(The Hit Hammer Requests are requests from people who want me to review songs that did NOT hit #1, but still charted on the Hot 100. Right now, there is only one request per person, but if you're reading this, and you haven't already sent me a request, feel free to do so. I will try to do a request once a week, while still continuing my main project of reviewing each #1 song on the Hot 100)
ABBA - "Waterloo"
Peak Date: August 23, 1974
Peak Position: #6
#1 Song At That Time: "The Night Chicago Died" by Paper Lace
Requestor: Collin Featherston
Since 1956, there has been a competition held in Europe called the Eurovision Song Contest. All kinds of different acts from Europe submit their own material for the contest, and it was something that the Swedish wonders of ABBA were already familiar with. In 1973's contest, the group came close to winning, but instead finished in 3rd place with their song "Ring Ring", which surprisingly wasn't a very big international hit, and it failed to chart in the U.S. entirely. That one is a pretty silly song, telling the story of a girl waiting by the phone for her crush to call her. It's straight-up bubble gummy material. Dissatisfied with their placing in the contest, the group wrote another song, and the intent of this song's existence was to win the event. Ladies and gentlemen, meet "Waterloo", a song that will definitely get stuck in your head.
"Waterloo" was inspired by the classic Phil Spector "Wall of Sound". Musical engineer Michael B. Tretow happened to read the book Out of His Head: The Sound of Phil Spector, and that inspired him to start messing around with musical overdubs on ABBA's recordings, just like what Spector used to do all the time in the 1960's. That sound would become a staple in ABBA's recordings for the rest of their history, and those sounds in "Waterloo" helped net them the win in 1974's Eurovision Song Contest. At first, the group considered submitting another song for the event called "Hasta Manana", but instead decided on "Waterloo", since "Hasta Manana" only featured lead vocals by Agnetha Faltskog, and they wanted to use a song that had both lead vocalists at the forefront. That would become, perhaps, a career-saving choice. "Waterloo" was not only a bright spot for ABBA's native land, but it was their first big hit in America, as the song climbed up to #6 on the U.S, pop charts.
People often get the song's meaning wrong, and they either assume the title of "Waterloo" was pure gibberish (something ABBA did quite often) or it was about Waterloo, London. Instead, the song's title is a reference to Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. The song is about a woman "surrendering" to a man, and gives her promise to him that she will love him. Musically, I'm not sure how one would even give a crap what the song was about, as it's just a fun song. There's so much going on in the song, and it's hypnotizing in its nature. Faltskog, along with fellow lead vocalist Anni-Frid Lyngstad, create some mind-blowing harmonies together, that blend in beautifully with one another. I like the waterfall piano riffs in the pre-chorus, and the easy sing-a-long chorus it provides. That was something that ABBA was very very good at. I personally challenge you guys to listen to a few ABBA songs, and let me know how many you could resist singing along with. Good luck.
"Waterloo" also brought back the wonderful "Wall of Sound" back on to the pop charts, and it made ABBA international stars. It's really not that hard to see why the song hit so hard all over the globe. It's also not hard to see why they stuck with the sound. In some ways, "Waterloo" could be argued as being "historical", as it was a notable band finally finding their signature sound, and they would take off running with it. ABBA became mainstays on the U.S. charts after the success of "Waterloo", and they came up with a #1 hit in America in 1977 with "Dancing Queen". Stay tuned for that post in the regular Hit Hammer series.
GRADE: 9/10
(Special thanks to Collin for the request!)
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