FEATURE:
Too Good to Be Forgotten: Tracks That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure
ABBA – Dancing Queen
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SOME might say that it is sacrilege…
to mention ABBA in a feature that talks about guilty pleasures! Last week, I talked about Hanson, and their single, MMMBop. That is a song that many people overlook or assume to be a cheesy Pop confection but, actually, it is a terrific song that warrants a lot of respect. Dancing Queen might be seen as a classic, but there are many people that avoid ABBA in general, thinking they are a bit plastic, or the music is a little naff. I would never hold that opinion: ABBA, to me, have released some of the best tracks ever. I know that there are people that are not convinced, and they feel the Swedish band are the ultimate guilty pleasure. Maybe I will need to put together another feature to talk about ABBA in general but, as they are a group that have cleared influenced a lot of modern artists, I feel songs like Dancing Queen are a lot more than a guilty pleasure – many people feel sheepish when they express any desire of their love of ABBA. I am not a super fan of the group for sure, but I grew up listening to a lot of their songs; hearing Super Trouper for the first time is one of my earliest memories. Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad are no strangers to gems and anthems! Although Dancing Queen is not my favourite ABBA tracks, it is one of their most famous.
There are those who think the track is throwaway or cheesy, and those who really love it. I have seen Dancing Queen appear on a few lists of songs that are viewed as guilty pleasures – whether the concept of a ‘guilty pleasure’ exists or not, we shall leave that parked for another day! Maybe it feels a bit odd singing along to the chorus, and some feel they cannot identify with the song’s lyrics but, really, should that matter?! To me, Dancing Queen is a catchy and timeless track that can put one in a great mood – in the same way Super Trouper, Voulez-Vous, or Take a Chance of Me can. On paper, Dancing Queen sounds like a perfect slice of Disco/Euro Pop. Dancing Queen was the lead single from the band’s fourth studio album, Arrival. It was written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson. Dancing Queen was released as a single in Sweden on 15th August, 1976, followed by a U.K. release and the rest of Europe a few days later; it became ABBA's only number-one hit in the United States, and topped the charts in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany and Zimbabwe. That is a lot of Wikipedia information thrown at you, but it is important to get those impressive stats out there!
IN THIS PHOTO: ABBA in 1976
Like all classic ABBA tracks, Dancing Queen has a huge and glistening chorus, and the lyrics are simple enough so that everyone can understand the song’s meaning. The production is incredible, and the song’s story, about someone enjoying dancing and being lost in the moment, has resonated and endured through the decades. It feels weird to sort of defend a song that has gained classic status! Since its release in 1976, Dancing Queen has been included in numerous polls celebrating the best songs of the 1970s; it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015. I think ABBA’s music, unfairly, is still lumped in with some of the more throwaway and cheesy music of the 1970s. Even if you do not like ABBA or consider them to be one of your guilty pleasures, how can one deny the power and positivity of the song?! It is weird that there is this divide between people who love ABBA and their classics, and those who cannot stand them – even if they like other songs and acts that are very similar! I want to quote from an article that The Guardian produced in 2016, to mark forty years of a classic. There are some interesting passages that I want to lay out:
“It’s no mystery why – Dancing Queen is beautifully produced: catchy and euphoric, the perfect backdrop for a song that encapsulates the carefree bliss of youth. Certainly, the band knew they had struck gold before it was even finished. Frida Lyngstad told me in 2014 that hearing the music Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus had created for her and Agnetha Fältskog to sing on was a eureka moment, so much so that she burst into tears: “Out of pure happiness that I would get to sing that song, which is the absolutely the best song Abba have ever done,” she said.
What is it that elevates Dancing Queen above so many other beautifully produced, catchy, euphoric songs? Pete Waterman, who knows a thing or two about writing a hit, believes it exemplifies how the best Swedish artists are able to soak up popular trends and regurgitate them as something fresh: “Listen to Dancing Queen and you can hear Elton John straight away, you can hear the Beatles, disco is coming along with the Bee Gees, and you can hear that,” he says. “It’s also got what all great pop songs have – a great first line. ‘Friday night and the lights are low’ … boosh! You’re away. All great records start with a bang.”
In Dancing Queen’s case, these images told the story of a 17-year-old girl on a nightclub dancefloor – lost in the music and the moment. The sonic euphoria mirrors the freedom that the dancefloor can bring, although, as with all Abba songs, there’s a hint of what Ulvaeus called “that Nordic melancholic feeling” to it. The teenage girl isn’t the narrator, after all, so is the listener really just an observer, looking back on their lost youth? Ultimately, the song seems less concerned with making you gaze forlornly back than it does with bringing the abandonment of your teenage years into the present, at least for four glorious minutes”.
The rest of the Arrival album contains plenty of gold nuggets. Apart from Dancing Queen, we have Knowing Me, Knowing You, and Money, Money, Money. It was a very successful and fertile time for ABBA. Following their eponymous album of 1975 – where Mamma Mia, and SOS can be found -, they followed it up with the excellent Arrival. Its finest song still divides people, even though it has taken on a life of its own and has been elevated to the level of a stone-cold classic. For those who feel Dancing Queen is a guilty pleasure and a song that is a bit too cheesy to like, I would argue that it is…
IN THIS PHOTO: Agnetha Fältskog in 1976/PHOTO CREDIT: Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns
ONE of the all-time greats!