a-ha to ABC

a-ha - "Take On Me"
One of the most sterile love songs of the '80s. Full of blatantly transactional romantic come-ons. They could just as well be begging for a job. "Take me on" indeed. Also note the confirmation request ("I'll be coming for your love, ok?). How professional. Thank God for the music video, which communicates much better the true meaning of the song: the flaming passions of sentient sketchbook drawings and the women they save from motorcycle mechanics/leather daddies.




ABBA
Not so much a band as a brand, but a highly successful one. If KC and the Sunshine Band, once with a string of hits and now playing state fairs, is the RC of '70s dance pop, then ABBA is Coca-Cola, inspiring movies that gross $600 million worldwide. It's ubiquitious, resistance is futile.

"Dancing Queen" is the radio hit. "Fernando" proves even ABBA can go anti-war with a preachy bubblegum tune about...Mexico? "Super Trouper" and "Voulez-Vous" are actual disco songs; the disco movement made them even cheesier, if possible, and sadly less enjoyable. Scandianvians appropriate Italian culture in "Mamma Mia" and lecture on European history in "Waterloo." The latter is still the best thing to come out of Eurovision and, in my opinion, the quintessential ABBA tune. But my favorite is "Take a Chance On Me," a song so desperate it's charming, with some intense vocal layering and the same damn infectious bassline and rhythm as nearly every other ABBA song. It. Just. Keeps. Going.

ABBA is eternal as pop music itself, featherweight sentiment that doesn't change since it's never about anything in particular. It takes a lot of depth to be this simple - some next level shit right here. (Ok, except maybe "Voulez-Vous")




ABC - "Poison Arrow"
Some dandies expressing intense anguish with martial and/or soccer metaphors: "Right on the target but wide of the mark." It's too bad that 75 percent of The Lexicon of Love sounds a lot like this track but I must admit that the album cover makes a sweet New Wave Halloween costume/tableau.