(no subject)

[shapinglight]

All right, you disappointing Bohemian Rhapsody lovers, here's another one for you.

According to my daughters, I am the only woman in the western hemisphere who hasn't seen/has no desire to see Mamma Mia. This is because I don't like Abba. Okay, I get that they're better than almost everyone who has ever won Eurovision. I get that their songs are musically complicated, even if they don't sound it. I also get that if you grew up with Abba, you're more likely to retain a fondness for them, and since I wasn't (it was early Beatles for me, and yes I do prefer early Beatles to later, surprise, surprise), it's less likely I would (especially as, IMO, they're almost impossible to dance to).

So Abba -love or hate? Mamma Mia - a guilty pleasure or so boring you fall asleep just thinking about it?

Still don't have a 70s icon, but I think Father Ted goes with pretty much everything.

Comments

[swsa.livejournal.com]

I love, love, love ABBA. But...Mamma Mia is a TERRIBLE movie. I mean, well, I liked watching it? But more as a series of cheesy music videos than anything resembling a film. I've also seen the stage musical, and while better than the film, yeah, in general it's a beyond thin premise attempting to tie these songs into a real story.

[shapinglight]

But...Mamma Mia is a TERRIBLE movie.

So not even a guilty pleasure, then? What is it about Abba? I just don't get it. Never have, and I suppose never will now.

[elisi]

What swsa said. It's *awful*! And the fashion police should come after Meryl Streep and the dungarees. ::shudders:: That said, I enjoyed watching it, since it is PURE fluff, and there is one scene that is just completely fabulous! If you have to watch it though, make sure you're not sober!

(If you can get your hands on the French & Saunders rip-off, watch that instead. It's genius and very faithful!)

[shapinglight]

That said, I enjoyed watching it, since it is PURE fluff, and there is one scene that is just completely fabulous! If you have to watch it though, make sure you're not sober!

I think it's extremely unlikely I'll ever watch it, unless K and M hold me at gunpoint. If they do, though, I'll demand they let me get drunk first.

[piksa.livejournal.com]

I do like listening ABBA. Okay, not all their songs but some are pretty good.

Went to see Mamma Mia with my sister and mother. It suited that situation very well since we were having a girls' night out. The film was entertaining but nothing special. It was about what I expected it to be. Noticed that Pierce Brosnan really can't sing...

[shapinglight]

Noticed that Pierce Brosnan really can't sing...

:Shudder: He sings?

[hesadevil.livejournal.com]

Can't hate something so bland as Abba. Some of their songs resonate because of the memories of those tinmes but, watching Mamma Mia? Think I'll hold out for my copy of Star Trek.

I'm a Beatles Girl, especially Revolver and Rubber Soul. It's a kind of magic :D

[shapinglight]

I'm a Beatles Girl, especially Revolver and Rubber Soul. It's a kind of magic

Hoorah! Me too. :Hums Norwiegan Wood.

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

I love Abba, but hell I hate Mamma mia. Looks awful. :0

[shapinglight]

You love Abba? Bu-but why? Can you explain?

[powerofthebook.livejournal.com]

I hate it, but it's not ABBA's fault. Seriously, I had to cover a teen pageant about the time the movie musical came out. Their theme was "Mamma Mia" for some reason, though the only reference to it during the entire three-and-a-half hour pageant was putting the title song on repeat. Ever since then, when it comes on, I've got the strange impulse to stab myself in the ears with a pen.

[shapinglight]

Ever since then, when it comes on, I've got the strange impulse to stab myself in the ears with a pen.

Heh! Weirdly, that's how I feel whenever I hear any Abba song. Especially Fernando. God, I hate that song!

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

I'm not fond of Abba.

I was dragged to Mamma Mia against my will, but it really was great fun. Meryl Street, C Baranski and Julie Walters just charmed the pants off me.

[shapinglight]

Ah, now that's different. So far you're the only one who enjoyed the movie but doesn't like the band.

[rebcake.livejournal.com]

Ah. Abba. I'd be against 'em, in theory, except for I have all these pleasant connotations with Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Murielle's Wedding and (for some reason) Absolutely Fabulous. So, for camp purposes I have come to appreciate them (sort of) along with Donna Summer.

However, I did see Mamma Mia thinking it couldn't possibly be as bad as I suspected, but it lived down to my low expectations just fine. Although the closing credits, with all those guys (Firth, Skaarsgard, Brosnan) in metallic spandex jumpsuits and platform boots, was almost worth the ticket price. And, it does fit in with my whole over-40-romance-is-on-the-rise-in-media theory. But that's doesn't mean it's any good. Hold your ground.

[shapinglight]

And, it does fit in with my whole over-40-romance-is-on-the-rise-in-media theory. But that's doesn't mean it's any good. Hold your ground.

Oh, I will! And it is of course true that Abba have great camp value. Maybe if I hadn't had to sit through them the first time I'd feel differently about them?

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I've not seen it either. I can take or leave Abba one song at a time - but definitely 'leave' when it is Abba songs en mass. The story line sounds too cheesy to be true, as well.

[shapinglight]

Sensible woman. :) My nieces (in their later 30s now - :shudder:) adore Abba, but then they were little kids in the 70s.

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Ok, not a huge fan of Abba. And thinking about watching the film would definitely cause snoring - lots of snoring.

[shapinglight]

Hoorah! At least a few more like-minded people in this post.

[kidcyclone.livejournal.com]

I don't think I really count here, since I more or less think of myself as a 10 or 12 yr old boy who somehow got stuck in a female body, but...

I have never seen, and never will see, Mamma Mia.

The Who's Tommy is as close to a musical based off a group's ouvre as I think I'd ever get. Unless they made a Ramones or Sex Pistols based musical! Yes, musical tastes of a perpetual adolescent boy, too... you can see why I like Spike...

[shapinglight]

Yes, musical tastes of a perpetual adolescent boy, too... you can see why I like Spike...

Heh! I have quite a lot in common. I mean, I read comics too.

[vampirefever.livejournal.com]

I love Abba and even saw them in concert in the 70s as well. But even being a fan, I was unimpressed with 'Mamma Mia' when I saw it in the theatre and so have had no interest in ever seeing the film - rave reviews not withstanding.

Where does that put me in your league of cool vs naffness? :)

[shapinglight]

Where does that put me in your league of cool vs naffness? :)

Well, I think it puts you way down at one end. Which end it is I'm no longer sure, since once again I'm so massively outnumbered.

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen it an have no intention of doing so.
Abba - well, I find them inoffensive and will sing along if they come on, but I wouldn't intentionally play an Abba song, or buy any of their LPs.

[shapinglight]

but I wouldn't intentionally play an Abba song, or buy any of their LPs.

That's a bit more like it. :)

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

I do not love ABBA that much, despite being a swede and all that. :-P Sure, they can be fun to listen to at times and I don't run out of the room when hearing them, but... I am not a lover. :-) (Born 1977, so that might have something to do with it, I don't know. That and a 10-hour long trip with germans who refused to listen to anything else but ABBA...)

I am, however, a rabid lover of the movie. Why? OMG, where to start? The story is just adorable. And also, Meryl Streep is just so, so awesome in it. In fact, all the actors are doing one hell off a job in said movie. I kid you not when I say I laughed my ass off from beginning to end. And I feel so good after I watch it. Every time. It is like a none-dangerous shot of happy-drug. :-D

[shapinglight]

Well, so far, that's you and tx_cronopio who prefer the movie to the band. And my sympathies for that trip with the Germans. It sounds like the sort of thing that would happen in the hell I wrote about in my story, Heroes in Hell (the hell where everything's naff and looks like it's stuck in the 70s).

[deird1]

I'm Australian. It's compulsory for us to love Abba. :)

Never seen Mamma Mia, though, and don't intend to.

[shapinglight]

I'm Australian. It's compulsory for us to love Abba. :)

It is? Why is that? I'm afraid I'm not well up in Abba-ology.

[willowgreen.livejournal.com]

I've never listened to an ABBA album straight through, but I like their songs a lot when I hear them; I've always thought of them as dumb but fun. I haven't seen Mamma Mia — I'm not boycotting it or anything, I just didn't get around to it when it was in the theater. It's in my Netflix queue somewhere, so I'll probably watch it eventually.

So, do you dislike silly '70s pop in general? Or is there any of it that you like?

[shapinglight]

So, do you dislike silly '70s pop in general? Or is there any of it that you like?

Hmm, tough question. I guess looking back, there's not a lot of silly 70s pop I like - maybe the odd song here and there. Mainly, looking back, the decade seems to have passed in a haze of horrible hairstyles and awful brown clothes.

I do like Bowie's Ziggy Stardust period, though, plus Roxy Music, but I guess they probably don't count as silly. Or do they?

[hello-spikey.livejournal.com]

ABBA? Square.

Mamma Mia? Eh. I'd catch a matinee if, you know, there was nothing else going on that day. Doesn't it have some hot or formerly-hot guys in it?

[shapinglight]

Doesn't it have some hot or formerly-hot guys in it?

Well, Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan are in it, don't know who else. I would probably count them as still hot, but then they're probably both younger than me. :)

and Abba are square, you're quite right.

[spikes-evilbint.livejournal.com]

I'm with you on the whole Mama Mia thing. I wouldn't go to see it if I was paid! (Um...well...unless it was a lot of money!LOL)

Never been a fan.

You are not alone! :D

[shapinglight]

You are not alone! :D

Nice to know. I felt very lonely in my previous post. There was only me, sentine and bogwitch who didn't adore Bohemian Rhapsody.

[mistletoe54.livejournal.com]

I like Abba. I am over 50. I did not like Mama Mia. There was too much shouting and none of them could sing apart from the daughter and Julie Walters. My mother loved it. She is over 80 and deaf. Make of that what you will.

[shapinglight]

My mother loved it. She is over 80 and deaf. Make of that what you will.

I'm sort of just jealous that you could get your mother to go and see something like that with you.

[ladypeyton.livejournal.com]

You are not alone. Haven't seen it. Won't see it. Hate Abba. Born in the late 60s. Raised in the Abba decade. STILL hate Abba. (No overt fondness for the BeeGees either, FWIW)

I'd rather be condemned to watch GI Joe for a third time *shudder* than see Mama Mia.

[shapinglight]

Born in the late 60s. Raised in the Abba decade. STILL hate Abba. (No overt fondness for the BeeGees either, FWIW)

Ah, maybe there's a bit of a pattern here. I loathe the Bee Gees too. And the Osmonds.

[kitmarlowescot2.livejournal.com]

Loves Mama Mia, that film helped get my mom through her breast cancer. By allowing us to have a few hours where we didn't have to think and I will always treasure it. Boo to the haters.

[kitmarlowescot2.livejournal.com]

*To clarify to help her recover after her breast cancer surgery. It was one of the first times we were out after she had her surgery. She loved it, and it helped to her to relax. The DVD was my surprise gift to her. And for ABBA, I was born in the 80's. I never heard of them until I saw the movie, and I love the music. It something one can almost mediate too. And again boo on the movie haters.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

I've tried to hate ABBA. Really, I've tried. I should. I just... can't. They were too good at what they did. Really good. Their music is shamelessly smart, so smart it looks incredibly dumb, mining both pop music and folk music (yes, really) for just the right hooks, knowing exactly what makes them work; they're songs specifically designed to be sung for generations. I can't love them, but I can't hate them.

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

Just for illustration, here's what Benny Andersson (the keyboard player in ABBA - that's him with the beard and the accordion) has been playing for the last 20 years or so: Swedish folk music, with roots going back centuries (though he wrote this song 10 years after he wrote, say, "Take A Chance On Me"). Funnily enough, he claims it's exactly what he played in ABBA too. Listen to this, then listen to some of ABBA's songs and ignore the disco beat; it's the same harmonies, the same melodies, the same hooks.

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Swedish blood = Abba compulsory. And, actually, they took it seriously enough under the glam that it's quite enjoyable. They really did want to make music, even if it's on the cheesy side.

But Mamma Mia... I saw it live (friend desperately wanted to go; I was noble and accompanied). It was like every bad musial you've ever seen - people who can't act walking clumpily around shouting, then taking a big deep breath and letting rip with a random song. So when the film came out, with actors who couldn't sing, I said I'd really rather not see it with friend since her Mum was already being Noble Company on that occasion. Said friend then... gave me the DVD. Why? Why, friend? Was "Oh god, do I have to see it again?" too subtle?

Fortunately, managed to give DVD away to the mother of a temp at work who really wanted it and could not afford. A good deed at no cost to self.

Sorry for length. But you did ask.

[shapinglight]

Swedish blood = Abba compulsory.

Well, I don't know about that. kseenaa is Swedish and she doesn't much like them.

And, actually, they took it seriously enough under the glam that it's quite enjoyable. They really did want to make music, even if it's on the cheesy side.

Oh yes, they were very good musicians. I just don't like the music. :(

As for the movie, the more I hear about it, the more desperate I am to avoid it, but I suspect K will make me watch it at some point. She made me sit through Twilight.

[kathyh]

I like ABBA but I haven't seen Mamma Mia and have no intention of doing so. It just doesn't really appeal to me.

Count me in for early Beatles appreciation :)

[shapinglight]

Count me in for early Beatles appreciation :)

Hoorah! My interest in them pretty much stops dead with Sergeant Pepper.

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

ABBA - I don't mind, but wish I didn't.
Mama Mia - Snooze.
The Beatles - Never liked them at all.

[shapinglight]

Heh! You have very definite opinions, don't you?

It's odd. As a kid in the 60s, I loved the Beatles and hated the Rolling Stones because I thought Mick Jagger was ugly. Now, I love Stones music from that period and don't like any Beatles after Sergeant Pepper. I still think Mick Jagger's ugly, though.