I love ABBA. No joke.

Haikes | March 16, 01:15 CET

One Christmas ...long ago...along with my very own portable record player...I got the Strawberry Shortcake Album, Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas record, and ABBA double record (greatest hits). I still have the ABBA RECORD...teehee! And I love it just as much as I did then!

P. S. I love you was a really good book. I enjoy the author's other books as well.

jenofthejungle | March 16, 01:37 CET

Looking forward to seeing PS I Love You. I bought the book but haven't read it yet. I've said it before and I'll say it again...What a guy.

luvspike | March 16, 01:48 CET

There was irony in SuperFriends?

batmarlowe | March 16, 02:00 CET

I love James so much as an actor, I'm dying to see what he can do in a major non-genera film. I'm just sorry it's a "chick flick", which I usually avoid. But the upside is Hilary Swank & Kathy Bates, two of the finest actors alive. And the other guys in the cast add up to kind of a hunk fest, so I'll be first in line.

Shey | March 16, 02:15 CET

Great Q&A and I won't have to feel guilty again about really liking Abba's 'Dancing Queen' !

Shade of Pale | March 16, 02:39 CET

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is in the movie too. You may know him as the most beloved dead man in TV. I could have sworn he'd be playing the dead guy in this too.

electricspacegirl | March 16, 04:22 CET

Hmm. I know how to make real pizza dough and how to throw it properly. If I'd only known before that that was the key to his heart....

Lioness | March 16, 05:57 CET

While I truly hate to contradict his oh-so-great-bleachiness (may the gods forgive me), punk didn't actually originate in Britain. Bands like the MC5 and The Stooges influenced early bands like The Ramones, who then brought their music over to the UK and influenced bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash. It's a popular misconception held by many due to the fact that punk had a much larger scene in the UK. Over here it was mostly just a musical genre, but over there it was a lifestyle. So while it did begin here, it flourished over there.

Sorry about the mini-rant, but as you can see, I'm a music nut. So naturally, I had to ge my two cents in. :)

deepgirl187 | March 16, 07:19 CET

deepgirl187, if you're such a music nut, are you as appaled as me by JM's ABBA love? Apologies to ABBA fans, but hey .... I just can't fathom this.

Shey | March 16, 09:51 CET

Nothing wrong with Abba, they wrote some of the most depressing songs ever. Plus Dancing Queen, what's there not to love?

Simon | March 16, 13:34 CET

Anderssen and Ulvaeus had a knack for constructing great pop tunes. Lyrics...not so much (IMHO). So Simon, what are the downer ABBA songs you're thinking of? Nothing's coming to mind. While I have to agree with deepgirl87 about the origins of Punk, it wasn't until British bands like the Sex Pistols and the Clash that we got the term "Punk", right?

batmarlowe | March 16, 17:30 CET

"Funnest"--that made me giggle. He gives good advice on dealing with discouragement and disappointment and I think it's impossible to stay in a bad mood with a listen to Dancing Queen. James likes some ABBA and is man enough to admit it. ;-)

bloodflowers | March 16, 17:39 CET

As a red blooded 20 year old male I'm not ashamed to say that I'm an Abba fan.

Derf | March 16, 17:41 CET

Wasn't "punk" first coined (in this context) by Lenny Kaye in the liner notes of his early 1970s 'Nuggets' compilation of 60's American garage rock? I also recall "punk" being used to describe the CGBGs bands back in around 1975, although it is most commonly associated with the brief movement in England (and Britain) in 1976-7, build around bands like the Sex Pistols, The Damand, The Clash, the Buzzcocks and The Adverts.

As for ABBA, 'SOS' is a great song and 'Knowing Me, Knowing You' is certainly depressing behind its Euro-Pop sheen.

Returning to the Q&A, I must admit that JM's comment that, "Punk got its birth in England, which has a permanent white underclass discriminated against..." made me laugh. I'm not entirely convinced he quite has a grip on things over on this side of the Atlantic, bless him.

alien lanes | March 16, 17:48 CET

The Winner Takes It All and When All Is Said And Done. Two of the best 'end of relationship' songs ever.

Simon | March 16, 17:52 CET

Nothin wrong with a bit of ABBA, i'm not exactly going to sit and listen to the records at home but it's great party music.

Thought that too dashboardprophet ;). Maybe he's talking about the working class ? To some extent they're looked down upon (even still) but discriminated against is a bit of a stretch. I guess it is fair to say we had/have a more developed class system than the US (or rather, along different lines than theirs i.e. less racially demarcated). And back in the 70s with the unions, 3 day week etc. there was certainly a very large segment of the populace that were disaffected. Punk in the UK came out of that.

Then Maggie came along and made it all better. Ahem ;-).

Saje | March 16, 18:26 CET

An Iron Lady fan, eh Saje? Good ta know ;-D

And I will admit to seeing Mamma Mia twice...and getting the autograph of the original lead actress - Louise Pitre - for my mama;)

BlueEyedBrigadier | March 16, 20:30 CET

Haikes wrote:


Amen to that! ABBA's one of the best there's been.

[ edited by Daburcor on 2007-03-16 20:38 ]

Dan Corson | March 16, 21:10 CET

An Iron Lady fan, eh Saje?

More an Irony fan BEB ;). There was a point where she was one of the few people in the world I actively wished ill on. Not very big of me, i'll admit but some things are in the blood.

Saje | March 16, 22:15 CET

I'm an American, Saje, but I share your pain.

Reddygirl | March 17, 06:19 CET