Why are ABBA so popular?

[pinball1970]

Is there anything more English than the BBC?

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20140415-why-are-abba-so-popular

 

[PeroK]

Humour me.

Name one.

...OK ... name another one.

Show an equivalent of an ABBA, or a Led Zeppelin or a The Who.

The Who are an English rock band:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who

 

[DaveC426913]

The Who are an English rock band:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Who

Thanks. I've fixed their errors.

 

[Astronuc]

Yes, but that's hardly ALL they did. If they had written great tunes but been crappy singers do you think that would have become so popular. Some of us just LOVE harmony groups. The Ames Brothers, The Kingston Trio (yes, I'm dating myself with those and a few more ), The Everly Brothers, The Beach Boys, the Chad Mitchel Trio, Peter Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, The Mamas and the Papas, and on and on.

I was thinking of the Eagles, which was a popular group with many hits, as I listened to some Joe Walsh.

Certainly, Crosby, Stills, Nash with or without Neil Young.

Harmony, music and lyrics.

 

[phinds]

I was thinking of the Eagles, which was a popular group with many hits, as I listened to some Joe Walsh.

Yeah, it occurred to me that I had left them out. I loved them.

 

[DaveC426913]

Thanks. I've fixed their errors.

Drat. It didn't stay fixed. Well, Wikipedia and I can agree to disagree.

 

[DennisN]

Is there anything more English than the BBC?

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20140415-why-are-abba-so-popular

An interesting article, thanks!
And I did not know about Fridas dramatic life, that was pretty intense.

 

[DennisN]

A live performance from ca 1979/1980... listen particularly to the live vocals from 1:14 - 1:57; the harmonies of the two girls are gorgeous, and then Agneta just ends the section with a superb high pitch, high energy glide/glissando at 1:54 - 1:56... it's incredible .

ABBA - Hole In Your Soul (from ABBA In Concert)

 

[PeroK]

Drat. It didn't stay fixed. Well, Wikipedia and I can agree to disagree.

There ought to be no disagreement, other than British English is not Canadian English. You can write color and I can write colour, but we don't have to slug it out to see who's right.

 

[DaveC426913]

There ought to be no disagreement, other than British English is not Canadian English. You can write color and I can write colour, but we don't have to slug it out to see who's right.

Yeah, I did not realize it was actually a British convention to treat groups as collective nouns.

The wiki edit page has this comment: "are" (and other plural being verbs) is used for British English

 

[pinball1970]

An interesting article, thanks!
And I did not know about Fridas dramatic life, that was pretty intense.

I did not know that much about their backgrounds. Freda terribly sad.
I know they all married then divorced.

 

[pinball1970]

Ha. I taught her well

I thought Americans said, "I learned her good." ;)

 

[pinball1970]

“The key to Abba is their understated Swedishness,” explains Carl Magnus Palm.

That explains everything and nothing!

The rest of the BBC article explains a lot more but I love that quote.

Anyway my claim is ABBA is great for a reason and like the Beatles they were great song writers. Point one.
The other part that other posters have referred to was the ABBA harmony which also gave them the "sound."
They had a great sound because they had two individual great voices that sounded perfect together and very similar to each other.

They could sing the same line together, not easy, the Beatles rarely did because it sounds messy. They preferred double tracking their own voice on a lot of tracks.
Clearly ABBA harmony was amazing, not surprising since they had such a good platform from which to play off, the fantastic tune and chords!
They used lots of tricks and I would like to know if the ladies contributed or was it all Benny and Bjorn?
Agnetha had written hit songs before so I would guess yes.
Ignoring what they look like (imagine radio only stars) that is why the music is so great. (To me)

 

[phinds]

I thought Americans said, "I learned her good." ;)

No, Americans don't but Amuricans do.