6. Abba Dancing Queen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s The Beatles are rightly held up as the godfathers of modern pop, but lets include another member of the pop family. In familial terms, Abba were the likable uncle who played you records that you needed to listen to form your education, knowledge and opinion of why a song is great, they might have had their boring moments, but advice such as You can dance, you can jive, having the time your life is advice well worth listening to. Theres a strongly held point of view that in no way should Abba ever be remotely associated with any notion of cool. Well ironically thats exactly what made them very cool indeed, they ploughed their own path and were obsessive perfectionists about songwriting and storytelling. This is a group who was so in love with the songs that they wrote that the two couples who comprised the band divorced during their career and even wrote songs about it. So what makes Dancing Queen their landmark? Well thats easy, look at the dance routines, the euphoria and the capturing of the sound of love, be that first or eternal love. This was the sound of MDMA before it was even invented, communion, communication, energy and the foundation of what pop bands should be all about, which is tunes, sass and energy. Whats not to love? Play this very loudly and dance your ass off.
Ed Nash
Contributor
What makes music fantastic? Star quality, amazing music, breathtaking lyrics and the ability to bring something new to the table, even if that means a new take on the classics. That's what I love to listen to and write about.
As well as writing for What Culture, I occasionally write a blog http://tedney.blogspot.co.uk and sometimes use Twitter, but sparingly @TedneyNash
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Ed