Stock Aitken Waterman Can't Save the UK From Last Place

MAY 15 2010 · 12:15

Josh Dubovie · "That Sounds Good to Me" · United Kingdom · 2010 Placement: 25 · Score: 10 · Language: English · Composers: Pete Waterman, Mike Stock, Steve Crosby · Venue: Telenor Arena · Host: Oslo, Norway · Type: deep cut · Broadcast: streaming era Dubovie — 19, Essex-born, bright pastel suit — takes the Telenor Arena stage to perform a composition by Pete Waterman and Mike Stock, half of the production team that made Kylie Minogue and Rick Astley global stars. The song is pastiche 1989 Stock Aitken Waterman. 10 points. Last place of 25. Lena wins for Germany with 'Satellite'. Context BBC had specifically commissioned the Waterman team as a prestige signal. Dubovie was an X-Factor alumnus brought in to execute the vision. Stock Aitken Waterman had been out of the production business for 15 years; their house template read to the Telenor audience as historical artifact rather than current pop. Legacy The 2010 last-place finish was the UK's rock bottom of the 21st century — worse than Jemini (also last but at least with zero rather than 10 points, which meant Dubovie's was a 'pity vote' pattern loss). Dubovie continued cabaret work. The Waterman experiment became a UK Eurovision reference point for how nostalgia trap-doors a selection strategy.