1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,439 Speaker 1: Too Much Information is a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:11,760 Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to Too Much Information, the show 3 00:00:11,800 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: that brings you the secret history and little alone, fascinating 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: facts about your favorite movies, music, TV shows, and more. 5 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: We're two guys with too much free time on our hands. 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: My name is Jordan run Talk and I'm Alex Hegel. 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: This episode is going to tackle a beloved Agelest classic 8 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: that is actually celebrating significant milestone this year, so it 9 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: does have an age. It's very aged. We're talking about 10 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,519 Speaker 1: Dancing Queen by About, which hit number one on the 11 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 1: charts forty five years ago this April, Wow forty five. 12 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,680 Speaker 1: Oh my god, I gotta say I my my college 13 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: job was I spent summers as a as a DJ, 14 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: doing retirement parties and birthday parties and weddings and stuff 15 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: like that. And dancing was what I played. When I 16 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: screwed up and I killed the dance floor, that was 17 00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: my song I would play, as you know, please come back, Please, 18 00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 1: like we we have, I have another hour and a 19 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: half I'm getting paid for, Please come back to the floor. 20 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: It is truly a ubiquitous, universally beloved, almost universally beloved 21 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: song and an early foreshattering of that whole part of 22 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: the world's dominance of all of pop music in the Swedish. Yeah. Well, 23 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:18,880 Speaker 1: in this episode we'll try to explain why Swedes are 24 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:21,400 Speaker 1: so good at pop, which, as we'll get into, possibly 25 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,839 Speaker 1: involves working the engineers until they almost faint. We'll also 26 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:27,640 Speaker 1: touch on the lengthy writing process of this song, It's 27 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,840 Speaker 1: Long Lost Verse, it's debut before Scandinavian Royalty, why it 28 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: was banned in New York City, and how it inspired 29 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: everyone from Blondie and Elvis Costello to Nirvana and MGMT. 30 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: So get ready, here's everything you didn't know about ABBA's 31 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: Dancing Queen. History of Dancing Queen. You have to know 32 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: a little bit about the history of Aba and the 33 00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:57,800 Speaker 1: chief songwriters were Benny Anderson and Bjorn Alvas, who it's 34 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 1: interesting to know, before they were in Alba they wrote 35 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: for a porn I guess that's probably really the only 36 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: way you could put it. But before that, in the 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: sixties they were in sort of the Swedish equivalent of 38 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: the Beatles and the Stones. Uh. Benny was in a 39 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,560 Speaker 1: group called the hep Stars, and that he was basically 40 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 1: a teen star. He's been writing pop song since since 41 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 1: he was a teenager. I think he had three number 42 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: one singles in in Sweden in nineteen sixties six alone. 43 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 1: And then their their rival band that Bjorn was in 44 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: was called the Hooting Nanny Singers. They were sort of 45 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: friendly rivals. You could not program more stereotypical sixties names 46 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 1: for these This is like you know in in the 47 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: spinal tap, this is their Thamesman era exactly. Yeah. But 48 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,360 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty nine, the pair that would eventually be 49 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: the songwriting team within Alba wrote the music for a 50 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 1: Swedish softcore film that was titled Inga Too. The Seduction 51 00:02:51,160 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: of Inga Do. I have to have seen the first 52 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: Inga No. I think you can follow it. I think 53 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: it's pretty easy to follow. Um. The movie was R rated, 54 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: so it really it wasn't like, you know, wasn't a 55 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: serious point. It was a comedic pot uh. The movie. 56 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:09,560 Speaker 1: It didn't perform well at the box office, and it 57 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:11,960 Speaker 1: was kind of a disappointing start to Bjorn and Benny's 58 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:15,040 Speaker 1: recording careers together. But the song is the main song 59 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: from the movie. It's called She's My Kind of Girl, 60 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: which just catchy check it out on YouTube. Was released 61 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 1: in March of nineteen seventy and it was it was 62 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: their first single together and I think it became too 63 00:03:24,639 --> 00:03:29,480 Speaker 1: to borrow phrase a big hit in Japan. But the 64 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,400 Speaker 1: two be members of A are not the only members 65 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: with an extensive history and music before the band got together. 66 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: Um agnetha flt skag and please excuse our butchering of 67 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: all of these people's names. Um. She actually wrote her 68 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: first song when she was six years old, and an 69 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: incredibly Swedish move named it two Little Trolls. She was 70 00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: taking piano lessons by the age of eight, singing in 71 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,160 Speaker 1: the church choir, and formed an early trio called the 72 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: Cambers at the age of ten with two of her friends. Um. 73 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: They you know, did local Swedish stuff. They played around 74 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,360 Speaker 1: meat balls, you know. Um. But eventually she actually was 75 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: so into music that she dropped out of school at 76 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: the age of fifteen to pursue her career in pop. Now, 77 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: the group that will become ABBA came together in the 78 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:21,159 Speaker 1: early seventies and they were originally called Party People, which 79 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:26,160 Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know kind of fits right. They 80 00:04:26,200 --> 00:04:28,919 Speaker 1: actually held a competition to determine the band's name and 81 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: they had Ali Baba was an option fob F, A, 82 00:04:32,839 --> 00:04:36,040 Speaker 1: B B and BABA. We're all popular contenders. These are 83 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: terrible names. Well, in the end, I guess the results 84 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: of the competition were completely disregarded and they just went 85 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: with ABA, which, as everyone knows, is an acronym for 86 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: the first letters of all four members names agnetha False Skug, 87 00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:54,840 Speaker 1: Bjorn Olvos, Benny Anderson, and Anna freed lig Stag being shot. 88 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: Help me out with that, okay, Um Swinging a miss 89 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,440 Speaker 1: and apparently are one of the only groups that have 90 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: actually registered their name and logo with the copyright. I 91 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: think Kiss was one of the only other groups that 92 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:07,839 Speaker 1: come to mind for that. Yeah, they would have been 93 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: a real front runner, and that I feel like a 94 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,600 Speaker 1: lot of that's become very popular, especially with weirdly like 95 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,480 Speaker 1: punk bands, is how they make a lot of money, 96 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: Like Interesting, the Misfits, Skull, the Black Flag Bars like 97 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:20,920 Speaker 1: all of those have been trademarked and that's how those 98 00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: guys make a lot of money. But you know, not 99 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: back in the seventies. No, But in order to do so, 100 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:28,680 Speaker 1: Abba had to get it cleared because the name Abba 101 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: and Sweden was a popular brand of pickled herring, so 102 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 1: They actually had the license their name from a pickled 103 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: Herring company, which like if your band name, and granted, 104 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:43,039 Speaker 1: they workshopped some truly awful band names. So once they 105 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:44,719 Speaker 1: found on the kind of work, they were like, we 106 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,600 Speaker 1: have to do we need to hold onto this. So 107 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: Albar are obviously famous for not only their music, but 108 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: they're insane glitzie rhyin stone cowboy meets Russian gymnastics team 109 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 1: crazy stage outfits. Those crazy see stage outfits were actually 110 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,360 Speaker 1: for tax reasons. All their their platform boots and their 111 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: flared pants and all that instantly recognizable. But they chose 112 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: those costumes because there's a Swedish tax law where you 113 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: can write off costumes as long as they couldn't conceivably 114 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: be classified as daywere. So they made their costume out 115 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,880 Speaker 1: of things that they would never ever wear in real life, 116 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: which is a very canny financial It's genius. I wish 117 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:28,400 Speaker 1: I mean just one of them. Look, this whole episode 118 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 1: could just be called why Sweden is better than the 119 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:36,640 Speaker 1: United States. But in the seventies they were huge. I 120 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:39,920 Speaker 1: supposed to say how huge were they? Sorry? How huge 121 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: were they? They were Sweden's second biggest export in the seventies, 122 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: they came second only to Volvo, the popular Swedish car manufacturer. 123 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: Russia paid the royalties in oil commodities, which is truly incredible. 124 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,160 Speaker 1: I mean, basically, the background to this is that currencies 125 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,840 Speaker 1: from Soviet states were embargoed during the Cold War, so 126 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: they actually couldn't accept any money from their music being 127 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: played in Soviet block countries in the form of rubles. 128 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 1: So what they did was strike a deal in which 129 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: they were paid their royalties in oil commodities. Really lucrative. 130 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: That's insane to me. I mean, first of all, their 131 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:18,560 Speaker 1: business mind, their apprecitions that they would do that, and 132 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: knowing what was going to happen to oil prices in 133 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:23,960 Speaker 1: the seventies. Maybe not knowing, maybe they looked into it, 134 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: but good god, that's just insane to me. So you 135 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: had another canny financial move from the folks in Alba. 136 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:33,320 Speaker 1: And my favorite Abba is huge Factoy. It is more 137 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: Australians watched ABBA's nineteen seventies six TV special then watched 138 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:42,200 Speaker 1: the moon Landing. Granted the TV special had better songs. 139 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: Thank you very much, I wrote, I wrote George the airline, Yeah, 140 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: thank you. Um so in we talked a little bit 141 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,760 Speaker 1: in one of our episodes about Hook about how Hollywood 142 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: is one big family and apparently the megastars of this 143 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: of the music world were in the seventies much the 144 00:07:57,280 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: same because led Zeppelin actually crossed paths with Abba in 145 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 1: the seventies because they were recording In Through the Outdoor, 146 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:08,200 Speaker 1: their their last album, at ABBA's studio, and you know, 147 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: as you as you do, they ended up hanging out 148 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,840 Speaker 1: together and so speaking to Louder Sound In, Jimmy Page 149 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: actually expressed his regret that he never got to meet 150 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:20,600 Speaker 1: felt Skog at the time, because he said, I was 151 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 1: rather hoping we were going to meet a Natha, but 152 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: that wasn't part of the deal. They phrased it like that, 153 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,760 Speaker 1: like transactional. Yeah, I don't like that at all exactly. 154 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: Robert Plant has made a much funnier claim, which is 155 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: that he went out and parted with them while they 156 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: were in Sweden, and he claimed that he took the 157 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: two male halves of Abba to a sex club, which 158 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: obviously representatives from ABBA's team have always denied, like why 159 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:52,520 Speaker 1: would they why would they say? Why would they cop 160 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:54,880 Speaker 1: to that? It would actually be much funnier if they 161 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,000 Speaker 1: were like very polite and very sweet. Oh yes, we 162 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: went there. It was a lovely time. We used our 163 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:05,440 Speaker 1: oral commodity money. And this brings us to finally the 164 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: song Dancing Queen, which drew his inspiration for some really 165 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:13,680 Speaker 1: unexpected places. They borrowed pieces of George mccraie's early nineteen 166 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: seventy four disco hit rock Your Baby, which was really 167 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: a pioneering disco song, I mean a couple of years 168 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: earlier than you know, the songs that we normally think 169 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: of as as disco, and they added a rhythmic influence 170 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:28,160 Speaker 1: came from the drumming on the nineteen seventy two album 171 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 1: Gumbo by Dr John, which was a favorite of the 172 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:34,840 Speaker 1: Abba session drummer Roger Palm. I mean, that's that's a 173 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:36,760 Speaker 1: serious I mean we think of Albos being this sort 174 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:39,200 Speaker 1: of lightweight pop machine, and that's that's a great albums 175 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:42,319 Speaker 1: and super white and like like you think of Albos 176 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: like these you know, Swedish extremely white kind of square 177 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:48,520 Speaker 1: music and to be like, oh yeah, we we took 178 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:51,280 Speaker 1: it from like the most New Orleans guy ever, like 179 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:53,680 Speaker 1: a man who pretended to be from a literal swamp 180 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:57,160 Speaker 1: in New Orleans. Um, but that's not the only uh 181 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:01,960 Speaker 1: odd start to Dancing Queen. They called the song Boogaloo 182 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:04,920 Speaker 1: based on the on the rhythms, which obviously that term 183 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 1: has gained a lot of negative connotations with the right 184 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 1: movement as of late, so we're not getting into that. 185 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: But their influence from it came from Ringo star his 186 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: hit back Off Boogaloo, which, and this just gets into 187 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: six degrees of everybody in the seventies music industry, back 188 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: Off Boogaloo was inspired by a phrase of Mark Boland 189 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: of t Rex, So in a roundabout way, you can 190 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:33,559 Speaker 1: thank Mark Bolan and t Rex for Dancing Queen. Eventually, though, 191 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: it was ABBA's manager Stig Anderson who came up with 192 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 1: the title Dancing Queen, and he actually collaborated on the 193 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: lyrics with Bjorn. And while we're talking about the lyrics 194 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:46,959 Speaker 1: to Dancing Queen, there's a long lost additional verse, kind 195 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:51,720 Speaker 1: of like the Dead Sea scrolls. Um. There was a 196 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:56,840 Speaker 1: verse recorded for this and then discarded. They decided, probably 197 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: with their like rigorous democratic workshop process that led them 198 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: to the name, they we don't need this extra verse, 199 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: but because we love you so much, here's the extra verse. Baby, Baby, 200 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:14,480 Speaker 1: You're out of sight. Hey, you're looking all right tonight 201 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: when you come to the party. Listen to the guys. 202 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: They've got the look in their eyes. Let's pick that 203 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: apart for a moment um. Well. So, one of the 204 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,760 Speaker 1: things that's interesting about this song and knowing about this 205 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:30,960 Speaker 1: is when you read about Max Martin's approach to vocals, 206 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:33,559 Speaker 1: some of the reasons why those boy band hits are 207 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,320 Speaker 1: so assinine is that he thinks more in terms of 208 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 1: phonemes and how like the actual strict sonic phonetic pronunciation 209 00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:46,400 Speaker 1: of of lyrics, like the sounds the words make no like, 210 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 1: no concept of how they actually scan as the written word. 211 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: And he's famous for also compying his vocal takes within 212 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: an inch of his life because he's so interested comping, 213 00:11:56,280 --> 00:12:01,080 Speaker 1: meaning you're cutting up specific chunk of each vocal take 214 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: to stitch together one master take. Because he doesn't he's 215 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 1: not interested in how lines and things like flow together. 216 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: He's interested in how each sound it's almost comes across. Yeah, exactly, 217 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 1: so you know, maybe it's something in the water over there, 218 00:12:16,520 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 1: all of which leads us to these lyrics are asinine. Yeah, 219 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:23,440 Speaker 1: I mean they you could. I don't know that they 220 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: have they have a charm to him. They are also 221 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:29,000 Speaker 1: some of the most misheard lyrics in rock and pop history. 222 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: There was a poll that was conducted in by blink 223 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:37,320 Speaker 1: Box concerning the most commonly misheard lyrics in pop. Of 224 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:40,679 Speaker 1: the people they pulled admitted that they had mistaken the lyrics. 225 00:12:40,679 --> 00:12:44,240 Speaker 1: See that girl. Watch that scene digging the Dancing Queen 226 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:49,800 Speaker 1: for see that girl, watch her scream kicking the Dancing Queen, 227 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:53,199 Speaker 1: which is so bizarre. Were they American? Like? What what country? 228 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: Grafted violence onto this beautiful song and also slightly less 229 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:03,600 Speaker 1: violent but equally strange. Uh. Many also thought it was 230 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: Chicken the Dancing Queen instead of Digging the Dancing Queen, 231 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 1: which uh, I don't know. I can kind of understand that. 232 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: And then there was also dancing Queen Feel the Meat 233 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:18,199 Speaker 1: on the Tangerine. I I have nothing to say about that. 234 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: That is so that's that was a scene that was 235 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:28,840 Speaker 1: cut from inga commercial break. And having said all that, 236 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 1: we'll be right back with more too much information right 237 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:44,160 Speaker 1: after this, Well, you mentioned the rigorous process that Alba 238 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:47,559 Speaker 1: had for pretty much doing everything. Apparently the song took 239 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:50,320 Speaker 1: six months to write. I mean, it makes sense to 240 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 1: me because Alba also won Eurovision. Right, if you think 241 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: about how precision controlled those songs have to be to 242 00:13:57,640 --> 00:13:59,640 Speaker 1: make it through, Like I mean, we're talking about I 243 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: saw a literal songwriting contest, right, So I mean you 244 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:05,959 Speaker 1: can say, you can say Dancing Queen is kind of square. 245 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: You can I will fight anyone. I mean yeah, but 246 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,439 Speaker 1: that's the knock against it, right, But like these people 247 00:14:12,520 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: really knew how to write a song. You know, Anderson 248 00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:19,240 Speaker 1: is a real perfectionist and basically controlled every this whole 249 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: process with an iron fist, to the point where the 250 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: group's engineer, Michael Treatao he's there. George Martin figure he's 251 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:27,720 Speaker 1: the fifth member of ABBA, which I guess would make 252 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:33,880 Speaker 1: it ab um uh. He told Mojo that basically Anderson 253 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,720 Speaker 1: would drive them so much that he felt like he 254 00:14:36,760 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 1: was starving in the studio. He'd be almost fainting to 255 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: the point where he would then say, Okay, we have 256 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: to take a break to eat. But Frieda ended up 257 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: saying that she came home that that Benny came home 258 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,480 Speaker 1: with a tape of the backing just the backing track, 259 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 1: and played it for her, and she said, I thought 260 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: it was so enormously beautiful. That I started to cry 261 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: when the song was finally completed. It had a royal premiere, 262 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: which was I guess fitting for a song Dancing Queen. Yeah. 263 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: Just a few months before the US celebrated its centennial, 264 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:12,800 Speaker 1: Sweden had a much more important date, which was June, 265 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:17,880 Speaker 1: the wedding date for King Karl the sixteenth Gustaf of 266 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: Sweden and Sylvia Summer Laugh. A day before the wedding, 267 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: a televised gala in their honor was held at the 268 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:29,280 Speaker 1: Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm. Aba was the only representative 269 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: there of pop music. They were invited to appear and 270 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: chose to perform Dancing Queen, and naturally they had outfits 271 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: for the occasion. Uh. They dressed up in which they 272 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: could write off, Yeah, tax right off and oil futures. 273 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: I wonder if they were paid in like Volvo stock 274 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 1: for this. They, you know, dressed up in these baroque 275 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 1: medieval outfits, which you should google. They are truly something. 276 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:57,320 Speaker 1: So while we're talking about the highbrow pedigree of Dancing Queen, 277 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:01,040 Speaker 1: the majority of the band's promote sational videos, which another 278 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: thing they were really kind of on the vanguard of 279 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: music videos. This was pre MTV, but a couple of 280 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: years so. But the majority of their promotional videos were 281 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:13,840 Speaker 1: directed by Swedish filmmaker Lasse Holstrom, who you may recognize 282 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:17,200 Speaker 1: that name for having picked up multiple Oscar nominations for 283 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:20,880 Speaker 1: Best Director for My Life as a Dog Cider House Rules. 284 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 1: He also did What's eatder House Rules, Cyder House Rules. 285 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: He also did Um, What's Eating, Gilbert, Grape and Chacola. 286 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: But Best Picture gotta start with nominated, but got his 287 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 1: start with Aba. He basically went oh. He directed in 288 00:16:37,480 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven documentary on them, and once the group 289 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: broke up in the early eighties, he was like, I'm 290 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:46,160 Speaker 1: gonna go into movies instead with all of my training 291 00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:50,560 Speaker 1: from Baba. And while we're talking about the success of 292 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 1: Dancing Queen, let's take a look at the numbers behind it. 293 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:56,680 Speaker 1: Let's go to the charts. Dancing Queen was released in 294 00:16:56,720 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: August of nineteen seventy six, and by April ninth, nineteen 295 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: seventy seven, it was number one. This was I was 296 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: only number one song on the Billboard Hot one hundred. 297 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:07,720 Speaker 1: Others came close, including Take a Chance on Me, which 298 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:12,360 Speaker 1: peaked at number three. There's a hugely influential song not 299 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: only two people struggling to get dancers on the floor 300 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: at weddings and bar Mitz retirement parties, which is how 301 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: I spent my early twenties in the summer, but also 302 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:26,280 Speaker 1: to a number of very, very famous songwriters. Dancing Queen 303 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:30,879 Speaker 1: inspired the band Blondie. Chris Stein, of the band's main songwriters, 304 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: said that the group's nineteen seventy nine hit Dreaming is, 305 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 1: in his words, pretty much a cop of Dancing Queen. 306 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 1: Elvis Costello once admitted that he viewed Dancing Queen as 307 00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 1: Mama from Heaven, and he was inspired to write the 308 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:47,080 Speaker 1: opening to his hit Oliver's Army those descending octave piano 309 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:51,920 Speaker 1: chords based on Dancing Queen, and more recently, MGMT told 310 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,600 Speaker 1: the podcast song Exploder that they purposely stuck to Dancing 311 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: Queen's beats per minute tempo under one beats per minute 312 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:03,119 Speaker 1: for their breakthrough time to pretend ten is the sweet 313 00:18:03,119 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 1: spot for dancing And I did you know? I'm a 314 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: DJ supposedly and I did not know that. Uh, and 315 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,800 Speaker 1: I'm allegedly djan your weddings how they get on that alba? 316 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:14,880 Speaker 1: Something I didn't realize was that all, but were very 317 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 1: very strict about who they allowed to sample their music. 318 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: They allowed almost no one to uh. They only allowed 319 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:24,160 Speaker 1: Madonna to use a sample of their song Gimme, Gimme, 320 00:18:24,200 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 1: Gimme a Man after midnight, after she sent the band 321 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,480 Speaker 1: a personal letter, and in the letter she very politely 322 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,119 Speaker 1: asked to use it and outlined her admiration for the 323 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,880 Speaker 1: band and her intentions with their music. The Fuji sampled 324 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:37,680 Speaker 1: their song the Name of the Game in their own 325 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:40,720 Speaker 1: track Rumble in the Jungle, and to this day, the 326 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:43,240 Speaker 1: Fujis and Madonna are the only two artists to gain 327 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 1: permission to sample the music of this formidable Swedish pop juggernaut, 328 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:53,960 Speaker 1: the k l F. We're not as lucky they were. 329 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: Tell us about the Kalef, I don't even know how 330 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:57,639 Speaker 1: where to be given with us. Well, they're one of 331 00:18:57,920 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: you know, the they're kind of of the of New Order. 332 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: They're very famous, extremely successful British you know pop groups 333 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 1: early nineties, little later than the New Order. I guess 334 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 1: the only song that I'd ever heard by them was Justified, 335 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: an ancient which had um which had Tammy one on it. 336 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 1: You may it's like an early nineties song maybe you've 337 00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:20,040 Speaker 1: heard of that song. And so they attempted in their 338 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,560 Speaker 1: first album seven to sample Dancing Queen in a song 339 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:27,920 Speaker 1: called the Queen and I, and they took with them 340 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:33,080 Speaker 1: an enemy journalist and a photographer, along with copies of 341 00:19:33,119 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: the LP and a gold disc of the album. They went, well, no, 342 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:41,679 Speaker 1: I guess we should say. They took the song and 343 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,600 Speaker 1: they sampled it without permission, and the record was released. 344 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 1: It went gold. That did very well in the UK, 345 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: and ABA understandably threatened to sue them. So to try 346 00:19:51,800 --> 00:19:56,199 Speaker 1: to soothe the enraged Swedish pop geniuses, who were no 347 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: longer together at this point, they traveled to Sweden with 348 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:02,920 Speaker 1: a music journalist and a photographer, determined to find a 349 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: but and present them with a copy of the gold 350 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,399 Speaker 1: record that they'd earned partially thanks to their songwriting that 351 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:13,119 Speaker 1: they sampled Yeah and um because the kalf for notorious 352 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: trolls um. They gave that gold disc. After failing to 353 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: find Aba at Polar Studios in Stockholm, they gave the 354 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: gold disc to a blonde prostitute they pretended was Agnatha, 355 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: who was, in their words, fallen on hard times. So 356 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,439 Speaker 1: having not secured a Ba's permission and not wishing to 357 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,200 Speaker 1: be sued into oblivion, they apparently dumped all the original 358 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:41,960 Speaker 1: LPs copies into over a ferry in the North Sea, 359 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: and the remainder were burned in a field before dawn, 360 00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: which was then photographed and used of the cover of 361 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:53,520 Speaker 1: their next album, Who Killed the Jams Kalf Notorious Firebugs. 362 00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: They did a performance art piece called the k Foundation 363 00:20:56,359 --> 00:20:59,480 Speaker 1: Burn a Million Quid in which they literally burned a 364 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,359 Speaker 1: million wind in a Scottish field quit being a British 365 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: slang for for pounds. Yeah, it was basically most of 366 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,879 Speaker 1: their money at the time, and they made a coffee 367 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: table book with with still images from burning a giant 368 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:15,840 Speaker 1: pile of a million pounds. But that's not even the 369 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:19,640 Speaker 1: craziest thing that happened to them on this trip. Yes, 370 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,920 Speaker 1: on this trip to Sweden, they apparently, having failed to 371 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: locate Alba, they set up a stereo outside of Alba's 372 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,760 Speaker 1: record label and just played the song The Queen and 373 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: I that samples Dancing Queen at an uncomfortable volume. Purely, 374 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,680 Speaker 1: it seems like they're just trying to antagonize that they're 375 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:38,080 Speaker 1: not gonna I mean, this is the opposite of the 376 00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: Madonna prose who wrote them really polite letter. They're just 377 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: trying to piss off. It's kind of like Waco, right, 378 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: they were playing the blasting stuff at really high voice 379 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:51,720 Speaker 1: Metallica and like chickens being the capitated and stuff. Yeah, yeah, 380 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: and then um, on the way back to England, the 381 00:21:55,640 --> 00:21:59,199 Speaker 1: band hit and killed a moose and were shot at 382 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 1: by a farmer who shot at their car Afford Galaxy, right, 383 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:07,480 Speaker 1: a Ford Galaxy police car. Apparently they had an old 384 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: ex police car that was their main um, their main 385 00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:14,720 Speaker 1: transport and the perfect capstone to this sequence of ignominious events. 386 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:19,200 Speaker 1: They were towed back to England. But while we're on 387 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: the topic of police, did you know that the song 388 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: Dancing Queen by Aaba was banned by the New York 389 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,800 Speaker 1: Police in two thousand one. I mean, it's one of 390 00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:31,160 Speaker 1: those things that you wonder why exactly, and I guess 391 00:22:31,160 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: it was. This is when the Mama Mia musical was opening, 392 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,160 Speaker 1: and apparently one of the members of the cast said 393 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,040 Speaker 1: that the police had heard and this is their quote, 394 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:45,640 Speaker 1: that the song could cause a euphoric frenzy in the crowd, which, 395 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,119 Speaker 1: to be fair, having seen Mama Mea several times on 396 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:51,439 Speaker 1: a broad Way it absolutely does. So they were supposed 397 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,400 Speaker 1: to perform the music A Dancing Queen at a concert 398 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:58,240 Speaker 1: in Times Square Free Concerts, so they had heard apparently 399 00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:00,399 Speaker 1: the NYP this is the performer again, apparent the m 400 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,560 Speaker 1: ip D had heard about this reaction and they said, um, no, 401 00:23:03,760 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: you can't, you can't do that. Is this like the 402 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:10,400 Speaker 1: town from Loos? Like Jesus, Yeah, that adds. I mean, 403 00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: there's definitely like a list of banned materials by the 404 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,639 Speaker 1: NYPD floating around out there, and apparently Dancing Queen's on it. 405 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: But despite the NYPD not being a fan of dancing Queen, 406 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,880 Speaker 1: you know who is Queen Elizabeth, an actual dancing queen. 407 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 1: She's actually been interviewed by the BBC and the song 408 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 1: was played at an event at Windsor Castle and she said, 409 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 1: I always try to dance when this song comes on 410 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,399 Speaker 1: because I am the Queen and I like to dance, 411 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:45,080 Speaker 1: which truly a SoundBite machine. Yes, her majesty. And the 412 00:23:45,080 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 1: the other end of the spectrum, the sex Pistols also, 413 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: I guess you could kind of say that they were 414 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:53,159 Speaker 1: a fan. They played the song over the p a 415 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: while they were setting up for their reunion show in 416 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: North London, and I guess to sort of remind the 417 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 1: audience of how stale the music scene had gotten in 418 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:05,920 Speaker 1: the early seventies, mid seventies before the sex pistoles really 419 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,159 Speaker 1: broke through in seventy seven, they played all this you 420 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: know what they thought was really cheesy seventies pop, A 421 00:24:11,720 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 1: City Rollers and other you know, corny pop staples. And 422 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,800 Speaker 1: when they got to ABBA's Dancing Queen, all of the 423 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:23,240 Speaker 1: old punks gathered together and started singing in Unison. They 424 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,119 Speaker 1: were not gonna sniff at Dancing Queen. They loved it. It 425 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: It brought them together. It's a truly incredible moment. And 426 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:31,760 Speaker 1: that they are, you know, a bunch of UK punks 427 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: are hardly the hardly the only far afield fan of 428 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,520 Speaker 1: of Dancing Queen, um, believe it or not. Of all people, 429 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:42,199 Speaker 1: John McCain named Dancing Queen is his favorite song. And 430 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:44,840 Speaker 1: this is in two thousand and eight during his presidential campaign, 431 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,560 Speaker 1: Historian Walter Isaacson said like, what in God's name are 432 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:52,960 Speaker 1: you thinking? Essentially, you know a later interview, and McCain 433 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:55,800 Speaker 1: kind of laid the SmackDown. Yeah, I mean in his place, 434 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 1: John McCain being like, by the way, I was a 435 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:02,399 Speaker 1: PW He more or less said, yeah, this is his quote. 436 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,280 Speaker 1: I've got to say that a lot of my taste 437 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:08,160 Speaker 1: in music stopped about the time I impacted a surface 438 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:11,600 Speaker 1: to air missile with my own airplane and never caught 439 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,800 Speaker 1: up again, which is a pretty stunning way to put 440 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 1: Isaacson in his place. Mic drop right. Yeah, the late 441 00:25:17,840 --> 00:25:22,600 Speaker 1: John McCain mega abbastan an early frontrunner of poptimism, and 442 00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:27,240 Speaker 1: I suppose you could tell him we're going to take 443 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,520 Speaker 1: a quick break, but we'll be right back with more, 444 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:40,600 Speaker 1: too much information and just a moment. Who else was 445 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:42,640 Speaker 1: a big, big dancing queen fan. But let me tell 446 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: you James Headfield of Metallica says it's the perfect soundtrack 447 00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:49,920 Speaker 1: for family car rides. He's not wrong, He's not wrong. 448 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:52,879 Speaker 1: He's a real family man. James Headfield is and uh 449 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: at some point, I like to imagine he sings along 450 00:25:55,800 --> 00:25:57,679 Speaker 1: with it, and then James Headfield voice so he's like, 451 00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:02,760 Speaker 1: feel the beat of the tambourine. That's the only that's 452 00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 1: that's the only singing portion of this podcast you're gonna get. 453 00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 1: But sector not just the in oil futures, we have 454 00:26:10,119 --> 00:26:15,119 Speaker 1: to pay aba in uh my Heartstock not not the 455 00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:18,400 Speaker 1: only member of the nineties aggressive music community who went 456 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 1: to bat for AUBA. Also Kurt Cobain. He frequently cited 457 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,360 Speaker 1: a BA as one of his favorite groups. He curated 458 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:29,960 Speaker 1: a lot of acts for the the Redding Festival where 459 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: Nirvana famous they performed. And uh, he was apparently really 460 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:38,399 Speaker 1: really really into the ABBA cover band that had been 461 00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: booked called and this is incredible Born Again And he 462 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:44,680 Speaker 1: would just be standing on the side of the stage 463 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,080 Speaker 1: and I guess he like looked up at like photographers 464 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,480 Speaker 1: were there, like taking pictures of him watching this ABBA 465 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: cover band, and he was like gesturing the band saying, look, 466 00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:59,240 Speaker 1: what do you think? So Kurt Cobain made everything. Perhaps 467 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 1: James head Field in Kurt Cobain were actually behind the 468 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,960 Speaker 1: one billion dollar offer that completely failed to get the 469 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:10,879 Speaker 1: band back together again. That is right, Abba, we should 470 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: mention broke up in After the two couples that A 471 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: consisted of split up, there were numerous attempts to reunite 472 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,480 Speaker 1: the band, including huge, ridiculously huge offers that have been 473 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:25,800 Speaker 1: unseen since they tried to get the Beatles back together 474 00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:28,959 Speaker 1: in the mid seventies, and one such offer was valued 475 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: at a billion dollars, and it came from an unnamed 476 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: American British consortium that wanted to secure, to be fair 477 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:40,399 Speaker 1: hundreds of new Abba concerts, and uh Abbas said no 478 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,000 Speaker 1: because they wanted like something like two hundred and fifty shows. 479 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:44,879 Speaker 1: And they just thought, I mean at this point, this 480 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,080 Speaker 1: was I think in the late nineties, and they were 481 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:48,880 Speaker 1: in their fifties, and they said, no, we we we 482 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:50,919 Speaker 1: we we we we sleep on beds of money. We 483 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,159 Speaker 1: don't need this, I mean part of it. Yeah, I 484 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,679 Speaker 1: guess that is the counter argument. I would say, what 485 00:27:55,880 --> 00:28:00,160 Speaker 1: is one billion divided by two hundred fifty split four ways? 486 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: Still a lot of most awful lot of time. Yes, 487 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,879 Speaker 1: I mean we play, We're Alex, You and I are 488 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:08,240 Speaker 1: in a band together. We play at bowling alleys. For 489 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: it was that much, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna 490 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: do an audit of I'll pay you in stock or 491 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: or drink tickets. Yeah. Well, Alba, of course did reunite 492 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:25,040 Speaker 1: in one, presumably for slightly less than a billion dollars, 493 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: although knowing their canny financial team, I can't be sure 494 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,840 Speaker 1: of that. But there were several times prior to this 495 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,119 Speaker 1: where they almost almost reunited, and one of these was 496 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 1: in the nineties for Lion King, The Lion King, pardon me, 497 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,480 Speaker 1: the Lion King. You know, in the multiverse theory, there 498 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,040 Speaker 1: is a world in which the Lion King was scored 499 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:47,680 Speaker 1: by Abba Tim Rice, who ended up doing that obviously 500 00:28:47,680 --> 00:28:50,840 Speaker 1: with Elton. John had already worked with Anderson and Uveaez 501 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: in musical called Chess, but the rest of The Lion 502 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: King's production team didn't go for it for whatever reason. 503 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:03,640 Speaker 1: Um and it ultimately didn't matter because Abba turned it down. 504 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: We have enough money, thank you. Now. There have been 505 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:11,120 Speaker 1: many who sort of cited the sort of the darkness 506 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: underneath the Alba lyrics, the sort of the melancholy of 507 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: Dancing Queen is that the singer is not the dancing queen. 508 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,240 Speaker 1: The singer is somebody watching the dancing queen, somebody younger 509 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 1: than them, who's having their moment in the sun, and 510 00:29:24,720 --> 00:29:27,320 Speaker 1: the singer is remembering what it was like to be 511 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:30,760 Speaker 1: that that woman, to see that girl watch that scene 512 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,479 Speaker 1: being the dancing queen, so that there is kind of 513 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:35,920 Speaker 1: a darkness to it. And there is some darkness to 514 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: the Abbas story. And one of the sort of the 515 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:43,440 Speaker 1: most puzzling and interesting dark elements of the Alba story 516 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:49,080 Speaker 1: is that Agnita apparently dated her stalker after after divorcing Bjorn, 517 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,240 Speaker 1: she married again in This marriage ended in divorce in 518 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,480 Speaker 1: and she started this relationship with her stalker. He was 519 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 1: I believe a Dutch forklire driver who had been obsessed 520 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,400 Speaker 1: with her since his childhood and sort of unsurprisingly, this 521 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: relationship ended a few years later in although he continued 522 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:14,000 Speaker 1: to obsessively stalk Agnetha and this led to a restranding 523 00:30:14,120 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 1: order and he is now barred from entering the country 524 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,920 Speaker 1: of Sweden. But there was a happy flip side to that. 525 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,960 Speaker 1: The other female member of ABBA has a much happier ending. Yeah. 526 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 1: Annie free Lynstad had really just one hell of a life. 527 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: She initially thought that her father had been killed in 528 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 1: the war and World War two World War two, yeah uh. 529 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,160 Speaker 1: Was basically only found out that he was still alive 530 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,040 Speaker 1: when she was thirty. She was born, her mother was Nordic, 531 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: her father was a German soldier, and so she was 532 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,360 Speaker 1: basically always told that he had died, and when her 533 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:51,479 Speaker 1: mother died at twenty one, Linkstad was brought up by 534 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,320 Speaker 1: her grandmother in Sweden, and so she essentially believed that 535 00:30:54,320 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 1: she was an orphan. Uh. And then in nineteen seventy seven, 536 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:02,200 Speaker 1: this German teen magazine called Bravo, basically pulling like Woodward 537 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:06,840 Speaker 1: Bernstein style research, published a complete biography of her, including 538 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:09,360 Speaker 1: the names of her mother and father. And this is 539 00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 1: obviously pre internet, so you know, nobody that this kind 540 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,080 Speaker 1: of stuff could kind of fly into the radar. But 541 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:19,600 Speaker 1: her half brother Peter Hasse eventually saw this and asked 542 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,240 Speaker 1: his father if he'd ever been stationed in Norway, Norway 543 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:26,920 Speaker 1: during the war. Basically all of this ends up leading 544 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:30,520 Speaker 1: to lynch dad meeting her half brother for the first time, 545 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 1: discovering her entire background. I mean, just imagine having your 546 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:37,720 Speaker 1: world rocked by like basically the German equivalent of like 547 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: Tiger Beat, Like that was where disappeared. I mean, I 548 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:43,200 Speaker 1: feel like that that's something that we really we need 549 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:45,800 Speaker 1: to emphasize, like that was how she found out in 550 00:31:45,840 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 1: the in the in the in the bio, the forthcoming 551 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,920 Speaker 1: never I mean, god, I hope it's forthcoming biopic of 552 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:53,880 Speaker 1: I hope David Fincher does it, and I hope it's 553 00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: like a zodiac style montage of this German magazine, like 554 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: tirelessly combing through beautiful of Mine style like strings on 555 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:09,280 Speaker 1: the chalkboard. But eventually Annie Freed divorces Benny and she 556 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,240 Speaker 1: decides to leave Sweden and she lives in London first, 557 00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: and eventually she relocates to Switzerland to live with her 558 00:32:16,200 --> 00:32:20,480 Speaker 1: new boyfriend, who is an actual prince named Heinrich Ruzzo 559 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: of Ruse of Ruce. His ancestors were from the former 560 00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:29,400 Speaker 1: sovereign House of Russ in Germany, who naturally lost power 561 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,360 Speaker 1: after the First World War but retained the royal titles. 562 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: So Prince Heinrich and Annie Freed married and she actually 563 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 1: became She earned a full title of Princess Annie Fried 564 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:48,200 Speaker 1: Sini of Russ, Countess of Plowing, which is just just 565 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:53,880 Speaker 1: shy of being an actual dancing queen. Well, I think 566 00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 1: that is just about all there is to say about 567 00:32:56,760 --> 00:32:59,400 Speaker 1: dancing queen. Would't you say I truly feel the beat 568 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: of the timber? Do you? I hope you do? Oh yeah, yeah, 569 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:08,760 Speaker 1: Well that was everything you didn't know about dancing queen 570 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: by Abba, thanks so much for joining us here on 571 00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:14,240 Speaker 1: too much information. You hope you enjoyed yourself. We'll see 572 00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 1: you next time. We'll see you too much Information was 573 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:25,600 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. The show's executive producers 574 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: are Noel Brown and Jordan run Talk. The supervising producer 575 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 1: is Mike John's. The show was researched, written, and hosted 576 00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,840 Speaker 1: by Jordan run Talk and Alex Heigel, with original music 577 00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: by Seth Applebaum and the Ghost Punk Orchestra. If you 578 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 1: like what you heard, please subscribe and leave us a review. 579 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:42,680 Speaker 1: For more podcasts and I heart Radio, visit the I 580 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple podcast or are you listen to 581 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:46,680 Speaker 1: your favorite shows