Eurovision - The Europeon Idol before American Idol
I must confess I never heard of Eurovision until recently. It is a huge annual European singing contest which attracts hundreds of millions of viewers. To give you some idea how big this is, American Idol, the top rated show in the U.S., draws about 30 million viewers each week - a small audience compared to Eurovision. The Eurovision competition is simple enough. Sort of like an Olympics for songs and singers. Each country submits a song and a singer (or singing group) into the competition and then casts a vote for a winner. The competition has been going on since 1956.
I heard about this competition while watching the biography of ABBA. ABBA, worldwide sales of 370 million records, is exceeded only by Elvis and the Beatles. At its peak, it was the second biggest Swedish corporation next to Volvo and produced one pop hit after another. I happened to be in Sweden on a business trip when Waterloo was first released. The beat and tune was intoxicating and everyone was dancing to it. It reminded me of the Chubby Checker’s Twist. In 1974, ABBA unanimously won the Eurovision contest for Waterloo. Here is a link to that winning performance. ABBA went for it and did it. If you feel link dancing then just get up and dance!
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