Eurovision Rants

Did You Know... [3] (IRE - POR)

(327 reads to date, new milestone. Thank you all. <3
I honestly hope I can end this untill Eurovision 2018 semi-finals - I'm usually lazy and it happens to forgot often about updating so I'm trying my best.)
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Ireland:
The situation with Ireland during Eurovision is pretty weird: in the 1970's-1990's they did awesome, winning a lot and basically pulling it off in a certain way (especially in the 90's, for god's sake, they were in a roll streak at that day) while nowadays they struggle to get a final.

Aside the fact that they're still the "most successful country" in Eurovision history with 7 wins and Johnny Logan basically winning twice (and 3rd as composer), Ireland didn't really got many last places - untill the recent years.
Furthermore, Ireland is the only country which managed to win 3 times in a row the competition, from 1992 to 1994. Milstreet is also the smallest host of Eurovision - which is a tiny town in Ireland.

Israel:
As mentioned in the Eurovision Countries page, Israel is the first non-european nation to have joined Eurovision Song Contest.
They won 3 times: 2 wins in a row and the 1998 eventual winning act, which made Dana International the first transgender act who won Eurovision at that time. Her win played a major role on the LGBT+ community in Israel, and of course, the Eurovision Song Contest fandom in general.

Italy:
Among the very first nations to have joined the first edition of 1956, Italy's 1958 act became among the most notorious and recognizable acts hailing from Eurovision. The same singer tried again in 1966, ending up last. With nul point.
Eurovision in itself is based on the Italian festival Sanremo.
Though a detail regarding Italy, aside the ones mentioned earlier, despite the fact that they did relatively well in the contest, Italy withdrew in 1998 and only returned in 2011. back then, there was a Big 4, with Italy being the 5th member which joined in the 2010's.

Latvia:
Latvia debuted in the contest in 2000, managing to gain their first top 3 in the exact same edition. However, it didn't took log to gain a first win either - after Portugal's withdrawal in 2002, Latvia was the lucky nation to "replace" it.
Also Latvia is pretty much an unlucky country, having 4 last places in the semi-final overall.

Lithuania:
Among the Baltic Trio, Lithuania is pretty much the overlooked brother because, despite trying to deliver, people just prefer the other 2 more. They debuted in 1994, where they gained their first... nul point. Thankfully, they only got last in semi-final in 2005, and that's pretty much it.
However, they're mainly being either overshadowed or basically forgotten, while many fans of Eurovision consider that Lithuania barely delivers stuff they like as much as what other countries usually send. Their best achievement is 6th place, in 2006, with a joke act (but they can say they are the winners of Eurovision, they still achieved the best place of Lithuania to date, so that's also a big achievement the guys from LT United can be proud of)

Luxembourg:
In spite of being among the most successful Eurovision countries of all time, with 5 wins at its side, Luxembourg's eventual withdrawal in 1994 ended the streak. The small nation, between 1956 to 1993, only missed one edition, 1959. Furthermore, all their winners aren't, in fact, from Luxembourg - 4 French & 1 Greek.

(F.Y.R) Macedonia:
(basically in any side you'd take this country's name, there's always going to be some drama relating it *sigh*)
Technically debuting officially in 1998 (basically they did in 1996, but failed to make it from that pre-selection), this country's journey was interesting - while their best achievement was earned when Greece hosted (how ironic, ain't it?)
What makes this country stand out, aside whatever they send, is the name debate. You can't call it Macedonia because people will come after you with a knife and a rifle, nor FYR Macedonia/FYROM (or the larger translation: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, but who sits and say this long word)
Like, can someone settle on a name for once? At least for my sake. Please. I'm tired of the same little thing that basically implodes the entire freaking Balkans into a YouTube comment war zone.
Also they sent a living queen in Eurovision twice, so thanks for giving us Kaliopi y'all <3

Malta:
Basically up to date, since our loving Portugal left the line last year, Malta is in the lead for who waits the longest to gain an Eurovision winning act.
Their best place overall in the contest is 2nd obtained twice in 2002 and 2005 - and also the home of one hell of an unlucky guy.
His name, Enzo Guzman, tried multiple times to represent Malta in the 70's - but unfortunately the fate wasn't nice with him at all.
He won twice the selection, but Malta decided not to go for it and eventually withdrew. Twice. (Poor guy, at least they could've given him a chance at least)

Moldova:
Despite debuting rather early, in 2005, Moldova is basically the meme country. They often send those hilariously unironic gems which eventually grow to be living memes - the drumming grandma, epic sax guy, the guys with the big hats which were the exact same act like the ones which sent the grandma and the drum, epic sax guy 2.0, and I doubt Moldova will stop there any sooner.
Their best position is 3rd, achieved last year. Epic sax guy got his revenge in the end, didn't he?

Monaco:
Little Monaco actually won the contest in 1971 - however the singer, just like in Luxembourg's case, was not from Monaco, but rather French. It's also the only ministate to have won the contest up to date. They also declined the possibility of hosting the edition in the year afterwards, Ireland hosting the edition of 1972.
They did try in the 2000's - but failed pretty badly in the semi-finals. Therefore, after 2006, withdrew and were never seen yet again.

Montenegro:
Since Montenegro became an independent state, their journey in Eurovision was a pretty bumpy one. Debuted in 2007, but failed badly and gained their worst result there. It took them 7 more years to see the grand final.
Montenegro only qualified twice in its 10 years of participation. And it ironically happened to separate from Serbia exactly in the year they participated as independent nations - as pretty much known, Serbia won the edition of 2007.
(Then again, the drama couldn't be avoided. You'll see soon about what I'm talking about when we'll reach Serbia & Montenegro - the nation, not the two separate entities)

(and what shall I say of Morocco here, as they only joined once and that was it. The only thing I could point out is that Italy gave them their only points. Moving on.)

The Netherlands:
The Netherlands participated in Eurovision since 1956, only missig 4 editions. They won 4 times - however in the 20th century something didn't really go well with Netherlands and the semis.
As mentioned in the Eurovision Languages page, when Belgium was really going well with the imaginary language back in that time, Netherlands was doing really badly.
They literally failed 8 years in a row, from 2005 to 2012, untill Anouk broke the streak. And then arrives a 2nd place.
Boy, Netherlands' eventual places these years are random...

Norway:
Ah, the kings of last places themselves.
Norway debuted in 1960 and managed to score three wins up to date (among them being Rybak with the highest score received in a final in the former voting system, 387 points)
However, Norway's last places are pretty intriguing to look at - 11 last places overall, among which 4 gained literally no point. So if you think, as new europals, that Nordics were full of great places and were unbeatable like how's Sweden in the recent years, think again and think more.
This is only one of the many examples of how any country, no matter how successful they are at this moment, have done poorly at least once in the history of Eurovision.
(Russia, you're literally targeted this year big time.)

Poland:
They could've easily joined the "first time, first winner" group alongside Switzerland and eventual arise of Serbia as independent nation, but Poland's fate was shattered by the one and only Ireland.
Poland participated in 1994, coming 2nd overall behind - you know it, you love it - Ireland. They withdrew from 2012 and 2013 editions before returning in full force with Slavic Girls.
They did also came last in semi-final in 2011. But have quite a lot of top 10's up to date, so don't lose your hope just yet, Poland.

Portugal:
(our current Eurovision host! :D)
Portugal's journey was big, full of obstacles and a lot of tries in order to crack that top 5 since their debut in 1964.
The 1990's were pretty much their lucky decade - coming 4 times in top 10 and even gaining their best position at that time, 6th in 1996.
Portugal waited the most for their lucky charm to arrive and break the curse once and for all, to be precise, after 48 long participations, they finally managed to break the top 5 in 2017 - even winning the year.
Now, that's one big return, ain't it? Especially after a lot of failures in the past years before it.
Way to go, Portugal, keep on being you. Hopefully you'll be a great host as well.