Editorials & OpinionEurovision

Xtra’s Pick of the 90s

Welcome back to our series in which we delve into the ESC archive and one of our editors picks out a song of a different era each day. Today, as every Thursday, a song from the ’90s gets to be analysed inside out. Max‘s choice was:

Germany 1998: Guildo Horn – Guildo Hat Euch Lieb (8th place)


This is a total classic, in my opinion. I still remember the first time I watched the 1998 contest (it was on YouTube a few years ago) and when Guildo performed all I could say was “WTF?”, but in a very positive way. Performers in the ’90s were not as outrageous as they can be nowadays and this performance was brilliant, really ahead of its ESC time.
Where to start? Stefan Raab behind the music, the lyrics and being the conductor. This was his ESC debut, prior to participating himself in 2000 and composing an exquisite entry for 2004, proving his artistic versatility (the three entries ended up in the top ten). As you may remember, Raab was also Lena Meyer-Landrut’s mentor helping her win in 2010 and he also hosted the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf.
As far as Guildo is concerned, he was an excellent performer from beginning to end, including his well-delivered vocals, considering how much he was moving all over the stage and the arena (epic moment at the end when he climbed up the steel structure and I thought he’d die on live TV haha).
Full of energy, interacting with the Birmingham attendees in a flawless way (it’s very difficult to make English people react as he did) and in terms of his look, everything was eye-catching: hair, suit, cape, shoes… What a gamble! It certainly paid off, there was nothing missing, including getting undressed, playing cowbells, touching and kissing people on his way and shouting “come on!” every five seconds. Hilarious is clearly an understatement, but this wouldn’t have been a top-ten act without a good song to back it up, that’s for sure. Full package here.
Don’t get me wrong, 1998 had a lot to offer because many of that year’s performances were very good and the winner made ESC history. However, Guildo and his song “Guildo Loves You All” were simply unforgettable. Enjoy! 😉

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