wow, seriously?  guys in your generation actually beat each other up over musical tastes?

shit, when i was in high school, if somebody said he liked abba, we might chuckle a bit and call him a fag, but there wouldn't be any serious social ramifications, and certainly no physical violence.

I want to start a petition to appeal to ABBA to go back on tour.

DO IT ABBA DO IT OR I WILL WAG MY FINGER AT YOU!

  Yeah Brian, I'm like you in that regard.   I've got tons of CDs of "gay" bands like Depeche Mode, Deee-Lite, Oingo Boingo, B 52's, Bjork, Orgy, etc.   In complete contrast I also listen to Ministry, Suicidal Tendencies, Slayer ( "South of Heaven" is great ) and even throw in some Junior Brown who is dangerously close to full-blown Country and Western. 

Variety is always good otherwise it gets boring.

You want to listen to music that might have gotten you towel whipped in the locker room, Roxette was always good.

I bought a B52's album once, after hearing a couple songs I liked from them. Only album I regret buying. That group was on a permanent acid trip.

The only genres I can't stand are rap and country. Everything else has at least something I like.

 What's with all the country hating? I like country from crying country to bluegrass to country rock. I even know how to square dance. 

i love country too.  it's one of the more challenging genres of popular music to play, actually.  blues and jazz guitar may be flashy, but as a lead guitarist i can tell you country is much more difficult to play well.

i don't like much country past the '80s though.  in my opinion, it all went downhill once garth got big, and shania twain was the first nail in the coffin that was sealed with taylor swift.

i play mostly outlaw country or bakersfield sound country, the kind typified by waylon and willie, merle haggard, jerry jeff walker, and buck owens.  i also love texas folk country like kris kristofferson, guy clark and townes van zandt.  in college i was a cash fanatic but i don't play his stuff much anymore.  honestly, i'd say my biggest musical influence, especially in terms of vocals, is waylon.  i play country with a hard rock edge and i very rarely pick up my acoustic anymore during a show.

i liked and played bluegrass a lot in college but i started to find the genre extremely limited and most of the musicians stuffy traditionalists with dogmatic views on what should be played, how, and on what instruments.  i've been in a room with three bluegrass banjo players during a jam and all three of them played the same old solo, note for note, one after the other,  the same way earl scruggs did it.  that's when i knew i was done with bluegrass.  ironically, my favorite bluegrass musician for the past several years has been jerry garcia.  his and david grisman's bluegrass version of "wild horses" is, imo, exactly where the genre should be headed.

He talks about me as if I should hate the NFL because I am for labor. But if he likes Woodie then he cant talk much because many of Woodie's songs were about the plight of the worker.

I like the old style country myself. Especially the outlaw country. I almost detest this "pop" country that dominates the charts today, although I will admit that I even like some of that.

I don't know a lot about actual bluegrass. I knew some local bluegrass bands in New Jersey. Some were hard core traditionalists that would not touch an electronic instrument and others were electic and like to play like Alisson Krauss and Union Station. Some I like, some I do not.

The silence speaks volumes.

What silence? I have been accused of many things, I don't think silence is among them...

I must agree. I bought a B-52 album a long time ago and I think that was one of the most disappointing albums that I ever bought. I don't even remember the name of it, but I do remember not even being able to finish it all the way through.

I absolutely hate it when a certain band puts out radio friendly singles, only to find out that is the only thing worth listening to on the entire album.

There were a couple of bands from the early 90's that I can remember that did that. I would hear their singles on the radio, go out and purchase the album, only to find out that everything else on there was utter garbage.

It was one of the things that lead me to stop buying albums.

Once in a great while, I get surprised.

But these days, easier for me to create a youtube playlist, put it on in a separate tab, and listen to it through the headphones while I am at the computer.

It's 99% all the same.

Rap is constantly discussion of various criminal and macho bs with a shitty beat which disqualifies it as music entirely. Angry poetry is the essence of rap.

Country is all cars and busted relationships and depressing. It's music, but designed to put you down and make you sad; from the tune to the words. I prefer uplifting music.

I have to this day never heard a rap or country song that moved me in any way other than trying to get away from it.

I can squaredance too. But I'd rather do it to Metallica.

 Glad to know that I am not the only one that feels that way about the Beatles.

Same here. I get SO SICK of all of Harrison's phony spirituality worship and Lennon's "peace" worship from their fans. (when you study them in reality, you find out that they were just fucked up in the head and followed a phony like Mahareeshh or whatever his name was). About the only thing that the Beatles accomplished that was semi-tolerable was the use of the sitar on Norwegian Wood. I liked the song, Let it Be, for awhile, but the classic rock radio stations have beat it into the ground so much that I can barely stand it these days.

BUT, I thought that Brian Jones sitar renditions were  way better (and long before the Beatles were fooling with it). Especially the use in the Stones song "Tell Me" which had the perfect scene and timing for that movie, Mean Streets.

Everything pretty much from the time of Jones and the early Stones, with the exception of Satanic Majesties, was awesome to me. But, like you, I have to give the typical answer of Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers, as those are the ones that seem to find their way into my CD player the most. Some Girls ends up in my CD player a lot.

Mid-80's Stones were not as great to me, although I must admit that Steel Wheels, Tattoo You and Undercover of the Night had some good tunes on it. I DID enjoy the albums, Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon in the 90's. While I did not like the "Anybody Seen My Baby" single, the album was pretty good.

I too, use lines from Stone songs with my girlfriend. I have said, strange stray cat, siamese cat of a girl, sweetest pet in the world, under my thumb, and a several others at different moments. Sometimes she catches the lines and other  times not.

Between the Buttons was a good album.

I must admit that although some may accuse me of sappy naive romanticism, I still love to hear Ruby Tuesday and count that one among one of my top 5 Stones songs, along with As Tears Go By.

Mother's Little Helper is another cool tune that gets used as one of my inside joke lines a lot.

I don't remember if it was Bill Wyman or Brian Jones that played those riffs on Paint it Black that had not been used on any rock and roll tune before. I remember Wyman's riff were made pretty popular on the end of 19th Nervous Breakdown, and it was funny that the all those killer bass riffs on Jumpin Jack Flash were played by Keith Richards originally.

Goddamn, I am going to have to get out the headphones and tunes in a minute.

Not many aware of Pat Benatar, meaning aware of but not active fans, know that she she did remakes of John Cougar's "I need a lover", and "Helter Skelter" of Beatles fame. I actually love those more than the originals.

Lady Jane and She's a Rainbow are on my top lists of Stones tunes as well.

I agree that the early medieval sounding experimentation was pretty good.

I like the harpischord on an early one called : Ride On.

It does seem that Exile on Main Street set the standard for all of the 70s hard core blues and rock tunes.

I could hear the influences on Goat's Head Soup, It's Only Rock and Roll and a couple of others.

It seems like the death of Brian Jones and the addition of Mick Taylor contributed to an end of the experimentation.

Of course, I still think of Ron Wood as the new guy for some reason, even though he has been with them the longest, out of the Jones, Taylor, Wood line up.

I would love to see any metal band do a version of Pat Benatar's "Tough life".

Another band I liked was Air Supply, "Every woman in the world".

I am in ABBA heaven. Just found a 24 music feed called "Waterloo Radio" on facebook. They don't just play the hits, they play all the tracks and pre and post ABBA songs and remakes from other artists.

If anyone knows of "One Night In Bangkok", that was a score for a musical play called "Chess" which Benny and Bjorn wrote the music for.

Oh and for those who don't know and I didn't know this either. Phil Collins played drums on Frida's solo hit in the 80s "Something's Going On".

Fuck did I hit paydirt.

And for those who think ABBA does not do hard rock, Youtube "Watch Out" by ABBA and the only link I could find that worked was the one with the vinyl record  in the picture. It is off the "Waterloo album"

I listened to that and damn man, it reminded me of the fast songs by the Eagles on the album "Hotel California", not that song itself, but ones like "Life In the Fast Lane".

Thats ok and quite normal. But I will say this Dancing Queen was their biggest hit, but for the hardcore fans, that is not our favorite for most.

Look up "Knowing Me Knowing You" and "The Name Of The Game", those are my two favorites, plus Agnetha and Anni look smoken in those videos. "The Winner Takes It All" is the biggest tear jerker breakup song.

But I just myself heard two songs new to me I never heard of before and DAMN, ABBA had far more of a range  than the U.S. gave them credit for. These following two songs, are KISS material,

"Hey Hey Helen"

"Watch Out"

I'd embed them here but for some reason I cant figure it out on this website.

And as far as them touring again, forget it, they said long ago back in the 80s after they broke up that they wanted people to remember them for their youthful image. Agnetha is putting out a new solo album but I think that is going to be more jazzy and country sounding.

You could find a local tribute band and or go see the Musical in NY.

Yea, so when are you going to post anything serious? Like I didn't see this coming.

ABBA has a bad rap like atheists do but I don't find atheists dumb.

Stop. I hate the word "respect". Look if you don't like them I get that. I don't like soccer or golf.

"Parody" of what? I think they were and are damned good musicians. They got a bad rap in the states. But you don't sell 370,000,000 albums over 40 years if you suck.

Their influence included rockabilly, Celtic and Nordic, Swedish, hard rock, jazz,  and on top of that they sang in French, Spanish and Swedish and English.

What do most bands do if they "Make it", one or two songs on one chart in one country in one language. ABBA had 22 #1 hits. The only other best sellers were the Beatles and maybe Micheal Jackson and Madonna.

You are not in my way. Look I have myself described much of ABBA's lyrics as being bubble gum. But like a damned good greasy cheeseburger, with loads of bacon  and a gigantic side of fries, they are even more satisfying than some snooty snot waiter  in a Bestro who thinks you should be in a Tuxedo to ask for water.

Bottom line with ABBA, they were/are far too maligned today considering how much music they influenced since they broke up. I seriously cannot think of any music I listen to  today that I cant think "That note, that riff, that melody reminds me of ABBA, including the likes of Billy Joel, Eagles, STYX, QuarterFlash, Pat Benatar, Metallica, David Sanborn, Harry Conic Jr ect ect ect.

Being the nerd who never fit in who is now finally in my mid years accepting myself in my own skin. I can tell you they went through hell, even to become popular where they did.

Take a close look at "Take A Chance On Me" and the blond, her name is Agnetha. But notice in that video they don't focus on her dancing. But with Anni Frid, the dark haired woman they focus more on her dancing in the wide shots. That's because they video makers knew they couldn't focus on that.

ABBA deserves credit in the U.S. , not just where people already accepted them.