Waterloo!

[ack1961]

Holy crap!  I had no idea.
I must be developing "bass ears" or something because have been aware of Abba since my childhood, but never thought too much of it - catchy tunes, a couple of cute gals, etc..
I had my iPod on random and this came on.  The bass is perfect and sounds like fun.  It's now on my list of stuff to learn.

I guess you guys all knew this already - late to the party again...but I'm here.

[nofi]

abba has been reborn as the cool thing to listen to in some circles. i never paid any attention to them as well, now or then. my seven year old grand daughter knows their songs. maybe thats the new market. btw, i think a bass player they used died recently?

[Denis]

I have no problem admitting I love ABBA!

[rockinrayduke]

That's probably my favorite Abba tune and I have tried to cop that bass line many times and never quite get it.

[Stjofön Big]

As far as I know, bassist Rutger Gunnarson is still with us. But I believe drummer Ola Brunkert passed away recently.

[Hornisse]

I've always enjoyed Abba.  I think when I was a teenager it was because of the girls!  I've appreciated Rutger's playing for a lot of years.  Dancing Queen is another one that has a lot of intricate lines and is difficult to master.  Mamma Mia is a fun line as well.  My 2 favorites LP's are still Arrival and The Album.  Both have some outstanding bass playing on them. 

[Chaser001]

As far as I know, bassist Rutger Gunnarson is still with us. But I believe drummer Ola Brunkert passed away recently.

That session drummer was killed in a freak accident in Spain a few years ago.  I have a friend who is an ABBA fan.  It was difficult telling her about that.  Having been around her for years, I am way more familiar with ABBA songs than I normally would have been.  I'm not really much of pop music person, but in my opinion ABBA's music was pop music brilliance. 

[uwe]

Abba is just musical, full stop. The bass player was one of Sweden's famed sessioneers and always very tasteful and melodic.

My favorite Abba tune is this here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPvrlSJy_d4&feature=related

Love the Spanish Civil War/For Whom the Bell Tolls feel.

And of course all their melancholic love songs with that sexy Scandinavian accent:





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x25WSOn6MSQ&feature=fvwrel

Even when they were a little cheesy, they were still great



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF12tkwdUIk&feature=related

[Bargeon]

I never paid attention until I heard (or finally woke up and paid attention to) "Take a chance on me."
That song is a riot for the vocal lines.

[uwe]

Some German blood in them too:

Frida's (the dark-haired one's) dad was a German Landser in occupied Norway - Frida's mother left Norway in 1947 (Norway was, perhaps understandably, at that point a no good place to raise the child of a German father) together with Frida, but died shortly after, Frida being raised by her Swedish grandmother.

A fetching-looking young man, but I'm not sure whether that Errol Flynn 'tache was in line with Wehrmacht regulations:



Yet bearded he remained:

[nofi]

i remember this waterloo from my childhood.

[Basvarken]

I grew up with ABBA... My older sister had a door poster of Agneta.
It was girls music. Boys did not like ABBA.

In the early nineties there was an ABBA revival. (muriels wedding, priscilla queen of the desert)
It became en vogue / camp to like ABBA. But I didn't like it.

Although I see it's briliantly constructed high quality popmusic, I still don't like it.
A lot of it has to do with the voices. (And the fact that I was over exposed to them as a young boy...)

[Chaser001]

I grew up with ABBA... My older sister had a door poster of Agneta.
It was girls music. Boys did not like ABBA.

In the early nineties there was an ABBA revival. (muriels wedding, priscilla queen of the desert)
It became en vogue / camp to like ABBA. But I didn't like it.

Although I see it's briliantly constructed high quality popmusic, I still don't like it.
A lot of it has to do with the voices. (And the fact that I was over exposed to them as a young boy...)

Being overexposed to something can definitely affect your attitude toward it.  For instance, I heard Motown so much during my youth because my sister played those records so much, I kind of got tired of it. 

[uwe]

There was always something very Yuropean, it was contolled and crafted, but not manufactured. That I - along with Ritchie Blackmore among others - I liked. They have also kept a mystique around them.

[birdie]

A bassplayer tired of Motown?? Please kill me now!!!!