Any Eurovision fan on Mark Zuckerberg’s social network will by now have been tagged in the ‘Top Eurovision Songs’ meme. This asks people to list the songs that mean something to them from the Song Contest (but not why’, curiously) and tag a number of their friends to do the same.
Yes it’s another meme-chain, and yes, Facebook is likely to be mining all this data to sell you music in the near future, but it’s fascinating to me on another level.
It’s fascinating because it strikes at the very heart of why I love music.
The Memory Of Music
Of all the forms of content that are out there, from books and films, to television shows, paintings, and loom band dragons, music is the most personal. Snippets of lyrics, tiny riffs, or an entire sweep of a power ballad, all of them have a deep connection inside our brains. We don’t even
That can be even more amazing is that the same sing can have a totally different effect on two people. Someone might have memories bathed in sunlight and childhood ice creams when they listen to The Eagles ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’, while another person might be overcome with emotion about the loss of their pet cat some five years previously.
This could be a happy song or a sad song. You decide…
The more music you listen to, the more emotions you can find, and the more enjoyment there is on offer. Music is there to be discovered, and while the Top 40 singles chart is a nice place to go, there’s a world full of music waiting to be discovered. The handful of artists promoted by the national labels are only the tip of a huge iceberg that drives music across the Continent.
That’s where, for me, Eurovision comes in. Not just the final in May with the forty-odd songs vying it out for the ‘Glass Microphone of the Key Change‘, but for the national finals, the qualifiers, the submissions, and everything else in between. Last year there were at least 8577 submitted songs. Three weeks into the ‘on-season’ and we know that 3163 songs have already been submitted to the broadcasters across the Continent.
In this year’s pile, just like every year, there will be some gems. Some of them will make it to the Finals, a few might even make to all the way to Vienna.
But far more will remain in the hearts and minds of music fans across the world. From those watching the National Finals and heading to iTunes, to the Eurovision fans finding another flag to wave, there’s about to be a huge dump of music for us all to sift through and find the songs that mean something to us, that will stay with us for year to come.
It’s one reason I wish that the Top Lists were more than just ‘name a song’, because that doesn’t tell me very much about the poster. Why have they went with ‘Terminal 3’ and not ‘Why Me’? What was the huge impact on a song from the 2014 Song Contest that forced its way in to contention? Music is life, and I want my social media to be full of life – not a pick list for a Spotify playlist.
Once more, I’m about to head into another year of new music, and I can’t wait.
For the record…
Five picks from my collection, and why they are important to the Eurovision in me….
One Step Further, by Bardo (United Kingdom, 1982).
My first memory of the Song Contest, and one of the first singles I ever bought.
Hard Rock Hallelujah, by Lordi (Finland 2006).
First time I really felt ahead of the game in calling a winner – something to do with knowing most of the rock scene that was chipping in to the ‘Buy Lordi Pyros‘ fund.
Believe, by Dima Bilan (Russua, 2008).
The ‘last’ ESC live I saw on television. I had decided a few hours before the 08 Contest that I should be at Eurovision… a few hours later, I was planning for Moscow ’09.
Non e L’inferno, by Emma Marrone (San Remo, 2012).
Strictly speaking this has nothing at all to do with Eurovision, but Italy was back, San Remo was used, and this put the vocal talents of Ms Marrone on my radar, and I had another favourite artist. Her Eurovision appearance this year was the icing on the cake.
Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen, By Udo Jurgens (Austria 1965).
Finally, one a little more recent. After the first idea of reviewing each song from the Contest, I quietly started ‘Every Eurovision Song’, telling very few people about it. Would there be value, would there be something special, a spark that would light the passion in me for the project? Yes…