Telex at Eurovision 1980

[thelaughingcow2012]

Sorry but this isn't good. It's so bad it's good.

[Tarabella2606]

Love all telex work! Great music :)

[DoubleMiz]

The irony here is if Kraftwerk did this song it would've been an instant classic.

[shakenDDp]

They were Eurovision before there was Eurovision

[Rapchaid]

@shakenDDp wtf

[linkinpark079]

Genius...pure genius, music doesn't get better, except for the ding dong song by Gunther

[overspliffed]

The band was founded by Marc Moulin, one of the greatest belgium jazz artist! Check this record and let me know what you think: Placebo Years 1971-1974 (released in 1999).

[ryan868]

78 people only know how to send faxes.

[bigbadchang]

Telex were kinda like Kraftwerk with a more apparent sense of humor.

[arthursuncle]

Indeed it finished 17 over 19 contestants. Finland was the last one and Morocco in 18th place. Maybe it was irreverent for the contest itself and, I agree, avant-garde for that time.

[davidhurleyjnr]

STILL better than any of the shit that is produced in Eurovision nowadays

[DavidShiel01]

77 People don't have any humor at all.This is a GREAT song.

Bravo België.

[stordoren]

Kraftwerk of Belgium?

[Cedde6]

of course they finished last! this is absolutely brilliant and this was for eurovision... just look at them! they were clearly not entending to win.. what they entended to do is to take a MASSIVE piss out of the whole thing! in 1980.... VISIONARIES!

[laylebaker]

BELGIUM - ONE POINT ;)

[exoterrestrial]

@spotswood4444: What a great moment that must have been indeed!

Lots of people never understood that his music was a kind of parody towards musical society. Nevertheless, they were splendid musicians!

@anglosaxons100: have a look at some other TELEX movies and perhaps, you'll understand ;-)

As Caralarms says: Try to get the joke in it ;-)

Grtz to you all!

Exo.

[anglosaxons100]

This song just about sums up Belgium as a country.

Bland, boring, and utterly pointless!

[exoterrestrial]

Marc Moulin was always miles ahead in music land.

Love the analog synths and the modular one in the back :-)

So bad he isn't among us anymore since september 2008...

[spotswood4444]

@exoterrestrial I met Marc Moulin in Brugge in May 2006, when he was performing at the Magdalenazaal. I went backstage to meet him and took a letter that he wrote to me in 1982, He signed it again and also Dan lacksman was there in the same dressing room and I shook his hand too. It was my birthday the day after, what a present that was. A true Gentlemen and what memories, it makes me emotional.

[danslog]

SYNTHS

[vstefanovsky]

Are all likers tone deaf? This is the dummest song ever! Bad even for a kindergarten!

[caralarms]

@vstefanovsky No, but unlike you, we get the joke.

[96fredrik]

2:29

Low-price special effects...

[fpsoft1]

In 1980 i was fifteen, waiting all evening to see them on tv at Eurofestival. Didn't matter they arrived last, they gave me an unforgettable evening.

[lukejameshogg]

They didn't come last they came 17th.



[Aideen73]

ESC was much better in the 80's - there was a lot more variety to the songs then - this is a perfect example of it. Not your "typical" ESC song at all.

[pritzi101]

Yeah, totally different to Kraftwerk...

[pcampbell0]

Yay, go XA cameras!

[MrCodlin]

This is my favourite song of all time. I love the harmonies - they're almost as good as the harmonies on Jap Jap's 'Coming back for you'.

[jon1mills1]

i dont think Kraftwerk lost any sleep over this..

[PEC2528]

@jon1mills1  Yeah but they pissed their pants along with Telex because they got the joke.

[megabrout]

the belgian pioneers of electronica, they didn't deserve the negative critic back then :/

[H71BCD]

There should be a new rule that every performer who appears on the Eurovision Song Contest must incorporate a Moog synthesizer in their act, out of respect for Telex.

[Gazymodo]

Simply perfect.

Simply too much in advance on their time...

Genius!

[johnrizal]

what is the song title? THUMB for this video

[tigrakos123]

no offence, of course. (to what i wrote).

[tigrakos123]

73 people have never seen eurovision or don't know that Eurovision is the best music show in the world! This song is very very underrated and the fact it didn't get more than 14 points is because it is extremely repetitive and it was ahead of it's time. 

[ronstero]

@tigrakos123 the best music show in the world? The songs that usually win are horrible.

[aure232]

@ronstero with whew exceptions...last good song that won was finnish Hard Rock Halleluyah, IMO

[tigrakos123]

@ronstero yes, but it reaches annually 100-150 million viewers (in europe) and 200-600 million viewers worldwide.

[daviddraexe]

La Belgique, un pays où tout le monde fait de la merde et appelle ça du 'génie'.

Et après ça ils disent qu'ils ne se prennent pas au sérieux.

Pays de merde.

[wimpie25]

@daviddraexe

Zure appel...

[friteman1]

@wimpie25

Ik ga akkoord met jij!

[beruco1968]

@daviddraexe Et ce n'est rien à côté de ceux qui en écrive. N'est-ce pas cher monsieur ?

[leprincephilippe]

Génial!! Sublime !! A l'époque, pris pour des rigolos alors qu'ils étaient précurseurs!! RIP Marc Moulin!!

[TheDazmusic]

probaly the best song in the world

[modifiedcontent]

Another legendary Belgian Eurovision entry: Pas De Deux - Rendez-vous 1983 (watch escbelgium4's video for added sarcastic BBC commentary)

[heao71]

*lol* Sometimes the french are just great at taking the piss. Seb Tellier did good as well.

[chezza55]

@heao71 They're actually from Belgium^^

[lolipop3231]

best eurovision song ever

xD

[jeppe1208]

This is not only brilliant, influential history in the making, it is also a witty, and extremely precise satirical spin on the grand prix song genre..

My father tells me that the whole family laughed throughout the song back in 1980.. I don't know whats wrong with the audience - I would have given a standing ovation!

[petrikaivanto]

Great, but it did not finish last. Finland did! Also the Finnish cover version of this is well produced and has great lyrics!

[newellgirl]

TELEX=GENIUS

[FlavioSousa35]

I loved it. It's witty, entertaining and daring. 12 points from Portugal.

[micboobyqc]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA FUCKING GOOOOOOOD

[D000242]

73 users are clueless about how fucking awesome this video is.

[FlavioGirl]

very entertaiining.............i give them 12 points for effort. :)

[chivishun]

何故か子供番組に見えてきます。

[useless1997]

The singer looks like Björn Ulvaeus. And the show is great.

[themadpoet]

Reading the Wikipedia entry on Telex makes this absolutely hilarious

[guigne01]

My comment: They actually finished fourth from last. :) Au fait, pourquoi est-ce que tt le monde se chamaille, "les Wallons assurent, que les Flamands aillent faire foutre" et vice versa? Est-il vraiment impossible de chérir un patrimoine biculturel, d'exalter dans la pluralité de langues et cultures qu'offrent les deux côtés? You guys have such an awesome and interesting country; I hope you can work out the differences, or even embrace them, someday...

[JyotiMishra]

Pure, concentrated genius!

[iliveonjupiter]

this should have won

[medinastreet]

I LOVE, the master of house and techno

[Fabian81]

The song is cool yet: why would this band go to Eurovision to make fun of it?? Who would bother to do such a thing? Their attitude (of not liking Eurovision and still going there) is what made me be on the bottom because musicallywise the song sounded very much contemporary and bold as we shitted to the early stage of synth-pop of the 90s and that was cool. Their attitude was not and the judges "punished" them for that, Don't like ESC stay away from the competition.

[click64]

it's appropriate to a anthem of ESC, true?

[jannepori]

This is great. mind blowing !!!!

[szebutrans]

a sort of french kraftwerk with more human emotions

i fucking love this

[nickvth2009]

FUCK WALLOON

[euromaitre]

@nickvth2009 keep cool, no reason for insulting

[nickvth2009]

@euromaitre FUCK WALLOON

[euromaitre]

@nickvth2009 well then, your stuff

[Quent1991]

@nickvth2009 Fuck Flemish

[Quent1991]

@nickvth2009 Yeah anyway take your independance and within 50 years you'll all be under the North Sea !! Allez vous faire mettre, flamands ! Le français est la plus prestigieuse des langues alors c'est pas avec votre dialecte de boers que vous allez faire la loi.

[Carloshache]

This song did not finish last, although the eccentric band members of Telex hoped that it would. The song got 14 points and that was ahead of Morocco and Finland who got 7 and 6 points respectively.

[singinglawnchair]

WHY DID THESE GUYS NOT WIN?! I really must know. Oh well, thanks Portugal for giving them one point! Also, I would love to see the picture Michel Moers took at the end of their performance, haha.

[serchhhhhh]

bande de connard !!!! vive sandra kim !!!!



[CivikR]

This funny music is a piece of art... A real synth pop melody. Very nice!

[osanjose]

And the winer was Johnny Logan and the corny-tacky-cheese What's another Year? Telex made the only decent song of that, even in 1980, old fashioned contest.

[jorcyd]

Whoa

stylish and huge analog synthethyzer in the backgound ....

[wotariot]

Sounds kind of like Kraftwerk, but more jolly and upbeat.

[julienm0205]

haha!! lol!! :)

[Drjrecordz]

This is great. Just great.

[nbsgirl15]

he's standing right in front of me and they r AMAZING!!!

[puigross]

fucking great!!!

[mikroteknik]

Déjà que la musiique ne tue pas... les paroles non plus. Quant aux voix... pardon!

[chezza55]

teles is still over the standart of most of todays electronic music-bands

[philecops]

only 3 country on 19 vote for : English give 1 , Portugal give 10 , germany give 3 LOL 17/19

[IDIOSYNCRATICS]

It makes me proud being Belgian

[fredarik57]

L'antihéros par excellence, vive la Belgique!

[romantomato]

That would so win today :D

[lolipop3231]

Awesome 

[Youboog]

Big group, Moskow Discow still rings in my ears, too bad that as a group was not fully understood ...

[aure232]

@Youboog They were ahead of its time

[failedassassin]

What is the joke?

[AndriusVisumirskii]

ultra cool

[munherpes]

just love the melody and the swaying in the beginning

[Barmino]

Belgium has always been way ahead of it's time when it comes to electronic music.

[5imon7887]

DROOG !

[adobo777]

lol

[jobenbelgium]

Oh man,i would like to get that Moog Modular in my collection.

Great!!!

[HelloGIJo]

Why the hell did they come last?

[imolgen]

They came last? LAST? No wonder we can't sort out world hunger.

[McLarenMercedes]

@imolgen

Not last. 17 out of 19.

They never had any intentions of winning it. They hoped people would get the joke, which they people didn't.

[KOALAsounds]

nice one

[lnrepublic]

do me

[xemotionalxoceanx]

@lnrepublic do you

[vegetaholic2]

this is so fucking gay, im pissing my pants, its so funny, no wonder it took last place (rofl) stripes is best part :(rofl)

[xemotionalxoceanx]

he kinda looks like martin mull (the guy who played the principle in sabrina the teenage witch)

[grazchdanka]

So pure, simple, elegant and ironical. I don't know French, but I just love this song. I don't watch today Eurovision, it's such a crap. All  the sense is gone. Cheers from Russia

[grazchdanka]

So pure. Love it. Thank you so much. cheers from Russia)))

[pazermen]

jejjejejeje

[robvanhouten]

Jij niet ei!

[nissanmicrak10]

Amaai, das slecht.

Welke zatte waal, heeft die naart songfestival gestuurt

[GoeLiezzz]

@nissanmicrak10 Ik gok op Michel Daerden

[therunner1988]

Cette chanson était vraiment moderne et avant le temps existant au debut des années quatre-vingts!!!!

Je souhaite que L'eurovision pouvait etre comme il était autrefois!!!!

[machewbaccas]

I wish they came last like they wanted :(

[Koomisch1]

Echt Belgen.hahaha

[bemax]

una de las mejores canciones que he oido en mi vida (one of the best tunes i ever heard)

[rtmnmk]

This is a window to the past - It is so strange to look at this kind of performence. So relaxed. So naive. I guss that we all used to be like that back in those days.

[goncalo1998]

No they came 17th that was 3rd from last because of those 10 points from Portugal my contry worth it.

[rozza2012]

Oh all those modules, analogue porn.

[rozza2012]

mwanji, nice post but me thinks finished last due to their greatness, it is Euro Vision.

[Lamphmusic]

Uh - ro - vees - ee - yon !!!!! :D

One of the first Irish Eurosong 2010 entries is online now, if ur interested! watch?v=v0VYzQeTuLc

Just click my user name and it's the featured video! If u like, be sure to rate it, & leave a comment!

Thanks :)

[mig12pts]

they didn't finished last, but 17th from 19, with 14 points

(who finished last in 1980 was Finland)

[poromise]

This is just fucking great.

[fartybraindeath]

@poromise Amen

[keith904A]

I beg your pardon - "comedy band". Telex are acknowledged as a seminal influence on house, techno and electroclash.

Yes, they are mocking the contest itself but an out synth act in 1980 was pretty ahead of its time.

Listen to a band like Hot Chip - who does that remind you of?

[dark77778]

@keith904A Heheh, you said seminal.

[adrianovaz2008]

@keith904A Hot Chip sound really looks a little bit like Telex, but I think taht Alexis Taylor & Joe Goddard don't know these past masters... It's very hard know bands like Telex if you're don't searching for exactly this...

[dubpsychosis88]

@keith904A the Sebastien Telliers of 1980. Legends.

[Colcum]

@keith904A & they in turn surely owe alot to Kraftwerk, so implying they are groundbreakers is maybe a bit of a stretch? :-)

[Luger911]

@keith904A What they did in fact was not to take themselves too seriously, and thats is great! I put Telex in my top 5 most influential bands ever, Kraftwerk and New Order beat then though...

[Haihdutin]

is this some kind of comedy band?

[Hasaluth]

@Haihdutin if by comedy band you mean one of the most influential pioneers in early electronic music, then yes... this was an obvious poke at the eurovision farce, but telex together with front 242 are heroes to anyone who appreciates electronic music.

[Computerrorist]

@Hasaluth

word up

[dasmysteryman12]

Amazing tribute to Eurovision!

[DarkWagner4]

Kraftwerk

[bemax]

I love telex

[analogue71]

The only real reason to be proud for being Belgian. RIP Marc Moulin

[DeBurgemeester]

you need to get to know your own country... especially its music scene, one of the best in europe...

[analogue71]

no worries Burgemeester, I know my scene....

[DeBurgemeester]

Apparently you don't.... And I'm not talking about Milk Inc or similar mainstream cheese. Besides, pride starts with yourself, not with your country ;)

[analogue71]

rustig burgemeestertje, ik heb geen zin in een zinloze discussie met jou. ik heb gewoon willen zeggen dat ik Marc Moulin en de zijnen GENIAAL vond, dat ze dit durfden te doen, 20 jaar geleden, op een Eurosongfestival. en dat ik (ik spreek voor mezelf) daar erg fier op ben als ik dit terugzie, op een landen-wedstrijd. snap je? vandaar de "fier als belg" remark. voorts geen enkele verwijzing naar de belgische scene gemaakt. you see? zalig kerstfeest !

[DeBurgemeester]

"voorts geen enkele verwijzing naar de belgische scene gemaakt."

nee? het volgende verwijst naar heel wat meer dan alleen de scene:

"The only real reason to be proud for being Belgian"

serieus... en voor u ook ne zalige kerstmis :)

[nongbuah]

ahead of their time

[dkfelix]

Does anybody know, where to get the lyrics??

[Jazon2007]

@dkfelix google search "telex eurovision lyric"

[dkfelix]

@Jazon2007 I can't thank you enough for your invaluable information. How would I ever learn the text without the written lyrics!

[Abraxas80]

They look kind of jewish...

[dkfelix]

More chinese I would say.

[acadusle]

How could have they not won! they're #1!

[FlashVideosDigital]

They use a Moog Modular, great!!!

[ludochem]

i was lucky to live next belgium at the time ! thanks the belgian waves ! they re the best electro pop band ever !!

et faire de la poesie avec les cables blindés !!!! trop fort !!!

[ophone77]

Belgique: 12 (mille) points!!!

[BelgianMusic]

ahah totally surreal, luv it

[jnnx]

before hipsters ruined scarfs

[monopolirecordings]

This is just brilliant.

[prasinos37]

amsterdam and this are favorites from euro 1980

[prasinos37]

remember watching this when i lived in Greece.I was in elementary school then and I really liked this song,it is one of the 3-4 that I leked from euro1980

[rekingooo]

i've uplodaded an unreleased telex track

[gulfalco]

One of the greatest bands no one knows about!

[boeffen27071985]

Yeah, i'm agree... Wish there were more who know them... :)

[Graptemiss]

Vive la Belgique, la première à oser enfin se moquer de cette cérémonie kitchement cultissime!

[ATinyStormInYourTeaC]

Joli :D

[pointpuntak]

hahahah telex fue la mayor parodia al festival de eurovision que se ha hecho nunca.creo que por ese año el festival estaba en sus horas mas bajas, y creo que los organizadores tomaron buena nota....

[xgoddammitx]

haha i love this song :D

[Opalance]

Probably coulda used some more showmanship or something...

[TheJediCharles]

They were dilibrerately striving to come in last place.

They were disappointed they came in second to last.

With that in mind, you might understand why they performed like they did.