(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
ABBA - "Dancing Queen"
Hit Number 1: April 9, 1977
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
Let's take things back to 1974 for a minute. One of the biggest hit singles of that year was George McCrae's "Rock Your Baby," which found its way to #1 in the summer of that year. This was around the time disco was beginning to creep its way into mainstream pop music, but not exactly the true disco that most people know today. (Believe it or not, I still feel like I have yet to reach that era of "true disco." I'm talking about the time where the Bee Gees and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack took over the charts) "Rock Your Baby" is not one of the liveliest disco songs ever made, as I consider it to be more mellow than most disco songs, but it did serve as a blueprint for other artists trying to get more into that disco sound. As it turns out, ABBA would be one of those artists. ABBA were a Swedish band composed of two couples, with the two women, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, being their lead singers. Lyngstad's boyfriend and future-husband, Benny Andersson, was kind of the "leader" of ABBA, and wrote much of their music. When he had first heard "Rock Your Baby," he and the other male ABBA member, Bjorn Ulvaeus, were inspired to write a song with their own twist on the rising disco genre. A song that would be unlike anything ABBA had ever done before.
One thing that's fair to say about ABBA is that they were definitely known for their bright, cheery sounding music. Even songs that were not happy lyrically, such as "Mamma Mia," sounded happy in nature. They made it big with catchy music that was also a bit cheesy, but it's part of what made ABBA so unique. It's the kind of '70s cheese you can't get enough of. In fact, ABBA were looking for a follow-up single to "Mamma Mia," with one of the songs under consideration being Andersson and Ulvaeus' newly written song "Dancing Queen." What made "Dancing Queen" so much different than the other ABBA songs was that it was their own take on the American disco genre, a genre that would come to be known as "Europop." Everything else they had done before wasn't really something to dance to, it was just more of that simple happy-sounding stuff. "Dancing Queen" was way different. Sure, it's still clearly a happy, gleeful song, but it was a dance-floor filler. Songs like "Mamma Mia" weren't going to fill a dance floor.
According to Lyngstad, when Andersson first played "Dancing Queen" for her, she loved it so much she began to cry. She said how she found the song to be so "beautiful" and it's one of those that goes "straight to your heart." Faltskog also said that she knew the song would be an instant hit, even though it's nearly impossible to predict to what will be a hit and what won't. "Dancing Queen" was an exception. So, I think it's fair to say that we've established how high ABBA were on this song. Only problem was that the one whose opinion mattered the most, their manager, Stig Anderson, thought that another one of ABBA's typical gleaming pop songs "Fernando" would be a better one to release first. He thought that it would appeal more to a broader audience, and so thought that it was also more likely to be a hit. He was right in the fact that "Fernando" was a hit, as it made it to #13 on the Hot 100, (it's an 8), but he seriously underestimated the power of a song like "Dancing Queen." I still like "Fernando," I think it's still a very good song. But it's no "Dancing Queen."
Of course even though "Fernando" was picked over "Dancing Queen" at the time, "Dancing Queen" would still be released in 1976. This was when America was introduced to Europop, or in this case, a Swedish band's take on disco music. Except, "Dancing Queen" isn't exactly disco. It's in another class of its own. Like I said earlier, ABBA were known for their cheesy, but equally lovable sing along songs that make anybody feel good. "Dancing Queen" is kind of similar, but it's also way different. As soon as the song starts, your thrusted into this world you didn't even know existed. It's that extra special layer of music where you know you're listening to something unique and special, but still curious as to where it's going. And once Faltskog and Lyngstad greet you with "Oooh you can dance! You can jive! Having the time of your life" you can't help but feel uplifted.
Lyrically, "Dancing Queen" is only about a young girl, only 17 of course, going out and wanting to dance, and then once she is dancing, she feels like a dancing queen. That part isn't exactly special in and of itself, but it's ABBA's delivery that makes the song what it is. Benny Andersson's piano riff, Faltskog and Lyngstad's vocals/harmonies, and how the song is so subdued in the verses before exploding once the chorus hits, the way all of it meshes together is just downright beautiful. I've always felt that "Dancing Queen" is one of the most uplifting songs ever released, and the way it carries itself just makes me feel good. Obviously there were a lot of songs about dancing at this time, but there aren't very many songs that have that special flare/beauty that "Dancing Queen" has. The members of ABBA knew that this was something different, and they were right. It would be the band's only #1 hit.
ABBA still stuck around for a few years after "Dancing Queen," still cranking out other hit singles, but unfortunately broke up in 1982 after both marriages fell apart. Still in a way, that wasn't necessarily the end of an ABBA member finding success. Andersson and Ulvaeus would write music for musicals and movies, and Lyngstad had a surprise hit in 1983 with "I Know There's Something Going On," which coincidentally peaked at #13, the same position that "Fernando" had peaked at. (It's a 7) By that point she was only going by the stage name Frida, and the song was a complete departure from anything ABBA had ever done, which seemed to officially close the book on the band all together. However, in 2016, all the members of ABBA got back together and seem to even be making new music again, which is pretty incredible. But the peaks of their careers definitely all came from "Dancing Queen." I don't think it would be too much of stretch to say that this is one of the more special songs released in the '70s, if not ever. It's held up overtime, and still sounds so fresh. The world's a better place with this song in it.
GRADE: 10/10
IN POP CULTURE:
U2 actually covered "Dancing Queen" in a 1992 show, with Andersson and Ulvaeus present. I wasn't sure what to think coming into this, but I liked it a lot. So I felt I should put it here. Here's that video:
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