"Mil etter mil" is famous both for Teigen's notoriously bizarre stage performance in Paris, and for being the first song ever to score nul-points under the 12 points voting system. (It was said that one of the reasons for the introduction of the current system in 1975 had been that the European Broadcasting Union had considered it unlikely in the extreme that any song would finish the evening with a zero with national juries now able to vote for ten songs, rather than the three or five which had been the case with previous ranking systems used in the 1960s and which had led to so many going home empty-handed.)
Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) held the Melodi Grand Prix 1978 at its studios in Oslo, hosted by Egil Teige. The orchestra was conducted by Carsten Klouman. Eight songs took part in the final, with the winner chosen by a 9-member expert jury, which included Ellen Nikolaysen, who represented Norway in 1973 as part of the Bendik Singers and in 1975 as a solo artist; and Odd Børre, who represented Norway in 1968. The rankings of the jury members were used to calculate the result so the song with the lowest aggregate score was the winner.[1]
On the night of the final Teigen performed second in the running order, following Ireland and preceding Italy. His stage performance appeared inexplicable at the time, involving braces-twanging and a huge split leap into the air which were completely at odds with the nature of the song. However it was later rumoured that Teigen was unhappy with the new arrangement the song had been given by NRK following the Melodi Grand Prix, and had performed in a deliberately inappropriate manner to vent his displeasure. Nevertheless the performance soon entered Eurovision legend, and is invariably included in montages put together to illustrate the contest's more absurd moments.[citation needed]
By the end of the night, no national jury had been persuaded to cast any votes in Norway's direction, and the country finished at the bottom of the scoreboard for a fifth time.[3] The Norwegian jury awarded its 12 points to Ireland.[4]
Voting
Norway did not receive any points at the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest.[4]
Far from being bitter about, or humiliated by, his Eurovision disaster, Teigen would subsequently use his notoriety very cleverly to become one of the most successful artists on the Norwegian musical scene, and made two further appearances at Eurovision in 1982 and 1983.[citation needed]
