Glam-Rock Revival Survives Eurovision's Plasticine Era

MAY 15 2007 · 12:20

The Ark · "The Worrying Kind" · Sweden · 2007 Placement: 18 · Score: 51 · Language: English · Composers: Ola Salo · Venue: Hartwall Arena · Host: Helsinki, Finland · Type: performance innovation · Broadcast: digital hd Ola Salo struts onto Hartwall's wood-panelled stage in a silver sequined jumpsuit and white platform heels, teased hair haloed by strobes. The Ark perform glam-rock the way Mott the Hoople played it — strutting, sneering, arms up. Behind him the band plays live without a click track, a rarity for 2007 Eurovision. The crowd roars; the juries do not. Sweden finishes 18th, the country's worst since 1992. Context The Ark were already a major Swedish rock band with three studio albums before Melodifestivalen. Salo, openly gay since his teens, had made 'The Worrying Kind' a pointed response to a rising evangelical moralism in Swedish politics. Picking them for Eurovision was SVT signaling that Swedish Eurovision could be more than factory pop. Legacy The low placing was read as Eurovision's jury system punishing acts that refused genre template. Salo kept performing until 2011 when The Ark dissolved. 'The Worrying Kind' became a cult touchstone for a generation of Scandinavian queer rock fans, and is still covered at Pride events. Finland's 2023 Käärijä success would vindicate the idea 16 years later.