway:
I H-A-T-E the beginning. It is totally unfitting
to the rest of the song. I like the faster part
of the song, but nothing special at all. And what
the fuck is with those men's pants and
mini-jackets? They look gruesome. But, then
again, 1998's fashion looks obsolete to us by now
probably. And, by the way, I like when in
the end, the guy sings together with his backing
vocals, but in a different key. Nice.
10. Israel: Beginning:
bad. Middle: bad. Ending:
bad. Come on now, is this really a song or a
joke from Israel? It certainly is funny.
Even the Hebrew sounds bad in this song. Or is
that the performer who really pronounced it
strangely? And somebody tell me why she felt the
need to sit down?
11. Denmark:
Close your legs like a real lady! This is
the first thing my mother noticed. That and
the bad, bad hair. And addition to these, I
noticed she can't move. About the song:
boring but at least trying to sound
upbeat. She basically looked like a small
kid on TV.
12.
Switzerland: This I like! I hadn't heard
it since 1990 and frankly I had forgotten it, so
when I heard it again it definitely stole my
heart. It replaces Bandido as my
favorite of 1990. The song is very melodic,
very ballady, yet very catchy. I love the
violin.
13. Germany:
Again, a catchy melody, but nothing special. I
wonder if Germany sent Daniel, the Slovene guy,
on purpose. Given that Ralph was involved with
the song, I would say yes. I am glad Daniel
did not wear that awful panst-mini-jacket combo.
14. France:
This is my kind of song. Ethnic, melodic and in
addition happy, cheery, and upbeat. The
drums are a big plus too. My third favorite of
the night. I do not like the two dancers behind
the singer and I do not like her dress. She did
not fit in at all. My favorite part of the song
is the drum instrumental.
15.
ex-Yugoslavia: Tajci owned the set! She
had a great voice, which soundedespecially cute
when she ocasionally laughed into the microphone.
This is my 4th favorite of the night, and it's
among my top 50 of all time. This could have
easily won and I was surprised by the moderate
placing. The only thing I dislike about the
performance is Tajci's hand gestures that made no
sense at all.
16. Portugal:
Just another ordinary song in a sea of ordinary
songs. But I like the "...ha sempre
alguem..." part of the song. That's most of
the song, ain't it? :) Again, the hair is
out-of-this-worldly. And the outfit? Musical
notes? Reminds me of that heart Lydia held
between her na-nas in Jerusalem: both are cheap
accessories.
17. Ireland:
Boring bullshit! And to know this shit
almost won! Oh, goodness! The Irish just bore me
to death with their dreadful, fart
ballads. They just make me want to use the
FF button on my VCR. This is the only time I
used it while watching ESC 1990. There, now you
know how I feel about these kind of songs.
18. Sweden: A
whole lot of "ah's." A nice, soft
melody, but why were there four male vocals? And
ugly male vocals, come to think of it. "Som
en vind..." is the part of the song I like,
but I do not dislike the rest of it either.
19. Italy:
What an awful winner. 5th or 6th place would have
been better suited. If this hadn't won, we
wouldn't have had the awful ESC 1991, which is
many people's least favorite contest. The
song is good and easy to listen to, but I
just don't think it should have won in
1990. The part of the song I like the most
is when the chorus starts. "E una canzon'
italiana" is just a very good part of the
song.
20. Austria: Oh,
come on! They did not really think they'd be able
to persuade us into believing that this song was
a symphony. The intro was totally unnecessary
given that the song came out to be an upbeat
number. If it were a slow orchestral ballad
throughout the three minutes, it would have made
sense. What I like about the performance is when
in the beginning the vocals walk away from the
lead singer one after another. I loved that.
21. Cyprus: Just as Horis skopo was
a disappointing Greek entry, Milas poli is
its Cypriot counterpart. I usually love Cypriot
songs, but as long as they are ethnically
influenced. The singer's dancing and singing
really made me dislike this song even more.
22. Finland: What
is wrong with Europe? Every time I listen to
a Finnish entry that did poorly I always ask
myself this question. I really like Fri?
and I think that it was worthy of a top 10, or
even a top 15 placing.
Here is my top 22
of 1990:
1. Switzerland
2. Spain
3. France
4. ex-Yugoslavia
5. Finland
6. Belgium
7. Luxembourg
8. Italy
9. Iceland
10. Sweden
11. Austria
12. The Netherlands
13. United Kingdom
14. Germany
15. Denmark
16. Portugal
17. Turkey
18. Norway
19. Greece
20. Cyprus
21. Israel
22. Ireland
The entire show
was not anything special. The stage, the
presenters, the audience all seemed a bit
mediocre to me. I do not know if it was the
quality of the ESC 90 video tape I received, but
the stage seemed a bit dark and often was
worsened by the quasi-light show. Sometimes
it looked nice, but overall it was too dark for
my taste.
As for Oliver and Helga, they both were
professional, but they too were a bit
dark. Though they insisted on how exciting
it all was, it was clear that they did not know
what they were talking about. It all
reminded me of Croatian 199 Dora, with Oliver and
Vlatka. They too were tryng to ensure us
that it was an exciting show, when in fact it was
boring. What was wrong with the audience?
They just looked dead. No flags, no screams, no
waving, no enthusiasm, and way too many suits and
ties!
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