1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:27,639
Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to

2
00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,280
Speaker 1: the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so

3
00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,320
Speaker 1: much for tuning in. Let's hear it for the man,

4
00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:41,800
Speaker 1: the myth our super producer Max Uh think about things, Williams.

5
00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:47,920
Speaker 2: What what? What? What? What? Max? The more you know Williams. Wait, No, Ben,

6
00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:53,400
Speaker 2: you were referencing a Doddy FREYERTI oh, yes, our Dotti

7
00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:58,400
Speaker 2: from the Nordic climbs of Iceland. Way No, Iceland's the

8
00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,000
Speaker 2: Green One, Greenland's the Cold One.

9
00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:04,280
Speaker 1: Ah Yes, classic bait and switch. I am Ben bowling

10
00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:08,319
Speaker 1: for the purposes of this show, that is, mister Noel Brown.

11
00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,240
Speaker 1: We are talking about something as very exciting for us

12
00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:18,600
Speaker 1: and may well end up being a two part series. Guys, Guys, Eurovision.

13
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,160
Speaker 2: Is this like a special pair of glasses that makes

14
00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,480
Speaker 2: everyone look like they're eating bars of chocolate and smoking cigarettes?

15
00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:27,800
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I think we're still in the

16
00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:30,160
Speaker 1: brainstorming phase. That's pretty cool.

17
00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:31,160
Speaker 2: I like that, bitch.

18
00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:37,399
Speaker 1: We also know it as the Eurovision Song Contest.

19
00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, folks stateside who maybe aren't familiar and maybe the

20
00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,440
Speaker 2: closest analog over here might be something in the neighborhood

21
00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:52,960
Speaker 2: of American Idol, a talent show extravaganza featuring performances by

22
00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,760
Speaker 2: various artists, in this case singing original songs, and then

23
00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,760
Speaker 2: they are judged. But I believe in euro Vision, man,

24
00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,680
Speaker 2: it is a much more of a democratic process rather

25
00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,680
Speaker 2: than Simon Cowell or Randy what's his face just telling

26
00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:10,040
Speaker 2: you he's not feeling a dog.

27
00:02:10,520 --> 00:02:14,600
Speaker 1: Oh. Democratic, What an interesting word to use for this.

28
00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,799
Speaker 1: Also known as the Colkus Revision de la Chanceon, it's

29
00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,320
Speaker 1: a huge deal across the pond. Almost every year since

30
00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:33,440
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six, various countries, not all of which are

31
00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,600
Speaker 1: in Europe, submit an original song that is supposed to

32
00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:42,240
Speaker 1: represent their culture, and it has performed and broadcast live

33
00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:47,799
Speaker 1: via the Eurovision and euro Radio networks. Noel, this thing

34
00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:52,480
Speaker 1: is nuts. It is way before the autre spectacles of

35
00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,000
Speaker 1: American performance shows like The Voice or America's Got Talent

36
00:02:57,240 --> 00:02:59,720
Speaker 1: or that other one you mentioned, what was that.

37
00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:03,240
Speaker 2: Again, American Idol, which I've always found funny. The idea

38
00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,440
Speaker 2: of a pop idol, it just seems very inherently sacrilegious,

39
00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,880
Speaker 2: especially being that we are such a you know, a

40
00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,200
Speaker 2: religious country these days. We're not supposed to worship idols right.

41
00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:19,720
Speaker 1: Right now, Far before these American performance shows, Eurovision brought

42
00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:24,600
Speaker 1: this stunning, electric, occasionally downright bizarre music to the masses,

43
00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:27,680
Speaker 1: and we're going to argue that it has gone far

44
00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,360
Speaker 1: beyond your typical songwriting or talent show.

45
00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:32,160
Speaker 2: Now.

46
00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:37,160
Speaker 1: It is an acknowledged example of what we call soft diplomacy.

47
00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:42,680
Speaker 2: Soft diplomacy. Indeed, it is a way of reaching across

48
00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:50,240
Speaker 2: geographical and ideological barriers in order to you know, mend

49
00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:54,880
Speaker 2: fences and to make peace, not war, at least in theory.

50
00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:59,480
Speaker 1: In theory, in theory, right yeah, just like communism. It's

51
00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:05,680
Speaker 1: great and let's get into it. While Eurovision officially launched

52
00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,680
Speaker 1: way back in nineteen fifty six, we can argue the

53
00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,800
Speaker 1: real story begins a few years earlier in son Remo,

54
00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,920
Speaker 1: Italy or son Remo Italy if you want to be that.

55
00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:17,480
Speaker 2: Guy about it.

56
00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,520
Speaker 1: That is the home of the son Remo Musical Festival

57
00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:22,920
Speaker 1: or music festival.

58
00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:26,920
Speaker 2: I do love a good music band ben the San

59
00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,919
Speaker 2: Ramo Music Festival. The first edition of this fest in

60
00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,599
Speaker 2: San Ramo, Italy was held between the twenty ninth and

61
00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:38,200
Speaker 2: thirty first of January in nineteen fifty one, and ever

62
00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:42,440
Speaker 2: since then it has happened more or less every single year,

63
00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:46,840
Speaker 2: making it the longest running annual television music competitions and

64
00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,599
Speaker 2: one of the longest running TV programs overall in the world.

65
00:04:50,920 --> 00:04:51,760
Speaker 1: Isn't that crazy?

66
00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,800
Speaker 2: It's pretty cool, man, I think it's pretty Italians did

67
00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:55,160
Speaker 2: it first.

68
00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,560
Speaker 1: The Italians. Italians do it better, it in a more

69
00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:06,200
Speaker 1: stylish way. The Italian contest highlights composers rather than singers themselves,

70
00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:11,640
Speaker 1: and it captivated regional audiences. It also inspired a ton

71
00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,839
Speaker 1: of people in the media landscape, especially a guy named

72
00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:20,880
Speaker 1: Marcel Besencolt. He's a Swiss journalist. He's a medium mogle,

73
00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:26,000
Speaker 1: he's top brass. He's the director of the European Broadcasting

74
00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,200
Speaker 1: Union between nineteen fifty four and nineteen seventy, so he's

75
00:05:30,279 --> 00:05:32,440
Speaker 1: kind of liked their Lorne Michaels.

76
00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:34,920
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting, Ben, because the idea of the early

77
00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:39,400
Speaker 2: versions of what we're talking about today featuring composers makes

78
00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,800
Speaker 2: a whole lot of sense. In the fifties, especially in Europe,

79
00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,600
Speaker 2: but even in the United States. I mean, composers were

80
00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:46,640
Speaker 2: kind of the first rock stars, kind of the first

81
00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:52,320
Speaker 2: pop stars, and classical music, even contemporary classical music was

82
00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,000
Speaker 2: you know, occupying a similar space to what we think

83
00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:59,320
Speaker 2: of today, as you know the top forty hits. Right,

84
00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:01,440
Speaker 2: oh yeah, just so, And if.

85
00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:03,200
Speaker 3: I can jump in here real quick, I've just gone

86
00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,560
Speaker 3: down a rabbit hole recently watching old Simpson's clips and

87
00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:08,960
Speaker 3: it's really enjoyablecause you remember how great the show is.

88
00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,200
Speaker 3: And there's one from like I guess it was like

89
00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,120
Speaker 3: they saw spinal Tap play and there's a riot afterwards,

90
00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,159
Speaker 3: and the Natives reporter Ken Brockman's like, so, like, you know,

91
00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,640
Speaker 3: here's my two cents on this is rock concert. Why

92
00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:24,680
Speaker 3: we have riots? No, people were rioting from mostart back

93
00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,960
Speaker 3: in the day. So my solution, let's ban all music.

94
00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:31,800
Speaker 2: Right classic Ken, He walked down the street for that one.

95
00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:33,960
Speaker 2: But I mean no, he's referencing, of course, the riots

96
00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,080
Speaker 2: that took place like during the Rights of Spring by Stravinsky,

97
00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:42,920
Speaker 2: which was famously such an alarmingly ooh tree, an outlandish

98
00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:45,760
Speaker 2: piece of modern classical music that went against all of

99
00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,279
Speaker 2: the kind of traditional standards that people were used to

100
00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,400
Speaker 2: for classical music, like atonality and having a lot more

101
00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:55,200
Speaker 2: dissonance and you know, just kind of aggressive, you know,

102
00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,040
Speaker 2: music that also had some pretty aggressive dancing that went

103
00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:00,520
Speaker 2: along with it. It did lead to riots when it

104
00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:01,400
Speaker 2: was premiered.

105
00:07:01,440 --> 00:07:06,159
Speaker 1: Right, it also calls to mind the phenomenon of Listomania.

106
00:07:06,279 --> 00:07:11,880
Speaker 1: Shout out to Phoenix another Europe France and in nineteen

107
00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:16,360
Speaker 1: fifty four, the year hour Pal Marcel becomes the director

108
00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:20,560
Speaker 1: of the European Broadcasting Union. He arrives at this new

109
00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,640
Speaker 1: position with a preloaded pitch. He says, why not take

110
00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,679
Speaker 1: what they're doing at San Remo and go bigger with it? Now,

111
00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:35,600
Speaker 1: to Marcel, this has a huge profit motivation because if

112
00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,160
Speaker 1: they can make a show like What's happening in Italy

113
00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:43,680
Speaker 1: and they can broadcast it throughout Europe, then they're going

114
00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:46,280
Speaker 1: to save a lot of money because now they have

115
00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:49,400
Speaker 1: the same program right, so that they don't have to

116
00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,880
Speaker 1: pay extra one per one. They just have to send

117
00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:58,480
Speaker 1: this thing out to wherever they can. And he also

118
00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:02,560
Speaker 1: he got a little bit on a soapbox about this,

119
00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,240
Speaker 1: and he was saying, hey, guys, we're gonna make a

120
00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,200
Speaker 1: lot of money, We're gonna save a lot of money.

121
00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:11,400
Speaker 1: But this is more than a neat television program. This

122
00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:14,840
Speaker 1: is a way for us to unite the nations of

123
00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:19,200
Speaker 1: post war Europe again. Nineteen fifty four. Right, so World

124
00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,560
Speaker 1: War two has already happened. But we need to keep

125
00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,840
Speaker 1: in mind that even a decade pasted the end of

126
00:08:26,880 --> 00:08:30,760
Speaker 1: World War Two, Europe was still pretty much wrecked. Like

127
00:08:30,840 --> 00:08:34,880
Speaker 1: it was not ideal, No, no, it was definitely a yeah.

128
00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:37,920
Speaker 1: When they say post war, they get it was in

129
00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:42,640
Speaker 1: the shambles. The infrastructure was, you know, very very significantly.

130
00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:45,480
Speaker 2: Damaged, as was morale. So people needed something, you know,

131
00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,320
Speaker 2: something peppy enough beat to focus on, and something that

132
00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:53,720
Speaker 2: could potentially unite the different countries in Europe that maybe

133
00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:56,280
Speaker 2: had some beef with one another. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

134
00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:59,880
Speaker 1: We have to recall that unlike the United States, which

135
00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:04,439
Speaker 1: managed to preserve the vast majority of its infrastructure and economy,

136
00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:08,640
Speaker 1: the Great War of World War Two left a lot

137
00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:13,079
Speaker 1: of Europe just absolutely wrecked and demolished. People are still

138
00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:16,720
Speaker 1: trying to rebuild by the mid nineteen fifties. And there

139
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,440
Speaker 1: are countries that have been enemies during the war. There

140
00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:23,920
Speaker 1: are countries that had also historically been dixed to each

141
00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:28,600
Speaker 1: other for centuries before. It's not as if an official

142
00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:32,280
Speaker 1: peace treaty he suddenly made all these folks BFFs.

143
00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,400
Speaker 2: No, No, absolutely not. And a lot of these simmering resentments,

144
00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:41,000
Speaker 2: of course, remained, and what better to get some folks

145
00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,400
Speaker 2: to simmer down from some of those resentments than to

146
00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:46,559
Speaker 2: unite them through song. At least that's what Marcel was thinking.

147
00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:48,360
Speaker 2: He was looking at this situation as a kind of

148
00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,080
Speaker 2: win win. There's a lot of power in unifying people

149
00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:54,160
Speaker 2: through the shared love of music. And of course he

150
00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,600
Speaker 2: was not blind to the potential profits that there were

151
00:09:57,720 --> 00:09:59,280
Speaker 2: to make bling.

152
00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:01,640
Speaker 1: Bling every time time I come around your city. Right,

153
00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:07,800
Speaker 1: So the first official Eurovision conte Oh spoiler, Marcel's plan works.

154
00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:12,040
Speaker 1: So the first official Eurovision contest takes place on May

155
00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:16,960
Speaker 1: twenty fourth in Switzerland in nineteen fifty six. And this

156
00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:21,719
Speaker 1: is historic for multiple reasons, the chief of which is

157
00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,200
Speaker 1: that it was one of the earliest attempts in all

158
00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:30,920
Speaker 1: of history to broadcast a live, televised event to a

159
00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:35,280
Speaker 1: huge international market. Now, this is not the Eurovision that

160
00:10:35,320 --> 00:10:37,800
Speaker 1: you're going to see in twenty twenty seven or anything

161
00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:40,760
Speaker 1: like that. There were only a few countries that took

162
00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:44,040
Speaker 1: part in the contest. Nol And there's some of our favorites.

163
00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:49,480
Speaker 1: There's Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg. What are you guys

164
00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:53,959
Speaker 1: doing the scamps, the Netherlands and swits Ridge, I know,

165
00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,440
Speaker 1: right also, but we got to think about this. Nineteen

166
00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:02,439
Speaker 1: fifty six Germany like the main bad guys of World

167
00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:03,520
Speaker 1: War two.

168
00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:05,120
Speaker 2: Bad they were the baddies.

169
00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:09,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, and now they're going, well, let's see if Vickan

170
00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:11,600
Speaker 1: sing a song, they can.

171
00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,319
Speaker 2: Yeah. The journal has a lovely, lovely tradition of song.

172
00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:17,559
Speaker 2: So the first.

173
00:11:17,400 --> 00:11:22,640
Speaker 1: Edition again is so different from the spectacle we know today.

174
00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:26,760
Speaker 1: You could not have a musical group. So if Max

175
00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:31,480
Speaker 1: mill yours truly and all our fellow ridiculous historians to

176
00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:36,040
Speaker 1: get together and we have a banger song representing the Netherlands,

177
00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:38,240
Speaker 1: they're not going to let us in. It can only

178
00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:42,679
Speaker 1: be for the first year a single singer. The song

179
00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:47,520
Speaker 1: cannot be longer than three and a half minutes. And

180
00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:50,000
Speaker 1: as sort of a fig leaf for an olive branch,

181
00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:55,560
Speaker 1: you get a twenty four piece orchestra accompanying you. You

182
00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,360
Speaker 1: also get two chances. You get two chances.

183
00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:00,600
Speaker 2: Yeah. This is also back in the day where like

184
00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:05,559
Speaker 2: you know, you had symphony orchestras associated with different broadcast

185
00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:09,320
Speaker 2: companies and you know, like the RCA Radio Orchestra, and

186
00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:12,160
Speaker 2: so much of this stuff was performed live, and again,

187
00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,400
Speaker 2: we are still very much in the heyday of classical

188
00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,640
Speaker 2: music being king, you know, and I mean a lot

189
00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:22,400
Speaker 2: of times like these pop songs or early sort of

190
00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:26,200
Speaker 2: proto versions of pop songs were kind of looked down upon.

191
00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:29,080
Speaker 2: So we're starting to kind of see a combination of

192
00:12:29,120 --> 00:12:33,360
Speaker 2: those things, and we're starting to see the earliest emergence

193
00:12:33,559 --> 00:12:38,720
Speaker 2: of the singer songwriters solo pop kind of persona.

194
00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:43,280
Speaker 1: Sure. Yeah, again, the demi gods, the idols. Right in

195
00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:47,480
Speaker 1: a secular world where you know, spirits and gods are

196
00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:51,720
Speaker 1: not necessarily real, what do you worship celebrities? They took

197
00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:57,800
Speaker 1: that position in society. You also in your nineteen fifty

198
00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:02,880
Speaker 1: six inaugural Eurovision and uh, you get to submit as

199
00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,840
Speaker 1: a country two songs, but they don't have to be

200
00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:10,920
Speaker 1: performed by the same artists. So I could have Max

201
00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:15,320
Speaker 1: Vogan Flu name I made up for you, Max, especially.

202
00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:21,079
Speaker 3: Maxic that actually birth names so low.

203
00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,840
Speaker 2: But you know what, good eye you buddy, So.

204
00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:26,840
Speaker 1: We could have You're welcome buckeroo, we could have we

205
00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:31,720
Speaker 1: could have Vogan Flu do uh two songs by himself

206
00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,280
Speaker 1: with the orchestra, or we could have Max do one

207
00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,320
Speaker 1: song and then we could pull another you know, up

208
00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:43,440
Speaker 1: and comer uh to a second song. And the contestants

209
00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:47,720
Speaker 1: originally get evaluated by a bunch of reps from these

210
00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:51,199
Speaker 1: different countries, and they give you points for each performance.

211
00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:55,960
Speaker 1: Each country sends two jury members over to watch the

212
00:13:56,040 --> 00:14:01,240
Speaker 1: show in Switzerland and they cast their votes in secret. Noel,

213
00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:03,600
Speaker 1: but it's super biased.

214
00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:05,920
Speaker 2: For sure. And I'd love to just correct a statement

215
00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:08,559
Speaker 2: that I made earlier. Less than the American Idol heads

216
00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:11,200
Speaker 2: out there are yelling at their podcast device, there is,

217
00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:16,400
Speaker 2: of course a voting, a viewer voting component to American Idol.

218
00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:18,600
Speaker 2: I made it sound like it was all about Randy

219
00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:23,280
Speaker 2: and Simon and you know whatever, Paula, you know, make

220
00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,520
Speaker 2: him the call. Ultimately, they are the ones that call

221
00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,000
Speaker 2: the herd, let's just say, you know, and they're the

222
00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,480
Speaker 2: ones that are kicking folks to the curb who don't

223
00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:33,960
Speaker 2: have what it takes to make the finals. Once we

224
00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,200
Speaker 2: have that you know, crew assembled of the finalists, then

225
00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:41,240
Speaker 2: I believe every episode involves in the ability to vote

226
00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:42,120
Speaker 2: from home.

227
00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,400
Speaker 3: Yeah, to jump in here, since we're talking about American Idol,

228
00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:48,120
Speaker 3: can y'all. You know, they just revived American Idol, can y'all,

229
00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:53,720
Speaker 3: name the judges. Hell, no, no, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan

230
00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:55,120
Speaker 3: and Lionel Ritchie.

231
00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:02,480
Speaker 2: They're both country people two thirds of the country, folks.

232
00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:04,080
Speaker 1: Is that a real name?

233
00:15:04,520 --> 00:15:08,720
Speaker 2: Luke Bryan is a is a famous country singer? On purpose? Huh?

234
00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:09,360
Speaker 2: On purpose?

235
00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:10,000
Speaker 1: Oh cool?

236
00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:14,080
Speaker 2: Lionel Richie, though I've not this is no, no, that's

237
00:15:14,160 --> 00:15:17,680
Speaker 2: I don't have the greatest confidence in this paneling judges. Guys.

238
00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,240
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's been He's been doing a lot of stuff

239
00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:21,520
Speaker 1: as young Lionel.

240
00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:24,880
Speaker 2: It just it just feels like a bit of a

241
00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,280
Speaker 2: half hearted reboot, is what I'm getting at.

242
00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:29,920
Speaker 3: I mean, Ryan Seacrest is still there. And I don't

243
00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:32,760
Speaker 3: know how I've told you all this, but I I

244
00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,280
Speaker 3: graduated from the same high school that Ryan Seacrest went to.

245
00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:37,880
Speaker 2: That's like he's our co he's our coworker by they.

246
00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:41,200
Speaker 3: Technically technically yeah, that's like, that's like my high school's

247
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,120
Speaker 3: like one claim to fame they have. At least when

248
00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:46,160
Speaker 3: I was there, they had football jersey up in the

249
00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,760
Speaker 3: lot in the weight room, people like when you played football,

250
00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,160
Speaker 3: and like, yeah, I honestly think he was the kicker.

251
00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:53,840
Speaker 2: He is a handsome man with the gift of gab

252
00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,520
Speaker 2: and it's uh, it's cool.

253
00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:07,200
Speaker 1: To find success in entertainment, it's difficult. So in nineteen

254
00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:14,360
Speaker 1: fifty six, these seven participating countries and their broadcast arms.

255
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:19,520
Speaker 1: They're saying, we're going to cast our votes. We're going

256
00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:22,480
Speaker 1: to cast our votes in secret. So at this point

257
00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,920
Speaker 1: the audience is not chiming in even though this is

258
00:16:25,960 --> 00:16:31,080
Speaker 1: a televised event. And get this, our lovable scamps over

259
00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:34,760
Speaker 1: in Luxembourg are not able to make it to the show.

260
00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,160
Speaker 1: I think they were too rich or something with their scheduling.

261
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:45,440
Speaker 1: So their friends, the Swiss representatives, voted on Luxembourg's behalf.

262
00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:50,800
Speaker 1: This was very much a biased affair because these jury

263
00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:56,880
Speaker 1: members were allowed to vote for their own entries. And

264
00:16:56,280 --> 00:17:00,320
Speaker 1: as a result of this, there is a conspiracy see

265
00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:05,560
Speaker 1: that begins in the very first year of Eurovision. People

266
00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:10,480
Speaker 1: still wonder how the votes went, how they should have gone.

267
00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:14,600
Speaker 1: Was the voting rigged the winner was?

268
00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:19,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, a question that's kinda continue and to the president.

269
00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:23,400
Speaker 2: We're gonna get to that in part two of this series.

270
00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:26,120
Speaker 2: But Ben, what was the issue up front? They're already

271
00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:30,720
Speaker 2: having scandal. It's literally year one of Eurovision and there's

272
00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,240
Speaker 2: already a problem with this whole idea of soft diplomacy

273
00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:34,840
Speaker 2: through song.

274
00:17:35,280 --> 00:17:39,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So hypothetically, think of it this way.

275
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:45,960
Speaker 1: We have a country named, in a burst of humility, Benvania, right,

276
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,800
Speaker 1: and the country of Benvania sends its top brass, its

277
00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:51,760
Speaker 1: best and brightest.

278
00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:52,600
Speaker 2: It's envoy.

279
00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:57,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, the two envoys, Noel von Brown and Max

280
00:17:58,000 --> 00:17:59,960
Speaker 1: what was that name? What was your birth name? Again

281
00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,240
Speaker 1: it's lost to history. Okay, Well, it sends these two

282
00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:10,200
Speaker 1: guys to vote on Eurovision, but there's nothing stopping them

283
00:18:10,240 --> 00:18:13,520
Speaker 1: from saying, we're gonna vote Benvania and we're going to

284
00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:20,359
Speaker 1: screw up the whole election. Either way, Switzerland wins the

285
00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:21,000
Speaker 1: first one.

286
00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:22,120
Speaker 2: Ah, the Swiss.

287
00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:24,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, the host country as well.

288
00:18:24,760 --> 00:18:28,080
Speaker 2: Ghost country. Aren't they traditionally kind of known as being

289
00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:35,960
Speaker 2: diplomatically neutral, Yes, they are the neutral country. Issues come

290
00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,840
Speaker 2: up already challenging that neutrality. It seems that there's what's

291
00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,800
Speaker 2: the opposite of neutrality, bias? Yeah, a little bit of that. Yeah,

292
00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:44,359
Speaker 2: well put.

293
00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,960
Speaker 1: The first winner of Eurovision is now known as the

294
00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:53,720
Speaker 1: ground Dome of Eurovision, lis Acia. She performed two songs

295
00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:58,320
Speaker 1: for Switzerland. One was called the Old Carousel. It is

296
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:01,720
Speaker 1: a German language and Noel, could you do me a

297
00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:03,560
Speaker 1: favor and help us out with the pronunciation?

298
00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:06,640
Speaker 2: Ah Ben, you honor me with the opportunity to pronounce

299
00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:08,760
Speaker 2: something in my native tongue. As you know, I was

300
00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:13,560
Speaker 2: once a small German boy. The old carousel or does

301
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:17,800
Speaker 2: alta carousel? Okay, cahoussell, Let's see if we can find

302
00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:18,200
Speaker 2: a clip.

303
00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,720
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah yeah. Also, while you're looking for the clip, King,

304
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,879
Speaker 1: give us that German one more time. But if you

305
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:25,960
Speaker 1: can more emphatic.

306
00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:30,120
Speaker 2: Oh man, thank you so much for the second opportunity

307
00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,000
Speaker 2: to overpronounce something in my native tongue. As you know,

308
00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:38,240
Speaker 2: I was once a German boy. That's alta cows clip.

309
00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:40,840
Speaker 2: Let's roll the clip. We got it, We got it,

310
00:19:40,880 --> 00:20:02,000
Speaker 2: guys by Liz already see how this is like much

311
00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:03,680
Speaker 2: more like a classical piece.

312
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,640
Speaker 1: Definitely sounds yeah, it definitely sounds like. There's twenty four

313
00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:08,720
Speaker 1: people in the orchestra.

314
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:25,120
Speaker 4: N s ferchib.

315
00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,240
Speaker 1: So this is again, as you said, No, this is

316
00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:37,679
Speaker 1: dos alte Carousel, the old Carousel. This is one of

317
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:41,920
Speaker 1: the two songs that the Grand Dame of Eurovision submits,

318
00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,960
Speaker 1: but it is not the one that wins the day.

319
00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:49,920
Speaker 1: Her winning entry is a song in the French language,

320
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,880
Speaker 1: because you know German and French or common languages in Switzerland.

321
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:59,280
Speaker 1: This is a ballad called refrain, So let's play a

322
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:00,040
Speaker 1: little bit of that.

323
00:21:00,040 --> 00:21:03,400
Speaker 2: That one, isn't that a little redundant? Is about like refrain.

324
00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,640
Speaker 2: It just refers to like the chorus. I think that's

325
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:07,720
Speaker 2: so funny. Let's see if we can find.

326
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:30,080
Speaker 1: Here we go, same guys in the orchestra, y'all.

327
00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,280
Speaker 2: I can see why this one won the day though,

328
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:36,040
Speaker 2: because it's a lot more upbeat. That last one was

329
00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:38,359
Speaker 2: kind of a bummer, a little bit of a you know,

330
00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 2: like a wistful, you know, reflection on the past. This

331
00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:46,800
Speaker 2: one kind of bops. Yeah, it's a little sweeter, hotjazz,

332
00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:52,480
Speaker 2: whatever the ear version of mouthfeel is. You know, it's

333
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,720
Speaker 2: a little nicer. And then from there Eurovision is off

334
00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:00,159
Speaker 2: to the races, or in this case, the microphone. More

335
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,320
Speaker 2: and more countries are becoming involved with the show from

336
00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:08,320
Speaker 2: nineteen fifty six and the format kept changing. Right now,

337
00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:12,879
Speaker 2: over forty countries compete, and so the show involves a

338
00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,760
Speaker 2: lot of knockout rounds or semi finals we could call them,

339
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:22,240
Speaker 2: before the finals night occurs. The final night, as we

340
00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,360
Speaker 2: can tell you because we have been watching a lot

341
00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:30,120
Speaker 2: of Eurovision. The final night is pretty long. It's twenty

342
00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,640
Speaker 2: six acts at no more than three minutes each. Getting

343
00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:39,080
Speaker 2: a shot on stage can be complicated, but luckily the

344
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:43,720
Speaker 2: rules to qualify for your performance are pretty simple. They've

345
00:22:43,720 --> 00:22:47,800
Speaker 2: got five rules, and they break the fifth one all

346
00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:54,120
Speaker 2: the time. They sure do, Ben, they sure do. Here

347
00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 2: we go. Rule number one is it must be a

348
00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:04,680
Speaker 2: new song tune, the musical composition and the lyrical content

349
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:07,600
Speaker 2: the libretto right.

350
00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:12,600
Speaker 1: Right, So sorry, Estonia, Norway, there's no death metal version

351
00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:16,800
Speaker 1: of Mary had a little lamb that you can pull off. Yeah, no,

352
00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:17,680
Speaker 1: that'd be fun though.

353
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:19,600
Speaker 2: And can I just add to that, we're not gonna

354
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,119
Speaker 2: play clips throughout this entire series. I think it was

355
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:23,760
Speaker 2: important that we were able to kind of show you

356
00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:26,240
Speaker 2: how it progresses a little bit with some of these

357
00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:28,480
Speaker 2: vintage clips. But of course this would get closer and

358
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,840
Speaker 2: closer to the modern day. We're gonna be hit with

359
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,879
Speaker 2: copyright strikes, so we're gonna do our best to demonstrate

360
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 2: some of the evolution without you know, playing too too

361
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:37,320
Speaker 2: many clips.

362
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:42,320
Speaker 1: Maybe with some bad impressions. Everybody tune in. Also funny, Yeah,

363
00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:46,600
Speaker 1: The second rule sacer sanct is that your performance must

364
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:50,440
Speaker 1: be no longer than three minutes.

365
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,280
Speaker 2: And I will die on this hill. No good pop

366
00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,199
Speaker 2: song worth its salt should be and movies should be

367
00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 2: no more than one point five hours. WHOA, really, I'm

368
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:04,840
Speaker 2: just kidding, but like you know, I do love you know, brevity, man, brevity, brevity,

369
00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:05,840
Speaker 2: so the soul of wit.

370
00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:08,200
Speaker 3: I was talking to my dad about two thousand and

371
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:09,679
Speaker 3: one of Space House and I'm like, Dad, you know

372
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,879
Speaker 3: it's like fifteen movies, it's like forty eight hours longest.

373
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:14,760
Speaker 3: Like it's not my voice four hours longest.

374
00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:16,119
Speaker 2: Well, that it is. Yes.

375
00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:22,320
Speaker 1: I remember when Gettysburg, the not the Battle, the film

376
00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,080
Speaker 1: based on the battle, was out in theaters and they

377
00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:29,720
Speaker 1: had an intermission and I thought we could leave, but

378
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:31,480
Speaker 1: my creepy family made me stay.

379
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:34,359
Speaker 2: Oh man, I do remember the good old days where

380
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:36,919
Speaker 2: movies like that of that length had to be served

381
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,159
Speaker 2: up to you on two rubber banded VHS tapes that

382
00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:41,879
Speaker 2: would like flop together. That's right.

383
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:45,240
Speaker 1: Oh did I ever tell you guys? My first time

384
00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:52,040
Speaker 1: seeing The Godfather's series was through VHS tape and it

385
00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:55,919
Speaker 1: was it was exactly what you're describing, Nol. This was

386
00:24:56,000 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 1: blockbuster for anybody who was also old at last video. Yeah,

387
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,199
Speaker 1: and they had the two VHS tapes and of rubber

388
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:07,040
Speaker 1: banded together, but they put the tapes in the wrong order.

389
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:11,480
Speaker 1: So I'm watching this, I'm thinking, whoa, this is so nonlinear.

390
00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:17,640
Speaker 1: This is groundbreaking, crazy artistry in the forefront. What's going

391
00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 1: to happen has already happened. And then later one of

392
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,560
Speaker 1: my friends said, hey, man, you know they have a

393
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,240
Speaker 1: little sticker on the tapes. One one says number one

394
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:31,840
Speaker 1: and the other says number two.

395
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,600
Speaker 2: It's sad that we're not going to make that kind

396
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 2: of mistake so much anymore, you know. In the well, actually,

397
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 2: that's not true. I have accidentally started watching the last

398
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 2: episode of a series on streaming before and not understand

399
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 2: that that's what was happening, And then also had a

400
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,879
Speaker 2: similar thought, whoa, this is wild. They're just dropping me

401
00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:51,680
Speaker 2: in and Minie Rres I'm supposed to like, No, I

402
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:53,800
Speaker 2: don't know this is I'm here for it, but I

403
00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,560
Speaker 2: have I have spoiled a handful of series for myself

404
00:25:56,560 --> 00:25:59,160
Speaker 2: that way. Where are we at with rules?

405
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:03,040
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the main thing is, just like podcasting, you

406
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:08,120
Speaker 1: cannot do lip syncing, so vast apologies to Kid Rock.

407
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:13,639
Speaker 1: All the song shots fired, Brosby sung live, Oh No,

408
00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,560
Speaker 1: you're right, performed live. I wouldn't call what he does singing.

409
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:21,200
Speaker 2: No, my god, Ben, who hurt you? Was it? Kid Rock?

410
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:22,320
Speaker 2: Where is Kid?

411
00:26:22,640 --> 00:26:26,520
Speaker 1: Where is Kid? He's definitely not at Eurovision because no

412
00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:31,159
Speaker 1: lip syncing is allowed and no are tripling. Our fourth

413
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:39,400
Speaker 1: rule is our fourth rule is I think probably? I

414
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:42,360
Speaker 1: think it's an apology to the backstage production.

415
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 2: I get it. And this is also the kind of

416
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,400
Speaker 2: thing that could evolves as a show, and a production

417
00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 2: like this evolves because as we know, of course, big

418
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 2: you know, singing groups, boy bands, girl groups, things like

419
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,399
Speaker 2: that became very in vogue. But initially they had the

420
00:26:57,440 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 2: rule of no more than six people on stage, which

421
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:02,040
Speaker 2: seemed to beat to your point, Ben, a way of

422
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:08,200
Speaker 2: mitigating chaos and nightmarish you know, changeovers between sets.

423
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 1: And this brings us to the number five rule, the

424
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:17,440
Speaker 1: most important one, which is also the slipperiest and also

425
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:24,160
Speaker 1: the rule that is most broken most years. No politics.

426
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 1: All right, So if we're Chechia, or if we're hungry,

427
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,720
Speaker 1: or the United Kingdom or Israel, which we'll get to

428
00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:35,480
Speaker 1: in part two, then your stuff is supposed to be

429
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,439
Speaker 1: a political It's just supposed to be a cool bop

430
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,960
Speaker 1: that is not more than three minutes long.

431
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:43,960
Speaker 2: I mean, let's be real, man, this is an unrealistic

432
00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:50,359
Speaker 2: and unreasonable expectation for a competition that was started with

433
00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:54,439
Speaker 2: the acknowledgment that these countries, many of which did not

434
00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 2: like each other, were meant to compete together. You know

435
00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:01,399
Speaker 2: what I mean. I get the sentiments. Heart is in

436
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,640
Speaker 2: the right place, but it's also a little bit pie

437
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,639
Speaker 2: in the sky. So while Eurovision was always intended to

438
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:14,360
Speaker 2: be a political there have been many scandals and trends

439
00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:18,359
Speaker 2: towards political voting, where countries vote for their neighbors and

440
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,920
Speaker 2: shun nations that they'd had issues within the past. This

441
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,360
Speaker 2: has been combated to a certain degree by introducing more

442
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,720
Speaker 2: national juries who have their professional judgment added in with

443
00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:32,320
Speaker 2: the public vote. But let's be real, man, Whenever there's

444
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:36,440
Speaker 2: voting involvement, it's called voting. If politics baby.

445
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 1: Right, exactly, Yeah, it's called voting. I love that, actually, Max,

446
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: Can you do me a favor and play that back

447
00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 1: as a clip of Noel saying that nol, I'm going

448
00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:47,640
Speaker 1: to make you hear yourself.

449
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:49,200
Speaker 2: It's called voting.

450
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,720
Speaker 1: It's called voting brilliant exactly.

451
00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:55,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, I coined the term, by the way.

452
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,680
Speaker 1: And so with that, folks, we have to tell you

453
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:10,360
Speaker 1: a little bit about how Eurovision works now and with

454
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:16,280
Speaker 1: great affection, with profound love, we want you to know

455
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:21,240
Speaker 1: this is kind of ridiculous. So every country that participates

456
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 1: in Eurovision has their own sort of bush league or

457
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:30,040
Speaker 1: farm league selection process. That's how they choose one original song,

458
00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,800
Speaker 1: one act. It can take a couple of different forms,

459
00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:39,440
Speaker 1: like there may be regionally or nationally known artist who

460
00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:44,440
Speaker 1: gets approached by that country's government and that government says, hey,

461
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,800
Speaker 1: you're the you know, you're the hottest ticket in Romania.

462
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 1: You should sing your song that you did earlier. That'll

463
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:55,440
Speaker 1: represent us in Eurovision. Or it might be the next

464
00:29:55,480 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: step for an artist who wins their country's own song compy,

465
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:02,400
Speaker 1: because a lot of them have them at this point.

466
00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:06,280
Speaker 1: So for example, if you are Italian and you win

467
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 1: the San Remo Music Festival, you get what we call

468
00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:14,520
Speaker 1: the first right of refusal to participate in Eurovision.

469
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:17,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I mean, obviously it's a great honor to

470
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:20,960
Speaker 2: be asked, but and most people would, of course, you know,

471
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:25,320
Speaker 2: jump at the chance to represent their country in Eurovision,

472
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 2: but it also doesn't necessarily mean like it's not the

473
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 2: same as American Idol in this respect, American Idol is

474
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 2: about kind of being an unknown and then being elevated

475
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:44,000
Speaker 2: to pop star status, whereas Eurovision the varying degrees of fame,

476
00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,920
Speaker 2: of pre existing fame. They are kind of pre existing

477
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 2: acts or groups that are then seen as a representative

478
00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,520
Speaker 2: of that particular nation, and they may well be incredibly popular,

479
00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 2: but typically that popularity would not extend far beyond the

480
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 2: borders of that particuleicular country.

481
00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:03,680
Speaker 1: Right, you got to have your stripes at least for

482
00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:04,840
Speaker 1: your country.

483
00:31:04,960 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 2: We're going to get into some of our personal favorites

484
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:09,160
Speaker 2: as well. Yeah, some that we've actually seen.

485
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:13,000
Speaker 1: Live, similar to the Olympics, which is kind of what

486
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:18,000
Speaker 1: this is. You might not be the best poll vaulter

487
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,360
Speaker 1: in the world yet, but you kind of have to

488
00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:25,880
Speaker 1: be the best poll vaulter in Poland to get into.

489
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:27,960
Speaker 2: Where all good pole vaulters come from. It's right there

490
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:28,360
Speaker 2: in the name.

491
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:32,160
Speaker 1: Yeah, yep, yep, they do call it Poland. So the

492
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:36,520
Speaker 1: composition of the act has also evolved. It's much broader

493
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:39,760
Speaker 1: than it was originally. So as we said the first

494
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:44,160
Speaker 1: contest they only have solo artists. The next year, nineteen

495
00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,560
Speaker 1: fifty seven, they allow duos. They get a little you know,

496
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:51,680
Speaker 1: Simon and Garfunkel with it, and they continually open the

497
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 1: door to more and more types of acts. So today

498
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,280
Speaker 1: you might see a solo singer, you might see a band,

499
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:04,000
Speaker 1: You might see a nominal dancing turkey puppet, which weirdly enough,

500
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:08,480
Speaker 1: was from Ireland. I wish we could play a clip,

501
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,040
Speaker 1: but it's not going to translate to audio.

502
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,760
Speaker 2: No, Now that's weird, though I don't really think of

503
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,320
Speaker 2: Ireland as being the land of dancing turkeys.

504
00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:18,840
Speaker 1: You got to check out the show Man and so

505
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,760
Speaker 1: the only real rules that hold are a song must

506
00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 1: be brand new, it must be under three minutes, it

507
00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:29,720
Speaker 1: has to be sung live on stage. After that, it's

508
00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,720
Speaker 1: all about spectacle, creativity, showmanship.

509
00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:35,000
Speaker 2: May we say or may I say? And you may

510
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:38,479
Speaker 2: feel free to agree or disagree with me, Ben and Max,

511
00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,640
Speaker 2: But I think the live stand component is so cool

512
00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:44,800
Speaker 2: and so unique, even to this day, where we have

513
00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:49,800
Speaker 2: had a lot made out of another incredibly popular music

514
00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 2: show out of Europe called Top of the Pops, oh

515
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:57,760
Speaker 2: where famously it's great but famously all the band's lip

516
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:01,080
Speaker 2: sync because of the logistics of the production and if

517
00:33:01,120 --> 00:33:03,600
Speaker 2: you're interested in checking out some folks kind of pushing

518
00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:07,040
Speaker 2: back against that. There is an incredible performance of Nirvana

519
00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:10,400
Speaker 2: on Top of the Pops where like he just I

520
00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:14,040
Speaker 2: think Kurt is just like pretending to play guitar, like,

521
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:16,120
Speaker 2: oh my god, he's got like he's like a straight

522
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,600
Speaker 2: hand while strumming the guitar and just kind of like

523
00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 2: basically is just saying blah blah blah and marble mouth

524
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:26,640
Speaker 2: mumbling kind of to the to the playback of smells

525
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 2: like teen Spirits. So the live singing aspect is super

526
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 2: important and relatively rare for live music television shows in Europe.

527
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,280
Speaker 1: Now you can have a backing band. At this point,

528
00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:41,560
Speaker 1: the twenty four piece orchestra is gone.

529
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:43,400
Speaker 2: Yeah you can. You can have that.

530
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,200
Speaker 1: You could have backing you could have a backing track

531
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:50,200
Speaker 1: back in track pop Star, but you will have to

532
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:52,880
Speaker 1: actually be singing. And I also want to give a

533
00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,720
Speaker 1: shout out to the Jules Holland show. Do you guys

534
00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:56,240
Speaker 1: remember him?

535
00:33:56,240 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 2: Incredible, incredible, some fabulous performances. It's called Late Night with

536
00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:05,719
Speaker 2: Later with Jules Holland. Late it's not on. Yeah, it's

537
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:10,160
Speaker 2: called Later with Jules Holland, and you can see incredible

538
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:14,279
Speaker 2: performances of bands from the nineties, I think up through

539
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:17,800
Speaker 2: the two thousand. The Sun is really really fabulous and

540
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:23,960
Speaker 2: they are incredibly well produced and entirely live. Jules Holland

541
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,920
Speaker 2: himself was actually a weird sort of niche pop artist

542
00:34:28,200 --> 00:34:30,680
Speaker 2: in the UK. He's a piano player. And there is

543
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:34,880
Speaker 2: a pretty interesting film, a music film called erg a

544
00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:39,279
Speaker 2: Music War, which highlights a couple of interesting scenes in

545
00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:41,640
Speaker 2: the eighties, one from Los Angeles and one from London

546
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,320
Speaker 2: where you've got bands like the Dead Milkman, Oingo Bueno

547
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:47,600
Speaker 2: featuring Danny Elfman, who of course went on to become

548
00:34:47,640 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 2: a super famous film composer, and Jules Holland is featured

549
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:53,800
Speaker 2: in that as well. So yeah, there's an incredible tradition

550
00:34:54,280 --> 00:35:00,000
Speaker 2: of music performance shows and the music and art documentary

551
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:01,840
Speaker 2: trees that are produced. A lot of these things you

552
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:03,960
Speaker 2: can find on YouTube, but just had to make the

553
00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:07,040
Speaker 2: Top of the Pops comparison. How some of these music shows,

554
00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:12,120
Speaker 2: because of production logistics, did not allow for actual live performance.

555
00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:14,400
Speaker 2: So it's a pretty big deal that from its earliest

556
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 2: days where production technology wasn't nearly where it got to.

557
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,200
Speaker 2: Eurovision was all about that live element.

558
00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:27,960
Speaker 1: And Eurovision when it reaches its apex every year, it

559
00:35:28,040 --> 00:35:31,680
Speaker 1: takes place over three big nights. The thing is a

560
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:36,000
Speaker 1: lot of work goes into selecting those songs in advance,

561
00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 1: so well before those three nights, countries will randomly draw

562
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:46,440
Speaker 1: lots to determine which semi final they are in, and

563
00:35:46,480 --> 00:35:49,759
Speaker 1: then which half of that semi final they are in.

564
00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,920
Speaker 1: From there, it all goes to our producers, our showrunners.

565
00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:57,720
Speaker 1: They arrange the acts in the way that they feel

566
00:35:59,239 --> 00:36:01,279
Speaker 1: has the best pay you know what I mean. So

567
00:36:01,360 --> 00:36:07,239
Speaker 1: they don't want to really slow solo singer ballads one

568
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:10,200
Speaker 1: after the other. Right, they want to paste it out.

569
00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:13,000
Speaker 1: They want to put in their dancing Turkey puppet to

570
00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 1: liven things up. So you might be Ireland and you

571
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:21,600
Speaker 1: might get you might randomly get assigned semi final two

572
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,239
Speaker 1: and first half of that semi final. That means you

573
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:29,080
Speaker 1: are performing earlier in the show that night, but you

574
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:33,680
Speaker 1: don't know exactly where you're placed until the showrunners tell you,

575
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,600
Speaker 1: until they mandate it. And so in each of these

576
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:41,760
Speaker 1: semi finals, they're also mixing up the countries, right only

577
00:36:41,840 --> 00:36:46,400
Speaker 1: the top acts advance to the big night, the grand finale.

578
00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:49,200
Speaker 1: There are some exceptions to this, we'll get to them

579
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:53,399
Speaker 1: in a moment, But that makes sense, right, just from

580
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 1: a production standpoint, like if the if the four of us,

581
00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:01,640
Speaker 1: Max Noll yours truly and you, fellow ridiculous historian, if

582
00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:05,040
Speaker 1: we're the four people who are running the show. We

583
00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:07,600
Speaker 1: wanted to have a good vibe, right, like we want

584
00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:10,720
Speaker 1: to curate it. We want to DJ a little for sure.

585
00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:12,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, we don't want to do any have any train

586
00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,520
Speaker 2: wreck moments, right, that's what they call it when a

587
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,480
Speaker 2: DJ screws up the tree? Is that really what they

588
00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:21,440
Speaker 2: call it? Have you seen? Maybe that's a colloquialism that

589
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:24,239
Speaker 2: it was only in my circles, but it makes sense.

590
00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:26,239
Speaker 2: You can picture it right when you do a bad

591
00:37:26,360 --> 00:37:31,360
Speaker 2: beat match, or you do everything screeching to all God forbid,

592
00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 2: you have dead air, you know?

593
00:37:32,840 --> 00:37:37,160
Speaker 1: Oh right? Yeah, And that's what that's what these show

594
00:37:37,239 --> 00:37:41,040
Speaker 1: runners are terrified of as well. So, okay, we got

595
00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:44,720
Speaker 1: two nights, we got all these semi finals occurring after

596
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,560
Speaker 1: everybody votes, and we'll get to the voting in part two.

597
00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:52,360
Speaker 1: The big day arrives and this is the main event.

598
00:37:52,960 --> 00:37:56,560
Speaker 1: This is where the best of the best caveat Asterisk

599
00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:00,920
Speaker 1: compete for ultimate bragging rights. You get a really cool trophy,

600
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 1: you get a place in music history. And as we

601
00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:09,960
Speaker 1: could tell you folks, the performances are galvanizing. The energy

602
00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:14,759
Speaker 1: is electric. It's a very kinetic sort of situation. Be

603
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:18,680
Speaker 1: amazing to go there live. They have pyrotechnics, you know

604
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: what I mean, Like they have puppetry, they have like

605
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:23,280
Speaker 1: they have people in the air.

606
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:25,799
Speaker 2: It's pretty, of course. No, it's a spectacle, man, it's

607
00:38:25,800 --> 00:38:29,640
Speaker 2: a regular there. We are a regular Empire of the

608
00:38:29,680 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 2: Sun and then insert any other theatrical type performance. But

609
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,640
Speaker 2: it's cool. It has become known as much for its

610
00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:41,880
Speaker 2: music and tunefulness and you know, singing prowass on display

611
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 2: as it has for its spectacle.

612
00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 1: Absolutely one hundred percent. And with this we're going to

613
00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:52,120
Speaker 1: pause on a bit of a cliffhanger. So we've given

614
00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:58,240
Speaker 1: you the ridiculous, well intentioned history and origin story of Eurovision.

615
00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:03,359
Speaker 1: But we have questions to explore in chapter two of

616
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:06,879
Speaker 1: this series. How does the voting actually work? What did

617
00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,080
Speaker 1: we mean when we said soft diplomacy. What's up with

618
00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:14,120
Speaker 1: all these controversies that the guys are referring to and

619
00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:18,080
Speaker 1: what are the weirdest songs from Eurovision? We can't wait

620
00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:22,120
Speaker 1: for you to join us in our second episode on

621
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:26,759
Speaker 1: the ridiculous history of Eurovision. Big big thanks to our

622
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:30,880
Speaker 1: super producer, mister Max Williams. Max, do you have a

623
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:32,480
Speaker 1: favorite Eurovision song?

624
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:33,239
Speaker 4: Yeah?

625
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,200
Speaker 3: I can't remember the name of it. I got two

626
00:39:35,480 --> 00:39:37,560
Speaker 3: they're from the same Eurovision, but it's the one with

627
00:39:37,600 --> 00:39:40,160
Speaker 3: the Norwegian guys singing about bananas.

628
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:44,000
Speaker 2: That's probably my favorite one classic. I love a Norwegian

629
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 2: singing about a banana that is not native to their region.

630
00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:53,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, very strange, A pivotal piece of Norwegian culture, as

631
00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:56,720
Speaker 1: you can imagine. Big thanks to Alex Williams, our own

632
00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:57,920
Speaker 1: in house composer.

633
00:39:58,120 --> 00:39:59,319
Speaker 2: Now that you have to be able to grow a

634
00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:01,400
Speaker 2: banana to sing about a banana, I'm not Yeah.

635
00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:03,880
Speaker 1: We're not gatekeeping bananas, no nol.

636
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,279
Speaker 2: You've got you and I. We can't grow bananas here.

637
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:07,400
Speaker 2: I mean it's fine.

638
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,040
Speaker 1: You and I both have a lot of weird favorite

639
00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:14,080
Speaker 1: Eurovision hits. We're going to get to in chapter two.

640
00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:16,719
Speaker 1: But he got one off the top that just really

641
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:17,360
Speaker 1: sings to you.

642
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:21,320
Speaker 2: I reserve the right to hold there. We response until

643
00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:24,200
Speaker 2: part two when we talk about my guy. But man,

644
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:25,640
Speaker 2: this is super fun. I think it makes a whole

645
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:27,360
Speaker 2: lot of sense to pair the voting part with the

646
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:30,720
Speaker 2: controversy part, because they are quite related, as we've already

647
00:40:30,719 --> 00:40:34,960
Speaker 2: alluded to with some of the biased voting. And boy

648
00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:36,960
Speaker 2: are we going to get into how this has been

649
00:40:37,120 --> 00:40:39,520
Speaker 2: incredibly politicized and weaponized.

650
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:45,600
Speaker 1: Yeah too, Yeah, And speaking of weaponized and politicized, not

651
00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:49,920
Speaker 1: a thank you but a chilly civil formal acknowledgment of

652
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,320
Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister.

653
00:40:54,560 --> 00:40:55,880
Speaker 2: I think I see, how do you?

654
00:40:56,239 --> 00:40:59,439
Speaker 1: I think it was in Eurovision one time I could

655
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:03,000
Speaker 1: see bald, Yeah, I can see, I can see the performance.

656
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,759
Speaker 2: Big thing was blinding.

657
00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:09,200
Speaker 1: He did a cover blinded by the light and the

658
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:11,759
Speaker 1: judges kicked him out because it has to be an

659
00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:15,880
Speaker 1: original composition. Strix one to grow on big thanks to

660
00:41:16,040 --> 00:41:17,920
Speaker 1: Chris raassiotis Eve's Jeffcoat.

661
00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:20,680
Speaker 2: Who else? They're here in spirit and also huge things

662
00:41:20,719 --> 00:41:23,239
Speaker 2: as you said to you know whatever, a chili at Chili,

663
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:25,200
Speaker 2: how do you do to Jonathan Strickland the quizz or

664
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:27,759
Speaker 2: a j Bahamas Jacobs the Puzzler, Because we got to

665
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:29,279
Speaker 2: thank them in the same breath, because that's just how

666
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:34,200
Speaker 2: it goes. Alex Williams, our own Eurovision star who composed

667
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:38,280
Speaker 2: this bangin bop that you hear in your very ears

668
00:41:38,360 --> 00:41:41,759
Speaker 2: that could well have held its own in a Eurovision

669
00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 2: Asque competition.

670
00:41:42,880 --> 00:41:46,880
Speaker 1: Absolutely Now we just need the lyrics and big thanks

671
00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:50,440
Speaker 1: to the rude dudes of Ridiculous Crime. If you dig us,

672
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:53,960
Speaker 1: you will love them, so tune in get THEE to

673
00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:57,440
Speaker 1: thy podcast platform of choice. I have been our research

674
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:01,160
Speaker 1: associate for this series and Noel, thanks to you, man,

675
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:03,680
Speaker 1: I can't wait for part two of this.

676
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,360
Speaker 2: It's gonna get so weird. Same, See you next time, folks.

677
00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:18,160
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

678
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,360
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows