ESC 1975 IN STOCKHOLM

ESC 1975 IN STOCKHOLM - HOW WAS IT?

Sweden's ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision with Waterloo and brought the contest for the first time to Sweden, where it was held in Stockholmsmässän on March 22, 1975. I don't have any first hand memories of this as I was only 8 back then and have seen the video only later. But the Eurovision fever was very different in the country back then apparently and the final was held among protests and anti-Eurovision demostrations, something that sounds rather funny today! One of the main things to remember is the voting system launched that year, the very same used still today and created by Finns. The first ever "12 points" went to Luxembourg btw, and the winning the Netherlands got six out of 18 possible. A total of 19 countries present when Greece withdraw for Turkey invaded northern Cyprus in 1974 and was present. Also Portugal mixed politics with Eurovision.

The presenter Karin Falck mixed most everything and totally lost it in the voting. And here. Or she was lost in the beginning already.... Well, she certainly had her charm....

The stage was a simple small one with blue waves (?) in the background and of course there was the orchestra and the conductors! The artists painted themselves in the postcards after walking down the stairs... Well, that was an idea like any other I guess.

So, the Netherlands won with Ding-a-dong (their last btw), the United Kingdom was second once again with Let me be the one and Italy third with Era. France and Luxembourg complete the top-5. Sweden was respectable 8th with Jennie, Jennie while Turkey came last with 3 points, all of them from Monaco, with Seninle bir dakika. Of the other songs it's worth mentioning Germany's entry that has become some kind of cult song among Eurovision fans and indeed deserved much more than 17th place. Finland gained surprisingly one of its best placings ever when Pihasoittajat finished 7th.

Here's my ranking: 1.ITALY 2.NETHERLANDS 3.GERMANY 4.SWEDEN 5.SPAIN 6.FRANCE 7.SWITZERLAND 8 ISRAEL 9.UNITED KINGDOM 10.FINLAND 11.MONACO 12.LUXEMBOURG 13.TURKEY 14.BELGIUM 15.YOGOSLAVIA 16.MALTA 17.PORTUGAL 18.IRELAND 19.NORWAY

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