What if...?
That is the eternal question for dedicated followers of Eurovision. The tickling, thrilling thought of parallel universes, where everything could have been different.
What if Abba had won Melodifestivalen 1973 with "Ring Ring", would the expert jury in Luxembourg have rejected them?
What if televoting had been introduced earlier, would the ESC have looked and sounded different in the 90's?
What if Finland or Portugal had scored a victory at an early stage, would their ESC histories have looked different?
One of the easiest games of this kind is the "what if" concerning the outcome of the national finals. What if the runner-up would have won instead? Could that have changed ESC history? I will lift up a few of these cases, just to amuse myself.
Let's start with Norway 1985 - in order to better their poor results, NRK had invited four international judges who alongside with five national juries would select the winner. The experts reached complete consensus and all had the same favourite:
Anita Skorgan - Karma (Norway NF 1985)
The juries did not agree and in the end, their winner beat Anita into a second place. The presenter asked Ronnie Hazlehurst, UK conductor and jury member, if he didn't think Norway could win with Bobbysocks. He replied: "I'm afraid not".
The juries may have had a point - "Karma" is a sophisticated entry in a lavish arrangement - but who would have thought that this was the year when Norway would break their Eurovision curse, all by themselves, despite what the international panel said?
Bobbysocks won the 1985 ESC in Gothenburg and all of Norway was in Bobby-shock. What if NRK had entered Anita Skorgan instead, would she have won?
Bobbysocks - La de swinge (Norway 1985)
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