10 of the worst, weirdest and wonderful-est Eurovision entries
1. Michalis Rakintzis – S.A.G.A.P.O.
The Greek entry from 2002 featured a group of men dressed as futuristic knights from another galaxy singing about passwords. He came 17th.
2. Rodolfo Chikilicuatre – Baila el Chiki-chiki
Spain’s entry from 2008 featured a man with a tiny plastic guitar and an Elvis wig ordering people to “dance doggystyle”. The song also references Spanish actors Antonio Banderas and Javier Bardem, along with Robocop and Michael Jackson – so it’s nothing if not lyrically varied.
3. Verka Serduchka – Dancing Lasha Tumbai
This glorious Ukrainian entry from 2007 featured more tin foil than your mum gets through at Christmas. The lyrics include such gems as “dancing is good” and the phrase “seven, seven, bye-bye” repeated over and over again.
4. Buranovskiye Babushki – Party For Everybody
In 2012 the Russian entry was this unlikely gang of grannies singing about “lighting the oven, kneading dough, and spreading out a tablecloth while waiting for the children to come home”.
5. Dustin The Turkey – Irelande Douze Pointe
Ireland’s entry for the 2008 Eurovision was a puppet turkey who made his musical debut on a Zig & Zag track back in 1990. Dustin proved a controversial choice with Irish voters, but the song does include an apology about Riverdance, so there’s that.
6. Pirates Of The Sea – Wolves Of The Sea
In 2008 Latvia sent a group pf people dressed as pirates to the Eurovision contest. Sadly lyrics like “With a hii hii hoo and a hii hii hey!” wasn’t enough to win voters over. Clearly peak pirate had been reached.
7. Jemini – Cry Baby
In 2003 the UK pinned our Eurovision hopes on Jemini, who delivered what many people call “the most off-key performance of the last decade”. The duo gained zero points and came last – a feat which hasn’t been matched since, though we’ve obviously been trying our best.
8. Ping Pong – Sameach (Happy)
The 2000 entry from Israel is an out-of-tune car crash of a song, with lyrics that mention flooding in Australia and “I want, I want a cucumber”. Earplugs would have been a wiser choice.
9. Piero and the Music Stars – Celebrate
This musical-turd was shat out by Switzerland in 2004 – the most notable thing about it is that Piero seems to sing so hard at the start he’s out of breath during the last third and ends up panting.
10. Lordi – Hard Rock Hallelujah
Let’s end this on a winner. In 2006 Finland entered a band that was composed of extras from The Lord of the Rings. They won, and it was magnificent.