| In 1985 Terry Wogan had a cold,
and provided his commentary from London. This is one of the more
noteworthy pieces of trivia for 1985. The other incident of moderate
interest concerns the presenter, Lill Lindfors, and her entry to the
stage prior to voting. In pastiche of Bucks Fizz her skirt fell off
leaving her in her knickers. The EBU were apparently unimpressed by the
stunt, which saw Lindfors gawp a bit before converting her elaborate
top into a pre-prepared dress. It was an hilarious skit, you see; a
skirt skit if you will; ho ho. Let's look at some songs, shall we? Finland gave us another pounding "Holding Out for a Hero" number. It's pretty good, but a bit too generic and power-ballad-y. At least Sonja Lumme looked the part and performed with gusto. Israel were Israel which is enough to secure a win on a bleak year. The winning song on the night came from Norway (at last getting some recognition) in the form of Bobbysocks! (the exclamation is in the name). One of the most profoundly '80s performances of the night, "La Det Swinge" owes much to an up-beat rendition of "King of the Road". It's an energetic, swinging retro affair and has proven itself to be rather more memorable than the songs we ranked above it. For each year's songs we apply our points in the 12-10-8 style of the modern contest, irrespective of how the voting functioned at the time. In brackets is the position the song came on the night:
Europe had Germany second, Sweden third, Ireland sixth, Austria eighth, Spain joint-14th, Cyprus and Greece joint-16th, Portugal 18th and Belgium 19th.
|
 Europe's winner, Bobbysocks!  Lill Lindfors rearranges her dress.  Finland's
Sonja Lumme. Our winner, Izhar Cohen. ⇦1984 / HOME / 1986 ⇨ |
