Just a note....Yugoslavia could not "emerge from behind the Iron Curtain" since it was never behind the Iron Curtain to begin with. It was a non-aligned country that said no to Stalin way back in 1948.

Wouldnt it be cool if Croatia won this year, Zagreb hosts and they bring back the Eurocat mascot since Rim Tim Tagi Dim has cat references?

That's not even the craziest Yugoslavia-Eurovision story. Did you guys know that Serbia and Montenegro (one country), that was essentially what was left of Yugoslavia in the early 2000, fell apart because of Eurovision? Obviously there were tensions in the region at the time, Eurovision was not the sole reason for the country falling apart, but it was the final straw. Serbia and Montenegro had a competition Europesma/Europjesma (literally translates to Eurosong from Serbian/Montenegrin) that was a standard competition for choosing a national representative for Eurovision. Before the final, both countries, Serbia and Montenegro separately, would hold competitions for choosing their top candidates, and then in the Europesma/Europjesma they would send top performing artists, in equal numbers from Serbia and from Montenegro. In 2006, there was a clear public favorite, with Flamingosi - Ludi Letnji Ples (Crazy Summer Dance). The song was an obvious choice, since the band consisted of a Serb and Montenegrin, and was a silly little song that pandered to Europe, with the chorus being just a list of European cities. However, when it came to voting, the Serbian jurors voted mostly fairly, while Montenegrin jurors only voted for Montenegrin artists, which resulted in a win for a Montenegrin band No Name, which represented the country the previous year (Flamingosi were a Serbian representative, so the jurors didn't vote for them). What followed was an outrage from the audience (competition was held in Belgrade, Serbia), a complete chaos on the stage, No Name accepting the award and leaving the stage for the fear of their own safety, the entire arena screaming ""We want Flamingosi!" and Flamingosi coming on the stage with the rest of the artists (without No Name), all together singing Ludi Letnji Ples. Needles to say, Serbia and Montenegro didn't compete in Eurovision that year. Shortly after that, Serbia and Montenegro fell apart, and became Republic of Serbia and Republic of Montenegro. There is a whole show available on youtube, i suggest you watch the ending, trust me, you don't need the translation to understand what's happening. :D P.S. To this day, if you ask any Serb who was old enough at the time to remember this happening, they will tell you how devastated they still are about the fact that we didn't send Flamingosi to Eurovision. I know people who cried watching that competition. It is insane how emotional people were at the time, about one silly song. :) P.P.S. Next year, 2007, Serbia and Montenegro separately competed in Eurovision, and Serbia won for the first time in history of Eurovision!

Riva is from Zadar, not Zagreb.

Yugoslavia was never 'behind the iron curtain.' The iron curtain refers to the cultural wall surrounding SOVIET countries. Tito's Yugoslavia was decidedly outside the soviet system and had warm relations with the west. Yugoslavians could travel freely all over the west. Interestingly, Stalin tried to assisinate Tito almost as often as the US tried to off Castro. And some people have suggested that Stalin's unexpected death was do to poisoning by a Yugoslavia agent.

Last year I started rewatching all Eurovision Contests since I remember watching them, and 1990's was the first I watched (I was 9 at the time), and I can tell you that this 1990 edition was by far the weirdest to watch, knowing all what happened later. Also the years after that when also Bosnia & Herzogovina participated, those really let a mark, especially the song Sva Bol Svijeta in 1993, in that song you could hear the suffering of the Bosnian people.

0:10 'Will go Slavia if Yugoslavia first' is comic genius LOL.

Band RIva is from Zadar, 75 000 inbaitant town in Dalmatia (south part of Republic of Croatia), not from Zagreb.

Others have already mentioned that Riva is from Zadar and not Zagreb but I would also like to refer to your point about Croatia sending a message that it was done with Yugoslavia. That might seem like it to an outsider but songs that Croatia was sending to Eurovision were very much the type of songs that we were listening to at the time in Croatia. Someone mentioned in the comments that Rajko Dujmic wrote all three songs that you were referring to and he and his band Novi Fosili were like an institution in Croatia. They had their own TV show for each New Year’s Eve, for instance. There were always differences between what types of music was more listened to in each of the republics. For instance, Lepa Brena was the only one from the Serbian turbo-folk group of singers that was really popular across the federation. And since republics rotated in terms of TV program as well, you could easily avoid ever watching programs of other republics. So the real message here is that people in Croatia have been largely exposed to European music, in particular Italian and that was just the prevailing sound. Unfortunately, today there’s more influence from the East when it comes to music, partly because it gives artist wider audience (outside of Croatia, in former republics).

It’s actually a sad story here. A lot of countries praised the downfall of Berlin wall, but the first attempt to highlight crisis in ex-Yugo countries was in 1993. I do understand the will of Fazla to protest during his performance.

a bit disappointing you did not show the iconic stroll among the audience (among them Yugoslav president included!) of Toto Cotugno while singing the winner's encore

Meow 😺 please meow back

Riva was not a band from Zagreb. Also, Yugoslavia was not "behind the Iron Curtain". Your "Balkanologist" sux.

Eurocat, please meow back

A fact not a lot of people and especially ESC fans know is that the YU national selection was done according to the plan, so everyone knew which republic any given year the YU ESC entry would be selected from. The winner songs were not, by any means, chosen because they were the best each year. The Yugovision festival was a charade really.

All three entries from '87, '88 and '89 where composed by Rajko Dujmić, a leader of "Novi Fosili". Bad mouths says he sent same song three times a row. Additionally, Jugovizija/Yugovision was marred with number of scandals. That Croatian success on national selection was due fixing and some arm bending. The most notorious examples where not sending song by Lepa Brena (the biggest ex YU star) in 1983, and "Princeza" by Slađana Milošević and Dado Topić, an ethereal balad, with sci-fi undertones akin to the Celine winning entry.

"It must have been love" by Roxette possibly didn't reach No 1 on the Swedish charts because it was merely a revamped version of the same song that had already been a hit in Sweden at Christmas time in 1987, before Roxette's international breakthrough. There were some instrumental add-ons, and lyrically, "and it's a hard Christmas day" was replaced by "and it's a hard winter's day", otherwise it was the same recording. Thus, in Sweden the song was sort of "old news" in 1990.

You guys really must love Eurocat - i just noticed MB has a poster in his recording room, thought the background changes for every video, but no, this is a genuine decor of his :)

Brandenburg gate wasn't a boarder crossing, it was an old city gate completely independent of the later Berlin Wall. Also, saying that sending Rock songs is pandering to "western european" tastes is ridiculous, as there were very popular rock bands in all of Eastern Europe, including Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Poland etc.

Roxette's not being #1 in 1990 in Sweden has one very simple explanation: in Sweden the song was a hit not because of the movie but because it had been released 3 years prior in its "Christmas-lyric reference" version ... Thus, it was something really brand new to all of us outside of Sweden ... but not for the Swedes themselves. Plus, Sweden wasn't always kind to both ABBA and later on to Ace Of Base. Which means that being internationally sucessful is not something Swedes care or bother to praise or worship. It's not in their veins or cultural mindset. They will only take notice of you, if you deliever a really good song that for the majority of the population is regarded as a hit with or withot international success. Sweden may be being giving us all now Max Martin... but Swedes themselves are way too busy to eat at MacDonalds every single day ... and with that being said, Melodifestivalen is regarded as a TV enteraining show but not expected to really deliever true musical craftmannshift a 6 year old will be able to understand and a 70 year old will bother to hear. And unlike SVT the national broadcasting channel .... Eurovision tends to be far more relevant for pure narcistic status .... but not for the Swedish population that has a life to live and bills to pay. If Loreen wants to really to have an international ouside of this mindset, Loreen needs more than spotify and her two Eurovision wins ... Loreen will either need a) 1977 Australia (you know where I am going with this) b) an American student in Sweden taking her music to the US c) Clive Davis and Arista records ... cause the Swedes really dont care. Good luck every single Swedish artist trying to make their names go big ouside of Sweden in ABBA, Roxette, Ace of Base style ... good luck indeed.

Eurovision 2024: Not! Political! Eurovision 1990: Every song is about the fall of the Berlin Wall

Maybe Roxette's It Must Have Been Love did not do as well in Sweden because it had already been released in Sweden a few years ago peaking at number 4? It was close enough to not be old enough to peak higher from nostalgia?

Fantastic insight into a truly horrible part of history, I have always been fascinated by the former Yugoslavia, and now you've re-ignited that spark; no doubt I'm going to lose more hours going down a rabbit hole about it. Thank you! Great upload

The Portuguese 1990 entry was also a reference to the changes in Europe, stating just like Portugal earning freedom from its authoritarian regime after the 1974 revolution, other countries were hoping now that their dreams of freedom would come true. One line in the lyrics even alludes to the Berlin Wall: "Um passo era o muro que calava a voz e a verdade de nada valia." ("A step was a wall that silence the voice and the truth meant nothing.")

Are you gonna cover San Marino's "The Last Polar Bear" and the rather interesting story behind it? Think it could be worthy of its own episode.

And Eurovision could be back in Zagreb, next year!

Great video, thank you for this

You were also corrected that we are not eastern european more than ten times.

You weren't OverthinkingIt while creating this video.

6:17 slide is so short, very good read, insightful that Eurovision is suppose to be non political, but yet is so blatantly political.

The first time Croatia won Eurovision. Yes.

That was an interesting video!

"United by music"

Well, your analysis has some flaws. It's not true that only Croatian songs sounded more Western or whatever. The choice of songs was mostly political or rather politically correct. The best example of how songs were selected solely on political grounds and not on artistic merits happened in 1984: the best song by far was from Serbia/ Belgrade. It was called "Princeza" performed by the duo Slađana Milošević and Dado Topić. Since it wasn't Serbia's "turn" to send a song to the ESC that year, Yugoslavia sent some boring song from other federal fepublic and Yugoslavia ended up last. If Yugoslavia had sent this song then, who knows, maybe Yugoslavia would've won the Eurovision that year... We'll never know. Anyway, judge it for yourself: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Y8eDf9N6u5vZgoE.html&si=qBE2Bte9VvYpZziD P.s. Sad fact: Slađana passed away a week or so ago. RIP 🙏

Is balkanologist a protected title?

Anjeo 😍😍😍 Can't believe it's the same gurl.

6:16 So... basically "Diana" fits the theme of Rim Tim Dagi Dim?

I love yugoslavia getting 0 points at its last eurovision. That's so iconic

Riva was an undeserved winner but Tajci should have won

and yet "eurovision isn't political"

Coincidence, I think not.

Just saying, I also want some merchandise with Eurocat 😢😢😢

Croatia is going to win this year though.meow.😻😻😻

The most stupid and false, political victory to keep us together.

Here in ex-yu countries we have a theory that whenever we win eurosong, we loose our teritory. 1990 Yugoslavia fell apart, and 2008. Serbia lost 12% of its teritory. So - eurosong win - thanks but no thanks 😊

Is u saying that Sweden could fall apart after The Contest, or get invaded?

so u say we should allow ruzzia to host?