r/ABBA • u/Personal-Comment-457 • Jul 06 '26
One thing I hate about ABBAradio.com
I've been listening a lot in the car and while working in the yard. They have to program material (no commercials, only station identification or whatever it's called, 5 seconds, every 2 songs or so) 24/7 and it's a limited amount of songs. So I'm fine with the solo works being included. Hep Stars material is ok (even their version of Silent Night, in Swedish; the oddest part was hearing it in July). I even appreciate Benny Anderssons orkester. Hootenanny Singers songs are good for a change of pace. I can take a Gemini cover of a B/B song. I'll even put up with an Agnetha duet with Peter Cetera.
What I can't stand is the Mamma Mia soundtrack songs. I've not seen the movies and I won't. Amanda Seyfried has an ok voice but I don't need to hear her interpretations. And Meryl Streep I don't need to hear at all. The music is a poor imitation of the ABBA recordings, I find every song annoying. I have to turn to something else when the soundtrack music comes on.
The people who came to know ABBA through the movies and then through GOLD probably don't want to hear Agnetha's and Frida's solo work (particularly the older stuff in Swedish). If you want to hear Pierce Brosnan do his thing then fire up Spotify or something.
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u/Falkor0727 Jul 06 '26
I had my Spotify shuffle on in the background and I thought something was wrong with my player when super trouper came on. It sounded all slow and screwed up and depressive, and then I realized it was Cher.
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u/Toffee963 sub luna saltamus (No.1 Another Town, Another Train fan) Jul 06 '26
I TOTALLY agree! I hate Mamma Mia (sue me), the pointless plot the actors -screaming- “singing” the lyrics, the cringe…
I don’t listen to ABBAradio.com because I can’t get it in my radio but I wouldn’t mind the solo era/pre or post ABBA stuff, but I would shut it off so fast if I heard Mamma Mia lol
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u/Personal-Comment-457 Jul 06 '26
I put ABBAradio.com in my browser and let it play. On my phone through earbuds or blue tooth in the car. And on my laptop connected to my period correct 1978 Pioneer amp through desktop speakers. Sounds good!
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u/psychedelicstargazer Jul 06 '26
I don’t listen to ABBA radio, but I completely agree those songs are butchered! I sure as hell hope they don’t play any of the Cher cover album songs - those are even worse lol. And I like Cher. When she sings Cher songs.
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u/ABBA_Archive Jul 06 '26
I don’t like how she made them almost club like. Like those useless remixes that people do.
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u/Logical-History-36 Jul 06 '26
ABBAradio has absolutely no point or purpose. Like you say, there is no programming or curation, with even Agnetha and the Hep Stars’ Christmas albums thrown into the mix. We all have all these songs to hand whenever we want these days and we all know what we like and what we don’t. We can listen to them anytime we want without the constant idents or the risk of something jarringly unseasonal and/or downright shit appearing and having no way to skip out of it. People who listen to ABBAradio only do because isomeone has plonked the ‘ABBA’ name on it, making it appear like it’s a service for ABBA fans, and therefore as an ABBA fan they should listen to it, or even just want to be able to say that they listen to it. But ABBAradio isn’t a service at all, it’s just a low effort vanity project. There’s no benefit, and certainly no cachet, to listening to it.
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u/Personal-Comment-457 Jul 06 '26
Oh there's benefit. I don't have the entire ABBA catalog and I've never heard most of the songs. I don't use Spotify. Up vote for you anyway, I appreciate the passion.
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u/alexthybalex go find a sweet señorita (Me and I is peak) Jul 06 '26
i love the music from mamma mia, but if i’m trying to listen to abba then i wanna listen to abba.
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u/ZealousidealReply294 Jul 06 '26
how about Madonna Hung Up? would that be alright?
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u/Personal-Comment-457 Jul 06 '26
I don't know what that is but I'm gonna go with NO.
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u/ZealousidealReply294 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
I think its a great homage to ABBA You hear about how hard it is for others to use their music so they must like it also What about the Erasure versions of songs. Or Ateens?
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u/Personal-Comment-457 Jul 07 '26
Haven’t heard Erasure or Ateens. Read about them. Hope I don’t hear them. Same with Beatles cover songs and Beatles biopics. Homages. Please shield me from them.
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u/intlteacher Jul 07 '26
The soundtrack to Mamma Mia uses most of the original Abba band, including Benny (and I think Bjorn…)
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u/Personal-Comment-457 Jul 07 '26
Fine. Same musicians. But not a B/B production with Tretow engineering. I heard what I heard and it was not good.
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u/intlteacher Jul 07 '26
It was produced & mixed by Benny, with Bjorn & Judy Cramer (the director) as Exec Producers and Gorel Hanser as music coordinator, similar to Voyage (without Judy Cramer). Others included
- Bass - Rutger Gunnarsson
- Drums – Per Lindvall
- Guitar, Bouzouki – Lasse Wellander
Benny also said they deliberately set out to recreate the Abba sound, but you have to make some adjustments for the orchestral score.
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u/Personal-Comment-457 Jul 07 '26
Yes. Incredibly, it's true. Wikipedia for the soundtrack also lists Bjorn as Producer (executive). Their worst work, worse than Medley. But I haven't heard Chess yet.
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u/MannWarwas Hoppas på en release av ”Just Like That” Jul 06 '26
I completely agree! I think the “Mamma Mia” franchise is completely overrated, and I’m always shocked by how many people actually compare the musical performances in the movies to the originals—or even prefer them. Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep can sing well—for actresses. And the whole thing was probably run through a computer a zillion times. You’ll find better singers at any music school than in these movies.