A song like many others (1)

Fabrizio Faniello has my greatest sympathy and I'm sure he did his best. However, with all due respect to him, I don't think he could ever have brought us close to winning the fabled contest. Granted, he is a good artiste who has strong appeal with our public. The only problem is that there are dozens out there just like him competing in the Eurovision every year!

His singing is good, but there's nothing striking or attention grabbing about his voice and style. The song was OK, but again, there was nothing really striking about it. We hear countless similar songs at Eurovision year after year. His image is fine, but yet again, there are plenty of attractive singers out there who can wiggle their hips and wink at the girls.

When one only has three minutes to impress the public and stand out among 24 entries in succession, it is obvious that being "good enough" is, well, not enough.

Maybe our placing shows that what our public votes for may well be irrelevant to the final result.

Enter a band of masked lunatics from Finland and the game totally changed. For the first time, a competing country had the guts and vision to send a heavy rock band to the Eurovision. The reactions to Lordi's presence ranged from shock to disbelief to amusement to great interest from the legions of rock fans around Europe.

A few people realised that Lordi were going to be the great surprise of the 2006 edition of the Eurovision. Some others scoffed and saw them as a mere curiosity not worthy of attention. I chuckled when Norman Hamilton stated that "rock fans are not the people who normally vote at the Eurovision".

Well, rock fans do not usually vote because, until now, there was not one single entry in the style they love - Rock!

Finland realised this and played their joker admirably. They sent out their best loved rock freaks. Millions of rock fans throughout Europe jumped at the chance and suddenly millions of votes from people who do not normally vote started pouring in for Lordi - the only entry ever to uphold the rock and heavy metal torch in a Eurovision song contest!

A crushing victory for Lordi - all because they managed to capture the hearts of a large section of the population that has been, until now, totally ignored by the powers that be.

Maybe this year's result will finally bring a much needed change in mentality among the Eurovision organising bodies.

I'd like to spare a thought for the person who must have been hurt most by the Eurovision result - the composer of the song, Aldo Spiteri. Now I have great respect for Mr Spiteri as an excellent guitarist and rock musician. This year, perhaps quite uncharacteristically, he succeeded in having his song I Do chosen - a very commercial pop song, and certainly not the style one usually associates with him.

What irony, then, that his song should be totally thrashed and finish dead last, while the contest was won by another song in his former, original style - the style we all know he can do so well - Rock!