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

Soldiers is great, and narrowly missed my ballot. But I LOVE I've Been Waiting for You!

That's Me is almost great but for some reason I feel like it comes up a bit short on the payoff...

http://abba_music.tripod.com/solong_s.jpg
41. So Long
ABBA, 1975
(64 points / 3 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbRB2Cjr_Wo

yaaaaaargh

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2597/3841266768_ce1bd1a149.jpg

Incredibly rocking song. That's a little low!

"rockin'" ABBA is kind of a mixed bag to me (my disco sympathies lie deep) but "so long" is a scorcher

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0c/Thank_You_ABBA.jpg
40. Thank You for the Music
ABBA: The Album, 1977
(66 points, 4 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dcbw4IEY5w

one of these days i'll format like a real boy

40. Thank You for the Music
ABBA: The Album, 1977
(66 points, 4 votes)

So Long: another one that narrowly missed my ballot

wd've left off "Thank You", too stage-y for me

i tend to really like songs that are about how other songs (or how music in general) are great so i love "thank you for the music"

I don't like Thank You For The Music as such, but the way the long melody is constructed in the chorus is nothing short of masterful.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3193/2321350687_ab353d6cb5.jpg
39. Me and I
Super Trouper, 1980
(71 points, 3 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF040OpxTyM

It really is, though xp - I don't know how you continue after that, I'd be hanging up my songwriting pen and thinking 'yep, that's music done'.

Agree w Noodle about Thank You: though Agnetha saves it for me. Didn't vote for it though.

Did vote for Me & I though. Yay!

I like it, but I'd probably question "Me and I" over most of Voulez-Vous.

(A lot of which I don't expect to make this top 45!)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/56/SUPER_TROUPER_-_single_cover.jpg
38. Super Trouper
Super Trouper, 1980
(75 points, 4 votes)

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

su-pa-pa trou-pa-pa

i love that for a song that's ostensibly about How Hard It Is Being Famous that it's such a vulnerable performance ("how could anyone feel so lonely?")

and the piano melody KILLS me

All of the tracks so far are so great I thought I'd had a couple of them on my ballot, but no. None of my votes have placed yet. I <3 ABBA.

http://cherryouth.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/imagens-da-abba.jpg?w=600&h=400
37. Should I Laugh or Cry
"One of Us" b-side (1981)
79 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_uiKm7wsmI

super-happy this one placed, i put it in my top ten. such a devastating song.

btw between all the ballots 75 songs received votes. at the end of this i'd like to tally up the ones nobody voted for

received at least one vote, i mean

ok been trying to get some work done but here's more

http://www.covershut.com/covers/ABBA-Ring-Ring-1973-Front-Cover-34314.jpg
36. Ring Ring
Ring Ring, 1973
(81 points, 4 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL0EoXdpOqg

man i should've just saved these covers somewhere

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b6/Ring_Ring.jpg

do you guys think ABBA were swingers?

next level outfits in the 'ring ring' video btw

astonished that So Long is here! a song i've loved for 30 years. and yeah rocky Abba is indeed a mixed bag but So Long proves that they could do it right. i wish they'd gone further with that sound.

also stoked that Arrival is the no.1 album voting wise.

well then i expect you'll be really pleased at the next entry

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/ABBA_-_Arrival_%28France%29.jpg
35. Arrival
Arrival, 1976
(82 points, 3 votes, 1 #1 vote)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqfI3PtF5ao

dope! I thought this was just a throwaway vote, but I'm glad I got it in the countdown.

hurrah! bafflingly high though.

anyone on here read Bright Lights, Dark Shadows btw? just bought it last week for a fiver.

i bought it for a friend for her bday but not yet read it myself

http://www.penguin99.com/00_images/tiger.jpg
34. Tiger
Arrival, 1976
(83 points, 4 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWQ7wrPyUe0

whoops, boldening for scrollers

34. Tiger
Arrival, 1976
(83 points, 4 votes)

stockholm at night<3

another fave. is this going to be the only poll ever where EVERY song off one album gets a decent placing?

(keeps shtum for now)

I had thought this was a poll of all-new discovery for me, but I've just remembered that I did once own a cassette of Abba Gold. I found it under the bed in this filthy dive where I spent a night in Pigalle. It was with a little collection of ebony porn.

I've led a pretty wholesome life in all, but that was definitely one of its sleazier moments I've found myself in. The cassette seems weirdly incongruous now that I think about it.

Didn't vote but <3 every song so far

Tiger is rad, it was my favorite song off Arrival to dance to. Like I wouldn't even listen to Side B, just skip right over to Tiger

it seems a little more repetitive than I remember as a kid but I still like how rockin' it is

hah, there is a pretty significant quality shift between the two sides of that record imo

I'd say it's a mood shift rather than quality shift, because the whole thing is quality.

http://members.multimania.nl/abbadfs/hpbimg/ABBA%20whennallissaidanddone1981.jpg
33. When All Is Said and Done
The Visitors, 1981
(86 points, 5 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUh4u-lYEhM

Had to cut this one at the last minute. Glad it's here for me to enjoy!

it's a beautiful song, and it's what i always imagined/hoped being an adult would be like

ok two more and then done for today slash i need to eat lunch

http://nikkigsblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/abba-i-do.jpg
32. I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
ABBA, 1975
(93 points, 5 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW3HN_pvbE4

I mean ABBA got game with deep cuts all the way back to the debut album - "Disillusion" and "Another Town, Another Train" are worlds better than their first two singles ("People Need Love," and "He Is Your Brother," both among the worst songs they ever released). Anybody know why Agnetha never wrote an ABBA song again?

'Soldiers', 'One of Us' and 'The Day Before You Came' are all fantastic, I agree, although I'm not sure I could choose one single that stands above all the rest. I know that 'Dancing Queen' wouldn't be it because I've heard it far too many times at this point.

Yeah actually I don't really have one favorite, it's just that that was my first favorite when I got into ABBA half a dozen years ago. I resent the fact that "Dancing Queen" is the only ABBA song I ever hear on the radio, because I heard it many times before I ever "got" ABBA and though I like it a lot better now than I did before I saw the light, I'm never going to be able to hear it with fresh ears. I mean it's transcendent, but there's always going to be that residue of those benighted years when I thought it was fluff.

"Under Attack" in last place out of all their singles? Löjlig!

"Angel-eyes" came up on a playlist today and surprised me, I hadn't heard it in years. Good tune.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, July 1, 2018 12:07 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My three year old and I listen to a lot of ABBA on the way to school and I’m really surprised that out of their entire catalog of hits her favorite song is “Angel Eyes” followed closely by deep cut “Elaine.”

Guardian Top 5 OTM.

Disillusion is a fantastic song

Their best albums.

^ This would probably be my ranking exactly. It's nice that both you and the ILM poll gave a shout out to "When I Kissed the Teacher," which I think is the one ABBA album track that most deserved to be the A-side of a single

Agreed, solid list.

Apropos of nothing, my love of the Mamma Mia movies knows few bounds. There should be a thread for chrissakes.

How I'd rank their British top forty singles.