One of the greatest things I discovered when I moved to Europe was the Eurovision Song Contest. While I had heard of it in passing before, I never watched it and chalked it down as another American Idol-like thing. I never realized how empty my May months had been before I made watching (and gossiping about) Eurovision an honored tradition. There are many things to talk about when it comes to this song contest, but this issue, I will be focusing on what I think are five of the most outrageous costumes Eurovision performers ever donned (in a good or bad way).
Who could forget 2007’s runner up Verka Serduchka, whose outfit (and that of the backup singers and musicians) was inspired by The Wizard of Oz and many, many sparkles. This Ukrainian’s act quickly became a fan favorite. Even more than a decade later, Serducka often performs cameo on other Eurovision Song Contests.
Perhaps the strangest one yet is Ireland’s entry in 2009 when a song was sung by Dustin the Turkey. Yes, a turkey. His back-up dancers were reminiscent of a Brazilian carnival dancers, except in orange, white and green.
00s seem to be the time of strange, bizarre and shocking costumes. 2007’s band Scooch, representing the United Kingdom, had all the members dress in cheap fabric, coupled with small caps, sparkly red ties and yellow cummerbunds. If they were trying to emulate Britney Spears’ look in the Toxic music video, they did not succeed, and were punished for it with 22nd place out of 24. While that might not seem bad, the country that gave them 12 points, Malta, said it was done out of protest rather than genuine praise.
Lithuania’s entry in 2010 had quite a mash of outfit styles. This mix of business on the top, disco hot pants and sneaker shoes made for quite a memorable entry.
Taking the top spot with me and thus, being mentioned last, are Lordi. The Finnish rockers won in 2006 with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah. They were the fresh faces on the stage with an interesting song choice for Eurovision, which traditionally inclines toward more slow ballads or up-beat pop songs. The most surprising thing about them was their demonic costumes which they refused to take off, even the masks.
