Eurovision’s Greatest Hits takes place in London on 31 March. The one-off concert will see a host of past Eurovision stars take to the stage to mark 60 years of the contest. While the show itself will be purely celebratory, we’ve decided to add a little competition to proceedings by ranking and reviewing all 19 Eurovision entries sung by the 15 confirmed acts. Today the Wiwi Jury— our in-house panel of musical unprofessionals — head to Gothenburg 1985 to experience Norway’s first ever victory with Bobbysocks and “La Det Swinge”. What do we think of these swingers 30 years later? Read on to find out…
https://youtu.be/KKGQdapez3E
Sopon: Bobbysocks is arguably my favourite winner of the pre-1999 era. Hanne and Elisabeth brought a fun and catchy retro number and scored Norway its first victory after several last places. “La Det Swinge” is a perfect feel-good number and easy to listen to. No subtle themes, no campaigning, just a song to let us swing until we lose control.
Score: 10/10
Judit: Oh how I love the pink glitter! The song is good, and I want to sing along every time I hear it, even though I can’t speak their language. The little dance moves are just enough, and if they ever want a third member, I’ll happily volunteer.
Score: 9/10
Angus: Colour me BEDAZZLED. Those sequinned jackets are timeless sugars: and that’s all there is too it.
Score: 7/10
Denise: Aww, this is really fun. Their hair, clothes and even the dance moves, it all reminds me of the eighties. I really like the beginning where they’re running on stage. Yes, it’s a classic! And I was thrilled when they performed again at Melodi Grand Prix this year (and still with the amazing purple blazers).
Score: 7/10
William: Flamboyant costumes, daring hair, boundless energy — you can see why this stood out in 1985. The opening verses lead smoothly to a catchy and memorable chorus. This isn’t my style of music, but I can’t help but love their conviction and pizzaz.
Score: 7/10
Kristín: Has it been 30 years already? Because “La Det Swinge” is a timeless masterpiece! Those who don’t get the desire to party like it’s 1985, when this song comes on…they have no soul! Bettan and Hanna rule and Bobbysocks are the most dynamic ESC duo ever. Amen.
Score: 10/10
Padraig: The whole performance reeks of 8os cheese and tackiness. It shouldn’t work at all, yet somehow it does. The song is too infectious to ignore, and the two ladies are so endearing. This is a lovely dollop of old fashioned fun. It’s impossible to hate.
Score: 7/10
Robyn: Bobbysocks ignored the trends of the 80s and entered this cosy Baby Boomer throwback to music of the 1960s. And it’s perfect Eurovision bait with the Norwegian lyrics that use enough English loan words to make the chorus sound familiar enough to international audiences. But 30 years later, this upbeat number is still gloriously fun. Super positive songs like this don’t really win Eurovision anymore, but it’s nice to be reminded of a time when they did.
Score: 7/10
All 16 members of our jury rate each song. However, we don’t have room to share written reviews from everyone. Here are the remaining nine scores.
Anthony: 9/10
Chris: 9/10
James: 10/10
Josh: 9/10
Liam: 7/10
Mikhail: 8/10
Patrick: 8/10
Ramadan: 7/10
Sami: 7/10
The highest and lowest scores are removed before calculating the final score. We have dropped a low of 7 and a high of 10.
I think this is my LEAST favorite winner of all times… I just don’t get this song…it’s 80s trashy, but in a bad way. I prefer Plastic Bertrand, really
one of my favourites of all the eurovsion entries ever!!!
Great winner and still a great song. Lil the presenter in Goteborg that year got very excited when it was obvious norway would win. This song was translated into English and was played at nightclubs radios and parties in Ireland for a long time
“La det svinge” would have been a perfect song if it hadn’t been for “Dag efter dag” from three years earlier. They are of course two different songs, but there so much similarities in the arrangement and style (not to mention Elisabeth Andreasson singing in both of them) that I cannot think one without the other. To me Dag efter dag was much better, and I wish it had won instead. But to us in Finland it was nice to realize that if Norway could win the Eurovision, so could Finland as well. We just had to wait 21 more… Read more »
This song has always reminded a bit of ‘Hot Patootie–Bless My Soul’ from RHPS. Not that it’s a bad thing–it’s just both of them use that sort of 50s throwback that I love.
Eurovision 1985 for me one of best 3 Eurovision of 80 -ties. Best song for me we had in 1983, 1988 and 1985. On fourth place Eurovision 1989.
So many good songs in 1985, song from Norway, Sweden, UK, Ireland, Spain,israel, Italy ,Switzerland, Finland…
For me most underrate song that year was song from Spain. Spain deserved to be in TOP 5 not only 14 of 19