XTRA Throwback Thursday: Crazy Country

It’s Thursday, so that can only mean one thing: XTRA Throwback Thursday! In the upcoming weeks and months, we’ll take you on a journey through Europe and beyond, a journey through the history of the contest. This week, we’ll focus on Texas Lightning as Nick’s favourite from the genre of country music!

This week’s theme: Crazy Country

As it was my own birthday today, I got to pick a theme which really suits me. Great German? Great Greeks? All themes that would fit me, but it had to be Crazy Country. I love country music and it’s only right that the genre gets some more attention. Country music has always been present at the Eurovision Song Contest, but it is now in its best days, with acts like Sebalter, The Common Linnets, Texas Lightning, Bonnie Tyler and Douwe Bob showing their Nashville side in the past few years. I go back just a little more, for a true fun effort.

TEXAS LIGHTNING – NO NO NEVER

Having to pick just one country effort from the past 61 years is almost an impossible task. I wanted a song that truly showed country music, perhaps underrated by fans – You name it. I was in doubt between Texas Lightning, The Common Linnets and my eternal legend, Bonnie Tyler. In the end, I just had to go with this one. The one song that showed fun in the genre while also making fun of a genre they love. I had to pick Texas Lightning.
Texas Lightning, the big underdogs of the 2006 national final in Germany. A country cover band was going to take on Modern Talking singer Thomas Anders and former Eurovision winner and schlager legend Vicky Leandros. Filling up the stage, one could say. But they filled up the stage with a storm. They defeated both their competitors and went to Athens.
And boy, did they fill a stage in Athens. With a song like No No Never, you could take yourself really seriously. Pretend you’re actually trying to make a huge statement for country music in the most serious form ever. Or you dress up in cowboy suits, complete with hats and put a few cardboard cactuses on a stage. They chose the latter and that is a fantastic decision. Just look at the sheer joy and happiness brought to that stage.
For me, it all came together in this song. German Eurovision entries, Athens, the 2006 contest and country music. That is me in a song. That is all I ever need. How can you not love this fantastic effort?

What the others had to say…

Wivian:

I‘m not really much of a country music fan, but there have been a couple country influenced Eurovision entries in the past few years that I have quite liked. Calm Before the Storm and Believe Again to mention just two. However, No No Never is my favourite! Even though this, more than the other two, is very much not my kind of music, it‘s just such a happy, fun song! You (or at least I!) just have to love it! There is no way I can listen to it without smiling and singing along, and when it pops up on my halfmarathon playlist, I always speed up a tiny bit. Also, the fact that I can actually manage to sing it (at least sort of) in tune, makes me like it even more. And I just adore the staging…hihihi!

Nathan:

No No Never is one of my favourite Eurovision entries of all time, and is certainly one of the best all-around performances that Germany have sent to the competition since the turn of the millennium. This song deserved so much more from the results. However, my favourite country-lite entry at Eurovision is actually You & Me by Joan Franka. Yes the staging for that was ALL wrong but the song has always stuck with me.

Next week

Next week we will look back at some of Eurovision’s best entries from the great country that is Cyprus. And of course, our very own Cypriot Dimitris will take you on a journey to his country.