I stress the word pop here as I am in no way saying they are the best group of all time.

I think they are as quite simply nobody has made so many catchy easy to listen too great sounding songs.

But prehaps more importantly 30 odd years later there songs are still being played and sound as good today as they did back then.

Funny how when they first started it was considerded so uncool to like them ;)

Catchy choons alright but with an underlying sadness. In the end they were really hanging out their washing in public.

Like the Beatles and the Bee Gees, the real strength in Abba's music lies with their songwriting partnerships. They wrote catchy, memorable songs with some magnificent melodies. I particularly think some of Abba's melodies are akin to what one would expect from Classical Music. An obvious example would be The Winner Takes It All with the cascading piano line. Dancing Queen is almost a rhapsody with its stocatto piano notes. I also think they wrote blinding middle eights such as in Super Trouper ('So I'll be there when you arrive'). Strangely, yet cleverly the middle eight in The Winner Takes It All uses exactly the same chord sequence as the verses ('So tell me does she kiss like I used to kiss you'). Arguably it's just another verse but the way it is phrased gives it the effect of being a middle 8/bridge.

Listen to the searching piano in SOS ('Where are those happy days they seem so hard to find'). The piano seems to be reaching out in a darkness trying to find those happy days.

But apart from the brilliant songwriting, they had two vocalists of absolutely outstanding talent. They were the sound of Abba and I enjoyed watching X Factor the other week to see how these supposedly good singers struggled to sing these songs! Both Frida and Agnetha were remarkable singers. Listen to the emotion in Chiquitita - a pure vocal indeed.

Lyrically, their output became more and more personal, detailing the breaking up of both couples. This must have been incredibly difficult. ('I saw myself as a concealed attraction' - One Of Us. The almost italianate intro seems to be a real cry for help.)

Maybe that's what I find truly interesting in Abba's output. Whilst classed as pop, the themes that the girls are singing about relate to their own experiences almost as if they're being punished by having to write lines as in school. It's classed as pop, but if you delve a little deeper, the heaviness of the lyrics moves Abba closer to the likes of the Smiths than many would like to acknowledge.

Any relationship that is breaking up is hard enough. Having to do it in the full glare of your adoring fans and to sing about as it is happening is almost disturbing.

Unquestionably.

Like Ousetunes says above, some of their lyrics were very adult, very mature - and could strike right to the heart with their poignancy. And in a language foreign to them too. They used their pain and insight to create musical works of art.

I admit here for the first time ever (I think!) that I loved Abba back in the late 70s - yes, when I was a punk and to admit such a thing would have been heresy! But really - to tell the truth - I think most of us punks were huge closet Abba fans! They were simply QUALITY. You can't beat CLASS.

StarSparkle :)

Yeah for sure. No shadow of a doubt.

They wrote some proper weepies as well as some kick-ass stuff. Can't wait for all the dance-version remixes to emerge.

I stress the word pop here as I am in no way saying they are the best group of all time.

I think they are as quite simply nobody has made so many catchy easy to listen too great sounding songs.

But prehaps more importantly 30 odd years later there songs are still being played and sound as good today as they did back then.

Funny how when they first started it was considerded so uncool to like them ;)


Definitely. Love them.Never get tired of their songs. :thumbsup:

Something I learned many years ago - if you need to fill a dance floor, 'Dancing Queen' does it. :)

'The day before you came' is a fantastically mature song that I used to have a habit of playing before or after Pulp's 'Something Changed' in my radio presenting days . Marvellously truthful, adult songs.

Surely the Beatles are the best pop group of all time.

i love Abba, but ive only ever heard the songs you hear on the radio, i.e i havent any albums.

but they do cheesy pop, which i love

not sure if theyre better than the beegees, cos its all before my time i think im too young to care!

does it matter? as long as the music makes us happy :)

Love em, they're great. got loads of CDs etc

Love em, they're great. got loads of CDs etc

ha ha.
You poor love.

Surely the Beatles are the best pop group of all time.

I take your point of course the Beatles are massive however I see them more as a pop/rock group rather than the pure pop that abba produce.

To me pure pop is not particularly deep just simple catchy tunes/lyrics I guess in this day and age you would probably call it a bit cheesy and I dont think anyone does it better than abba.

Also I havent checked but would be suprised if the Beatles still sell as many copies as abba .

Sorry- but there's only two Abba songs that I have ever been able to bear. I'd rather stick pins in my eyeballs than listen to the rest.

The two bearable ones are 'The day before you came' and 'Like an angel passing through my room'.

Everyone appears to have gone abba mad again with the movie out,not complaining though :)

Having come back from mamma mia tonight, i'd probably agree yes...


I still liked it when pop idol originals (ha!) did them - this was Will's winning song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJqYxMiYcfY) for me....(even though i also liked Gareth at the time)

Although Jackson Five....mmm...

I cant disagree, ABBA were the mac daddies of pop, but there have been other pretenders to the crown, in terms of sheer listenability, The Carpenters, for example, wrote some absolute classic pop tunes, and our own nutty boys, Madness, had an eye for a great hook and a good lyric.

Of the three, Madness were my favourite, but the Carpenters and ABBA were my mother's favourites when I was a very small boy, and they were the soundtrack to my formative years.

They were a great group and I'm so pleased they won't reform. It just wouldn't be the same!

As I said on the other Abba thread, it's a shame that Abba's legacy has been remarketed as party music for idiots as some of their best work is as bleak and emotional as anything some of the more celebrated "classic" artists ever came up with.

Sadly it seems that their deeper darker music all too often gets passed over in favour of the camp karaoke trash that is "Mamma Mia" and "Dancing Queer".

As I said on the other Abba thread, it's a shame that Abba's legacy has been remarketed as party music for idiots as some of their best work is as bleak and emotional as anything some of the more celebrated "classic" artists ever came up with.

Sadly it seems that their deeper darker music all too often gets passed over in favour of the camp karaoke trash that is "Mamma Mia" and "Dancing Queer".

Yes totally agree there is a whole collection of superb abba tacks that I suspect many dont even know about which are much deeper than the tracks you hear time and time again.

The likes of one of us,hasta manana,Winner takes it all,one man one women,eagle, our last summer ,the suprisingly sad happy new year, and my favorite the day before you came to name a few.

I stress the word pop here as I am in no way saying they are the best group of all time.

I think they are as quite simply nobody has made so many catchy easy to listen too great sounding songs.

But prehaps more importantly 30 odd years later there songs are still being played and sound as good today as they did back then.

Funny how when they first started it was considerded so uncool to like them ;)

OMG I so love them. I bought their greatest hits album about 2 years ago & by eck did it cheer me up & as birthday treat me & my friend went to watch Mamma Mia, it is a fabolous film, a very go happy luck film. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I am only 26, damm 27! I dont think I was born & there music was out & about.

I take your point of course the Beatles are massive however I see them more as a pop/rock group rather than the pure pop that abba produce.

To me pure pop is not particularly deep just simple catchy tunes/lyrics I guess in this day and age you would probably call it a bit cheesy and I dont think anyone does it better than abba.

Also I havent checked but would be suprised if the Beatles still sell as many copies as abba .

The Beatles and Led Zeplin are the two biggest selling defuct groups.

Keith

Surely the Beatles are the best pop group of all time.

Hells yeah, Abba are totally lame, and by proxy, so are all of you.

And the Beatles invented pop, don't even think about saying they're not a pop band, just 'cause they could play their instruments.

Some of Abba's songs were, lyrically, terribly sad.

I am looking forward to all the re-releases and new cover versions.

Morrissey's version of 'One Of Us' should be essential listening, especially the wailing intro. (I also look forward to a re-grouped Abba returning the compliment by way of their version of Never Had No-one Ever.)

And the Beatles invented pop, don't even think about saying they're not a pop band, just 'cause they could play their instruments.
I don't know if you're being ironic, but i'll take the bait anyway; Abba could play their own instruments, and singing in such perfect harmony that Agnetha and Anni-Frid could do is a skill in itself, especially live. The Beatles struggled with some of their harmonisation before they quit touring (although a argument about stage monitors could be built, there was nearly 10 years between the two acts).

Also I havent checked but would be suprised if the Beatles still sell as many copies as abba .
On the whole i bet Abba don't sell that much beyond the 'Abba Gold' collections.

----

The sad thing i think about Abba is that they aren't given full respect. The media likes to water them down, play all their pop singles and say "weren't they great". I despise the type of Saturday night ITV pap featuring the Hollyoaks cast singing Super Trouper, and Dr Fox telling me they're brilliant. Take the whole catalogue of songs and they had some failings. There are some great songs that get ignored, and even more relevant, there were some absolute tripe that gets ignored too.

Speaking of the Beatles being a bit rough round the edges, did you know they had to get someone else in to drum for the first (couple of, maybe) albums 'cause Ringo literally couldn't do it?

You'll notice i never siad Abba couldn't play their instruments just that the beatles could. And singing in harmony aint that hard, if you wanna say you lover their voices go ahead, i think they were pretty average, then again so were Lennon and Macca. It's all about the songs for me and i've just not heard the diveristy, complexity, and crazyness of the beatles, or anything remotely as good as it, from Abba. There are some musically sound songs but none that interesting.

And as for the lyrics, they may be good i'm not really a lyrics kind of guy, the words are always the last part of a song i learn.

I stress the word pop here as I am in no way saying they are the best group of all time.

I think they are as quite simply nobody has made so many catchy easy to listen too great sounding songs.

But prehaps more importantly 30 odd years later there songs are still being played and sound as good today as they did back then.

Funny how when they first started it was considerded so uncool to like them ;)


What about the BeeGees or more recently many of the boybands etc.

Speaking of the Beatles being a bit rough round the edges, did you know they had to get someone else in to drum for the first (couple of, maybe) albums 'cause Ringo literally couldn't do it?



Wrong.

George Martin (and for that matter, Paul McCartney) was not impressed with Ringo's performance on Love Me Do, so hired Andy White, a session drummer when they re-recorded the song a week later. Starr was handed a tambourine. Andy White also drummed on the single's b-side, PS I Love You.

All the other songs on their first two albums, Please Please Me and With The Beatles, feature Ringo on drums (as do all the remaining albums although Paul drummed on about 4 songs on their Double White album).

What about the BeeGees or more recently many of the boybands etc.


BeeGees made some good songs but nowhere near as many as abba.

As for the boybands frankly I will be suprised if any of their tracks are good enough to still be played in 30 years time let alone the amount that abba get played.

In my opinion anyway :)

ABBA - Sold more than 300,000,000 records. Total UK single sales 10,004,039 (to May 2004). Guinness Book of Hit Singles and Albums list them as the 17th most successful group/artist in their top 500 (calculated by total weeks on the singles and album charts).

BEATLES - Estimated sales of more than one billion records. Their '1' collection sold 23.5 million copies (released in 2000). Pepper's is biggest selling UK album. Total UK single sales 20,799,632 (up to March 1996). 3rd Most Successful group in Guinness Book top 500.

BEE GEES - Listed 31 out of 500 in Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and Albums.

The Nolan Sisters were quite good, as was Our Kid.

ABBA - Sold more than 300,000,000 records. Total UK single sales 10,004,039 (to May 2004). Guinness Book of Hit Singles and Albums list them as the 17th most successful group/artist in their top 500 (calculated by total weeks on the singles and album charts).

BEATLES - Estimated sales of more than one billion records. Their '1' collection sold 23.5 million copies (released in 2000). Pepper's is biggest selling UK album. Total UK single sales 20,799,632 (up to March 1996). 3rd Most Successful group in Guinness Book top 500.

BEE GEES - Listed 31 out of 500 in Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and Albums.

Doesn't Michael Jackson whoop both the beatles & Abba's asses for album sales though??.. think it's something like 50 million for just Thriller alone.

Yes but 'The Carrie Nations' come a very close second.

Dont know wether they could be classed as the best pop group of all time,but have just seen the film " Mamma Mia", and everyone was singing & dancing in the aisles.!! The film gives you a " Feel Good" feeling which I cant explain.:) Plus it takes place in Greece so with Pierce Brosnan,Colin Firth, Julie Walters and Meryl Streep, its made me realise just how good Abba was, compared to the pop groups of today.:)

Being a long-standing musician, and being able to appreciate the finer, more subtle points, ABBA are amazing!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XIjovAaarc&feature=related

For Abba fans only the best version of Thankyou for the music.