It is often said: Rock music… that doesn’t belong  in the Eurovision Song Contest. But why not? And who decides? That is the counter-question. 

The answer is simple; If we look at the rules of the EBU, there are rules about length, publication, originality, but not about the genre.
So…. Rock music at Eurovision: Sure thing!

The early years

For the very first Rock entry, we’re going all the way back to…..1956!

An entry in the very first year of Eurovision, which would not be out of place for Elvis (regardless of the language). The Austrian Freddy Quin was one of the German representatives; his song was called was “So geht das jede Nacht”. As with every entry in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1956, apart from the winner, the placement is unknown.

Varying degrees of success and the lowest ranking

Rock songs were submitted with varying degrees of success in the years that followed. In 1982 a Rock-bottom was reached: Finland’s Kojo with “Nuku pommiin”, took the very last place with 0 points.

Was it really that bad, or was Europe not ready for it? Judge for yourself:

Rock Win

It took quite some time before Rock really made a difference at Eurovision, but in 2006 the time had come: Lordi for Finland with “Hardrock Hallelujah” won the contest with 292 points.

Rock is part of it

After that, Rock as a type of music at Eurovision was taken a lot more seriously.
Bigger successes were achieved, and in 2018 even a Hungarian hard metal band managed to reach the finals. That AWS with “Viszlát Nyár” finished last in the grand final, doesn’t matter… They made it to the finals.

The icing on the Rockcake was, of course, Måneskin in 2021. France was the big favorite (Barbara Pravi), but with 524 points, Italy left France behind. 

The conclusion may be that Rock definitely belongs at Eurovision, although opinions will always be divided on this. 2024 was a year without Rock. We are curious to see what 2025 will bring.