Yugoslavia 1989 - Riva - Rock Me

[Fluke]

Like many others, i only sporadically watched ESC these years (well, many here wasn't even born then of course), and like many others here, i only found out about, and first heard many of the "older" winning entries though looking back on Youtube. And, like probably quite a few here, this left me particularly confused. A song this cheezy actually WON?!? In the time of the juries? 1

What do you think about it, and what did you think about it at the time, if you were around? And what was the general reaction to it back then? Why do you think it won?

 

[agent]

Yugoslavia (Croatia) win because it was the best song that year and because EBU see that YUG soon is going to break down

 

[carlosmstraductor]

I think it was a middle of the road, clichéd, trashy, fluffy, silly, catchy, effective and kitsch song with childish lyrics which had an universal appeal in its repetitive chorus. Moreover, the contest lived a crisis due to the fact that most songs weren't representative of current musical trends (we're talking about the 1980s). Especially young judges/jurors complained about it. Some sources say that perestroika played an important role in its victory as well as the fact of performing last. If I were a judge that year, I would have put a 1 on my ballot paper, there were better songs that year such as Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Spain and Greece. Let's also remember that there were no music professionals sitting on juries (16 people from all walks of life + chairperson, a national broadcasting company staff member who only acted in the event of a tie/draw + secretary, also a national broadcasting company staff member who casted the ballot papers + notary public or similar official, who testified for the whole voting process + spokesperson, who read out the points given by the jury)

 

[Citelis]

I think it was actually good!

 

[carlosmstraductor]

The 16 members of the Spanish jury were, by the way, a male young eurofan who studied Telecommunication Engineering back then called Luis Gutiérrez Merino, a female poet called Blanca Andreu, a male playwright called Javier Tomeo, a female student called Ángeles Fernández, famous actor Antonio Banderas, actress Isabel Mestres, a bullfighter called Luis Miguel Calvo, actress Emma Penella, actor Antonio Ozores, writer and socialite Pitita Ridruejo, football coach Javier Clemente, a female public relations from a famous disco in Barcelona (Up & Down) called Dolly Fontana, a male journalist who worked for defunct newspaper Diario 16 called Carlos Ferrando, a female hairdresser called Tatiana Magdalena García, a male scriptwriter called Félix Cábez and a weather girl called Charo Pascual

Here is the division according to age groups:
16-25: Luis Gutiérrez Merino, Ángeles Fernández, Luis Miguel Calvo, Tatiana Magdalena García
26-35: Blanca Andreu, Antonio Banderas, Félix Cábez, Charo Pascual
36-45: Isabel Mestres, Javier Clemente, Dolly Fontana, Carlos Ferrando
46+: Javier Tomeo, Emma Penella, Antonio Ozores, Pitita Ridruejo

 

[ESC94]

One of the worst and most undeserving winners in ESC history!!

 

[94ayd]

...actress Emma Penella...

An actress from Aquí no hay quien viva, that's so cool! I wonder if any other member of the cast was ever part of the Spanish jury, for instance Gemma Cuervo.

 

[Ana Raquel]

I dislike almost all of the songs mentioned here nnnnn

It's not like we had too many options to choose (other than the iconique BIRTHE)

 

[carlosmstraductor]

The Spanish jury usually invited celebrities instead of 16 people from all walks of life and anonymous people were easier to convince than those famous personalities like José Luis López Vázquez (1975), Ángel Nieto (1976), María José Cantudo (1977), Bárbara Rey and Manuel/Manolo Royo (1978), Andrés Pajares (1981), Eusebio Poncela (1982), Eva Nasarre (1984), María Asquerino (1985), Emilio Aragón and Blanca Fernández-Ochoa (1986), Jorge Sanz, Laura Valenzuela, Emma Suárez and José Coronado (1988), Raquel Revuelta (1990), Loles León and Paco Clavel (1991), Bárbara Rey again (1992), María Luisa San José (1993), Silvia Abascal (1995), Mónica Pont, José/Pepe Sancho and Álvaro de Luna (1996), María Esteve and Mari Carrillo (1997). They were based in Estudio A-4 (studio at Torrespaña on the ground floor of Edificio A (building) and they watched the general rehearsal and the live performance.

 

[carlosmstraductor]

One of the worst and most undeserving winners in ESC history!!

The German jury, 16 ordinary people chosen by famous surveys/polls Infratest and based in Studio 1 at Unterföhring (Gabi Schnelle was the spokesperson who gave the points in French) only gave Yugoslavia 1 point that year!!!

 

[ESC94]

The German jury, 16 ordinary people chosen by famous surveys/polls Infratest and based in Studio 1 at Unterföhring (Gabi Schnelle was the spokesperson who gave the points in French) only gave Yugoslavia 1 point that year!!!

Even was too much for this "song".

 

[carlosmstraductor]

Yugoslavia received these points:
Israel, Ireland, Turkey, United Kingdom
Belgium, Denmark, Austria
The Netherlands, Sweden
Norway, Finland
Iceland
Luxembourg, Cyprus, Switzerland
Portugal
France

Germany
Italy, Spain, Greece

 

[EurovisionSmile]

I didn't like this winner. Thinking that wonderful songs like The Netherlands remained way behind this one, hurts. And Yugoslavia 1990 was so much better.

Oops I was talking about The Netherlands 1990 wrong year. But IMO Portugal was much better than the winner. And even being Portuguese, I don't love all Portuguese songs and I'm not saying this because it was Portuguese, only to let this clear.

 

[Citelis]

Well i think that Portugal was the best in 1989 too but Yugoslavia was great too. Greece, Cyrpus and Belgium had very good entries as well.

Full rankings per year

I was remebering that this year was good but i wasn't remembering that it was THAT good! :shock: 1987 1. ::it Umberto Tozzi & Raf - Gente di mare ::12 2. ::yu Novi Fosili - Ja sam za ples ::12 3. ::fi Vicky Rosti - Sata salamaa ::12 4. ::pt Nevada - Neste barco à vela ::12 5. ::cy Alexia -...

www.escunited.com

My full ranking for 1989

 

[carlosmstraductor]

Even was too much for this "song".

Why do you think this song had bad quality? It was very catchy and jolly.

 

[ESC94]

For me the song sounds pretty outdated even for the late eighties, and the chorus is also very annoying to me.

 

[carlosmstraductor]

Some people even say this song has got some sexual references and even innuendo, but actually I'm not really fluent in Croatian.

 

[EurovisionSmile]

Personally I don't think it's bad. It's just not the winner I would like to have seen that year. I remember my brother (who's older than me) asking "why this one?" and my mother saying something about the way she was dressed.

 

[carlosmstraductor]

For me the song sounds pretty outdated even for the late eighties, and the chorus is also very annoying to me.

It was a retro song based on the 1950's (Jerry Lee Lewis etc.)

 

[randajad]

Rock Me Baby is a Yugoslav classic that you can hear on the radio even today. This genre was a watered down bubblegum version of a very popular type of pop-rock that in some cases like Bijelo Dugme even had some ethno elements. I don't know any other Riva song, however other similar bands are still popular and have dedicated audience. But, tbh it is more of a form of yugonostalgia and boomer music nostalgia. This song in particular is how Yugoslavia saw Eurovision since it was meant to compete and represent an easy listening track for a festival (both Jugovizija and Eurovision) that had the same easy listening reputation. Yugoslavia had "a festival culture" and obsession with all kinds of festivals, so no shocker Eurovision was huge and many of our biggest stars from Čolić, Kesovija to Novi Fosili graced the Eurovision stage.

Personally, it's campy, but fun. I love it. Also, our first victory.