Gold

So, who else is up there with the Beatles?

In terms of sheer pop genius I doubt there can't be much more than a coat of paint separating Abba and the Beatles. Of course, it’s comparing apples and oranges here to some degree because of the different eras involved. However, just taking the songs as measurement, I think Abba are definitely up there. There is a clamour to see them reunite often and it’s reminiscent of the constant Beatle reunion nonsense which dogs Paul and Ringo even to this day. It was whilst watching the recent television coverage of the Mamma Mia movie premiers across Europe that it became obvious to me that Abba had joined the ranks as major major artists. Abba fans would already know this anyway. The sight of the four members of Abba together (albeit at opposite ends of the balcony) made me think what a shame it was that The Beatles didn’t take the chance to do something similar before they started popping their clogs and heading to the great studio session in the sky. The quality of songwriting within the Abba repertoire is super slick. Songs like S.O.S, Mamma Mia, The Name of the Game, Knowing Me, Knowing You and a whole host of others are certainly (well in my mind anyway) up there with almost any of the Beatles material in terms of writing ability, performance and production.

So who else is worthy then?

For me the line which measures the seismic changes, the line which defines the fault lines goes something like this, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, then maybe The Smiths. Now, that’s not to negate many of the other incredible artists we’ve been fortunate enough to have in our memories…people like Brian Wilson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye (and a host of others) because their music is important, strong and it helps to define the eras they were from. Abba are like “new money” within this club. They seem to have captured something which has continued to grow beyond themselves and their era – a sure sign that standards have been written. The band broke up in the early 1980’s and you would have thought that was that. In my memory, they were an extremely uncool band, and although they sold millions and millions of records, I didn’t know a single Abba fan at the time. These days that’s changed. They've probably sold more records now than they did then and there seems to be an Abba fan in every doorway. The difference between a band like Abba and a band like the Beatles though is that just about everything the Beatles did took the music world up another notch; to another level. Abba didn't really do that. They tended to polish up what was already around and just didn’t have the gravitas nor the consistency of back catalogue that the Beatles did. That said though, they’re a right good listen pop-pickers I’ll tell you and well worth digging out the hits albums for a spin, but er..maybe leave the clothes out though eh?