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

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

which reminds me of the only vaguely sordid ABBA story i have:

i've still never all of 'muriel's wedding' to this day because when a friend of mine came to visit me in nyc we decided to watch it while drinking some wine. i was 19 and had only recently started drinking/not yet really developed a tolerance for the stuff so when my roommate pointed out that we'd both drank a lot of wine i turned to face him and realized the room was kind of spinning. i spent the entire second half of the film hugging my toilet.

so i mentally associate this song with feeling queasy which is maybe why i've never considered it a big fave

hahah oh dear

>37. Should I Laugh or Cry
>35. Arrival

awesome you guys

http://www.musicchartheaven.com/Abba/on%20and%20on.jpg
31. On and On and On
Super Trouper, 1980
(94 points, 5 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyxBYbfu6k8

31. On and On and On
Super Trouper, 1980
(94 points, 5 votes)

ok that is all for today, 30-16 tomorrow

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.