Being the textbook sort of musical snob I like to think of myself as, I have a hard time admitting to some of the more decidedly "un-hip" sides of my music palette. At least in public anyway.
Some would call my continuing fondness for overblown, pretentious seventies progressive rock bands like Yes, Marillion, and Peter Gabriel era Genesis a flaw in my taste for example. Hell, for that matter they would probably nail me for the fact that in this past year alone I've written about a disproportionate number of seventies classic rock bands period.
And what about that Springsteen guy, some may find themselves asking. You know, the guy whose continuing "relevance" was a subject of some debate recently right here at Blogcritics Magazine? After all, isn't Springsteen — the guy whose songs champion the values of the working class — a bloated millionaire liberal himself?
Well, why some might find themselves a little ashamed to admit to enjoying artists such as these, I myself choose to wave that fact as a flag of some honor. But for me, there is no guiltier pleasure in all of music than that of the perfectly constructed three minute or so pop song. I here and now confess that I am an absolute sucker for this type of sugary sweet ear candy.
You know the sort of songs I'm talking about. Many of them by one hit wonders such as The Raspberries ("Go All The Way"), and The Outsiders ("Time Won't Let Me") on the rock side, or a guy like Lou Christie ("Lightnin' Strikes," "Rhapsody On The Rain") on the more pop sounding side. Okay, so Lou Christie had more than one hit (actually so did the Raspberries).
Anyway, for me these sort of perfect little pop tunes can represent every bit the sort of audio bliss that something as meticulously constructed and put to tape as say, Born To Run or Pet Sounds does. And over the past thirty years or so, nobody but nobody has made a greater string of these largely unheralded little pop masterpieces than Abba. That's right, I said Abba.
So for this edition of The Rockologist, I am going to remove that particular hat, and replace it with that of the Popologist. Let's talk about Abba for a few minutes shall we?
First of all, what a lot of people don't realize about Abba is that they have more than a few fans amongst the more "respectable" members of the rock community. I remember meeting Nick Lowe for example backstage in the seventies at a concert, where I noticed he was wearing an Abba button. Lowe at the time was one of the most sought after producers in music, in addition to crafting his own little pop gems such as those found on his album Pure Pop For Now People. So when I remarked about his Abba button, Lowe gushed about how he was then producing an album for Elvis Costello and that the sound he was looking for would be to make an "Elvis Costello Abba album." That album tuned out to be Costello's brilliant third album, the pop masterpiece Armed Forces.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Vern Halen
Can't buy into ABBA....
....but I love Ace of Base's version of Cruel Summer. Six of one, half dozen of the other.
2 - Glen Boyd
Its okay Vern. ABBA still loves you.
-Glen
3 - Holly Hughes
You'll get no rock-snob disapproval from me, Glen. Dancing Queen is my top Guilty Pleasure ABBA song, and I swear, The Winner Takes It All still makes me cry. As usual, Nick Lowe's taste was right on the money.
4 - Mark Saleski
hey, if Marshal Crenshaw can cover "Knowing Me, Knowing You", then it's ok with me.
5 - Pico
You make a strong case, but I still can't stomach ABBA. However, I've got my own seventies skeletons in the closet. One of these days I'll sack up and take them out here. Please don't laugh too hard when I do.
6 - Glen Boyd
I acan't wait to read that one Pico. Actually, I'm already laughing.
-Glen
7 - zingzing
never been a big fan of abba. but i must say that disco is the most unfairly maligned musical genre out there. so much creative stuff came out of it.
did you know that p.i.l.'s "fodderstompf" was a huge gay anthem? what the fuck? johnny rotten at the gay disco... lovely.
(and i know that abba only somewhat qualifies as disco... they were much more pop than disco had any right to be...)
8 - Glen Boyd
And Mark, you should know that your "Friday Morning Listen" on Journey is actually what inspired me to write this in a weird sort of way. Journey and Abba are both the very definition of musical guilty pleasures...know what I mean?
-Glen
9 - Mark Saleski
yea, the whole guilty pleasure thing. the weird thing about this is that i used to be much more adamant about what i "should" or "should not" listen to. now i really don't care. i mean, if i like something, i just like it.
i don't have any Abba on cd but i bet i do on vinyl. wouldn't mind hearing "Honey Honey" right about now. i seem to remember some 'heavy breathing' in that song.
ah Abba...so 70's...boots, lip gloss...
10 - Frams
Hey, I too am an ABBA fan, and I do a progressive rock radio show. These two things might strike most people as irreconcilable. Think again!
Cheers,
Frans
11 - Glen Boyd
Mark,
You can queue up the video for "Honey Honey" right here. And yup, thats some very erotic sounding heavy breathing you remember. Frams, I agree totally that the line between prog and ABBA is a very thin one. Just listen to the ABBA song "Eagle" -- I can almost hear the way that somebody like Jon Anderson would cover that one in my head.
Thanx all for the comments.
-Glen
12 - GL Hauptfleisch
I must admit to owning one of those greatest hits LPs, and I don't feel terribly guilty about it. And since you mentioned Elvis Costello (via Nick Lowe) it must be noted that Costello himself is a big ABBA fan.
13 - Glen Boyd
Thanx Gordon (or do you prefer I address you as "GL" these days?). And it doesn't surprise me at all to hear that Costello was/is a fan. Armed Forces really did end up with that Abbaesque pop gloss that I think Lowe was going for when he produced it. Costello himself has a major pop pedigree that goes from McCartney to Burt Bacharach -- so it makes perfect sense. Thanx again for the comment.
-Glen
14 - Micheal Arch
Dear Glen,
What a brilliant perspective!! ABBA the group was/is a musical phenomenon. At 380 million units sold, they have made their mark in history....and yes, they were/are still musical geniuses. If someone dears, please tell me who can compare. Benny/Bjorn are the height of musical genius...the ladies?....tell me who can compare. God bless Europe for such a fine group!!!!
Micheal
15 - Kaonashi
I'm definitely an ABBA fan. I was still in diapers during the late 70s, but I became interested in them after watching Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Hehe, how interesting that both are Australian films.
I revel in the pop cheesiness of ABBA's music. I can't help it- they're so catchy, and fun to sing at karaoke!
16 - Glen Boyd
Thanx Michael and Kanaoshi. I don't know about the "chessy" tag -- to me they were just great pop songs. I guess they were a little squeaky clean, although again I direct your attention to the breathy whispers of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "Honey, Honey." Pure sex guys. No way around it.
Thanx for the comments.
-Glen
17 - daryl d
Why should Abba have to be a "guilty pleasure." Is it because they are associated with gayness? Their music is great and really stands the test of time.
18 - Glen Boyd
Why should Abba have to be a "guilty pleasure." Is it because
they are associated with gayness?
Now where in the hell did that come from? Can somebody tell me please?
-Glen
19 - zingzing
gayness? they were all straight, yeah? i think it's the level of cheese, the pure euro-pop and the 1970s that keeps them in the "guilty pleasure" zone.
disco as a whole was seen as rather gay, although the reality of the situation is that the stuff that was played at gay discos was far, far better than the stuff being played at straight discos.
20 - Mark Saleski
"...you're a doggone beast"
mind-boggling.
21 - Glen Boyd
"...you're a doggone beast"
mind-boggling.
Exactly Mark. Not much room for misinterpetation there in my view. Particularly sung by a female within the context of a song whose other lyrics include "Im gonna stick to you, you'll never get rid of me."
Now I do know that Abba did have gay fans. What 70's disco fixture didn't? And so what?
My article wasn't about that, and nothing I wrote suggests it. I suppose an interesting article about that subject could be written if someone wanted to persue it.
Perhaps the next assignment for comment #17?
-Glen
22 - daryl d
No, I'm not saying you're article was suggesting homophobia...lol! But, lets face it, if you are a fan of a disco act, like Abba, Donna Summer, Madonna, Village People, etc....., you are considered uncool. Therefore, it is a guilty pleasure. And the reason disco acts are not respected has a lot to do with their association with the gay community. Yes, a whole article can be written on this, I suppose.
I didn't become an Abba fan until a couple years back. When I played one of their cds, someone in the office asked, "are you gay?"
I know I'm going all over the place here, but Abba should NOT be considered a guilty pleasure. They should be considered a pleasure, period. But I think you say "guilty pleasure" cause you know it's not "cool" to like them. That's ok, I do the same. But we should questions ourselves why.
23 - zingzing
"But, lets face it, if you are a fan of a disco act, like Abba, Donna Summer, Madonna, Village People, etc....., you are considered uncool."
actually, disco is getting reappraised quite a bit these days. the fact is that if you enjoy dance music, you're just listening to disco as it has become.
out of all the acts you mention, donna summer (or more to the point, georgio moroder,) is well respected these days for pretty much inventing the 12" single format, which created the potential for the elongated remix (although her use of it, at first, was to create 20-minute long songs), as well as the use of the sequencer and electronic (as in synths) instruments.
more and more obscure disco of the time, like arthur russell productions, early electro stuff, italo disco, etc, is being unearthed and recognized for the creative stuff that it is.
out of all the mainstream disco acts of the day, i'd say chic is the best, as they are up there with the who and the band for tightness and synergy.
even post-punk acts of the time started incorporating disco into their work. see gang of four, new order and public image for some late-70's/early 80's disco-punk. even today, incredibly hip bands like liars, daft punk and the rapture have used disco as a rhythmic base.
shit, probably the most hipster-cred group in america right now is the dfa, and they are pretty much straight-up disco most of the time.
24 - daryl d
yes, zingzing. A lot of acts use disco. But I bet you if you mention the word "dico" to them, they'll cringe. I think it is hypocritical. Disco lived on, it just changed it's form. I was at Disco Demolition Night in Chicago and have very vivid, strong memories of that. I was a little kid at the time and was scared to death. But even I kept asking my dad, for weeks after, why people hate "disco" so much and why would they get so angry over it. He said, nicely, that it was a way to protest homosexuals. I still believe him.
25 - zingzing
"But I bet you if you mention the word "dico" to them, they'll cringe."
i'll assume you meant "disco," (even if it makes your sentence much more funny,) but i'll have to disagree. lcd soundsystem, who is pretty much the dfa by another name, has a song called "disco infiltrator" and it's pretty obvious from the sound (and interviews) of the disco-inspired punk stuff (new and old) that they had a genuine love of the stuff and were/are not afraid to share it.
of course there are people that will always connect disco, and hating disco, to homosexuality... of course, those same people were probably dancing with roller skates on in 1977... but those aren't the people one should listen to in order to decide what is "cool" or "uncool" (not that anyone need listen to anyone else on that front).
in england, disco never took the wholesale punishment that disco took in late-70s america. but even in america, disco was back by 1981, just under another name. and chicago was (with nyc) the center of that comeback.