Triumphs and tragedies

Song Contest history: Austria’s tops and flops

Our ESC starter this year, Kaleen, is ready in Malmö. She joins a phalanx of historic moments in Austrian ESC history.

(Bild: ORF Sendungen/ORF/Roman Zach-Kiesling)

Kaleen from Wels will be competing in the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, with "We Will Rave" to bring the third victory to Austria. Our country's ESC history is colorful and ambivalent. Here is a brief review without any claim to completeness.

Tonight it's time to cross your fingers again and hope that Austria reaches the final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden, and causes a sensation. This time, hopes are pinned on 29-year-old dancer Kaleen from Wels, who is set to bring a great atmosphere to the Malmö Arena with her 90s Eurodance-inspired party song "We Will Rave" and - as announced in advance - bold clothing. This follows the tradition of the recent past and attempts to bring success back to the Alpine region with disco beats and exalted dancing.

Solidly to victory
However, the selection committee should write it into their book: The greatest successes in local competition history are owed to more dignified compositions. In 1966, Carinthian-born Udo Jürgens competed for Austria for the third time in a row and finally celebrated his great triumph. After sixth place and fourth place in the previous years, he achieved the great triumph with a well-behaved crown, puppy dog eyes and the fiber-flattering "Merci, Chérie", from which the whole of Austria drew for almost half a century.

It was not until 2014 that this feat was repeated in Copenhagen. Conchita Wurst, the fictional character created by Styrian Tom Neuwirth, thrilled audiences with the epic anthem "Rise Like A Phoenix" and a brilliant show full of glitz and glamor. The socio-political impact of Conchita's triumph was even greater than her musical success. As a diva with a full beard, Wurst's triumph was an immensely important sign for the LGBTQ scene and for togetherness in general. A curious detail: as the song was rejected by every record company in advance, ORF ended up releasing it itself.

Between melancholy and anarchy
Moments of success are otherwise few and far between in Austrian ESC history, but there have always been positive results. In 1972, the Milestones surprised everyone in Edinburgh, Scotland, with fifth place for "Falter im Wind". Back then, the still very young Christian Kolonovits could be seen at the piano. Four years later, the cult duo Waterloo & Robinson delighted audiences with their good humor. Their song "My Little World" also took fifth place and rang in the ears for a long time afterwards. Looking back, the 2000s can be seen as the biggest drought in Austrian ESC history. One outlier was the Styrian Alf Poier, whose anarchic song "Weil der Mensch zählt" ("Because people count") hit the nail on the head in 2003 and took sixth place in Riga as the curiosity of the evening.

A different kind of success was the Trackshittaz disco anthem"Woki mit deim Popo". Lukas Plöchl and Manuel Hoffelner were eliminated without a sound in the semi-final, but apart from that the song developed a cult potential that is otherwise only known from Skero's "Kabinenparty". The last major highlight to date was César Sampson's quite surprising third place with "Nobody But You" in 2018. Thomas Forstner has an ambivalent review of the competition. He achieved a respectable fifth place in 1989 with "Nur ein Lied", written by Dieter Bohlen, while "Venedig im Regen" pulverized him to the bottom of the field with no points in 1991.

Numerous zero entries
This brings us to the ESC flops, which happened far more often in Austria than great successes. Not only Thomas Forstner had to leave the field with zero points, Eleonore Schwarz with "Nur in der Wiener Luft" (1962), Wilfried with "Lisa, Mona Lisa" (1988) and The Makemakes with "I Am Yours" (2015) also had to make the journey home with their heads hung low. The latter are still remembered for their theatrically burning piano, but musically they were far less convincing. At the very first competition in 1957, Bob Martin came tenth out of ten with "Where to, little pony?".

The meagre performances of Christina Simon with "Heute in Jerusalem" (1979) or Anita with "Einfach weg" (1984) were equally unglamorous. If Austria took part at all in the 2000s, then they either finished far behind or tumbled out in the semi-finals, such as Global Kryner or Eric Papilaya. With high expectations, our disco duos of recent years landed hard on the ground of reality. Lum!x feat. Pia Maria failed in the semi-finals in 2022 with "Halo" due to a lack of vocal power, while the track "Who The Hell Is Edgar?" by the Styrian/Viennese duo Teya & Salena, which was initially highly rated by the bookmakers, had to settle for 15th place a year ago.

It's all about being there
The Song Contest is always a grab bag for Austria, which tends to veer between blind euphoria and unexpected sadness. Regardless of whether Kaleen makes it to the final tonight and perhaps even wins it on Saturday, or flies home as an early loser with an impressive show - the party will bring people on site and in front of the TV screens all over Europe to storms of enthusiasm. In the end: being there is everything!