#esc1997

[aijamisespava]

1997, The Eurovision That You Were

Today, I ranked the 1997 Eurovision Song Contest. And as you could tell from the title, I was really impressed by the songs that year. The quality was high, making it one of the harder years to rank, but also one of my favorites.

This year would also be a historic year in Eurovision for a lot of reasons. For one, it would mark the beginning of the end of the live orchestra in the contest along with Italy's last entry before their return in 2011. 1997 also saw the first openly LGBTQ+ performer (Paul Oscar of Iceland), which led to strides in the contest that we likely would not be able to see today without (especially when you consider Nemo being the first non-binary winner, which again, might not have happened had Paul Oscar never competed).

The winner of this year's contest was the United Kingdom (which I agreed with) and Katrina and the Waves with "Love Shine A Light" which has become an anthem in Eurovision (the 2020 artists performed this in a remote livestream after the contest was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). And if you're wondering why the name Katrina and the Waves sound familiar, you might know them from the hit song "Walking On Sunshine."

On a whole other note, I finally got to hear Türkiye's entry as a Eurofan and not a student doing a project (loooong story very short, before I became Aijamisespava, I did a school project on this song. I wouldn't expect a deep dive on this song as I want to give others a chance, but if you ask nicely, I'll think about it.).

[guysofeurovision]

Do you have some Favorite Esc Songs before 2000?

Probably Fiumi di parole :)

[spaceytrash]

The fact that Páll Òskar hasn't a bigger following is ridiculous. His voice is great and he's as unapologeticly gay as I aspire to be

[extraterrestrial-jinx]

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#tanja #ribic #tanjaribic #zbudise #esc #esc1997 #so #important #clapback #tho

[beyondeurovision]

PÁLL ÓSKAR - LÍTTU UPP Í LJÓS (2015) (ICELAND)

[guysofeurovision]

Is lt True Jalisse is trying to compete at Sanremo 2022? Tbh Fiumi di Parole is one of the Best ESC Songs for me so I am here for their return (and I Think they would be a great host entry)

I haven't read about it but it's highly probable: they try it almost every year, like most Italian artists -more or less popular-. I agree with you, Fiumi di parole is still magic after so many years... :)

[guysofeurovision]

Again the Jalisse anon, do you know the reason for that? Are their Submissions that Bad (which I doubt since Fiumi di Parole is one of the Best eurovision Songs imo) or does Rai Just hate them for some reason?

Truth is that Fiumi di parole had something really special and unique, while their other songs just aren't appealing enough for Sanremo. She has great vocals and lyrics may be interesting, but if you listen to some of their songs on YouTube you'll realize how meh they are. I don't believe for a second the hate story, especially when 25 years have passed: their entries aren't good enough, that's all.

[guysofeurovision]

Thanks to Eurovision again I found many great Songs to Listen to and Fiumi di Parole is one of them. Why did Italy not compete for Such a long time after this flawless entry? And are there Songs you Listen to that you found through rewatching old Contests?

Italy stayed away from the Contest because there was no interest both in RAI -the broadcasting channel- and, let’s say it, audience.

Italians just didn’t care about it but in the recent years things have slightly changed :)

To answer your last questions: sometimes I listen to old songs -or other songs by Eurovision artists- but I honestly listen to many other tunes, too. There’s so much music to address that just sticking to the contest world would be narrow-minded.

PS: Fiumi di parole is so great, I agree with you.

[guysofeurovision]

Hah, thank you for Paul Oskar. Well, he's not that good now (I'm not fan of older men) but he was on fire back then. Such a iconic performance. xD

Ahah you’re welcome.  And wanna know who aged damn good, always from ESC1997?  Gergő Rácz (or Rácz Gergő, like they prefer to say) from Hungarian band V.I.P. 

He’s a real daddy, DILF magic! (fun fact, he won this year A Dal meaning that if Hungary hadn't withdrawn from the competition he would have been back on the Esc stage 23 years after the first time, but then again the virus so... I guess this comeback really wasn't written in stars for him! 😏)

[guysofeurovision]

Watched #eurovisionagain from the country of St Patrick (aka 🇮🇪). Gosh, we won 7 times and we were the best of the rest back then. Nowadays, Sweden is the best of the rest and we keep on disqualifying 🤣. Any guy you find hot from Eurovision 1997 in Dublin?

Marcos Llunas from Spain, Adam Roberts from Ireland and the two boybands performing for Sweden and Hungary brought some handsomeness to the stage, declined in different shades. Some enjoyed Fabio Ricci from Jalisse (Italy) too, and I can only agree!

[guysofeurovision]

I watched #eurovisionagain from 1997... well, I need to say that Iceland guy impress me. He was in front of his time. xD

ahahahah Oh my, that was so queer! ahah  Paul Oscar, still a popular celeb and gay icon in Iceland nowadays.

[guysofeurovision]

[guysofeurovision]

Ahah I agree that UK really shouldn’t have won in 1997. I really like Turkey, Italy, Switzerland and Estonia from that year. I also once read somewhere that Paul Oskar was the first openly gay/LGBT person to ever participate in Eurovision but I’m not a 100% sure whether that’s correct

I’m not sure about that information either, maybe @anotherescsite could help us, he’s a real expert!

Not only Uk shouldn’t have won (because it wasn’t the strongest act) but those 0 points to Norway and Portugal are sign of the usual games and strategies: those two songs weren’t amazing, but neither the worst!

[guysofeurovision]

Speaking of 1997 year, the most shocking thing is that UK and Spain were in top 5. It's like parallel universe. xD xD

Ahahah that's true 😆

[guysofeurovision]

I did not expect me watching Eurovision 1997! All I wanted to say: UK, Turkey and Italy were the best ones for me + I found the guy from Jalisse quite hot haha

It was quite a good year, wasn’t it?   Apart from a few forgettable songs and some bad pop songs very typical for the 90s (namely Denmark, Austria and Croatia), there were all the usual ingredients: Disney songs (Germany, Malta and Estonia which, for the record, I always love listening to in their national language, so sweet), boybands (Hungary and Sweden would have given this blog so much material back then!), an amazing MILFs band (The Netherlands, such a guilty pleasure), some typical folk magic (Greece and Poland) and the inevitable love songs from Spain and Ireland, both sending on stage charming men (Marcos Llunas and Marc Roberts) from whom I won’t share pics because, let’s be honest...Passing time has been a little unforgiving with them :P

I agree with you choices, but Turkey should have won, with Italy second and trashy Netherlands third. Uk wasn’t bad at all but didn’t deserve to win...

PS: how annoying was that girl from France?