Why are ABBA so popular?

[pinball1970]

Back to the original post, why is ABBA so popular, I would ask where and when they were|are popular and how popular compared to other bands.

Europe in the mid 1970s. Huge.

From Wiki.

"ABBA were the first group from a non-English-speaking country to achieve consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, United States, Republic of Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.[14] They are the best-selling Swedish band of all time[15] and the best-selling band originating in continental Europe. ABBA had eight consecutive number-one albums in the UK."

"To date, ABBA have sold more than 150 million records worldwide becoming one of the best-selling music artists in history."

 

[DennisN]

Don't know why this has to be their defining song.

Dancing Queen was their only number one hit in the US, and it was actually inspired by US disco; "Andersson and Ulvaeus have cited George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" as a source of inspiration for the style of the song." (quote from Wikipedia).

I think it is a very good song (particularly the composition and the groove, it's very groovy), but it's not their defining song for me. Actually I can't choose one defining song, since they did so many styles of music. I would have to make a list of five or ten songs to display their versatility in music.

By the way, I saw another enjoyable video recently:

RARE ABBA INTERVIEW: Band members on songs, Mamma Mia and world tour (7NEWS Spotlight)

 

[pinball1970]

Dancing Queen was their only number one hit in the US, and it was actually inspired by US disco; "Andersson and Ulvaeus have cited George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby" as a source of inspiration for the style of the song." (quote from Wikipedia).

I think it is a very good song (particularly the composition and the groove, it's very groovy), but it's not their defining song for me. Actually I can't choose one defining song, since they did so many styles of music. I would have to make a list of five or ten songs to display their versatility in music.

By the way, I saw another enjoyable video recently:

RARE ABBA INTERVIEW: Band members on songs, Mamma Mia and world tour (7NEWS Spotlight)

Yep, like the Beatles, what is your favourite song? It's not possible, it's difficult to pick a best from each Album from 1965 onwards let alone all those albums.

 

[DennisN]

Actually I can't choose one defining song, since they did so many styles of music. I would have to make a list of five or ten songs to display their versatility in music.

Ok, I did such a list just for fun.
The list is not intended as a list of their best songs, it's a list of my own favorites, so it's very subjective of course. I'll also put a note on why I like the song so much (note: I could pick more, but I narrowed it down to ten, so if you are an ABBA fan and one song is not on the list, remember it's very subjective ).

Also, if I did such a list when I was younger, it would be different (e.g. probably songs like Waterloo, Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me would be on it. But not nowadays. )

• The Winner Takes It All
  - a masterpiece, a great composition which is very emotional and heart-wrenching.
  The US youtuber Professor of Rock who wasn't an ABBA fan changed his mind when he heard the song; a recent video from him here about the story behind the song, very well researched by him.
  
  
• Knowing Me, Knowing You
  - amazing composition, arrangement and production. Another song with a dark theme which they turned into a masterpiece.
  
  
• Lay All Your Love On Me
  - ah, I just love it. It's got such a dark theme (jealousy), the bridge is superb (listen to the synth arpeggios in it, they are amazing) and the chorus is almost like a hymn (choir). One analysis here.
  
  
• Eagle
  - just magnificent. So dreamy and uplifting. "Is it true I'm an eagle? Is It true I can spread my wings?".
  
  
• S.O.S.
  - a killer pop song.
  
  
• The Way Old Friends Do
  - definitely not your usual pop song . It's a wonderful composition, majestic and with Swedish folk music as a foundation. When I hear it I sometimes think of Irish or Scottish folk music; I think it could be well done with Irish/Scottish folk music sound too, e.g. bagpipes (I am serious ).
  
  
• Fernando
  - holy cr*p, it's a lovely composition.
  
  
• The Name of the Game
  - a masterful mix of genres, and a genius composition.
  
  
• The Visitors
  - futuristic for its time. Synthesizers are in the foreground, which was very unusual for ABBA. And it's eerie and dark, more than usual for ABBA. I remember I thought the song was about alien visitors or ghosts when I was young, but it's not, it's about
  Spoiler

  Political dissidents in the Soviet Union being visited by agents.
  
  
• Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)
  - I could write an essay on how much I adore this song , but I'll narrow it down to a couple of lines...
  
  I wouldn't change a thing in the composition and arrangement, I think it is such a banger. And it's a bit weird mixture of things: it's categorized as disco, but there's also very cool synthesizers and a bit of "classical" arrangement underneath, turning it into a very groovy piece (particularly the long break where there are no vocals.) And there's also a vocal variation in the second chorus (2:33 - 2:52) in which the two girls voices are amazingly blended, it's just a jaw-droppingly cool arrangement).
  
  And the lyrics speak particularly well to me as a Scandinavian; it paints a picture of loneliness and gloom during the dark parts of autumn/winter (in fact, it's exactly like that right now over here ) which is a key ingredient of Scandinavia, but it's dressed up as a cool, danceable tune. One good analysis of the song here.

 

[rcgldr]

"ABBA were the first group from a non-English-speaking ...

I wasn't considering only bands from non-English speaking countries singing in English. Also from Wiki, world wide sales, I'm not sure about the difference between claimed sales and certified | reputed sales. ABBA is around #33 on claimed sales:

Wiki - best selling music artists

Again, living in Southern California, and my personal history of venues, such as discos from 1975 to 1992, I never heard of ABBA until some PBS like special around 1996.

After listening to the ABBA songs listed here, none of them have impressed me as much as other songs. As random examples of songs I like better:

Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop

Fleetwood Mac - The Chain (harmony similar to Crosby Stills & Nash)

I also like would I would classify as niche market songs:
Chris Rea - Looking For The Summer

Autograph - Turn Up The Radio

Ochestral cover of On A Good Day

These are just random examplea. I'm not going to go through 50+ years of the type of music I've listened to.

 

[DennisN]

A fun clip I saw yesterday, I'll post it for fun for drummers like @pinball1970 ....
An Indonesian drummer who performs to the ABBA song Gimme Gimme Gimme...

Sidenote for music nerds: She seems to have a quite impressive drum set; I count four toms and two smaller drums which I think are timbales (I personally love timbales) (and @pinball1970 may correct me if I'm wrong ). And she's got a ridiculous amount of cymbals of all sizes and types .

I particularly like her drumming between 3:40 and 3:51, slowly building up with a couple of cool small tom fills, then a larger tom fill and then ending with a nice snare build right before the chorus.

ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) || Drum Cover by KALONICA NICX

 

[pinball1970]

Sidenote for music nerds: She seems to have a quite impressive drum set; I count four toms and two smaller drums which I think are timbales (I personally love timbales) (and @pinball1970 may correct me if I'm wrong ). And she's got a ridiculous amount of cymbals of all sizes and types .

Yes (to me) that is a lot. I use hi hats, ride and one crash. Bass drum, snare, bass drum tom and floor tom that's it.

 

[DennisN]

one crash

One crash? Very minimalistic . Ringo Starr would have been impressed, I think.

 

[pinball1970]

I wasn't considering only bands from non-English speaking countries singing in English. Also from Wiki, world wide sales, I'm not sure about the difference between claimed sales and certified | reputed sales. ABBA is around #33 on claimed sales:

Wiki - best selling music artists

Again, living in Southern California, and my personal history of venues, such as discos from 1975 to 1992, I never heard of ABBA until some PBS like special around 1996.

After listening to the ABBA songs listed here, none of them have impressed me as much as other songs. As random examples of songs I like better:

Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop

Fleetwood Mac - The Chain (harmony similar to Crosby Stills & Nash)

I also like would I would classify as niche market songs:
Chris Rea - Looking For The Summer

Autograph - Turn Up The Radio

Ochestral cover of On A Good Day

These are just random examplea. I'm not going to go through 50+ years of the type of music I've listened to.

Ok,from the Title it is my job and other ABBAphiles to guide you to what we think are tracks that make them special.

Can I tempt you with, " the tiger?"

 

[rcgldr]

Can I tempt you with, " the tiger?"

Reminded me of:
Altered Images - I Could Be Happy

Not that I like either song that much, but I Could Be Happy got a lot of air time during the MTV era.

I don't hate the songs, I just don't like them as much as other songs. I like specific songs as opposed to bands or genre, in some cases, it may be just one song from a particular band that I like.

Note - I post url links if a youtube media link here just switches to watch on youtube (due to embedded setting turned off for a video).

 

[pinball1970]

Reminded me of:
Altered Images - I Could Be Happy

Wow, that really brought back memories for me, not heard it for decades possibly.
I was not keen on the majority of music from 1981 onwards in the charts but there was the odd track like that, that caught my ear.

I like the tune, the guitar mimics it a little. Not that Tigerish to me though.

The middle 8 in Tiger caught my ear immediately.

 

[pinball1970]

Note - I post url links if a youtube media link here just switches to watch on youtube (due to embedded setting turned off for a video).

I like seeing the image of the video. It's just another click to get to yt

 

[pinball1970]

After listening to the ABBA songs listed here, none of them have impressed me as much as other songs. As random examples of songs I like better:

This is one of my favourite songs by them

 

[pinball1970]

I wasn't considering only bands from non-English speaking countries singing in English. Also from Wiki, world wide sales, I'm not sure about the difference between claimed sales and certified | reputed sales. ABBA is around #33 on claimed sales

They had only has four hits in the US and did one tour in 1979.

In the UK at least the were among the biggest sellers in terms of Albums in the 70s.

Three in the top 20 including compilation albums, "Rumours" was 13th.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_of_the_1970s_in_the_United_Kingdom

 

[rcgldr]

Top 20 ... Summer Night City

I get it now, popular in the UK. On somewhat of a twist, the Beatles Revolver didn't initially do that well in the US, took a while for it to catch on. Now many consider it their best album, but due to the studio effect,they could not do live performances of most of those songs until years later with sampling keyboards.

Summer Night City - I like that one the most of the ABBA songs here. It would have helped to have a better studio setup. Not as much dynamics or variations in how they recorded instruments or the number of instruments as used studios in Europe and USA (sometimes including full orchestras). I set the link to the bridge part of the song, which is enough to get an idea:

Cerrone - Je Suis Music

Studios like Capital kept their master tapes (including the isolated tracks). Example from 1965. Capital studios - full orchestra.

Frank Sinatra - It Was A Very Good Year

These days, people can have high quality setups at home. For this video, Josh set up two guitar amps on the far side of the room behind the camera, used microphones to capture the sound from the amps, and blankets over the amps to prevent them from interfering with the recording. Everything feeds into a computer for effects and recording:

Mary Spender & Josh Turner - Sultans of Swing

In this video, Josh used a reel to reel half-inch 8 track tape deck just as an effect (it's recording, but the sound just goes into it, then back out to the computer).

Allison Young & Josh Turner - The Best Is Yet To Come

 

[pinball1970]

I get it now, popular in the UK. On somewhat of a twist, the Beatles Revolver didn't initially do that well in the US, took a while for it to catch on. Now many consider it their best album, but due to the studio effect,they could not do live performances of most of those songs until years later with sampling keyboards.

Summer Night City - I like that one the most of the ABBA songs here. It would have helped to have a better studio setup. Not as much dynamics or variations in how they recorded instruments or the number of instruments as used studios in Europe and USA (sometimes including full orchestras). I set the link to the bridge part of the song, which is enough to get an idea:

Cerrone - Je Suis Music

Studios like Capital kept their master tapes (including the isolated tracks). Example from 1965. Capital studios - full orchestra.

Frank Sinatra - It Was A Very Good Year

These days, people can have high quality setups at home. For this video, Josh set up two guitar amps on the far side of the room behind the camera, used microphones to capture the sound from the amps, and blankets over the amps to prevent them from interfering with the recording. Everything feeds into a computer for effects and recording:

Mary Spender & Josh Turner - Sultans of Swing

In this video, Josh used a reel to reel half-inch 8 track tape deck just as an effect (it's recording, but the sound just goes into it, then back out to the computer).

Allison Young & Josh Turner - The Best Is Yet To Come

That Josh Turner is fantastic, I stuck him on the cover thread, he does "And your bird can sing" with his mates in the park sat on a picnic blanket.
Not only does he get that authentic sound he plays both lines on the guitar section which is not easy to do at all.

"It was a very good year" probably one of my favourite Sinatra tracks.

 

[pinball1970]

Allison Young & Josh Turner - The Best Is Yet To Come

These two together are pure magic.

 

[pinball1970]

I get it now, popular in the UK.

And other countries

 

[DennisN]

After listening to the ABBA songs listed here, none of them have impressed me as much as other songs. As random examples of songs I like better

It's all a matter of taste, of course (so it's subjective).
For me, ABBA has a very, very special place, together with The Beatles and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), since they are three bands that are at the core of my musical beginnings (along with some US 50s music). The first record I ever bought was ABBA:s Waterloo .

ABBA is also special to Swedes in a particular way; they are a national treasure to many Swedes, probably like The Beatles are to British people and Elvis is to Americans.
I actually don't listen very often to those three bands nowadays (Beatles, ABBA, ELO), I don't need to, I have them in my blood .

I've went through many different phases, bands and styles of music afterwards during the years; new wave, synth (UK), rock, funk, shoegaze/britpop (UK), trip hop (UK), electro (with many different subgenres)). Even some grunge and industrial music too. And classical music, of course.

Edit: I also have a weird liking for some latin music genres like bossa nova (e.g. Antônio Carlos Jobim), Cuban music (e.g. Buena Vista Social Club) and calypso. I don't really know why, I just like the casual, laid-back style of this music .

Fleetwood Mac was/is (?) a great band.
"Go You Own Way" is such a fantastic song, it gives me goosebumps :
(the lyrics are so good, and the toms in the verse, wow!)

Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way (Official Audio)


I have to give credit to the Norwegian singer Sigrid here, since I discovered the song via her cover of it.

 

[DennisN]

@pinball1970 , have you seen the Peter Jackson documentary on The Beatles (Get Back), by the way?
I've only seen two episodes of three (it's pretty long).
Pretty interesting to see how they were working, e.g. you get a good feeling how the song Get Back got done. They were obviously very playful when working, though there seem to have been tensions at the end of the band.

Edit: I'll post the trailer too:

 

[rcgldr]

Regarding the Beatles, there was a special about the making of Revolver including interviews with George Martin and the band members, but it's not on youtube (at least not anymore). There are videos with George Martin's son Giles Martin, but I haven't found the original anywhere. I saved a key part of that video, but it's very low resolution. It includes an early take on Tomorrow Never Knows (truly one chord and different drum pattern.

Making of Tommorow Never Knows - clip

 

[pinball1970]

@pinball1970 , have you seen the Peter Jackson documentary on The Beatles (Get Back), by the way?
I've only seen two episodes of three (it's pretty long).
Pretty interesting to see how they were working, e.g. you get a good feeling how the song Get Back got done. They were obviously very playful when working, though there seem to have been tensions at the end of the band.

Edit: I'll post the trailer too:

I didn't like the film "Let it be" it was like watching a band implode in front of you.
I have not watched "Get back" yet but I will.

 

[pinball1970]

Regarding the Beatles, there was a special about the making of Revolver including interviews with George Martin and the band members, but it's not on youtube (at least not anymore). There are videos with George Martin's son Giles Martin, but I haven't found the original anywhere. I saved a key part of that video, but it's very low resolution. It includes an early take on Tomorrow Never Knows (truly one chord and different drum pattern.

Making of Tommorow Never Knows - clip

Ian Paice used that rhythm for "The mule."

The Album version of "Tomorrow Never Knows" seems to slide to Bb in places, for a bar then back to C.
So much going on though it is hard to tell.

 

[pinball1970]

Reminded me of:
Altered Images - I Could Be Happy

Ok I think I know where you're coming from, I have listened to the track and got the chords out.
The tune comes down from F# to E then D and lands on a C# each first line of the verse.
This is over a D chord so we end on a Maj 7th, I liked that as a kid it caught my ear (not the scales or anything I was just learning chords then)
Tiger does similar at the beginning but starts on the fifth, "the city is a jungle."
Chordify says it's in Db, who writes in Db!?

I will check but the only thing I can think of is that the girls needed a hand with last note.

 

[DennisN]

The Way Old Friends Do
- definitely not your usual pop song . It's a wonderful composition, majestic and with Swedish folk music as a foundation. When I hear it I sometimes think of Irish or Scottish folk music; I think it could be well done with Irish/Scottish folk music sound too, e.g. bagpipes (I am serious ).

One more note on folk music and ABBA, and diversity in music...

Folk music: I know people sometimes notice there seems to be some classical underpinnings in ABBA:s music when they hear it and analyze it, but what I don't think people often talk about is the folk music underpinning.

You can hear the folk music foundation clearly in the song I posted above, The Way Old Friends Do, and you can also hear it clearly in this instrumental track on the album "Arrival":

ABBA - Arrival (instrumental)
(again, sounding quite close to Scottish/Irish traditional music, but it's Swedish folk music)


...and you can hear the classical inspiration in this rather weird/unusual instrumental piece on the album called "ABBA":

ABBA - Intermezzo No. 1


"Another working title for the song was Bach-låten (The Bach Tune)"
"Carl Magnus Palm describes it as a "showcase of Benny's classical music influences"
(quote from Wikipedia)

A funny thing is that Intermezzo No. 1 sounds a bit like something Electric Light Orchestra could have done (they also mixed classical music with rock/pop); "Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography." (quote from Wikipedia)

Also, the four members had different musical origins which probably added to the diversity of their musical output:

• Björn Ulvaues: folk music
• Benny Andersson: pop-rock
• Agneta Fältskog: dansband (a Swedish term meaning "dance band") which is a mix of danceable music, sort of danceable "evergreens"
• Annifrid Lyngstad: jazz, schlager & dansband

(Source: ABBA - member origins and collaboration (Wikipedia))

 

[DennisN]

Pretty interesting to see how they were working, e.g. you get a good feeling how the song Get Back got done. They were obviously very playful when working

I didn't like the film "Let it be" it was like watching a band implode in front of you.
I have not watched "Get back" yet but I will.

A little sidenote if I may, regarding music composition and creative atmosphere...

I saw a great little clip some time ago, it's pure gold for musicians and creative artists in general...

The wonderful short story about how the legendary producer Brian Eno got U2 unstuck and into the creative mode (they were close to breaking up during this period since they were unsure of their musical direction at that time ((I am a big fan of U2 also ):

How Brian Eno got U2 unstuck: The kitchen vs. the restaurant


And a great clip on how U2 made their hit "One" (it came from experimenting on how to complete the song "Mysterious Ways"):

U2 the birth of ONE in Hansa Studios, Berlin Achtung Baby
(the song is about division and union through acceptance of difference of personalities, well, at least I think so*)


*Edit:

"There was melancholy about it but there was also strength. One is not about oneness, it's about difference. It's not the old hippie idea of 'let's all live together.' It is a much more punk rock concept. It's anti-romantic: 'we are one but not the same. We get to carry each other.' It's a reminder that we have no choice. I'm still disappointed when people hear the chorus line as 'got to' rather than 'we get to carry each other.' Like it or not, the only way out of here is if I give you a leg up the wall and you pull me after you. There's something very unromantic about that.

—Bono, on the recording of "One"

Source: One (U2 song) (Wikipedia)

Edit 2:

Another fun clip where the legendary producer Daniel Lanois talks about the musical development of U2, and music production in general:

Daniel Lanois Discusses the Differences Between The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby (Rick Beato)

 

[rcgldr]

The Album version of "Tomorrow Never Knows" seems to slide to Bb in places, for a bar then back to C.

I don't recall if it was George Martin or the band itself that decided to change from just C to also including Bb/C, so unlike what Paul mentioned in that clip I posted, it's not a one chord song. If playing Bb/C on guitar, the frets are 1 1 3 3 1 1, bar chord on fret 1 with two fingers on fret 3.



A popular one chord one riff song:

Police - Demolition Man (cover of a Grace Jones song)

There is a video, but sound quality not as good.

I play a bit of guitar. My "studio" consists of a blue tooth speaker behind an ottoman, and a propped up cell phone to record, so the audio is not that great. I have the TV on screen saver for lighting effects:

Play along cover of Guinnevere

Audio got over-modulated on this one (cell phone auto-gain), turn down the sound a bit.

Play along cover of My All

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