Intro Post

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Introduction

Eurovision 1992 completed the trio of major cities in Sweden by taking place in Malmö, the same city that hosted in 2013 and will host in 2024. It had more participating countries than ever before, at a whopping 23. This included every country that had ever participated, except for Monaco and Morocco… though Yugoslavia wasn’t quite the same country as last year. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and (North) Macedonia had all seceded, and the next year, what remained of Yugoslavia was banned from the competition until 2004.

This contest is best known for Johnny Logan’s third victory for Ireland, but this time only as a composer. Just like 1984, Linda Martin sang a composition of Johnny Logan’s, but this time, she won with a power ballad called “Why Me?” Power ballads are going to score highly throughout the 1990’s, so be warned. As the post’s title suggests, this is the first contest where the top three songs were all in English, and that sets another recurring theme of 90’s Eurovision. As more new countries poured into the contest, the juries became more and more biased towards English until the language rule was abolished.

YES, they brought back the orchestral arrangements of last year’s winners at the start! I missed that so much!!! The opening orchestral music transitioned into a jazzy arrangement of “Fångad av en stormvind”, which made me smile. I was expecting the contest to be presented dominantly in English with a bit of French, so I was surprised the hosts spoke this much Swedish. Though if I didn’t know better, I might have mistaken it for Danish because of those guttural R’s.

I wanted a break from Terry Wogan, so I watched the contest with Austrian commentary this time. Ernst Grissemann is by far my favorite of the German-speaking commentators I have heard.

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Spain: Todo esto es la música

Artist: Serafín Zubiri

Language: Spanish

Key: B♭ major, B major

This is yet another piano ballad that’s decent as far as ballads go but won’t stick with me beyond that. The most notable thing about the song is that the singer is blind, as you might guess from his sunglasses. The lyrics discuss romantic troubles in the verses, and the comforting qualities of music in the chorus, so it is a fitting opener for the contest.

Belgium: Nous on veut des violons

Artist: Morgane (Ingrid Simonis)

Language: French

Key: F♯ minor in the verses, F♯ major in the chorus

Look at Belgium, being quirky again! This is a swing pop song—a genre that’d become common in 90’s Eurovision—with haunting jazzy verses and a more normal chorus. I wish the chorus continued the direction of the verses, and I’m not sure whether her freeform singing is charming or annoying. Unfortunately, the song and performance both come off as amateurish, so I’m not surprised it scored near the bottom.

Israel: Ze Rak Sport (זה רק ספורט)

Artist: Dafna Dekel

Language: Hebrew

Key: G minor

This song presents us an interesting fusion of genres: Latin pop, 90’s disco, and a pinch of the Israeli dance music we’ve come to love. It’s got a fun instrumental that sounds like mostly a backing track to me, but it’s not as good as Israel’s entries that stick to their own minor key dance style.

Turkey: Yaz Bitti

Artist: Aylin Vatankoş

Language: Turkish

Key: G major

I’m willing to forgive Turkey for sending a power ballad, for two reasons. First, it sounds designed around the rhythm of the Turkish language, and second, Turkey was still in the phase where they threw ideas at the wall. Also, the percussion in the chorus is pretty nice. Who can blame Turkey for trying this formula? It yet again didn’t work, because they got 19th place out of 23.

Greece: Ólou tou kósmou i Elpída (Όλου του κόσμου η Ελπίδα)

Artist: Cleopatra Pantazi

Language: Greek

Key: B major

This song tied with “Mathima solfege” from 1977 as Greece’s best ranking at the time: fifth place. It’s still the highest ranking a song entirely in Greek has earned, though the mixed-language “Die for You” got third place in 2001.

As with last year, this song goes for the dramatic 90’s Greek ethnic sound, but more of a cinematic type. I can’t tell if she’s failing to hit some notes, or if she purposely sang some blue notes (to use a jazz term). Either way, I’d rather have songs like this from Greece over what they usually sent in the 80’s.

France: Monté la riviè

Artist: Kali (Jean-Marc Monnerville)

Language: Antillean Creole and French

Key: A minor

Wikipedia lists this song as being in “French, Antillean Creole”, but it makes more sense to list Antillean Creole first. That’s because unlike so many other songs listed as “mainstream language, exotic language”, which just repeat one or two phrases in the exotic language, the lyrics are dominantly in creole. In case you have no idea what Antillean Creole is, it’s a language based on a mix of French, English, and African languages spoken on various islands in the Caribbean, some of which still belong to France. If you don’t know much about creole languages, I suggest you read about them. They’re fascinating!

I’m really loving this new style France has chosen! Just as much as I am annoyed that Germany has settled into a boring style. I think that after the success of “White and Black Blues”, France decided to keep sending ethnic songs celebrating the culture of their former colonies. Meanwhile, after the success of “Ein bisschen Frieden”, Germany decided they can only send hollow feel-good ballads now. I’m sorry, Deutschland, aber das ist total Quatsch.* Your musical culture is so much interesting than this!

France’s entries in this era are honest songs that don’t pretend the world is peachy. The lyrics of this song tell the listener to climb the river (the title) and discover the source from which the water flows. Knowing Kali’s history of making songs about ethnicity and colonialism, I’m almost certain it has a deeper meaning—perhaps about learning the uncomfortable truth about your country’s history?

But what really makes this song interesting is its minimalist instrumentation. While other songs made full use of the orchestra, this sticks to a small main set of instruments, each with a clear purpose: banjo, xylophone, percussion, and bass (oh, what a groovy bassline!). And yet, the set of instruments is not static: various orchestral instruments pop in and out to help give the song structure, and we get a little bridge section with stronger drums. The simplicity is elegant and makes the song atmospheric. This is similar to why I’m so interested in chiptune music: it’s another great way to use minimalist instrumentation.

It might seem disappointing that after scoring second place the last two years, this song scored 8th place, but think of it this way. A Eurovision song in one of the most exotic languages we’ve seen yet scored in the top half!

* Translation: but that is total quatsch. There is no English word that has the same punch as “Quatsch” in German; it most closely translates to “nonsense”.

Sweden: I morgon är en annan dag

Artist: Christer Björkman, whose name surely rings a bell

Language: Swedish

Key: A major

For such a prominent figure in the organization of 21st century Eurovision, it may surprise you that Christer Björkman once competed as a singer. It may also surprise you that the one time he competed in the contest, he got second-last place—the only time Sweden has come in the bottom two since 1977. He didn’t let that deter him and he competed twice more in Melodifestivalen, then starting from 2002, he shifted to an organizational role.

This is an alright ballad, so I don’t know why it scored lower than other alright ballads. Maybe the juries felt his singing voice wasn’t that great?

Portugal: Amor d’água fresca

Artist: Dina (Ondina Maria Farias Veloso)

Language: Portuguese

Key: B♭ major, C major

Instrumentally, this is a fairly ordinary upbeat 90’s pop song (better that than dreary ballads!), but the lyrics are something else. The singer compares her love interest to as many foods as she can think of, ranging from grape jam to cashews to pomegranates, and these lyrics actually flow really well. I also like that the lyrics sound very clearly Portuguese—they’ve got a twang you would never hear in Spanish. It’s not something I will remember well otherwise and oh god, it’s another abrupt ending.

Cyprus: Teriázoume (Ταιριάζουμε)

Artist: Evridiki Theokleous

Language: Greek

Key: B♭ minor

Both the Greek-speaking countries are now in their drama phase! Somewhat like France, the verses make good use of minimalist instrumentation: sharp syncopated string chords, a continuous string bass note, and a tambourine to provide the minimum amount of beat. After the haunting verses comes the romantic chorus, heavy in electric pianos and drums. This fits perfectly with the song’s theme, which is that the singer thinks she and her love interest are one and the same. The two fake endings are amusing, but they also genuinely fit the song’s composition and don’t just feel like a prank. I like the verses better than the chorus, but it’s still one of the best Greek-language entries I’ve heard yet.

Malta: Little Child

Artist: Mary Spiteri

Language: English

Key: E major, F major

Going by this and the last Maltese entry, it’s not just because they got to sing in English that Malta scored so high in the 90’s. I think that after watching Eurovision from the sidelines for 15 years, the Maltese delegation had a good sense of what kinds of songs would score well (cough cough, power ballads). Additionally, they didn’t really have a style the first three times they participated, so fans had no preconceived idea of what Malta should send. This ballad scored third place, putting Malta in the top three for the first of four times. And I can see why: it has jury bait written all the hell over it.

Iceland: Nei eða já

Artist: Heart 2 Heart

Language: Icelandic

Key: C major, D major

Of the four members of Heart 2 Heart, two of them were the duo from 1990 called Stjórnin. The other two are newcomers. This time, they sent something even happier and bouncier than their 1990 entry. I would have probably expected it to match or surpass their 1990 4th place, but instead it got 8th place, which is still not bad! I want to say it was overpowered by the three songs in English, but in the ranking, four songs lie between them and Iceland.

I can sense some evolution in the Nordic dance formula since the 1980’s. Using the bassline and drum rhythm, this song puts a lot more emphasis on the swing rhythm than others of its type, even “La det swinge” which has swing in its title. Ernst Grissemann was right, this song really does bring back memories of Bobbysocks—two girls dancing to an upbeat swing song with one key change. This time, the key change is near the end, right after the obligatory bridge, which has become my favorite part of Nordic dance entries.

The way the song is composed and choreographed both feel peak 1990’s. That’s why it feels less formulaic than Sweden’s winner last year (which is a great song, don’t get me wrong)—Iceland updated the formula to sound fresher but still familiar. Plus, the title (no or yes) makes for an insanely catchy hook, easy to rhyme with going by the lyrics. You might be surprised to know that “já” in Icelandic is pronounced like “yow” in English.

Say, when was the last time I discussed a song’s alternate language lyrics? While the Icelandic lyrics are lighthearted and describe the singer’s challenge in making their mind up, the English version called “Time After Time” is a breakup song about someone who just cheated on them. Oh, how it takes me back for a song’s alternate language version to completely change the lyrics.

Finland: Yamma Yamma

Artist: Pave Maijanen

Language: Finnish

Key: A major

The 1990’s are the dark age of Finland, the end of their alternation between strong entries in odd years and weak ones in even years. This song got last place with just four points, they got near the bottom next year, and from 1994 to 2004, they were so hurt by the relegation system that they only got to participate every other year. That must have been even further demotivating for Finland in Eurovision. Perhaps it’s better to discuss the relegation system when it’s introduced in 1994, but for now I’ll say: I’m glad we no longer live in a time where scoring low in Eurovision meant that your country couldn’t participate next year.

A peculiar pattern in Finland’s 1990’s entries is that some of them try as hard as possible to not be in Finnish. In 1994 they repeated English words as much as allowed, in 1998 their entry is famous for having only six different words, and in this entry, the nonsense phrase “yamma yamma” dominates the lyrics. They didn’t even spell it the Finnish way, “jamma jamma”. It’s telling that none of these songs did all that well, whereas the fully Finnish “Cha Cha Cha” was a huge success. It’s like I keep saying: the best way to transcend language barriers is to make your song actually good.

Now in this song’s defense, it isn’t bad or anything, certainly not last place levels. But it does annoy me that the most memorable part of the song is “yamma yamma”, rather than the actual Finnish lyrics. If I was Finnish, it would really hurt to go through this era. Well OK, it already hurts to go through the German entries of this era, so it would only hurt for a different reason.

Switzerland: Mister Music Man

Artist: Daisy Auvray

Language: French

Key: D major

It’s nice to have a jazzy song to break up the pace, but the whole song is a bit slow-paced for me. Maybe I’d enjoy it more if a jazz band was on stage, instead of just one singer. Despite the silly lyrics about asking “Mr. Music Man” to play some jazz for her, the instrumental sounds like it would better fit a blues song about breakups.

Luxembourg: Sou fräi

Artist: Marion Welter, and the band Kontinent

Language: Luxembourgish, back after 32 years

Key: D major

The most interesting thing about this song is definitely that it’s in Luxembourgish. Some people think Luxembourgish sounds like a speaker of some Germanic language got drunk, but to me it just sounds like a rural German dialect—I do consider it a dialect of German after all. Otherwise, this is an average 90’s pop song that’s pleasant enough but doesn’t grab me. I do wonder who thought it would be a good idea to put squares of every color of the rainbow on Marion’s dress.

Austria: Zusammen geh’n

Artist: Tony Wegas

Language: German

Key: A major

Ernst Grissemann, the Austrian commentator, tells the viewers to root for Austria’s entries but is a lot less flamboyant about it than Terry Wogan. He basically just says “und jetzt sind wir dran, halt die Daumen”* at the start and end. Whereas Terry Wogan would say, “Now that was a wonderful performance from the United Kingdom. I think we have a real chance at winning this year, they’re certainly one of my favorites. But you never know with the juries.”

Austria’s Eurovision style has been similar to Germany’s lately, with one difference: Austria favored solo ballads, while Germany preferred choral ballads. This ballad has a slightly more classical sound than others of this competition, but it’s otherwise a regular ballad. It scored tenth place, low in the upper half, thought I could have honestly imagined this song anywhere in the lineup. The juries’ opinions on ballads are impossible to predict.

* Translation: “And now it’s our turn, cross your fingers.” Literally “hold your thumbs”.

United Kingdom: One Step Out of Time

Artist: Michael Ball

Language: English

Key: E major, F♯ major

If any of the three English-language entries did score high only due to language bias, it would probably be this one which, like so many other British entries, scored second place. It’s a decent guitar-heavy pop song that’s well staged, but it isn’t that special otherwise. I feel this way about most of the 20th century British entries, now that I think of it. The main exception is in the grayscale era: back then, most entries each year bored me except the UK and one other.

Ireland: Why Me? (the winner)

Artist: Linda Martin, returning from 1984

Language: English

Key: D major, E major

And here begins the triple streak of Ireland winning! I feel bad for all the other countries that felt they had no chance to shine from 1992 to 1994. At the same time, if I was Irish, I would be very proud that Ireland was the only country to win Eurovision three years in a row. That would come at the drawback of being sad Ireland hasn’t qualified to the finals for most of the past decade.

This song also ends a triple streak: Irish winners that Johnny Logan was involved in. 1980 as singer, 1987 as singer and composer, 1992 as composer. He also composed the 1984 runner-up, also sung by Linda Martin. He’s not the only person to win Eurovision twice as a songwriter: there are six others, two of whom were involved in the same pair of winners (2012 and 2023).

My thoughts on this as a composition are basically the same as “Hold Me Now”. They use all the same compositional techniques that make an Irish ballad work. The lyrics are a bit different from Johnny Logan’s last two winners: the singer asks herself that why, out of all the candidates in the world, she was the one her love interest chose. It’s a nice and heartfelt topic, so it definitely played a part in the song’s victory.

As with “Hold Me Now”, I want to ask: would I have expected this song to win? The optimist in me would have loved a victory of France or Iceland, but the realist in me feels they wouldn’t have stood a chance against Ireland and Malta’s power ballads. I would have probably thought both had an equal chance of winning, maybe Malta slightly more because they’d never won before. I don’t think I would have wanted Ireland to win, since it’s so similar to prior winners, but I would have braced myself for the possibility.

Denmark: Alt det som ingen ser

Artist: Lotte Nilsson and Kenny Lübcke

Language: Danish

Key: F♯ major in the verses, A major in the chorus, B♭ major in the final chorus

This is a duet pop song where the man and woman take turns singing in the verses and harmonize in the chorus to tell some kind of romantic story. It sounds kind of like a cheesy 90’s sitcom theme song. I have no idea what else to say about it. Like most songs this year, it’s decent but doesn’t grab me.

Italy: Rapsodia

Artist: Mia Martini, returning from 1977

Language: Italian

Key: E major

Haha, after all this Swedish, I didn’t expect the presenters to announce the conductor in Italian. Eurovision hosts love showing off this language.

On a more serious note, this contest was just three years before Mia Martini died of a drug overdose. She had recently returned from a six-year break in her music career and this time scored much better in Eurovision, at fourth place. That’s the highest of all non-English entries.

This time, Mia Martini gave us a raspy-voiced ballad that starts with just piano and strings, but gains more instrumentation in the second verse. It’s extremely dramatic and extremely Italian, and certainly a good composition, but it’s not the style of song I’ll see myself coming back to.

Yugoslavia (or Serbia and Montenegro): Ljubim te pesmama (Љубим те песмама)

Artist: Extra Nena (Snežana Berić)

Language: Serbo-Croatian (Serbian)

Key: A minor in the verses, C major in the chorus, D♭ major in the final chorus

You could make a case to classify this song under Yugoslavia, because that’s what is was listed as in the contest, or to classify it under S&M (shorthand for “Serbia and Montenegro”) because of the country’s borders. That’s why I listed both before this song’s title. I’ve seen some Eurovision compilation videos classify Yugoslavia and S&M together to avoid this confusion, and because S&M only participated in two contests.

Even though Yugoslavia was going through complete chaos in 1992, this entry had nothing to do with the wars, much unlike the songs we’ll hear next year. However, it is a much more somber and moody song than the last few entries Yugoslavia sent… at least in the verses, which have a lovely accordion and guitar. The upbeat chorus sadly kills the mood. And then it slows down to prepare for the key change in the final chorus, which is basically pissing on the mood’s grave.

Norway: Visjoner

Artist: Merethe Trøan

Language: Norwegian

Key: C minor

This starts as a dramatic choir piece, but then shifts styles into an upbeat pop song with a fair amount of drama. It’s one of the better songs from the contest and the Norwegian language sounds nice in it, as does the choir, but it’s not quite winner material for me. I’m guessing the juries felt roughly the same way, because it got 18th place out of 23. I do love the singer’s random laugh midway through the song.

Germany: Träume sind für alle da

Artist: Wind, returning from 1985 and 1987

Language: German

Key: F major, F♯ major

Seriously, Germany? Last year you sent a feel-good ballad called “this dream can never die”, and now you’re sending a feel-good ballad called “dreams are there for everyone”? You’re not even trying to vary your style at this point.

The band Wind, who got second place both in 1985 and 1987, didn’t do so well this year: only 16th place. The Austrian commentator claimed this was one of the favorites of the contest, probably because it was composed by Ralph Siegel, a name I’ve neglected to mention till now. He dominated Germany’s Eurovision history through the 80’s and 90’s and his entries are hit-and-miss: he gave us the strong stretch from “Dschinghis Khan” to “Ein bisschen Frieden” (1979 to 1982) but also gave us much of Germany’s stretch of feel-good ballads.

This ballad about dreams isn’t that bad in isolation. But to people who watched Eurovision annually in the 90’s, or to people binging Eurovision decades later, do you know what message it gives? It tells viewers that feel-good ballads are the only music Germany ever makes. Going by compilation videos I’ve watched, it looks like Germany will exit this phase in 1994.

Netherlands: Wijs me de weg

Artist: Humphrey Campbell

Language: Dutch

Key: B♭ minor, G minor, B♭ minor, C minor

After a long cinematic intro, this kicks into a disco song with a tinge of soul music whose title means “show me the way”. Maybe it shouldn’t have had that intro, because this song feels constrained by the three-minute limit, ending before it explores all its ideas. After the accordion solo, the final chorus feels too short and then the song just ends. I’m glad the singer is having fun on stage and it’s another one of the more memorable songs. You can always count on the Netherlands to send surprises.

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Who’s my favorite?

Unlike the last two contests, France has a strong competitor, which is Iceland’s upbeat dance song. I really had to think about it for a while, until I went for the song that makes better casual listening: Iceland: Nei eða já. “Monté la riviè” is a fantastic song in a unique genre and language, but it’s a little less wowing when I don’t pay active attention to it. Plus, this makes me feel better about not choosing the Nordic dance songs in 1985.

• Austria, 1
• Belgium, 1
• Denmark, 1
• Finland, 3
• France, 3
• Germany, 4
• Iceland, 1
• Ireland, 2
• Israel, 2
• Luxembourg, 3
• Netherlands, 6
• Norway, 2
• Portugal, 2
• Sweden, 3
• Switzerland, 1
• Turkey, 1
• United Kingdom, 1
• (13 winners)

Iceland is the first new addition to my list since 1986! We should get plenty of new additions in the next decade.

General thoughts:

The interval act was a medley of Swedish music genres and dances, from traditional folk music to modern pop, in a mix of Swedish and English. This is the right way to do an interval act: showcase the host country’s culture and make it fun to watch! Lydia Capolicchio was a decent host with the diction and confidence you’d expect from one, but Harald Treutiger constantly stuttered and seemed more interested in rambling about hockey. I think this contest would’ve worked better with one host.

It’s interesting how the different hosts interpreted the rule of presenting in English and French. Åse Kleveland (1986) and Viktor Lazlo (1987) followed it perfectly. Marlene Charell (1983) took it way too literally and repeated everything in both languages and German. Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno (1991) ignored the rule and did it all in Italian. Lydia and Harald did the intro in the mandatory languages, then outright said they’d do the rest in Swedish. Well, except the voting of course. I can practically hear Terry Wogan rambling about the scattered voting, as he does every year. It’s like I don’t even need his commentary! For once, the scoreboard distinguishes Luxembourg’s flag from the Netherlands.

A commenter on my last post said that everyone and their cousin has an opinion on Eurovision 1991. Maybe it’s because the competitive chaos of 1991 was a tough act to follow, but this was a really boring year. Most entries were ballads and average pop songs, and while you could argue that makes the good songs stand out, a higher concentration of good songs is always better. In a year where most songs are forgettable, one country will usually swoop the crown, and this time it turned out to be the Irish ballad. I really wish France won at least once in the early 90’s though.

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See you next time for one of the most unusual years in Eurovision history.

>> 1993: Accommodating the Eager Newbies (warning: very long!)