This makes me glad I listen to classical music . . .

That's an easy question to answer. Stevie and Christine are both attractive, but for different reasons. In her solo pieces, Stevie portrays characters who are aloof and off in their own little worlds with their own dreams. Christine portrays characters who are down to earth and deeply in love. I like both kinds of women. Having both in one group is one of the things that made Fleetwood Mac so great.

OK Fleetwood Mac fans - who was the "gal sex symbol" of the band? Stevie or Christine?

Something tells me we could get a real Mary Ann vs. Ginger controversy going here!

if got me trying to figure out what they might be meaning ... S&G and M&P come definitely from a folky tradition ... however, both used some "wall of sound" techniques in their recordings, particularly their "hits" Sounds of Silence, California Dreaming, specifically ... by their 3rd (?) album "Bookend" S&G were a bit overproduced for my tastes ... and M&P seemed to be moving towards "mainstream" production values.

It's interesting the associations that are made. Obviously ABBA was a GREAT band that I didn't like and still don't, if longevity of enthusiastic fan base is any kind of an indicator... Lawrence Welk is on my TV every weekend ... 'nuf said.

What's with all the probing analysis? It's ABBA.

have forgotten Fleetwood Mac?! I doubt we'll hear from an intergender group of their calibre again...

"low-brown white people music"

Otherwise it's kind of a cute way to describe a certain kind of white person...who only likes "white stuff"...very into their whiteness...in a (to them) inobtrusive white way...

and made it shimmering and safe....

The Momma's and the Poppa's took the same imersion aesthetic but added "cerebral" lyrics, played inter-genre, and did more with rhythm and "surprises"

Abba reminded me too much of the caliope on the Santa Monica Pier where I grew up.

Yes, there are commonalities between the ABBA, the BeeGees who I loathed -- and Culture Club (whose album I also bought knowning it was both ersatz something and real fun) -- and the Momma's and the Popp's ... with Phil Spector's total immersion wall of sound.

I don't recall Simon and Garfunkel in the same class ... they ran instead to a precious sparse perfection ... even with the string section and -- again -- more "cerebral" (I am loathe to say "intellectual" or "brainy") lyrics made a difference.

Fleetwood Mac was some bizarre synthesis of faux-intriguing lyrics, some killer transitions, and studio effects.

It was new at the time and they made a lot of money ... but some were more "fabricated" to the market than originals in their own right as evidenced by "later work" ... which presence or lack of which may be the greater acid-test.

they are very stylized and as long as they aren't too loud -- hey -- I feel about as some feel about Abba or polka -- but I don't know if it is a matter of key or timre or rhythm -- THEY make me smile.

I meant what I said about "you might as well be listening to Lawrence Welk" who appears every Sunday night on my local PBS station and -- I have been told -- is one of the most popular PBS programs.

... there's nothing wrong with that.... except he (like Liberace) has been dead FOREVER and personified (imho) rather low-brown white people music.

However, having worked in an office with someone too sophisticated to tolerate Andrew Lloyd Weber with someone who idolized him ... I think ANY music appreciation is better than none. I realize now that I have no idea what the Andrew Lloyd Weber "hater" liked. I grew up on Billie Holiday, Missisippi John Hurt AND Broadway show tunes .. go figure.

We are talking about what we are going to call "pop" and/or hear played on the "Top 40" stations (if they still exist) .. So Bach or Beethoven's lack of funk doesn't figure.

There were a lot of cheesy British invasion bands too. Gerry and the Pacemaker made Herman's Hermits look BRILLIANT... Yeah, Eric Burden and the Animal got my vote (and almost no air time)... Jim Morrison WISHED he could be Eric Burden.

Had never occurred to me that ABBA carried on the vocal traditions of The Mamas & The Papas, but you're right - there are a lot of similarities there.

I'd argue that Fleetwood Mac were The Mamas & The Papas of the 1970's though, right down to practically everyone in the band sleeping with each other. It's just that with Mac, the gal with the big voice was also the band's sex symbol.

Tesco Vee, the impossibly tall and offensive singer of the equally offensive and entertaining punk band The Meatmen, was and is an obsessive ABBA collector. If they could warm the cockles of his heart, they must not be all that bad.

Someone whose taste in music is based on what you're "supposed" to like to be cool.

I'd like to point out that all music is bad when taken out of context. Bach is not funky. It's difficult to swing dance to Iron Maiden. Yet, judged by the standards of their own genres, Bach and Maiden are both excellent.

I can enjoy ABBA music while recognizing the elements of it which are considered "bad." Synthesized strings, whee! Can't get me enough of them synthesized strings! Cornball lyrics: my favorite lyrics come from "Nina, Pretty Ballerina"

Nina, pretty ballerina, now she is the queen of the dancing floor

This is the moment she's waiting for, just like Cinderella

(Just like Cinderella)

If you can listen to "Nina" with a straight face you're stronger than I am. It's a terrible song. Which is exactly the point. It's fun to listen to because it's bad. That's what "cheesy" means.

Not all ABBA music is quite as cheesy as Nina, but most of it benefits from not being taken too seriously. It has dated. It was a little silly when it was brand new. What makes it classic as opposed to simply laughable is that it has seeds of greatness in there with the silliness. The ladies have lovely voices. The songs are full of energy. The tunes hit the sweet spots.

Someone further up the thread mentioned Bob Dylan as an example of "good," "serious" music. I haven't been able to listen to Bob Dylan with a straight face ever since a friend pointed out that he sounds like Eddie Murphy doing a Buckwheat impression. It's all context. Listen to Dylan starting from the assumption that it's supposed to be funny, and you'll discover Dylan has at least as many hokey, ungrammatical lyrics as ABBA in their heyday.

I could drop all the right names to be perceived as having cool taste in music. But that's a loser's game. You know who was the epitome of cool taste in music? Kurt Cobain. He was so damn cool he blew his own brains out because he became popular, and if popularity is proof that music sucks, that meant he had to suck. He left a note explaining all this. While he lies in his grave, considerably less cool people managed to stay alive and write songs, which, while they might not equal the songs Cobain would have written if he were alive, greatly surpass the songs he's written while dead. Cobain considered himself greatly superior to Eddie Vedder, aka the soulless corporate sellout, yet they're really brothers in spirit: Vedder is such a dumbass that he's been sabotaging his own songs to keep them from being "too catchy" because he doesn't want to be popular anymore. Wait a minute... isn't it supposed to be all about the music? What's the difference between damaging the music so the suits will like it and damaging the music so the suits DON'T like it? Not much. Well, maybe a little, actually... the latter wins in terms of meanness. So now meanness is supposed to be some sort of moral victory?

I can't help but laugh at brightstar saying some college radio is "listenable" and saying he liked Pearl Jam. Poor old Cobain is spinning in his grave at that one.