Germany

The first of the Big Five (the Western European countries that basically fund the European Broadcasting Union and whose success had diminished with the majority of acts coming from the Eastern spectrum of the European map) is Germany, one of the original seven who launched the Eurovision Song Contest.  [The country participated as West Germany until the fall of the Berlin Wall.]  Germany suffered under the language restrictions of the early years (English and French were the favored languages in the Contest then), logging two consecutive nul point along the way in 1964 and 1965, but often landing in the silver and bronze positions for decades.  In fact, Germany's first win didn't come until 1982 with the uplifting folksy guitar number Ein Bißchen Frieden ("A little Bit of Peace") by an adorable Nicole:

This first win for Germany brought the Contest back to the country for the second time (Frankfurt played host to the festivities in 1957, before the new rule that the winner would host the Contest the following year was imposed on the participants) and the national broadcaster chose Munich as host city.   The Munich Contest was mostly traditional, ending with Luxembourg's fifth (and last) win with Corinne Hermes' Si La Vie Est Cadeau ("If life is a gift"), and the first ever double nul point (Spain and Turkey tied for the dishonor).  The most poignant moment of the evening, however, came when Ofrah Haza and her crew hit the stage with Israel's entry Chi ("Alive").  Her back up singers/dancers wearing yellow, a subtle tribute to Jews who had to wear the color during the Nazi regime (the political reign of the Nazi Party began in Munich and eventually led to the death of over six million people during the Holocaust), and the 11 Israeli athletes who were murdered a decade earlier by terrorists during the 1972 Olympics (known as the Munich Massacre).  The costumes and the lyrics of the song (metaphorically referring to surviving against all odds as "enduring all despite the thorns thrown my way"), left their mark on the history of the Contest like no other (and finished the night in second place, just six points shy of the win), which is why I am including a clip here for you to see [Ofrah Haza became a household name for Eurovision viewers, and enjoyed a successful international career, which tragically came to an end, when the artist died at a very early age of 42.]

In the years following the memorable Munich Contest, Germany twice ended in second place with the group Wind (with Fur Alle in 1985 in Goteborg, Sweden and Lass Die Sonne In Dein Herz in 1987 in Brussels), twice placed third (with Mekado's Wir geben 'ne Party in 1994 in Dublin and with Surpriz's Reise Nach Jerusalem/Kudus'e Seyahat in 1999 in Jerusalem), once was shut out of the Contest (in 1996 in Oslo, unable to make it past the pre-qualification, the only time Germany was not in the Final since the beginning of Eurovision), and twice finished last (in 1995 in Dublin with Stone & Stone's Verliebt in Dich and again in 2005 in Kiev with Gracia's Run & Hide).  Then comedian Stefan Raab's first go at Eurovision happened in 2000 in Stockholm, which won as Germany's national selection contest as a joke entry mocking what the Contest had become.  Wadde Hadde Dudde Da finished fifth, hitting home the fact that the Contest had become a farce and needed some drastic increase in quality to return to its former glory.  It took Stefan Raab a decade to bring the German public to view Eurovision seriously, by creating the commercially and critically successful national entry selection contest on German TV in 2010 called "Unser Song Fur..."  That year little known Lena took the country (and eventually European pop charts) by storm with her song Satellite, and swept the Oslo Contest to bring Germany its second win.

In 2011, Dusseldorf played host to the Eurovision Song Contest, with Lena defending her title with Taken By A Stranger, and Stefan Raab taking over co-hosting duties as well singing with and accompanying on guitar the 43 "Lena"s (Lena and 42 Lena look-alikes, one from each of the participating countries that year) during an amazing jazz-infused opening-act performance of Satellite.  [Note: I had the pleasure of watching that performance in person at the Arena two nights in a row in Dusseldorf...if you haven't already seen it, click here to experience the fun for yourself.]  Lena finished tenth on home turf, and Germany followed up last year in Baku with Roman Loeb's beautiful Standing Still, which finished eighth.  This year Unser Song Fur Malmo (the German national selection show), featured acts ranging from folk, farce drinking songs, ballads to pop and electronica.  The winner came from the latter category in the form of popular group Cascada with their song Glorious, which is expected to do very well and keep Germany's recent success streak going.  I completely agree with that expectation...I mean, just look: