4th: Roger Pontare - When Spirits Are Calling My Name (133 points)
Winning the REAL PRIZE here - of who'd nab fourth behind the schlagerqueens - SYPHILITIC OLD RODGE manages to coast in pretty comfortably ahead of the rest, a clear 26 points past Fame.
This one has the benighted title of being the first Eurovision entry to truly MESMER a young Penelope en route to making me a lifer, a big, dramatic, tribal jojkrock-musical theatre stomper that went down an absolute storm with the home audience and garnered a very respectable top ten entry. Mad old Rodge came back a few times after this to Melodifestivalen with Queenesque banger
Silverland and...the less banging
Himmel och hav, but really, you can imagine him doing a lot with some of the entries we've had in the contest proper since (just IMAGINE if we'd had his level of WILD COMMITMENT on
Higher Ground!) Probably the platonic ideal of a host entry, I'm a little surprised this isn't a furrow the Swedes go back to a little more often. It suits them well!
2 x 12 (ButterTart, dmlaw)
1 x 1 (Kratz - RACIST!)