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In a post about a contest that Germany won, there’s no better time to mention that I’ll be in Germany from September 9 to 18! I’m extremely excited about this trip and might write a bit about it on my blog.
Introduction
In the months leading to Eurovision 1982, it seemed like the contest was declining in popularity and prestige. Italy was absent just like last year, and France skipped because their broadcaster TF1 considered Eurovision a “monument to insanity”. This era was rough for Greece too. They withdrew from 1982 and 1986 with a song ready, and 1984 without a song ready, with no transparency or forewarning from their broadcaster. If you’re a pretentious fan who says things like “back in (insert decade before 2000 here), Eurovision was about REAL music”, plenty of people were just as dismissive about the era that you romanticize. You’re just blinded by nostalgia. (Thankfully, France returned in 1983 with a new broadcaster and hasn’t missed a contest since.)
In this sense, you may consider Eurovision 1982 like a party where the two most awaited guests couldn’t make it, and thus the others have to make do without them. It’s also like a party where your friends chose a bizarre location: the small spa town of Harrogate, England. The broadcast of this contest embraced the bizarrity of this choice by putting a “Where is Harrogate?” sketch at the start.
This year was most famous for Germany’s first victory, which was by a landslide. This meant Belgium would be the last of the original seven participants to take the crown. Since this was 17 years before I was born, I would say “I can only imagine what it was like to be German and see your country finally win”, but I actually have a story to tell about it. I’ll tell it when I review Germany’s entry, at the end of this contest.
I wanted to watch this contest with German commentary, but I’m sorry, Ado Schlier’s style of commentary (1980 to 1986) is so boring. So instead, I watched it with Luxembourg’s commentary from a woman named Marylène Bergmann, who was almost 25 years old. Her younger age should provide a fresh perspective on this competition, as well as train my French listening skills. From 1987 to 1991, Germany had a different commentator every year, and that should be more interesting.
Dear god… all this commentator talk made me realize that eventually, there will be a Eurovision commentator younger than me. That’s assuming there isn’t already one, but I didn’t find any from a Wikipedia search. Being 24 years old is weird, guys.
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