Mr Eurovision Song Contest Man

I've posted here before about Engelbert Humperdinck, of all people, and here we are again.

If you look at UK chart statistics over the last 30 years, there's a definite trend where mainstream pop music and the Eurovision Song Contest part company, until the point where Eurovision doesn't appear to matter at all.  Imagine a world where the X Factor winner is watched by millions on a Saturday night, but barely anyone buys their record - that's exactly the way that the Eurovision Song Contest worked for years in the UK.

 My memories of the Eurovision Song Contest, as a youngster, were Brotherhood Of Man onwards, where Britain's entry was a tailor-made act for the competition, rather than an established, popular act.  Although this sometimes won the competition, it could sometimes be seen as the British not taking the thing seriously, and the lack of points on the night was deserved.  There have been attempts to reverse the trend - involving Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jonathon King, for instance.  This year, a veteran UK singer with a wide appeal abroad has been entered.  I've listened to the song - it's the sort of slug-paced ballad I'd expect from the Spanish entry.  There are other, livelier entrants and I don't expect the British one to win.

Of course, the golden age of Eurovision for my parents' generation would have put Engelbert Humperdinck up for the contest when he was still having regular hit singles.  What I never realised about 60s and early 70s Eurovision is that the British entries - Lulu, Sandie Shaw, Cliff Richard, and so on - weren't just bankable pop stars, but they actually had their own television series at the time.  Eurovision is a deal between broadcasters, not record companies.  We're talking about the BBC here, not ITV in any shape or form - so other possibilities would have included Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield or even Scott Walker, but not, say,  Tom Jones.

By the mid 1970s, the idea of a popular musical act having their own television programme in the UK was on the wane.  The only ones I can remember having that sort of primetime slot as a kid were Shirley Bassey (who could have made sense in a Eurovision context, given the right song) and The Black and White Minstrels (the mind boggles), which might explain the switch to the tailor-made acts like Bucks Fizz.

Or there's always this bloke:

We don't need no education

The chorus from "Another Brick In The Wall Part 2" was always bait to my mother, as though the double negative somehow undermined the message.

I'm in education myself - I'm an engineering lecturer at the University of Plopsaland. Among the students I dealt with this week are two that I will call X and Y, however mathematically clichéd that seems.

Student X is from the Home Counties of England - the largely rather affluent region that surrounds, but does not include, London. X has been an award-winning student since enrolling here. X has a family background that includes other successful career engineers.

Student Y is from some shit-hole just off the motorway.

Student X gave a presentation this week based on a lab experiment done earlier in the trimester. My colleague and I struggled to find anything wrong with the presentation at all. It was one of those rare pieces of work that are worth 100%, or something very close to that.

On the same day, the last day of any teaching before the second trimester exams start, student Y handed in a withdrawal notice. After struggles with attendance and coursework deadlines, Y has decided to throw in the towel, despite being able to salvage whatever he/she can from the second trimester exams and the August resits.

Student X is almost certain to graduate with a decent class of degree with very real career prospects. But it's student Y who really needs it.

Lazy YouTube follow-up to last rant

It looks like there are a few clips out there that back me up.

Item number one - spank me vicar, that'll be those popstars being shocking again:

It's a pity that there's only this version around. My only problem with Flanders and Swann is Flanders and Swann themselves - I've always found their delivery camp and knowing where playing straight would have worked better. Many of their songs were popular on BBC children's television when I was growing up and, on the whole, I'd rather hear Johnny Ball sing "A Transport of Delight" than its writers. It's like the old cliché about Bob Dylan songs sounding better when done by others.

Item number two - where swears might just be the point rather than the easy path to steet credibility

JCC (guesting on Neil Innes' programme) tries manfully against the broadcasting rules of the day, but it doesn't really work, does it?

This used to be a fun house, but now it's full of sweary clowns

My daughter had to come up with a dance routine at school today. She chose "Funhouse" by P!nk, which I believe is pronounced "pink". It would be easy money to play the bewildered dad act, so I won't lie - I knew of the song. But we don't own a copy, and it was needed on a CD this morning.

Of course, I was told this at twenty past eight.

Not wanting to set a bad example to my children, I then went looking to buy the song as a download. I've had problems with burning CDs from files with digital rights management protection, so iTunes was ruled out. All other versions available had the warning that they were "explicit".

Let's make this clear: I'm not Mary Whitehouse. I can eff and jeff as much as anyone. I just don't expect to be PAID for it. We're not talking about "Evidently Chicken Town" by John Cooper Clarke here; "Funhouse" has a single swear two minutes in that adds nothing. I'd have laughed if the radio version had bowdlerised the line to "burn the bugger down", but my sense of humour doesn't travel.

The singles chart is absolutely full of this stuff - the mild thrill of BBC radio having to mask any instance of Paul Weller singing "shit" in a Jam song is in the distant past. I've had to tell my kids that this isn't the sole preserve of professional misanthropes like Eminem - chart music is either obsessed with sex or peppered with oil rig vocabulary. Or both. A recent Cee Lo Green single was called "Fuck You". It may as well have been titled "Piss Poo Bum Snot".

I just downloaded the radio version of Funhouse off YouTube in the end. If you feel like reporting me, phone the police. You know their number.

The Censor's Shite

+++++++++++++SPOILER ALERT+++++++++++++++
The following rant reveals a few things about a film called "The King's Speech". You may have heard of it. Indeed, what I have to say is about published spoilers in unexpected places. As I am aware of the irony in all this, I'll warn you that if you haven't already seen the film and want to, you should keep yourself clean and read no further. To protect you, here's a nice picture of Dani Harmer before the rant starts:

Here in Britain, we rely on an organisation called the BBFC to ensure that our cinema films, DVD releases, etc. are restricted to certain age groups, if anyone at all. I appreciate that they're in a difficult position as they are under pressure from both sides, either from organised prudery to ban everything or from liberal progressiveness to not even exist. However, a BBFC habit that has emerged in recent years is proving to be a pain.

Since films like Jurassic Park, deemed suitable for families but likely to scare young children, the BBFC has included text advice alongside its certificates. This has gathered momentum since they replaced the rather straightforward "12" certificate (nobody under 12 allowed in) with the "12A" (the A presumably standing for "apology"), where under 12s may enter accompanied but the accompanying adults are warned about anything contentious.

The King's Speech is a 12A. It's been playing to packed cinemas (I don't call them "theatres", and don't get me started on the US spelling of that word) and is likely to hoover up any number of awards internationally. This is partly because it's a very well acted and put together film, but also because people expect British cinema to be about the emotional constrictions of the ruling class and this doesn't disappoint in that department.

The 12A certificate is for language reasons. We all know that in BBFC-talk "strong language" means that somebody says "fuck" and "extremely strong language" means somebody says "cunt". But here they had to embellish; "strong language in a speech therapy context", it says on every poster. You've guessed it - one of the funniest moments in the film has now been telegraphed to you by our moral guardians; Bertie Windsor momentarily becomes Sammy and His Stammer out of Viz Comic.

F-F-F-Fuck Off indeed.

The Associates and Billy MacKenzie - video research

A guide to the Associates clips that I’m still looking to improve. Some are already on the DVD, but others have yet to be put on. I have YouTube links to samples of everything, although some of these clips are not the exact same copies as the ones I have so their quality is different.


THE LATE SHOW (BBC)
Live performance of “Wild and Lonely” and “Strasbourg Square”, with Tracy McLeod presenting. McLeod comments that this is the last edition before 30th April 1990, but the last edition listed at the BFI’s website (11th April) appears to be a different programme.
Quality is so-so 576i off-air recording with mono sound (given that this was 1990, it might have been broadcast in stereo), with McLeod’s links missed off. YouTube clip is low definition, progressive version of both songs in full with intros.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQc8og6M3zA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvtiAF3KKZQ

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S TUBE (Tyne Tees for Channel Four)
29th June 1984 (info from itnsource website). Off-air VHS. Interview with Muriel Gray is at lower quality than the mime of “Those First Impressions”, each being form a different part of the programme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ssPmpB-vU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsAcf7qew-8

STUDIO ONE IN CONCERT (Border)
21st September 1985, according to BFI. My newest version is a Daemons-style restoration with luma signal from one off-air VHS and chroma from an off-air Betamax. Set is “Breakfast”, “Message Oblique Speech”, “Those First Impressions”, “Club Country” and “Waiting for the Loveboat”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOTfym2fjLQ

STUDIO ONE (Border)
A sister programme of the above, with no data at the BFI. Comprises three interview segments of Muriel Gray interviewing Billy, with an astrologer, interspersed with three extracts from Studio One in Concert (“Breakfast”, “Club Country” and “Those First Impressions”). Some captures of this have the “striped” effect found when two interlaced fields have been resized and combined in the wrong way to make one progressive frame.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPyvAiAm9yk

RIVERSIDE (BBC)
Live performance of “Breakfast”. Again, my best version is a restoration using two different recordings. Date unknown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u6EgA4sJmA

ORS 85 (BBC) (possibly ORS 84 instead)
A filmed interview walking around locations in Dundee and a live studio performance of Breakfast, with Timmy Mallett doing links inbetween. Breakfast was a single in January 1985 so I’ll guess ORS 85. Date unknown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptq6Du1QHSI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaDeylF3qmI

TOP OF THE POPS (BBC)
I can’t find a definitive list of transmission dates for these:

Party Fears Two: 25th February and 11th March 1982 OR 11th March and 25th March 1982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZSMDaewz2A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewiMdGXs3I0

Club Country: 27th May and 10th June 1982 OR 13th May and 10th June 1982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozEm7g0NIA0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4SYf9wocNk

18 Carat Love Affair: 12th August 1982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krsCEr-6V5Y

Those First Impressions: 21st June 1984
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzdkX3_youM

Quality varies. Both Party Fears Two clips and Those First Impressions are so-so.

WHISTLE TEST (BBC)
The quality is pretty good for an off-air, but does anyone know a transmission date for this interview with Suzanne Smith? It was accompanied with clips from the Ronnie Scott’s concert from December 1984.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxhB1KiziWs

HOGMANAY SHOW (unknown title) (Scottish TV )
31st December 1986. Mime of Paul Haig and Billy performing “Amazing Grace” is missing its intro from Muriel Gray. I have two different copies of this – the better one has a timeclock so I use a rectangle of picture from the off-air version to cover that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOTfym2fjLQ

DON’T LOOK DOWN (Scottish TV)
Sometime in 1994. Again, my copy has mono soundtrack while it is possible that it was broadcast in stereo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2wtJCDzVu0

GLASGOW’S BIG DAY (unknown production for Channel Four)
A live performance at George Square in Glasgow city centre, recorded on May Bank holiday 1990. I have a copy of the camera footage (only the first song - “Fever In The Shadows” - was broadcast) but it’s 576p when it should be 576i.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BIChAUd_LY

UNKNOWN BRITISH PROGRAMMES
Does anyone know which programmes these two interviews come from?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw5p4Ts3iIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAqYmTH6REE

OVERSEAS....
“Party Fears Two”, “Skipping” and “White Car in Germany” from Dutch VPRO TV programme GÖTTERDAMMERUNG 2000 (every British band with a Velvet Underground LP and valid passports appeared on that show - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh-FwoZQZG0), and “Party Fears Two” from Belgian RTBF GÉNÉRATION 80 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aNIv7h2s5g). All from 1982, and rough. There are others that I don’t know the titles of – a Japanese clip at a festival in Yokohama in 1985 playing “A Matter of Gender” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqoQfR_GesA) and a French clip of “Kites” being played live in the studio by Billy MacKenzie and Howard Hughes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4gXrYHnbXA).

Please, Mister Postman

Sarah and I are still going through the pile of DVDs and selling them on Amazon. Amazon Marketplace doesn't fetishise feedback in the same way as eBay, but it does feature and some buyers do leave comments. I do sometimes wonder why people say that they consider the service "excellent" but only give three points out of five. The other problem is delivery times for international customers, where Royal Mail is only the first link in the chain and not always the weakest.

In fact, other countries' postal services are much like phoning Dial-A-Stereotype:
GERMANY: Scarily efficient
PORTUGAL: anything but
FRANCE: well, you know, that depends, doesn't it?

Anyway, time for another Lazy Youtube Embed. Anyone who knows me will wonder why it's taken me so long to discover this lot, given how many Andy buttons they press: