The Role Of ABBA Music in the Rise of Disco : Music

[jasdeep]

Just out of your teens and started earning on your first real job, and want to dance away your week’s tensions in the nearest pub. You have money to splurge on your interests and want to live it up with dance and music. It is time to take out the very best of your suits, dress like a prince, and plan your foray into the nearest discothèque for the richly deserved weekend. You spend ages getting your hair just right, and selecting the right perfume to go with the mood. Then you take your brand new Jaguar to pick up your girlfriend, who is looking like an angel descended from heaven in her pearl white top and wrangler jeans. Your friend has told you about that happening place that has just opened its doors a few days ago. You spend an hour waiting to just get in, and finally manage to squeeze in. The moment you enter you are hit by the rocking music that is throbbing through the whole room, and your heart misses a beat. Your feet start tapping on their own, and the magic of the place seeps into the depths of your being. You cannot hold yourself back and you want to dance. This is Disco.

The world of Disco has now been taken over the Charlestons and the Box Socials, but no talk of Disco can be complete without a mention of the greatest band ever, the Swedish ABBA music. This band of four that turned the world of music on its head went on to influence the sound of Disco like none other. Made of two women and two men, the group had two members that looked after the technical aspects – Bjorn ULvaeus and Benny Anderson, and two who sang the songs written by them - Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog. The first initials of each of the four members of the band were taken to form the name of the group – ABBA. Their first US hit “Fernando”, was released in 1975, and went on to create a furor in Europe as well. It was only in the following year, 1976, however, that they released a song that was immortalized in the annals of Disco – “Dancing Queen” – a song without playing which no disco party was ever complete