France was in the midst of a free fall in Euroland during the 80's - after having completely dominated the ESC in the 60's and 70's, the decade started with an unfortunate change of broadcaster (TF1 dumped Eurovision, largely due to the new French minister of culture calling it a monument of drivel) after which notable singers decided to call it a day and go nowhere near the national final.
Of course this reflected in the French placings, that rapidly went from pale to disastrous. Worst of the worst (or so they thought) came in 1986 when Cocktail, a group composed of four backing singers, won the tickets to Bergen.
The girls had been at it before, backing more French-languaged entries than most, but despite adding some very colourful outfits as well as a Chic to their group name, they failed to impress the juries.
Cocktail Chic - Européennes (France 1986)
They recieved a grand total of 13 points, sufficient for a 17th place on the night. Not nice for the French, who had been in top ten every year but one since 1975.
That marked the end of Cocktail Chic's career as a group, but the girls went back to back others, and some of them have been visible again at Eurovision (for instance behind Céline Carzo for Luxembourg in 1990).
In its recorded version, this is quite a fun little song, and I never thought it deserved its fiasco in Bergen. If you agree with me, please leave a comment and say so.
I've always thought one should no like this, but lately I've also realized that this is not a bad entry, certainly not the worst French entry of the decade (I give their 1980 entry that honour). And the French language always makes their songs a little better.
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