1996: Dolly the Sheep, Mad Cow Disease, the Port Arthur Massacre, Charles and Diana’s divorce, Macarena, Spice Girls, Nintendo 64. A lot was going on in the world, but it was also a big year for the Eurovision Song Contest.
Hosted this year at the Oslo Spektrum, Norway hosted after their second win, while Ireland notched up their fourth win in five years with The Voice by Eimear Quinn giving RTE a coronary. Leading this year’s proceedings were journalist and news anchor Ingvild Byrn, and the ridiculously good-looking lead singer of A-ha, Morten Harket.
There were many firsts and fun things for the contest in 1996!
The revolutionary use of Chroma key. For the first and only time, the voting sequence hosted by Ingvild, was fully contained in a “blue room” with two podiums she could walk between while receiving the votes. Not only that, this was the first year since 1984 that country flags were not shown next to the country names. Personally, I love a bit of greenscreen action and I’m surprised no one has used it again for this purpose.
A full re-brand. 1996 contest was officially known as EuroSong96. This is the only time any host country has done this, and really, can we not do it again? Ireland often calls their national final Eurosong and there’s a Eurovision Heardle game, which is great fun when it works.
The audio only prequalifying round. Instead of using the relegation method, this untelevised event was held by the EBU to keep the acts to twenty-three for the final. This also resulted in Germany sitting out for the first time in 40 years. Germany’s song Planet of Blue is on YouTube and it is a classic.
The stage. Split into three zones, this long stage gave acts their own space with different backdrops and giving some ease for stagehands and artists during the postcards. Here’s me thinking they were moving everything. Speaking of…
The postcards. These 70 second clips focused on the artists as they packed their bags for Oslo, along with good luck messages from presidents, prime ministers, and other prominent figureheads of each country. Probably a good thing that Queensland’s own Gina G was representing the United Kingdom and not Australia as we could have had a good luck message from John Howard.
New languages. While the language rule was still in place in 1996, two languages made their debut at Eurovision – Breton for France and Vorarlbergish for Austria. The latter is completely amazing.
Elisabeth Andressen. Norway brought her back for her fourth appearance after 1982 with Chips for Sweden, her win in 1985 with Bobbysocks!, and the 1994 duet with Jan Werner Danielsen (RIP), coming a very respectable second with I Evighet. She’s got to be tired by now.
Noel Kelehan. Often one of the unsung heroes of Eurovision, Noel celebrated his 30th anniversary of his first Eurovision as a conductor for Ireland 1996, only missing a handful contests since 1966. Also RIP.
On the whole, 1996 is a very fun year. Like a lot of the 90s, the songs are like a box of Cadbury Favourites and there’s something for everyone, even someone who likes the white chocolate Dream bar.
While you’re here, I co-host Wind Machine Podcast and we have covered 1996 so check that episode out for more!