I am a snob | 23 September 2009
I have never seen Björn again. Nor Arrival. Nor Waterloo. Nor any other ABBA cover band. Why? Because it would never even come close to the original recordings. At the time I wasn't very keen on visiting Mamma Mia! either. Nobody could of course sing ABBA songs the way Agnetha and Frida did. The fact that composers Björn and Benny were involved made things even worse. It felt like blasphemy or betray. How dared they throw away ABBA songs in a silly musical? It was utter disgrace. I have not been to London to celebrate the Thank You For The Music tribute concert. Same thing as in the Mamma Mia saga. Nobody should sing ABBA songs, but ABBA themselves. Even though Björn and Benny participate in the show, it just can't be very special. Well, 35000 British visitors thought differently. I've never seen so many people sing ABBA songs in public. Today the news broke that ABBA might finally be inducted into the famous Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Huh? Isn't ABBA already in it then? No, they're not. When I heared about the nomination I thought "It's about bloody time". My simultaneous thoughts were something like "You Hall Of Fame bastards! You're fucking fifteen years too late. You don't deserve to have ABBA in your pathetic hall of fame." Can you spot the trend? I most certainly can. And I am a little ashamed about it. Why on earth isn't there anything that even remotely comes close to ABBA that I like or appreciate? What is that? Do I act the same when it comes to Beatles? Or Queen? Or U2? Hell no! I've been to a number of Paul McCartney concerts and I more or less demand that he plays a substantial number of Beatles tracks. I love that and I sing every song out loud. Then it's OK, I guess. The "it's only good when ABBA sings it" attitude is completely gone then. The same applies to U2. If they cover other bands songs, it's OK. If other people cover U2 tracks: fine! With ABBA it's completely the opposite. When Björn and Benny sing their own songs, I disapprove. That's rather peculiar. I've been wondering why I do that. And there is only one reason that makes sense: I'm a snob. I'm a terrible, arrogant, presumptuous snob! |
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