Dance Music, Glam Metal & Boy Bands

The new formula for my life this week:

Illness = Medication = Insomnia = Me in a very grumpy mood today

I guess you could say I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I’m in a terrible mood, and there doesn’t seem to be any particular reason other than the fact that sleep is eluding me this week.

I think what might really be getting to me is the fact that having been ill for the past 3 weeks, I’ve barely left the house. I’ve had to cancel a lot of plans and I think I’m going crazy, like a prisoner thrown into solitary confinement for just a little too long.

Even thought going to work isn’t much of a social occasion for me given that every other person in the place is male, I’m even starting to miss that tiny bit of human interaction. Up until the last few days, I haven’t even really had the energy to spend much time online, which means that even online chatting has been out. My lifelong dreams of becoming a hermit are getting closer and closer to becoming a reality.


Luckily, this weekend marks an event in my calendar that no illness could stop – that’s right, it’s Eurovision time again!! This Sunday Night, a group of my friends and family will be coming around for our annual Eurovision party, where we will which the tackiest best musical talent that Europe has to offer.

The best part about watching Eurovision (aside from the complete and utter dagginess of it all) is that it transports you back about 10 or 15 years. For some reason, Europe seems to be a decade behind the rest of the world musically. Obviously there’s the occasional modern song which will usually fail dismally, or something traditional which fares well with the countries located nearby. But there is an overwhelming abundance of what I would call imitation retro music.

Last year’s completion saw a lot of bad 90’s style dance music:



with a bit of what I’m pretty sure is classified as glam metal thrown in:



as well as a few 90’s boy band-ish love ballads (I call this one Danish Ronan Keating):



It was like a trip down memory lane – that is, a trip down a foreign and slightly confusing lane where everything looks sort of familiar, but the signs don’t make any sense and you have no idea where the lane is leading.

As always, I highly recommend that everyone watch Eurovision. It might not be quite as funny since Terry Wogan retired from doing the commentary, but it’s still pretty amusing, and this year should remind you of a lot of music in the early 2000’s.

Now all that is left to be decided is what kind of foreign food I’ll serve at the party. I was angling to make something Norwegian since this year’s competition is being held in Norway, but it turns out that from what I can find, Norwegian food is slightly less than exciting and also pretty heavy on the flatulence inducing ingredients. Not ideal for a small room full of people if you ask me. I’m thinking maybe I can just go with a Scandinavian theme and do a bit of grocery shopping at IKEA. Maybe meatballs will do the trick – they seem appropriate.

I’ll leave you with last year’s winner, a guy that freaks me out because he looks a lot like a boyfriend I had in high school.

Russia in '09!

Woohoo! Go Russia!
Hmmm, not something you would expect anyone to yell out all that often, but I'm just excited about Russia winning Eurovision 2008. Not that I thought that their song was all that good, but because the guy that was singing (Dima Bilan) has a special meaning for us here at Sad Aussie Eurovision Central.

Every year, KJ chooses the cheesiest, daggiest love song in Eurovision and calls it his favourite. Two years ago, at Eurovision '06 in Greece, Dima Bilan had that song. It was a great song - we took a lot of delight in trying to decipher the 'English' lyrics (if you think you have them worked out, read the actual lyrics here and see if you were as far off the mark as I was).
KJ was especially taken by his enthusiastic, emotional dancing and by the white-painted ballerina that emerged from the middle of the piano, and I have to say that I was a little taken by the fact that he looked freakishly similar to my next door neighbour. Sadly, heartbreakingly - he didn't win. He came very very close, but he came second to the Finnish band Lordi - aka Metal music that your Nanna would approve of.

This year, while watching the semi-final, I heard a strangely recognisable voice - and couldn't believe it when it turned out the be good old Dima. This year's song had nothing on the one from 2006, but I was happy to see him win because we were so sad that he lost to Lordi in '06. I was a little worried for him that their stage presentation consisted of Dima wandering barefoot while a man with a freakishly large nose ice-skated around him. That routine didn't seem like it was very well thought out, but perhaps it was the slight element of risk to it that they were hoping would excite viewers.

Other than Dima winning, it was a reasonably uneventful Eurovision. There was a lot less piano accordion than I like in my music. The trouble is that each year, the contestants tend to parrot the previous year's top three, so this year saw a lot of emotional ballads performed entirely in the native language of the country, and a lot of dance music.

You can watch the recap here. I especially enjoyed the Latvian entry. It seemed to be the one that was most in the spirit of the Eurovision that I have come to know and love.

Eurovision Excitement

It's almost time for one of my favourite events of the year and I am excited. Only 8 days until Eurovision 2008 begins!

It was inevitable that Eurovision would become a part of my yearly routine, as it works in perfectly with my favourite hobby - singing bad music very loudly in my car on the way to work. And what is there not to love about hearing musicians from all over Europe trying to imitate popular non-European styles of music? You've never really heard rap music until you've heard it in Israeli, you've never heard swing music until you've heard it in German, and you've never heard punk music until you've heard it in Catalan.

And honestly, tell me -who doesn't like their music with a bit of piano accordion in it? Eurovision never fails to deliver on that front. It's amazing the variety of music styles that can have a piano accordion instrumental added to them. It makes everything 5% more fun. There aren't enough songs in the charts with piano accordion in them. In fact, oddly enough I don't think there are any...

I love it because even when you aren't laughing at the commentary by Terry Wogan, you can't help but laugh at some of the contestants. Every year we have a Eurovision party for the final. It's a good excuse to get together for a bit of a laugh, and this year will be a lot better, because I think they're broadcasting it in High Definition - that means i get to see singers like mini George Michael in life-like quality.

I'm running a pick-a-country-out-of-a-hat sort of betting thingy this year (does anyone know what the proper name for that is?) because I always feel a bit bad for all of the countries that don't have anyone cheering for them during the party. If anyone wants in, let me know. There are 42 countries and only 8 people coming to this year's party, so there are a few extra to go around.

I'll leave you with a video of the act that in my opinion should have been last year's winner, but shockingly only came 37th out of 42.