Why does Australia love Eurovsion?

It is clearly documented that Austrlia loves Eurovision (see
The special relationship: Australia and its love of Eurovision and Growing Eurovision popularity in Australia). But why is a singing contest for a continent on the other side of the world enjoyed so thoroughly by Australians? Here are a few reasons I've thought of:

1. Australians love a good party! Any excuse for a getting a group together is a good excuse in Australia. It certainly helps that SBS who broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest do so during prime time over a "Eurovision weekend" of Friday, Saturday and Sunday night (This delayed telecast is part of the problem with Australia joining Eurovsion, but we talk about that later!). It is around this time of years most years that the typical Eurovision Drinking Games start to be sent around. These games to tend to make a Eurovision Party a bit wilder.
2. Australia is a very multicultural country. As the song says, from all the lands on Earth we come. We have a clear colonial connection (and rivalry) with the United Kingdom and Ireland. We also have a diverse and widespread collection of continental Europeans as well. Melbourne is well known as having one of the largest Greek communties outside of Greece (roughly the same number as live in New York City). According to Wikipedia over 4% of Australians identify as being of Italian ancestry, and roughly the same amout of German ancestry. Indeed, Brisbane hosts it's own version of Oktoberfest every year (See Reason 1 Australians love a good party!).
3. Australia has a great sense of humour. It is slightly concerning that even our own government goes to great lengths to explain that we have a sense of humour. As a nation we tend to love anything that doesn't take itself to seriously, which certainly Eurovision does not. We especially love self-depricating humour, and share an affinity with other cultures with similar values.
4. Australia loves pop music. Like it or not Australia is a huge consumer of music in general and pop music specifically. There is no suprise that 2010's winning song Satelitte by Lena from Germany peaked at 37 on the Australian charts.

I'd love to know your reasons for why Eurovision is so beloved in Australia, so leave me a comment!!

What is Eurovision?

The Eurovsion Song Contest is an annual song competition held between the active member countures of the European Broadcasting Union. It has been held since 1956. The contest is hosted by the country which won the previous years competition, hence the 2012 edition will be hosted in the 2011 winning country Azerbaijan. This years competition will see 43 countries compete to be Europe's favourite song. The winner is selected based on votes by each individual nation. The nations decide how to assign their votes based on a mixture of televotes and national jury. Currently the contest is made up of two semi-finals and a final. The final is made up of the top countries from each semi-final, the host country, and the big five countries which qualify automatically (the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Italy). Entries tend to have a great deal of flare and showmanship, and showcase unique talents of the countries who enter. The contest is extremely popular in Europe, and has a growing fanbase across the globe. In particular Australia has been singled out for their love of Eurovsion on many occasions. The unique, percular but always entertaining acts will keep fans of the contest coming back for many years to come.

Here are some of the recent Eurovision winners which will give you a taste at the diversity of the contest:


Ruslana (Ukraine) - Winner 2004


Lordi (Finland) - Winners 2006


Alexander Rybak (Norway) - Winner 2009


Lena (Germany) - Winner 2010

Introducing Australia4ESC

With less than 3 weeks to go until the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, I have been inspired to put forward my case for having for Australia joining the competing nations of Eurovision in 2013. Eurovision has an enormous cult following in Australia. I'll be adding more both the this blog and to the Twitter account @Australia4ESC in the coming days, so stay tuned!!

I should also make a couple of things clear. I have no personal or professional connection to the EBU, the Eurovision Song Contest, SBS television or any of it's employees, or any particular musician, recording company or radio station. I am a fan. I am a fan of Eurovision. I am a fan of Australian music. The views in this blog are my own are intended to be taken as such. I am very happy to talk with anyone who is interested in assisting with my campaign to have Australia join the Eurovsion Song Contest.