| abstract | - Planet of Blue was the German entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo performed by Leon. The song was entered into an audio-only pre-qualifying round and was controversially eliminated as it finished in last place with only 24 points. With this result, Germany became the last of the founding seven nations to not be in a contest final, as well as snapping its unbroken streak of participations since 1956. The unexpected result caused consternation in Germany and left the European Broadcasting Union facing the situation where its largest contributor at the time had to miss the contest. To avoid a re-occurrence in future years, the EBU introduced the controversial "Big Four" rule whereby Germany, along with France, Spain and the United Kingdom as the largest contributors, would be guaranteed a place in the Eurovision final each year.
|
