A real fan of ABBA

I don't think there's something especially wrong with disliking even the most famous ABBA tracks - it all comes down to personal tastes. Look at your choices - for me, as well as for Josef, Money Money Money is one of ABBA's best songs ever and it's hard for me to understand why you don't like - Just like you don't understand how somebody can dislike Dancing Queen

As for liking all ABBA songs or not... that's a question. Personally, I think it's possible. There is no song in ABBA's catalog that irritates me so much that I never listen to it. There are some that I listen to very rarely, but there's none that I just can't stand listening to...

There is something about MMM that just makes it classic. It’s menacing . ..Frida’s vocals the whole theatrical music. Very Cabaret. Maybe the first clue to the Boys’ aspirations.

Hi, Maybe I have been a bit harsh with my criticism but " Money Money Money " does not float my boat. I have grown tired of it. Likewise, " Super Trouper " and " Does Your Mother Know ". I used to like these songs years ago, however they no longer appeal to me. " Under Attack " is , also , a very weak song and not a favourite of mine. I hope I like the new songs.

^Millions of people would disagree with you. Hell, even FRIDA would disagree with you. It's clearly NOT "just one of their songs". That's really a rather silly thing to say. It clearly IS iconic, and the "gay community" (whatever that is) has not made it their song. Many of their songs are greatly loved by gay people but I know many heterosexual people who appreciate ABBA, too. And even if it is, so what? It's a beautiful song that touches heaven. And for your information, Dancing Queen is not their only big hit in the USA. Take A Chance On Me was very successful- I think it may even have sold more.

You don't have to like the biggest hits, no one's saying you have to. It's true I Have A Dream isn't a massive favourite amongst fans in general but it does have its supporters. On an old ABBA forum it was even someone's No.1 favourite.

As for Live to Tell, it's one of my favourite Madonna songs (for what it's worth ( and the Dusty/PSB collaboration is definitely seen as a highlight within both artists careers.

I'm sure many of us have listened to some ABBA songs so many times over the years that we couldn't even guess how big a number that would be! For the time being, and maybe longer, I can do without listening to their hits, for example. But there are also quite a few of their earlier tracks, such as Santa Rosa, and I Am Just A Girl, that I feel no willingness to seek out and hear.
I brazenly maintain, however, that I am still an ABBA fan! 

I happen to like the Beatles, too, and I've experienced the same sort of thing with regard to a number of their songs - and with other favourites, also.

I´m continuing my previous post.  In my country, Papa don´t preach and It´s a sin are on the radio every day. You never here Live to tell and only sometimes WHIDTDT. Because all 4 were released over 30 years ago, it must mean the 2 first one are " iconic" because they are still played and the two latter ones are bad songs because not on the radio. Of course not , people simply have different tastes.

Here in the Abbaworld, I do x5 is despised. Actually I avoided it for 30 years because of the reputation. When you looked for information about the song often only 2 things were mentioned. 1, Uk flop. 2, A British paper wrote at the time  " so bad it hurts " .  The song was number one in Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland . Top 5 Austria, Holland, Belgium ,  Number 6 West Germany and 15 in the USA.  So it was a sizeable hit but flopping in the UK sealed the faith. Recent years I have changed my mind totally and the song is now a favouirite of mine. And because I like it, it seems l Iike crap because what the British think of it. 

^I disagree strongly. The melody is anything but fussy- it's simple and uncluttered. It's actually beautiful in its simplicity and very affecting. As for Agnetha being histrionic- 😆 if you're referring to the chorus, I guess you could say that if you want to be mean but I see it more as her interpreting the very strong emotions evident in those lyrics. Is it a crime to hit a high note when it's called for? There is a point during a break- up when a lot of people might indulge in a little reflection, a smidge of self-pity (not a place to stay, it's dangerous ground). When you lose someone you loved very dearly, it HURTS. It can hurt like hell. The song expresses that aspect of it. Frida may have sang When All Is Said And Done with verve and "survivor spirit" but it's a safe bet she didn't always feel that way when her and Benny split. It takes time. Both songs exemplify two stages in that healing process.

In the verses to TWTIA Agnetha's actually restrained and far from histrionic.

Actually, I get upset (not really, it's all subjective opinion) when people slate this song and performance. Newsflash: all singing is a performance- you could say life itself is a performance. Or a stage or summat.💃

That reminds me of something I read somewhere, Tony. Something about how other people's opinion of us is none of our business. Words to that effect. Anyway, it really is true that we all have our tastes and no one is 'right'.

I do have respect for others' views, though. And some hold more sway than others. Didn't Agnetha say she believed TWTIA was a mini-masterpiece? Benny considers it one of their best, too. That's good enough for me- and from the maestro himself. It's not my favourite song by a long shot but it definitely deserves every bit of kudos. To deny that would just seem disingenuous.

Well, expressing and thinking something are rather different. But I take your point. Me, I couldn't care less what anyone thinks of and if they say it, well at least they're leaving some other poor bugger alone. Perhaps a little bravado from me there. ... 😎

A quick aside: I absolutely adore Lovers (Live A Little Longer). It's so damn good and different to anything else ABBA did. It has really grown on me the last 18 months (but I always liked it, I've just grown to fully appreciate it).

I didn't mean cluttered fussy; I mean high-strung fussy - e.g. those little staggered patterns that pop up at the start and then here and there, like a fop hoofing down a flight of stairs in stages. There's also something washed-out about it; the glassy piano tone may have something to do with it. And I'm sorry, but for me there's something hard to accept about Agnetha's choice of approach.  When there are, as you say, lyrics that already pack an emotional punch, the singer ought to compensate and be especially wary of 'interpreting'.  Agnetha may not outright sob or wail, but that self-pitying waver in her voice in the verses, for me it's needless dramatising and it grates (as Alan Bennett once remarked in response to someone's heavy-handed performance in a stage adaptation of Kafka: "just play the text; don't play the implications of the text"). I remember either Benny or Bjorn, I can't recall which (actually, it may even have been Carl Magnus Palm!) saying that in retrospect The Day Before You Came would've benefited from Agnetha singing it 'straight' instead of doing that rather plain 'talk singing' style, and I think a similar sort of thing could be said about the way TWTIA got made.  Anyway, it's one of the few ABBA tracks I really can't stand (You Owe Me One is another); and my negative feelings towards it really are true and heartfelt, even if I'm not very good at explaining how and why I feel like that!

Oh, it's there again.

I'm losing the plot. Bedtime, methinks.

Thanks for the clarification, orf. Your knowledge outstrips mine I suspect but even so I like the glassy piano and Agnetha's interpretation in this instance. Perhaps we should be grateful she didn't go for the Marilyn Manson approach or that screeching death metal thing.

^Correct me if I've got this wrong, but aren't there songs you dislike and which you freely commented on in this forum? Super Trouper being one of them. Now, I like this song very much but I'm not upset that you don't. Anxiety aside, you can't expect people not to express how they feel when you do just that. It's double standards. Anxiety is something many, many people experience, myself included, so you're not alone in that. But you simply cannot dictate what others like or dislike. You like or dislike something? Great. We all do. And for no other reason than the fact of our subjective taste- it has absolutely nothing to with other people. You cannot change someone's mind, only inform them and the rest is down to them. Nothing that anyone can say can make me change my mind on certain songs (not ABBA in particular- sometimes, a song will just irritate you for no apparent or logical reason. I cannot STOMACH most rap, for instance. It's just not to my taste).

Someone posts something you dislike/disagree with? Either engage and have a friendly debate or in the words of a lovely ABBA song- 'Move On'. Life's too short to get upset about a different point of view.

I was talking figuratively, Edmund. When I said 'you', I wasn't referring to you specifically- I mean all of us.

You seem like a sensitive person, and I am, too. It's a good quality to have I think. But it does mean we can sometimes misinterpret things. Just please try to keep in mind that we are all of us ABBA fans, we have that in common and most of us are friendly and supportive of each other (well, apart from the odd troll lurking around but they're best ignored).

I don't think you're crazy, just an ABBA fan! Maybe we're all a bit crazy. A bit crazy is ok with me.

I do understand the passion for a song you love and how it can sometimes irk if someone criticises it but rationally I tell myself that it doesn't matter- I'm still going to like and enjoy it no matter what.

Please continue to contribute here, I love hearing other views, even if I don't agree with everything. The point is to find common ground and concentrate on that if any 'negative' opinion upsets you. There are plenty of commonalities.

This discussion proves, yet again, how deeply music can become a part of us and  affect us.

I'm also a Beatles fan ('fraid so   ), and I used to get mightily upset inside when I read comments - some from ABBA fans, I'm sure - stating that the Beatles were 'overrated' . I couldn't care less now!  As if there aren't  any  Beatles  fans who hold what I regard as similarly complacent and ignorantly dismissive views on ABBA!

The positive remarks from Josef and Tony about Lovers (LALL), got me checking it on YouTube because I hadn't heard it in a while. And there was more than one comment to the effect that 'as per usual' an ABBA song starts working when Agnetha comes to the fore. Their slyly anti-Frida stance yet more cause to be upset for true ABBA fans.