"Euro-Vision" () was the entry in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1980 The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in The Hague, Netherlands, and was organised by host broadcaster Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS) – which agreed to stage the event a ...

, performed in French by

Telex The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a Public switched telephone network, telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of ...

. The song was performed nineteenth on the night, following 's

Trigo Limpio Trigo Limpio () were a Spanish musical trio popular in Spain in the 1970s and 1980s. It was originally formed by , Iñaki de Pablo and Luis Carlos Gil. The band represented Televisión Española in the sixth edition of the OTI Festival 1977 w ...

with "

Quédate esta noche "Quevedo: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52" (also known as "Quédate") is a song by Argentine producer Bizarrap and Spanish rapper Quevedo. It was released on July 6, 2022, through Dale Play Records, with the music video released on Bizarrap's YouT ...

". At the close of voting, it had received 14 points, placing 17th in a field of 19. The band were moderately pleased with the outcome of the contest, but for a somewhat unusual reason: at the time lead singer was quoted as saying: "We had hoped to finish last, but Portugal decided otherwise. We got ten points from them and finished on the 19th spot".Telex —The Belgian Pop & Rock Archives, biography Telex
/ref> In hindsight their participation in the Contest however seems to have served its marketing purposes; some thirty years on "Euro-Vision" remains one of the band's best-known songs, both in Belgium and internationally. The song was the first entry ever to mention the contest by name as part of what is generally agreed to have been a send-up of the whole event (previous entries such as

Schmetterlinge ''Schmetterlinge'' ("Butterflies") is a West German film directed by Wolfgang Becker. It won the Golden Leopard at the 1988 Locarno International Film Festival. Reception It won the Golden Leopard at the 1988 Locarno International Film Festival ...

's "

Boom Boom Boomerang The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in London, United Kingdom, following the country's victory at the with the song "Save Your Kisses for Me" by Brotherhood of Man. Organise ...

" had parodied the contest without actually naming it). Further, in contrast to the generally upbeat and lively entries submitted from other entrants, Telex performed from behind

synthesisers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and in a robotic – somewhat

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...

-esque – manner. Telex released the song in French and English language versions and the band subsequently re-recorded the track for their first 'greatest hits' compilation ''More than Distance'', also released in 1980, then retitled ''Neurovision''. Furthermore, in 1993 Telex released their first CD box set, once again with a reference to their Eurovision participation back in 1980; the album was entitled ''Belgium...One Point''.

External links

Official Eurovision Song Contest site, history by year, 1980.

Detailed info and lyrics, Diggiloo Thrush, "Euro-Vision".

TELEX-MUSIC.COM

Telex - Euro-Vision
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Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

References

Telex (band) songs 1980 singles Disques Vogue singles Sire Records singles Eurovision songs of Belgium Eurovision songs of 1980 French-language songs English-language Belgian songs 1980 songs Metafictional works Songs about television {{belgium-music-stub