Acclaimed...Eurovision?

[StevieFan13]

Sort of a variation on the AM World Cup: pick a song from one of the countries that participate/have participated in Eurovision over the years. The gag is that it can be from any year, not just this one, although while I wouldn't encourage submitting actual ESC entries, I won't discourage it either (how many songs can you think of from Luxembourg off the top of your head?). It's a bit of an "apples to oranges" kind of deal, but it could be fun.

Like the ESC, there will be two semi-finals and a final, with different brackets of songs. If it's too hard to think of a great, say, Azerbaijani song, they'll be "relegated." I'll also list countries that no longer actively participate in the contest, in case you want to sub them in. There will be a "big 5" (Italy, Spain, the UK, Germany, and France) that automatically progress to the final, and if we do this again next year, the winning country will have their selected entry automatically make it to the final as well.

We should start by voting for our big 5 songs - I'd suggest doing top 10 (or 5, depending on your knowledge of that country's music - I imagine that won't be a problem for the UK though) for each of the five countries, and the highest ranking frequent entries will make it in. When we get to the semi-finals, each one could warrant a top 5 to make things easier.

There is every chance this won't take off (if at all) until after the women in music tournament, but I thought it was a fun idea, so I at least wanted to put it out there as a way to expose more people on the forum to global music.

Finalists:
France
Germany
Italy
Portugal
Spain
The United Kingdom

Semi-Finalists:
Albania
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Georgia
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Moldova
Montenegro
The Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine

Other Countries:
Andorra
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Monaco
Morocco
Slovakia
Turkey

[StevieFan13]

For the hell of it, here's my UK top 10, and I'll do top 10s for the others when I've done brief refreshers on their music (though I know #1 songs for each of them). I'd emphasize picking pop songs over artsy stuff, but given this forum, a competition between Kraftwerk and Bjork and Gavin Bryars and Jacques Brel would be even more fun, so don't mind me.

1. The Beatles - From Me to You
2. David Bowie - Starman
3. George Michael - Faith
4. Nik Kershaw - The Riddle
5. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
6. One Direction - Steal My Girl
7. Charli XCX - Boom Clap
8. The Smiths - Panic
9. Oasis - Don't Look Back in Anger
10. The Pretenders - Brass in Pocket

(Side note: I considered doing a modified version of the common ESC practice of having someone from one country represent another, in this case meaning an artist from one country who found most of their success in another [that would've qualified, say, Kylie Minogue for the UK list], but it'd just make things more confusing, so no).

[spiritualized]

Lol San Marino ? If it gets a song in, I think you ought to include the Vatican

[StevieFan13]

Lol San Marino ? If it gets a song in, I think you ought to include the Vatican

Too true! They just keep sending the same person to the actual contest. I’m starting to wonder if they literally have no other singers.

[bonnielaurel]

I like the idea of doing one country a week or so. I know good things from Finland, Azarbadjan, Poland and Estonia, but nothing from Montenegro, Latvia or San Marino. The U.K. could be split up into England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I suppose we don't follow the maximum three minute rule?

My UK top 10:
1. The Beatles - Yesterday
2. Sting - Fragile
3. Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
4. Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
5. Sade - No Ordinary Love
6. George Michael - One More Try
7. The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
8. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
9. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
10. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

[StevieFan13]

I like the idea of doing one country a week or so. I know good things from Finland, Azarbadjan, Poland and Estonia, but nothing from Montenegro, Latvia or San Marino. The U.K. could be split up into England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I suppose we don't follow the maximum three minute rule?

My UK top 10:
1. The Beatles - Yesterday
2. Sting - Fragile
3. Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights
4. Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
5. Sade - No Ordinary Love
6. George Michael - One More Try
7. The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
8. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
9. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
10. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black

Good picks! And yeah, some countries may be subbed out (can’t think of much from San Marino, but I feel like you could dig up some good Turkish stuff). And we’re also doing away with the three minutes rule and the no politics rule (the latter in part because I kind of want to nominate Beds Are Burning as a possible Australian representative).

[StevieFan13]

I also don’t mind the diving up of the U.K. - hypothetically, we could pick a top 5 or so from each sect, match up the winners for each, and the ultimate victor goes on to represent the U.K. as a whole, but it might drag the process out more.
To illustrate: say we decide Yesterday wins for England, I Love You Always Forever wins for Wales, Into the Mystic wins for Northern Ireland, and Take Me Out wins for Scotland. We match them up, say Yesterday and Take Me Out win each bracket, and then whichever wins that represents the U.K.

[StevieFan13]

Also: what say you guys to evening out the finals for this year by automatically qualifying the country that won Eurovision this year? So, since Portugal won this year, I’ll add them to the final as well.

[StevieFan13]

For reference, this YT channel had a similar idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAhh5SZ3C-4