I love ABBA

There, I said it. I love the music of ABBA, and I’m man enough to admit it. Now, if you’re a professional musician, mentioning to other professional musicians that you like ABBA doesn’t exactly enhance your street cred. Many of my peers consider their music syrupy pop fluff not worthy of ‘serious’ musicians’ appreciation. But I think that if you take a minute to get past the glittery 70s aesthetic full of horrible fashion statements (which, to be fair, everybody made at the time), the wooden dance moves and the English-as-a-second-language lyrics, you’ll find a whole bunch of impeccably crafted pop songs with impossibly catchy hooks and intricate arrangements, perfectly executed by an excellent band.

I like a lot of sophisticated, complex music. I like some really weird music, too (my all-time favorite band is Sparks). I also like a lot of music that is considered hopelessly ‘uncool’, especially by other musicians. And while I’ve, shall we say, de-emphasized that part of my personal musical aesthetic in the past, I’ve come to realize that it’s more important to me to freely enjoy what I enjoy than it is to try and look cool in the eyes of other people. So now I write blog posts openly declaring my love for the music of ABBA.

Oh, and as if all that weren’t bad enough, I also play in an ABBA tribute band called ABBA LA. And I have as much fun playing those songs now as I had when I was twelve. So, sue me 😎.