George Michael talks about ABBA (Clyde FM 1982)
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- Опубликовано: 1 дек 2022
- Here is an excerpt from a very early radio interview George did in 1982. This interview actually happened 40 years ago today on December 2nd, 1982. This is less than a month after Wham's first Top of the Pops performance so Wham! was just taking off.
Tape Transferred by me
Abba are one of the best groups ever.
Yep!! Completely underrated. More than any artist, their music has stood the test of time!
And what an accolade from George Michael!!
no, not one of the best, but 'THE BEST BAND EVER"
ABBA perfected pop songs to an art form.
Oh my that was a comment!
you are absolutely right. That's what they did!
He's spot on, they were the band that people pretended not to like - clearly alot of people did as well ! The Day Before You Came is also in my top 3 ABBA favourites, along with Eagle - genius lyricists and melody makers . George knew what he was talking about even then.
He was so young and his talking voice sounds so nice and youthful.What precious lil document these lil pieces of music history to be digged out .So fun too.
American here. I have ALWAYS liked ABBA from the get go. And I was there (a teenager in the 70's). But, believe me, if you admitted what I just stated to the wrong crowd you quite literally were taking your safety into your own hands. ✌
Abba has an army of 'Squillion' supporters (both visible but even closet ones) nowadays.All Gens.You are not alone anymore.
Hiya! Fellow ABBA fan here! Have u heard their fab reunion album, released last year? It's called Voyager & is just wonderful. The girls are are in their mid 70's & sound the same. And the boys, still on top of the writing game. If u haven't heard it, check out their channel here on RUclips. I promise, u WILL LOVE IT! The best & only reunion album I have ever heard, especially after a 40 yr absence. 🥰
As far back as the 1970s, there were some artists who were jealous of ABBAs success therefore they used to say they didn’t like them. They have become one of the most successful recording acts of our time. I love it.🎉 everyone knows an ABBA song, unlike many of the jealous ones who nobody even remembers.
ABBA after 50 years are still at the top of the music business they pioneered.
He is a soul boy. He grew up in the London with heavy disco, soul, funk, boogie and motown
Btw actually not every kid used to hate Abba as he had said.It was just fashionable to say this and the general sense to pretend not liking them cause the UK press was such a 'muddy one' on the Swedes.If yes, then who on earth was buying all these quantities.Surely not only housewives. Abba's record sales were bought in such phenomenal amounts that turned heads and raised eyebrows.At times that famous cool music stars were strugling to get a platinum album(300,000 copies there)Abba's average sales of their studio albums in the UK were of a million.(1976-1982 studio albums/collections- 9 number ones +2021 1 more with Voyage summing up 10).
Wow, this is fantastic, thanks for posting!
Paul Young and Kim Wilde were also Abba fans as they admitted in recent years.Paul even got interviewed and photographed by an Abba fan site and Kim discribed in a docu how she had been striken by them in Brighton 1974 thinking'ok i want to be like her' (Agnetha).
ABBA is & always was the bomb! And their reunion album, Voyager? Is one helluva BRILLIANT comeback ever! Absolutely glorious! Love ABBA & love George! 🥰
I rememember in 1982's year end issue of 'coolest'then UK mag for youngsters, 'Smash hits' there was a special page where many 'cool' artists of the time were voting their fave music of the year.A member of synth duo Blancmange had unbashefully voted 'uncool' 'Abba- the singles first 10 years' admitting his admiration and saying that through this collection he realised how much good stuff the band had recorded the past decade.Couple of years later they did their own cover to TDBYC.
I agree, and I really like their cover version.
as a child, i was confronted with hate and bullying because i love ABBA. I remained steadfast and loyal and true to myself. i dunno, i guess i was made of good stock and constitution and when my steel was tested, i held my own because i dgaf if others hate what i like. I'm still happy and they have hate in their hearts.
God how much i feel you.Our Gen and Abba suffered too much from bad press criticism that tried to manipulated the record buying public.But little did they finally manage.Despiteus being brutally bullyed Abba still occupy people's interest even after almost 40 years from being discographically inactive.Their toxic fighters are drowned in their own swallowed poison.Fortunately today we have got rid of too many of them.Newer people who have taken over the music press are far more positive to Abba.But hats off for your bravery.I had really suffered a lot at the time.
@@alexioverdo5225 Thank you for sharing your story, Alexio! Nice to know I wasn't the only one! (At the time though... I felt like i was)
@@jeraldoverby7611 We were millions listening to Abba behind closed doors.exept we didn't know it.We were not a minority but the real majority esp male fans mostly because of a specific status quo that the rock music media had deceptively created on what should be cool and uncool.For many of us this group represented the softer side of our selves.And it's in human nature to usually tend to hide vulnerable parts for safety reasons.That simple.
I guess that's why ABBA is still up and making music after 40 years plus their musical which has ran for years now. They also have restaurants and their new ABBAtars not to mention. They laugh all the way to the bank.
In the end, George finally realized how unique and Mega Talented ABBA was. Those 5'8" leggy Norse Beauties had the Voices of the Angels. Their Harmonies were so close that it created "The Third Voice". The guys were so Talented with their catchy lyrics and great Melodies.
Selling over 400 million albums and singles says it all. I'm in my 70s heard alot of great music in my time, but no one inspires me like the incomparable ABBA does!👍❤️🎶
Great to say such a thing.It counts a lot since you've experienced many music decades in your life.Thanx.
Thank you so much for posting this, The day before you came is my favourite ABBA song after TWTIA. Never knew George had it on repeat also - I'm sure he later realised the joy in that line x
The Day Before You Came and The Winner Takes It All are two masterpieces of pop music, there is no doubt about that and that ABBA are the masters of pop.
And "I can be that woman"
Never been that much of a fan of George but I respected him because he did at least have talent. 'A Different Corner' is one of the most beautiful songs ever and is equal to Abba's brilliance.
For me it's 'Jesus to a child'.
My Londoner he knows his speech nice to listen too thanks ☹️
Here we are in 2024 and ABBA Voyage is the best concert ever put on.....
I tend to agree with George, Abba weren't very good lyricists but their musicianship was genius👍👍
ABBA's priority was always the music and melodies..............never the lyrics. I quite admire them, considering the challenges they faced, for not being from one of the Anglo-Saxon countries.
Oh hi Rui,wish u have Merry Xmas man.Btw i already have my fave album being played again for the time,same one i did since Nov.'21.I guess you know which one is.And it still sounds so heartwarming for these days.
@@christianoazzuro6711 😊🎄🌿🕊Merry Xmas to you too brother❗Much health and happiness in the New Year❗🔔💫✨.............Oh yes, I know which album you are talking about.👍😉📀
True to an extent but bear in mind that everyone knows and remembers the great ABBA lyrics, they can be understood and easily remembered by 6 year olds and 80 year olds - across the board they have the greatest fan base and appeal and that's still the case if they can sell out 3000 tickets for their Voyage show, 7 nights a week.
@@officialsimonharris 👍Very good point. And I hope that the "Voyage" show comes to New York City................because I will be there. 🤩
@@officialsimonharris oh that's big deal indeed.Phenomenal.
This is Amazing! thank you for sharing!! Greetings from Argentina!
You're welcome! Glad you enjoy it!
GPLM!That album was my father's Xmas gift (brought from Spain 1980).Was overjoyed!
brilliant, thank you
Fascinating to hear how he didn't like the TV show Dallas lyric in "The Day Before You Came". He probably hated Prince mentioning the TV show Dynasty in the song "Kiss" too. Kind of disappointed he didn't care so much for Abba in the 70s. I thought they were excellent in that decade.
I feel he liked them far more from what he 'cowardly but so sweetly' admitted.He loved Abba a lot but at the time it was dangerous for a newcomer artist to say so since It was uncool.Adding Pepsi n Shirley in the band's imagery hinted a lot about it.
It's just the way it scans in the song, it's a bit wordy, a matter of taste really.
@@willpeony5534 - Perhaps. But not adoring Abba songs from the 70s is unforgivable.
@@shyman99 (Since i've been a music press freak)...In a late '84 interview he was more talkative about it.He had stated he liked the way Abba records that were great and Motown classic records and the way people(music fans) had made them acceptable and he would also loved same thing for Wham records to be treated/considered in future times.
@@shyman99 FWIW I would agree with George Michael in this case, ABBA was an anomaly in the business as they gradually improved with each album. Almost any artist someone mentions, even if I've never heard of them I say "but I really like their early stuff". In the pop game most people do their best work before 30. I mean The King Kong Song, c'mon!
Good job to post this!
It's a shame he didn't get their earlier music, like many he was just put off it because of it's popularity - there was also so much pop music around in those days, one classic hit after another but now that so much of that has gone away and become Golden oldies and so much of it no longer gets played and after decades of vastly inferior music we can look back and see what really stood out and the greatest of those pure pop groups in terms of longevity and sheer quality was ABBA, their music is timeless and has such meaning to so many
Bear in mind one thing, George started (Wham) almost right at the end of ABBA's reign, he was the next generation, they split up when George was just becoming a star.
At 19 years old he was so mature! Me at his age, i was still a little kid! 🤣
I remember watching a rock guitar player showing a tutorial and he has a lot of respect for the band Abba. The people who listened and watched him talk about it gained a whole lotta respect for them. They're music has a sort of difficulty that is different from things like the stereotypical rock song it's amazing
Excellent critique of the lyrics and agreed that the end results are great with some lapses.
I had a similar experience with ABBA. Hated the early stuff and as I got older and became more of a musician myself, listening to their later stuff, it was like an epiphany.
Maybe in his school environment every kid used to hate Abba but generally, reality and statistics were far away from this statement.Abba record buyers were all family audience and especially teenagers.And I still remember a magazine cover with a big headline going 'ABBA ,WHY they make millions out of our children!'I even saw this cover recently again in the net icons too,btw. .
He was 19 at the time of this interview.
❤
Wow! Do you have any more early GM interviews???
He pretty had the guts to even hesitantly admit this in 1982!So lovely.I do believe he liked them a lot as well as soul music and Motown artists but wasn't so cool to be more open. .
He's got a nerve critisising ABBA's lyrics after writing "Wham Rap"!
Wham Rap was written mostly as a joke jabbing at Andrew Ridgeley's way of living. If you watch the video for the song they are clearly not trying to be very serious about the song.
They wrote that song for fun, as a joke. George always said that.
ABBA simply evolved from simple pop to more adult and creative territory like alot of groups do. But I really enjoy their earlier stuff, it was just fun and didn't take itself too seriously, a bit like early Wham! in fact.
'They (ABBA)had that right combination of fun,beauty,not taking it too seriously but being deadly in the studio.' Billy Corgan ,The Smashing Pumpkins(!)on confessing his love for Abba and his special adoration for Agnetha Faltskog's voice.
@@alexioverdo5225 Billy got it right.
He was young so I will forgive his immature comments about ABBA
Young Guns (Go For It) had just hit its peak of number 3 in the charts, a couple of days before this.
Albert, things like this make me glad that you are so willing to share what is available in your archive! I have done some digging through my watch history and by filtering searches by ‘upload date’ and have collated a small collection of clips/videos that you hopefully haven’t seen before! Something quite interesting I have found so far is a channel which is from the very early years of RUclips, it features a majority of clips from performance from 25 Live tour but also a majority of clips from all across GM’s era’s. Tell me if you find anything that you do not have and hopefully I have more to share in the future!
Here is the link to said channel:
youtube.com/@4VDO
Hey you are heading for 10,000 views!that great.
Yes it is great! 10k is a lot of views for an excerpt of a 40 year old interview.
@@wham Worth the views.It's about 2 mega legends.A music figure that is now an evergreen non alive soloist and a legendary band that is still big deal since they are still a culture phenomenon, 50 years after the formed and almost 4 decades after they had quit the studios as a recording team.Respect....
Like the guy pointed out " Have you ever tried to write in Swedish?" It's all very well to "nit pick" but when it's not your own language it's a different ball game! Björn's lyrics are amazing considering that!
I wonder what’s wrong with that line about Dallas ‘there’s not I think a single episode of Dallas…‘
It doesn’t sound wrong to me, but I‘m not a native speaker.
Maybe it should say ‘I think there’s not a single episode of Dallas…‘ instead?
Go figure
You'd more likely say "I don't think I've missed a single episode" but that wouldn't fit the melody!
George: They ( the lyrics) tend to get… Other person : BlaBlaBlaBla
Yes, ABBA was just a perfectly engineered music. I'm a depeche mode fan but ABBA was the best pop music of all time.
And this is right when the group was coming to an end they were capturing big artists(well soon to be big artists that is) but ABBA was pretty kitche to younger peeps back in the day for sure!!!
Well,actually even if 'kitsch' then or not, today is finally considered a total 'nostalgic '70s/early '80s retro artwork since Abba are happily evergreen now.The time that passed proved to be generously rewarding to them and did justice to their valueable legacy much to the surprise of band members Benny and Bjorn, since as they stated some years back,they only expected to have completely been forgotten after a couple of years from the time that the band had disbanded.
Что-то мальчик слишком взрослый для 1982 года - он в каком году родился? В любом случаев в 1982 году его годики можно было по пальцам руки пересчитать.
He was 19 at the time of this recording
He missed the point of Day before You Came where the whole point of the lyrics written in less than an hour, was geared to a narrative about an ordinary woman living an ordinary life where Dallas was a social phenomenon at that time which millions of ordinary people could relate to. And with respect, George can hardly criticise the lyrics where he himself was responsible for writing some real second rate trash as part of WHAM
Lol ok I love George Michael but he's making fun of Abba's lyrics? Wham Rap? Hello? Club Tropicana? Don't throw stones George until you've looked at your early work.
Club Tropicana had not even been recorded at this point and I think he was more pointing out the grammar of the lyrics more than the content of what they were saying.
It’s the jabs at George thinking they’re getting somewhere for me 🤣🤚🏼 plz, everyone cries for wanting they’re opinion heard but when your in the public eye you don’t respect others OPINIONS.
He said what he said 🤷🏽♀️