esctoday.com TOP TEN: No. 5 and 4

by Marcus Klier 64 views

The ninth esctoday.com TOP TEN list continues today with the places 5 and 4 being announced. As revealed on Saturday, this week's topic are the TOP TEN fallen favourites.

The list features acts and songs that have been considered favourites to win the Eurovision Song Contest according to bookmakers, media and predictions. Fan favourites (e.g. as detemined in OGAE votings) will not be onsidered. The ranking is based on the placing an entry achieved in the contest compared to the number of contestants competing. (In the years since 2004, if an entry reached the final, the number of contestants in the final is considered but if an entry was elminated in the semi final, the total number of contestants is considered. This is due to the fact that betting odds and predictions are usually updated after the semi final results are in.)

So we continue…

No. 5 – Matia Bazar with Raggio de luna (Italy 1979)

In 1979, Italy was once again represented by a popular act and former San Remo winner. Band Matia Bazar, who would have their biggest successes in the 1980s, went to Jerusalem with their song Raggio di luna. The 1979 contest was considered a more open race than previous editions, but the Italian entry was one of the favourites to win along with the entries from Israel and France. Raggio di luna was also the first song ever not to use the orchestra.

The entry was performed second on the night and if there is actually a "curse of no. 2" it might have been the reason for the failure, although the song might have also not been catchy enough in the years when the contest was dominated by Europop and classic French ballads. The live performance also has often been described as mediocre. Matia Bazar finished 15th among the 19 participants, which was the second worst result for an Italian entry to that date. However, the song got 27 points in total – eight from Portugal, eight from Spain and eight from Finland as well as three from Norway. All other countries gave no points to Italy that year.

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

No. 4 – DJ BoBo with Vampires are alive (Switzerland 2007)

In 2007, Switzerland sent its biggest star to the Eurovision Song Contest: DJ BoBo, who had become famous in the 1990s with a series of Eurodance hit songs. Already before his song was presented, he went to the top spots in the predictions, especially after he had announced that his song would be created in a style that people in Eastern Europe tend to like. Switzerland was still considered a favourite after the song had premiered, but it dropped a bit in the predictions after the first rehearsals already.

Vampires are alive was no success after all. In the semi final, the song finished in 20th place thus not even making it to the final. 40 points were given to Switzerland and the highest vote came from Malta: ten points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGUHbg2r4_I

Tomorrow, we will introduce no. 3 and 2 on the list.