Time-Warp Tuesday | The Eighties make a (failed) Noughties comeback
Where: Riga, Latvia
When: 2003
Who: Ruffus
What: Eighties Coming Back
It’s funny how some entries unexpectedly capture the hearts and minds of the public, then threaten them with a week-long loop of Jemini’s live vocal until they come together to vote the night away, if that made any sense at all. Basically, there are quite a few songs that have seemingly come out of nowhere to charm the heck out of the public and do very well on the scoreboard – a la Brainstorm’s My Star, a song we all still love today (no exceptions. If you disagree I may have to take drastic action). Then there are the ones that remind you of those underdogs in a lot of ways, but fail to succeed – a la the subject of today’s Time-Warp.
Estonia’s 2003 entry came after some stellar results for the country. In the previous four contests they’d come 6th, 4th, 1st and 3rd, but that run of luck came to a swift end in Riga when Ruffus were left floundering in 21st place. The band were beaten by such inferior entries (in the opinion of moi) as Germany’s Let’s Get Happy, Ukraine’s debut Hasta La Vista and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Ne Brini. Was this because there was a whiff of Brainstorm about the boys and the voters thought ‘been there, heard that’? Was lead singer Vaiko’s nonchalant stage manner a turn off? Or were people just too busy calling and texting for the big guns – a.k.a. Turkey and Russia – to remember little ol’ Estonia?
I suppose it is quite possible that Europe just didn’t like this song as much as I did/do. Here and now, what do you think of Eighties Coming Back?
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
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