You can POLL, you can jive, having the time of your life -- ILM Artist Poll #20 -- ABBA (RESULTS THREAD)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/ABBA_-_The_Name_of_the_Game.jpg
10. The Name of the Game
ABBA: The Album, 1977
(274 points, 10 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ90ZqH0PWI

Didn't vote for it, but this is a great way to kick off the top 10.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ABBA_-_The_Visitors_(US).jpg
9. The Visitors
The Visitors, 1981
(281 points, 10 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59hkcS5wr9k

i think i had this at #2

I always assumed this was really about paranoid schizophrenia, but it seems to be a straight cold war story. My #5 anyway.

i know their names but not sure which one is which; but blondie is completely smokin' on that summer night city pic sleeve!

agnetha = blonde (lighter voice)
frida = redhead (huskier voice)

everytime I look at Frida now I see the dude from Erasure (when they dressed in drag for the Take A Chance On Me vid)

while we're at it

benny = beard
bjorn = no beard

bjeard
no bjeard

thanks for that. I always forget which guy is which.

Following their post-ABBA careers a little bit helps keep Agnetha and Frida distinct, though.

see I was never confused by the ladies, I think I was born knowing which was which lol

beards? aye that works although less so SINCE Abba..

http://www.abbafan.dk/images/benny%20og%20bjorn%20stockholm.jpg

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00521/SNF02SPDA_682_521777a.jpg

Agnetha and Frida aren't really confusing at all, no. But, as was the case for most everyone from the 70s, some days you look amazing and others you...GODWHATWEREYOUTHINKING don't. There is plenty of photo and video evidence to document both extremes with those two.

we need to do an outfits poll one day. so many lols

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Take_a_Chance_on_Me_%28Abba_single%29_coverart.jpg
8. Take a Chance on Me
ABBA: The Album, 1977
(283 votes, 14 points)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-crgQGdpZR0

YES

if you change your MIND
i'm the first in LINE

i covet frida's sweater in this video

ok gonna post one more and then lunch (doing this poll has made me so hungry)

http://991.com/NewGallery/Abba-Waterloo-284839.jpg
7. Waterloo
Waterloo, 1974
(289 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj_9CiNkkn4

So many animated gif opportunities in the Take a Chance on Me video.

definitely my best lol in an outfits poll would be..

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_OGj0XFVwFGw/ShCmN8DuaEI/AAAAAAAAAZw/WeAJY2coOqY/s400/ABBA-Picture-0002.jpg

I think the Waterloo camerman was drunk

Frida's perm in Waterloo is pretty lolsy too

Take A Chance On Me - it's exactly the kind of good-natured blockbuster that'd turn me off with most other bands ... but there's that second-and-a-half of bubbling synth after "It's magic..." that's just attention-to-detail pop genius.

*belch*

ok back to results

we have six more songs to go but the next one was ABBA's last official recording

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6f/Daybeforeyoucame.jpg
6. The Day Before You Came
“The Day Before You Came” b/w “Cassandra” single, 1982
(318 points, 13 votes, 1 #1 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HnOFwqpLRQ

That cover is... something.

Man, ABBA would have ruled the 80s so hard.

i want to know the name of the bright pink light in the band

skär

the narrator of this song could almost be jeanne dielman

(don't ask me to flesh that out)

Agnetha has the same haircut my mum had that same year

Tom Ewing did One Week One Band on Abba last week. I only saw one or two bits, but one nugget was The Day Before You Came landing at #3 when ITV (Britain's blandest channel) polled Abba a few years back. (i) that's a surprise, esp beating ILM; and (ii) why does it resonate so?

why does it resonate so?

Minor key gypsy/eastern european dirges go straight for the heart in ways that a lot of western music doesn't, regardless of the key. If you rearranged The Day Before You Came with piano and weepy violin, it would be very Hungarian.

That's interesting, I had supposed it would be the lyric.

It could also be the lyric. lol

yeah, the level of detail in the lyrics is what makes it for me. as a character sketch i think it's peerless

so "take a chance on me" was one of only two ABBA records to go gold in the US. this is the other one (and their only US #1):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/Dancing_Queen_That%27s_Me.jpg
5. Dancing Queen
“Dancing Queen” b/w “That's Me” single, 1975/Arrival, 1976
(333 points, 14 votes, 1 #1 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s

Okay, I thought that was nailed on for no.1

my heart still swells when i hear the first notes of this song
that's how i know it still works!

lol @ Agnetha's expression on the single photo

cf. the parkes essay upthread - i don't really buy the argument that i've often heard/read that this song is "secretly really depressing", at least not in the way that i think eg "should i laugh or cry" is. like certainly there's a sense that all these good vibes are fleeting but i think the mood is ultimately pretty celebratory. it's definitely not one of their more "reflective" songs, so much of it is about the present moment, feel the beat of the tambourine, etc

my heart still swells when i hear the first notes of this song
that's how i know it still works!

this argument, otoh, i totally buy (and agree with)

up next: my personal #1 vote

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/Winner_Takes_It_All.jpg
4. The Winner Takes It All
Super Trouper, 1980
(368 points, 13 votes, 3 #1 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92cwKCU8Z5c

guilty secret: this song makes me VERY teary for some reason, I have no idea why