Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Why ABBA Was One Of the '70's 'Heaviest' Bands

It's no secret, or at least it shouldn't be, that I'm a HUGE ABBA fan. Since I was child I've loved their songs and of course turning out to be a 'Metalhead' it's not something in your teens that you'd readily say out loud.
My love for the band has grown even more over the years as I had access to their full library and discovered a lot of 'hits', for me. on Youtube.
It's no secret about the bands recording techniques and tricks they did to grow the 'ABBA Sound'. It's a distinct and original sound and when an ABBA song comes on, you know it's ABBA.
In the beginning Bjorn, Benny and Stig Anderson were the primary writers but later the whole band became a hit writing force that couldn't be reckoned with.
They were proud of their country and of their music. Songs like 'Voulez Vous' with it's lyrics:
"And here we go again, we know the start, we know the end, Masters of the scene
We've done it all before and now we're back to get some more
You know what I mean..." - I wouldn't call them egotistical, but they knew damn well they were good.
Early hits like 'Ring Ring', with it's classic good rockin' 60's vibes and of course 'Waterloo' won them their Euro Award and began their rocketing to stardom.

Their hits to me are not only timeless but endless. Name me one other band that won the Euro song writing contest that ever went on to be as big as ABBA got?

When I worked at Electronic Arts, I met the only other person who held the same position I did that the band had such 'heavy' riffs in their material they might as well be Metal. We discussed our favorite songs and the ones we felt were the 'heaviest' while we faced insults and laughs from our co-workers. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. There's many many 'heaviness' in so many songs in so many genres. Heavy isn't just loud guitars and played in among 'heavy lyrics' with thundering Metal bass and drums. Heavy music can be found in any genre.

Songs like, 'Does Your Mother Know' has great guitar with 'heavy riffs', the backing vocals are cool as fuck and the song is just a driving dance song that leaves one with a smile your face. As does 'Take A Chance On Me', another masterpiece of Poptacular awesomeness. And yes, I believe I just created a word there, but it works! The underlying rhythm of the song is so grooving and moves along like a hot blade through butter.
Other ABBA songs with some 'heavy' riffs are, 'Mamma Mia', Bjorn's guitar playing and mild solos make the song snap. The chorus chimes and rings in your head forever. ABBA song's are truly unforgettable.
'The Name of the Game' is another flat out favorite, the verse is slow and sexy, the girls talk about their not so hidden feelings for their men, the chorus itself has some great back up vocals and the acoustic guitar is 'heavy' on it's own, match with Benny's piano and what I think might be a French horn, possibly trumpet or even a keyboard.



S.o.S. is another of my favorites. It's got riffs in it that are just incredible. It's no wonder there's been a couple of Swedish bands that have 'Metalized' ABBA songs. The part of the chorus, where they sings, "When you're gone, how can I even try to go on"... There's a riff that Bjorn plays that is so heavy, it was one of the first tracks that I really noticed just how 'heavy' the band is.
Listen to it (Oh and I love the girls choreographed 'dance moves' for this one)


There's of course all the 'standard' hits that everyone knows, but I've found some precious gems that I never even knew existed. Songs that were laced throughout the bands great career that no one ever seemed to pay much attention to, let alone give radio time.
Some of those lesser known songs are: Tiger - It's kinda 'silly lyrics, but it's still a rockin' tune

A song that I 'discovered recently, and oddly enough through the cover of a Canadian band at that. CBC radio had released some of their 'Brave new Waves' recordings from the late '80's early '90's and one of those sets was the Pursuit of Happiness and they did a 'cover' of a song called 'On and On and On', which I had no clue was an ABBA song. In fact when I listened to it, it dawned on me just from the first listen that it must be originally done by ABBA

'Eagle' is a strange song for some reason, while I loved the song, it appears to me to be an anomaly among all their songs. it's included in 'ABBA the Movie' and it's lyrically a bit different than other songs by the band...

Even obscure songs like 'Bang Bang a Boomerang' is a killer tune, it's got a bright and bouncy bass line that trips through the verses with a great snare on the pre-chorus. Lyrically it's a really well structured and comically poetic tribute to love. When you think that English of course was their second language, the lyrics they wrote are even more stunning and of course there can be found some of the songs sung in their native tongue...

I remember Jack Black once talking about amazing awesome bands and that those bands had what he called the "sauce" and it's in a bottle this "sauce" and some bands can just shake up that bottle and the sauce comes blasting out and there's no end to it, other bands, they run out of the sauce and they fade into oblivion.

Listen to the track, 'Gimme, Gimme, Gimme', of course Madonna, not too long resurrected her career (again) with the use of a sample from this song. The track has, again, amazing guitar riffs, a brilliant bass line. The beat and the lyrics are just flat out ABBA greatness.

Check out these song's I've listed here, they are among my favorites and I hope you will be open minded enough to REALLY listen to the guitars, bass and piano, orchestration and of course, Agnetha and Frida's out of this world vocals, really listen to these magnificent hits from one of Pop Rock's greatest bands. I suggest for best results use headphones and crank it

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