Am still in Eurovision Song Contest mood…

… so I did some googling tonight and found these classics on YouTube:

This is probably the year I started enjoying the Eurovision Song Contest. I remember watching this with Hannes and Bastian, after returning from a very cool trip to Bonn to a two day seminar on the Euro, all expenses paid for by the Bundespresseamt (I had a great time, but a complete waste of tax payer money to send five 12-graders to Bonn and put them up in an expensive hotel).

This is also the first time I scored the contest, and later even wrote an article in our school paper about it. 13 years ago – shit I’m getting old.

I think this is when Stefan Raab (who wrote and produced the song) started to take the Eurovision Song Contest into the 21st century (and away from Ralph Siegel, who tried to keep it in the 70s). Notice how the audience is all seated, and compare it with the opening act from Saturday night:

While I think Raab’s ego might be one size too big, I guess you need an ego like that to be as successful as Raab.

That act also reminded me of Raab’s 2000 performance at the Eurovision Song Contest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx7Rr_7bnAk

He’s certainly had an amazing career.

On an unrelated note – 11 years later I still think “Wadde Hadde Dudde Da” sounds like “Say You’ll Be There” from the Spice Girls:

Then again – nearly every song from Saturday night reminded me of some other song (see my live blog below), I guess in this day and age it’s difficult not to sound familiar, except if you invent a new genre, such as Lady Gaga or Eminem…