"La det swinge" was chosen as the Norwegian entry on 30 March, and went on to bring Norway its first Eurovision victory after decades of being the butt of jokes about their status as Eurovision's perennial also-rans. It was admitted that the lyrics of "La det swinge" had been written with the specific intention of avoiding those Norwegian consonant combinations which had been said to sound harsh in song to non-Scandinavian ears.
The Melodi Grand Prix 1985 was held on 30 March at the Chateau Neuf in Oslo, hosted by Rita Westvik. The staging was now set in a modern way for accompanying live music for the first time in the history of national final, while the usage of the orchestra were replaced with a live band (e.g. band drums, electric guitars, keyboard synthesizers and horns) and was conducted by Terje Fjærn. Ten songs took part in the final, with the winner chosen by voting from five regional juries and a panel of experts consisting of Tony Visconti, Anne Marie David, Stikkan Andersson and Ronnie Hazlehurst. One of the other participants was former three-time Norwegian representative Anita Skorgan.
On the evening of the final Bobbysocks! performed 13th in the running order, following Italy and preceding the United Kingdom. At the close of voting "La det swinge" had picked up 123 points, enough for victory by an 18-point margin over runners-up Germany.[1]
