In 2005, one of the big eurovision stories was 'Big Four, Bottom Four', in 2006, there was little improvement. 2005 also marked the first year in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest when none of the 'Big Four' could be found amongst the top ten! Last year France scored a pitiful 5 points to prevent a French whitewash in Athens. The UK finished with 25 points, just seven points more than their 2005 total, but it was enough to avoid the bottom four this time, albeit by one place. Spain picked up only 18 points and Germany led the financial big-hitters of Eurovision in 14th place, despite being one of the favourites to win the competition. They scored only 34 points, only 7.65% of the total available, compared to winning Finland's 65.77%.
All four countries are promising something big for 2007! Spain has switched to a drawn out national selection process for both the participant and the song, which kicked off in style last night and received respectable viewing figures following a massive pre-show publicity campaign. Interest in Spain for the Eurovision Song Contest this year is the highest in Decades.
Germany have annouced two of the three acts for their national final. They include the biggest band of the moment, Monrose the 2006 Pop Idols show winners. They have recently achieved the tough dream of simultaneous number ones in both the singles and albu charts in their homeland and their music has quickly spread to neighbouring countries. Monrose will be seen as hot favourites to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest whoever the third announced act is. They are set to provide the kind of song that will be popular with Eurovision fans and stand a strong chance of pushing Germany well inside the top 10 in Helsinki.
France have announced a slightly complicated selection process, with five television channels each selecting two acts for their national final. 2007 marks France's 50th Eurovision Song Contest entry and popular Head of Delegation, Bruno Berberes is promising something extra special as five-time winners France attempt to end a 30 year exodus from the winners' podium, their last win coming back in 1977.
Less is known about the United Kingdom, with no confirmed plans for the national selection program yet. No news may indeed be good news, as the news that they BBC are in talks with Morrissey received almost unprecedented news coverage yesterday, with hourly reports on the coropation's news channel and stories from esctoday.com and reuters reaching everywhere from CNN to Australian local newspapers. Following Daz Sampson's high profile participation for the United Kingdom last year, and subsequent landing of a major record deal with Ministry of Sound, he has helped dispell the myth that participation for the United Kingdom is damaging for an artist's credibility.
HAVE YOUR SAY
So, will 2007 mark the end of the poor fortunes of the Eurovision Song Contest 'Big Four' club? Results in recent years strongly suggest that songs participating in the Semi Final have an advantage when they perform in the final. In 2006, all 10 qualifying countries reached a top half position on the final scoreboard. In the previous three years since the semi final was introcuced to the competition, only Spain has reached a top ten position.
Do you think that the Big Four will improve their standing at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest? Do you think that they suffer by automatically qualifying for the final every year? Does the Big Four suffer purely because they are the Big Four? Have your say in the reactions section below.
