Madonna

[nympho]

Nope, they were not relevant to the generation who turned HU into hit. Simple as that.

Abba Gold was re-released, with great success, in 1999. I was 12 then and I discovered Abba that year when my parents bought the CD...
And, besides, in 1999 A-Teens released “The ABBA Generation”. Maybe they weren’t a hit in your country, but in mine, like so many others, the album was Platinum and every single kid in my school was singing and dancing to Abba songs thanks to them.

I was 18 when Madonna released Hung Up, I was part of “the generation” that made Hung Up a hit and I obviously knew Abba and “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” before that. Both because of the original and the A-Teens cover.
Same thing for those a few years older or younger than me.

Even in countries where maybe A-Teens weren’t a thing, you’re assuming 1) only young people made Hung Up a hit 2) Those youngs didn’t know at all a song that was a classic.

Maybe some people, or in some countries where Abba weren’t that big, didn’t knew there was a sample in HU. But assuming that was what happened in general... sorry, but no.

[Westen]

Abba Gold was re-released, with great success, in 1999. I was 12 then and I discovered Abba that year when my parents bought the CD...
And, besides, in 1999 A-Teens released “The ABBA Generation”. Maybe they weren’t a hit in your country, but in mine, like so many others, the album was Platinum and every single kid in my school was singing and dancing to Abba songs thanks to them.

I was 18 when Madonna released Hung Up, I was part of “the generation” that made Hung Up a hit and I obviously knew Abba and “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” before that. Both because of the original and the A-Teens cover.
Same thing for those a few years older or younger than me.

Even in countries where maybe A-Teens weren’t a thing, you’re assuming 1) only young people made Hung Up a hit 2) Those youngs didn’t know at all a song that was a classic.

Maybe some people, or in some countries where Abba weren’t that big, didn’t knew there was a sample in HU. But assuming that was what happened in general... sorry, but no.

If Ariana sampled Madonna song now (let's say for example Dress You Up since it wasn't #1 in US where it didn't even chart, or UK) and it goes #1 would you give a credit to Madonna or Ariana? Would you say that Madonna is relevant in 10s to the kids who streamed Ariana song and that's why it was a hit? Or not?

I already know the answer...

Only Madonna's getting discredited because of a sample, I don't see anyone doing that with Mariah's #1s, or hiphop music in general, Rihanna when she sampled MJ... The list goes on...

[hun]

If you lived in the UK, then you knew it sampled ABBA. Every single review, news report, radio host, etc. commented on how it sampled ABBA.

[Westen]

If you lived in the UK, then you knew it sampled ABBA. Every single review, news report, radio host, etc. commented on how it sampled ABBA.

You don't say? I thought no one ever reported about the sample!

[beredy]

That sample is so ubiquitous, I think that people do know the song even if they don't know it's ABBA. I remember as a kid when ABBA Gold came out the commercials where very prominent. If you had cable TV with British and German channels, you couldn't miss them and they played bits of all popular ABBA songs. At one point it was seemingly the only commercial on Eurosport - that's how often they played it.

Now I never really had the feeling that A*Teens were big and quite frankly had no idea about their ABBA album - they were probably big in certain parts of Europe for kids and teens, but I can't remember I saw them much on on VH1 Europe or German MTV that were in our cable package. So personally I wouldn't give much credit to them.

But ABBA as a group never went way (despite the band practically disappearing from public), their songs have been played on radio non stop throughout the years... Now we can argue about US, but in Europe, when Hung Up came out - those who didn't know (or didn't learn very fast) that M sampled ABBA were/are a real minority.

[hun]

You don't say? I thought no one ever reported about the sample!

You're replying with sarcasm because I rebutted what you said with accuracy? You're just making your own point look weaker.

[spiritboy]

You really sound like a broken tape Westen. Maybe people in your country didn't know the sample but it was known all over Europe. Also, GGG was ABBA's one of signature hits. Just because you didn't know doesn't mean it didn't happen. Almost every article i've read mentioned the sample.

[Westen]

You're replying with sarcasm because I rebutted what you said with accuracy? You're just making your own point look weaker.

Nope. I fail to see how was ' i lived in UK and it was like this' relevant to my experinece in my country where we didn't even have cable until early 00s. Let alone cared about abba gold reissue while country was bombed.

I can't at this bullshit that now every kid ever born was aware of Abba and gimme gimme gimme.

I wonder if I go to Rihanna section now and post that Don't stop the music only became smash thanks to MJ sample how would that be recieved! And that MJ song was far bigger than GGG, and MJ is far bigger than Abba.

Nothing you say can change my opinion, no one here around me knew abba or that song when HU was released. And it wasn't smash because of sample. It was smash because it was Madonna.

Seriously this is becoming a joke, first 4M was only hit thanks to JT, now HU was only hit because of sample, what's next? LAP was hit because of god? LAV was hit because of virgins?

[hun]

Well stop acting like the world consists of only Serbia.

[spiritboy]

^ +1

Also stop acting like your opinion is a fact.

[NoAngel]

Westen, you're making this too much about your personal experience. My expirience is totally different, for instance, because everyone in my school knew it was Abba sample and yes I heard comments that sample is what makes HU so good. But that didn't stop people enjoy it. Also, Abba has always been huge here and in 90s you could catch a lot of their songs on radio and TV and not only on MTV that many stations transmitted at the time, including national Third channel. They were also non skippers at parties. Finally, it's really not a big deal if certain song is known in Serbia since it's really not important music market.

[Artoo]

I’m not sure he knows Mamma Mia began in the 1990s

Productions:

1999 West End
2000 Toronto
2000 US Tour
2001 Melbourne
2001 Broadway
2002 North America Tour
2002 Hamburg
2002 Tokyo
2003 Las Vegas
2003 Utrecht
2004 Seoul
2004 International Tour
2004 Stuttgart
2004 Madrid
2005 Stockholm

So the musical was global before Hung Up and before the movie, and that was only ever possible because ABBA were huge. I remember being a kid in the 1990s and there being all sorts of tribute shows and albums - one of my favourites used to be ABBAMania which was a tribute album sung by popstars of the day.

Also, a single was released in 1999 called ‘Thank ABBA For The Music’, which was performed at the Brit Awards by popstars of the day too. Westlife also took their cover of ‘I Have a Dream’ to #1 too.



To say ABBA wasn’t known or not in a renaissance until 2006 is simply misguided and misinformed.

[CandyShop]

Nope. I fail to see how was ' i lived in UK and it was like this' relevant to my experinece in my country where we didn't even have cable until early 00s. Let alone cared about abba gold reissue while country was bombed.

I can't at this bullshit that now every kid ever born was aware of Abba and gimme gimme gimme.

I wonder if I go to Rihanna section now and post that Don't stop the music only became smash thanks to MJ sample how would that be recieved! And that MJ song was far bigger than GGG, and MJ is far bigger than Abba.

Nothing you say can change my opinion, no one here around me knew abba or that song when HU was released. And it wasn't smash because of sample. It was smash because it was Madonna.

Seriously this is becoming a joke, first 4M was only hit thanks to JT, now HU was only hit because of sample, what's next? LAP was hit because of god? LAV was hit because of virgins?

I m not following carefully the discussion, but from what I see, I don’t see anyone saying HU was a smash because of ABBA, that would be such a stupid assumption

[nympho]

I m not following carefully the discussion, but from what I see, I don’t see anyone saying HU was a smash because of ABBA, that would be such a stupid assumption

The thing is he, obviously on purpose, has decided to twist the conversation and make it all go around Abba being the only reason the song was a hit when NO ONE said that here.

He said Abba were unknown before HU and Mamma Mia to this generation and that people that made HU a hit didn’t know the sample... and that might be true in his country not having cable TV, internet and being bombed... but his country is not the whole world.

[beredy]

I m not following carefully the discussion, but from what I see, I don’t see anyone saying HU was a smash because of ABBA, that would be such a stupid assumption

I was just about to say this. Nobody is saying HU was huge because of ABBA. Madonna made it huge and the song is a massive earworm. The sample only helped it make a bit more instant for people who knew ABBA (and that's a LOT of people). IMHO it's one of the smartest uses of samples in pop. Hung Up was a hit on its own, but did the sample help and made the song slightly easier to recognize? Sure.

Also, coming from a country that was once in the same union as Serbia - I find it hard (impossibly hard even) to believe ABBA weren't big there. Now is that a possibility? Yes. But I am yet to meet anyone here who doesn't know ABBA. Young or old. When I watched Mamma Mia 2 in theater there was a group if girls and they sang each and every song. I'm pretty sure their parents are to blame for that. Things in Yugoslavia didn't differ that much. So ABBA didn't suddenly skip a generation as Westen claims. Part of ABBA's success is that they stayed relevant and popular through all these decades. There can't be any discussion about pop history without mentioning ABBA.

[Artoo]

The genius of Hung Up is that Madonna took the sample and made it her own. It isn’t the same BPM and as a result, I actually prefer the GGG part of HU over the original as it makes it sound much more organic and fresh. I suppose that speaks volumes as to how relevant music can be decades after it was released.

But Hung Up is more than just the sample. If B&B hadn’t approved the song, I really do believe Madonna was prepared to release it without it - I believe the alternative version (without the sample) is used in the Motorola advert she did (side note: who else could do a commercial wearing a sling and get away with it? )

[MrLeonix]

Regarding ABBA, they were always famous here and their songs all classics (they're on the league of The Beatles, Queen, Michael, etc in terms of Pop staples), when Madonna released "Hung Up" I already knew it was a sample and could identify it easily. At least that was my experience, to say that "Hung Up" made ABBA's tune known is reaching way too much.

However, I think the ABBA sample is part of HU's charm and honestly Madonna was a genius for adding the sample.

[AlphaMale]

I really hope I'm wrong, but I think this thread will be unbereable once she releases the new song and video, with all the meltdowns and negativity...
People are already jumping on each others necks and nothing has happened yet .

[Artoo]

I really hope I'm wrong, but I think this thread will be unbereable once she releases the new song and video, with all the meltdowns and negativity...
People are already jumping on each others necks and nothing has happened yet .

As long as she delivers all will be well

[MrLeonix]

Yep, it's up to her. Hopefully she delivers.

[spiritboy]

I really hope I'm wrong, but I think this thread will be unbereable once she releases the new song and video, with all the meltdowns and negativity...
People are already jumping on each others necks and nothing has happened yet .

You can't make everybody happy. But if the majority will be happy with the final product, i'd say it's good.

[AlphaMale]

As long as she delivers all will be well

Well, it doesn't really matter if she "delivers" or not... Like [MENTION=948]spiritboy[/MENTION] said, she can't make everybody happy...

[AlphaMale]

Someone talked about earlier that her touring power is decreasing. Maybe we must put things into perspective. Like, who are the big touring forces, right now? They are old rock bands or singers and some current acts, right?
There's not one single popstar from the 80s or 90s that still tours every 3 years and with the numbers Madonna can pull.
We know rock bands have a very solid fan base that even if they release crap albums, they can still tour with very good numbers, U2 comes to mind. But there are many others.
But as popstars go? There's none, except for Madonna.

[MrLeonix]

Celine always does great with her tours.

[cheapthrills]

Madonna has hit that rareified air at this point as a legacy act with a legendary discography - like Cher or Barbra who were able to pull in great concert numbers late into their career.