BCB 130 - ABBA

[Insouciant Western People]

Or the beauty of the voice lines on this? ...

[youtube]3bjk4QO9ZSM#t=46[/youtube]

That song slays me. Almost unbearably poignant.

[Geezee]

Not influential?
Surely a huge bulk of 80s/90s pop, from the Human League to the whole SAW regime to Bananarama to Kylie to Spice Girls, are essentially variations of Abba's influence? Those are not necessarily all great touchstones, but there is an important influence. And if you want a BCB-pseudo-approved influence you don't need to go further than Elvis Costello (and not just on Oliver's Army).

[pig bodine]

My daughter loves Dancing Queen--She also loves all those Radio Disney teen divas, Katy Perry and that ilk. She just downloaded the Grease soundtrack. She's eight. She used to dance with me to Horace Silver a few years ago.

I'm still waiting for Abba to click--they haven't yet, but a lot of people who seem to have good taste love them.

I like Waterloo and SOS (have the 45's), but I'm not likely to discover some deep cuts that change my life, am I? I'm not much of a pop person.

[never/ever]

Any songs that you don't dig?
The only one that really grates me is Chiquitita- don't know exactly why but it reminds me of bananas too much.

[pig bodine]

Any songs that you don't dig?
The only one that really grates me is Chiquitita- don't know exactly why but it reminds me of bananas too much.

That's one--I don't like Take a Chance on Me with the oompah's, or Does Your Mother Know which sounds like a novelty song, or the cod-Spanish on Fernando.

[kath]

i need to take my time and listen to all these clips properly. (i will.) there was a very brief time in my life when i played abba's greatest hits all the time. then i lost em, and i lost em in a very major way. they were so overplayed in my world (the big hits, anyway), that it ended up working as negative reinforcement for me.

i was feeling ready to give em another shot a few years ago, probably from reading sumthin on this board. then i went to nashville. for those of you who've been there, certain areas downtown have speakers on every corner, piping out music nonstop. the one outside my hotel apparently only cared about playing dancing queen fifty times a day. it became a running joke with the friends who were there with me. start singing dancing queen, just to drive kath crazzzzyyyyyyy.

i was abba-traumatized, alas.

i feel ready to try again, though. i might sink a few adult beverages first. i wanna go into this without baggage.

[mentalist (slight return)]

First concert I ever went to. ABBA at the Sydney Showgrounds in 77 I think! True punk me. I was a wee tacker and a huge fan. Australia always got them for some reason. Seems for the last 20 years we've been talking about the 're-evaluation' of ABBA. There must come a time where that term is a bit pointless.

[kath]

Seems for the last 20 years we've been talking about the 're-evaluation' of ABBA. There must come a time where that term is a bit pointless.

well, i love the word. re-evaluation is what gives me the chance to dig an artist i grew up disliking. i guess the term is pointless if you've always loved a band, then and now. i for one need it. i made too many stoopit decisions early on that need to be corrected, or at least double-checked. mwhaha.

[Quaco]

First concert I ever went to. ABBA at the Sydney Showgrounds in 77 I think! True punk me. I was a wee tacker and a huge fan. Australia always got them for some reason. Seems for the last 20 years we've been talking about the 're-evaluation' of ABBA. There must come a time where that term is a bit pointless.

Only once they all have been ABBsorbed!

[naughty boy]

BBUMP

[The Slider]

Bit of a bump again, as they have been a bit of a topic just recently