Monsters of Eurovision

Finland's scary-looking Lordi have won the Eurovision Song Contest, much to the horror of the Greek religious right, who ignorantly labelled them as 'Satanic'. I notice they got 12 points from Greece, so not all Greeks agree with their po-faced clerics. They also got 12 points from Britain, which indicates there are still rock fans in Britain.

Although described as "death metal", this lot are more Kiss than Opeth. The song is actually quite commercial. I had earlier thought it sounded like a cross between Rammstein and The Darkness. My brother says there's an element of Sweden's Europe (remember them?).

Most of the rest of the acts were pretty awful Eurocheese with very few exceptions. Norway's "Alvedansen" was the best of the bunch, vaguely reminiscent of Blackmores Night, but ultimately Norway's Elves couldn't compete with Finland's Orcs. Lithuania's deliberately stupid "We are the winners" had high entertainment value, and gained quite a few votes. The fact that they were obviously taking the piss out of the whole thing upset some southern Europeans who actually take Eurovision seriously. Britain's lame entry performed by a twit named after a soap powder came absolutely nowhere, exactly where it deserved to come.

I'm not surprised that Finland won. They've attracted the attention a lot of rock fans who don't normally pay much attention to the contest. It's certainly the first time I've ever voted.