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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 20, 2020 14:26:00 GMT -5
Nice to have another New Retro Wave listener on here~ I discovered Ace of Base last year, and through them Linn Berggren. Aside from their first album, I don't care for the band that much, but I have become a fan of Linn. Her voice is angelic and I've fallen in love with it. This song, in particular, brought me close to tears with its intensity the first time I listened to it. It's a loss to the world that she didn't embark on a solo career. Did they even do much outside of their first album? IDK, Ace Of Base is kind of notorious for having similar sounding songs with the tempo changed just slightly so that people wouldn't notice as much. Go listen to The Sign and then All That She Wants, it's pretty apparent on those two
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Post by impulse on Apr 20, 2020 15:52:27 GMT -5
Restless Nights is interesting. The vocalist sounds like if Gwen Stefani had fully explored her 80s side. Musically, it sounds like different concentrated 80s movie tropes smushed together. Like Terminator mixed with an 80s teen romance coming of age movie with some weird 80s shred in the background.
It is making me feel profoundly uncomfortable, but man, is it interesting. It's like my brain is hearing all these things together and going "wait, what..no, that's not right.. it's familiar but wrong aggh!" It feels so dissonant. Not musically, but the vibe.
On a somewhat similar vibe, it reminds me a little of Perturbator. They do sound just like Terminator music from the 1980s.
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Post by Duragizer on Apr 21, 2020 2:36:42 GMT -5
I discovered Ace of Base last year, and through them Linn Berggren. Aside from their first album, I don't care for the band that much, but I have become a fan of Linn. Her voice is angelic and I've fallen in love with it. This song, in particular, brought me close to tears with its intensity the first time I listened to it. It's a loss to the world that she didn't embark on a solo career. Did they even do much outside of their first album? IDK, Ace Of Base is kind of notorious for having similar sounding songs with the tempo changed just slightly so that people wouldn't notice as much. Go listen to The Sign and then All That She Wants, it's pretty apparent on those two Yeah, their material became very milquetoast. It's a shame, 'cause their early demos and some of the tracks in Happy Nation had bite to them.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 21, 2020 4:56:08 GMT -5
Did they even do much outside of their first album? IDK, Ace Of Base is kind of notorious for having similar sounding songs with the tempo changed just slightly so that people wouldn't notice as much. Go listen to The Sign and then All That She Wants, it's pretty apparent on those two Yeah, their material became very milquetoast. It's a shame, 'cause their early demos and some of the tracks in Happy Nation had bite to them. Hm, all I know about Ace of Base is that they had that hit single, "All That She Wants" back in the 1990s which was played ad nauseum by radio stations, which I grew to loathe, and that one of the band's founders, Ulf Ekberg, used to be a skinhead (the Nazi kind) and that a number of Ace of Base's hit songs can be interpreted as barely-concealed Nazi propaganda. There's an article at Cracked.com from a few years back that makes a not unreasonable case for the latter point.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 21, 2020 6:19:20 GMT -5
Yeah, their material became very milquetoast. It's a shame, 'cause their early demos and some of the tracks in Happy Nation had bite to them. Hm, all I know about Ace of Base is that they had that hit single, "All That She Wants" back in the 1990s which was played ad nauseum by radio stations, which I grew to loathe, and that one of the band's founders, Ulf Ekberg, used to be a skinhead (the Nazi kind) and that a number of Ace of Base's hit songs can be interpreted as barely-concealed Nazi propaganda. There's an article at Cracked.com from a few years back that makes a not unreasonable case for the latter point. Fascinating article about Ace of Base's Nazi links and the Nazi propaganda in their song lyrics, EdoBosnar. I was never much of a fan of the band, so paid them very little mind, though I do remember their hits. I had no idea about the dark underbelly of their past/music though. After reading that Cracked.com article, I'm pretty well convinced that they were Nazis trying to subliminally spread Nazi views in mediocre pop music.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 21, 2020 15:01:02 GMT -5
I've been mesmerized by The Danish National Symphony playing Morricone songs (and others including the Godfather Suite).
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Post by Duragizer on Apr 21, 2020 15:18:32 GMT -5
Hm, all I know about Ace of Base is that they had that hit single, "All That She Wants" back in the 1990s which was played ad nauseum by radio stations, which I grew to loathe, and that one of the band's founders, Ulf Ekberg, used to be a skinhead (the Nazi kind) and that a number of Ace of Base's hit songs can be interpreted as barely-concealed Nazi propaganda. There's an article at Cracked.com from a few years back that makes a not unreasonable case for the latter point. Fascinating article about Ace of Base's Nazi links and the Nazi propaganda in their song lyrics, EdoBosnar . I was never much of a fan of the band, so paid them very little mind, though I do remember their hits. I had no idea about the dark underbelly of their past/music though. After reading that Cracked.com article, I'm pretty well convinced that they were Nazis trying to subliminally spread Nazi views in mediocre pop music. Ekberg claims the band's name was inspired by Motorhead's "Ace of Spades". euromentravel.com/culture/popculture/ulf-ekberg-ace-of-base-interviewAnd that's the Cracked author's best evidence. Their remaining points are presumptuous/spurious. The video for "Happy Nation" references many influential thinkers from various backgrounds; Darwin isn't the only one singled out, and the mention of his most influential book is hardly evidence for scientific racism. The common interpretation of "All That She Wants" is that it's about a promiscuous woman who's constantly seeking out new sexual partners; inclusion of a necklace bearing six-pointed stars in the video hardly makes it about a lazy Jewish woman who wants to fill the world with Jewish rugrats. As for the Latin chant in "Happy Nation", if you read the article's comment section, you'll find posters who understand the language, and their translations are far more benign than the one the author provided.
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Post by impulse on Apr 21, 2020 15:49:33 GMT -5
All this talk of Ace of Base, and no one is talking about the equally loathsome and then-ubiquitous song "I Saw the Sign." Nazis or not, they unleashed that garbage on the world and assaulted millions of ears without reason or provocation. Monsters.
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 21, 2020 16:25:52 GMT -5
All this talk of Ace of Base, and no one is talking about the equally loathsome and then-ubiquitous song "I Saw the Sign." Nazis or not, they unleashed that garbage on the world and assaulted millions of ears without reason or provocation. Monsters. Yeah, as someone who loves Eurodance, Ace Of Base is pretty bad
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Post by Duragizer on Apr 21, 2020 19:37:15 GMT -5
All this talk of Ace of Base, and no one is talking about the equally loathsome and then-ubiquitous song "I Saw the Sign." Nazis or not, they unleashed that garbage on the world and assaulted millions of ears without reason or provocation. Monsters. That's why I prefer their true debut over the American hackjob.
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Post by beccabear67 on Apr 21, 2020 20:19:57 GMT -5
I took a dislike to Ace Of Bass, Roxette and Wilson-Phillips. No apologies. It's like Starship's We Built This City stretched out to me. I did however buy two CDs by The Cardigans and Eiffel 65, and the lone Bass Is Base CD, and I still have all of them! Quality junk! Don't listen to that, listen to Madness, Stereolab, Elastika, Shabba Ranks, The Sundays, Matthew Sweet, SWV, Sister Double Happiness, House Martins, Crystal Waters, Grapes Of Wrath, Fishbone, The Go-Gos, R.E.M... there's all kinds of better pop music from that time period!
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Post by Batflunkie on Apr 21, 2020 21:14:16 GMT -5
I like Shabba Ranks' "Rough Life", but geeze do I wish that there was more Reggae rap out there like Ini Kamoze's "Here Comes the Hotstepper"
Trap Reggae is close though
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 21, 2020 22:19:09 GMT -5
Fascinating article about Ace of Base's Nazi links and the Nazi propaganda in their song lyrics, EdoBosnar . I was never much of a fan of the band, so paid them very little mind, though I do remember their hits. I had no idea about the dark underbelly of their past/music though. After reading that Cracked.com article, I'm pretty well convinced that they were Nazis trying to subliminally spread Nazi views in mediocre pop music. Ekberg claims the band's name was inspired by Motorhead's "Ace of Spades". euromentravel.com/culture/popculture/ulf-ekberg-ace-of-base-interviewAnd that's the Cracked author's best evidence. Their remaining points are presumptuous/spurious. The video for "Happy Nation" references many influential thinkers from various backgrounds; Darwin isn't the only one singled out, and the mention of his most influential book is hardly evidence for scientific racism. The common interpretation of "All That She Wants" is that it's about a promiscuous woman who's constantly seeking out new sexual partners; inclusion of a necklace bearing six-pointed stars in the video hardly makes it about a lazy Jewish woman who wants to fill the world with Jewish rugrats. As for the Latin chant in "Happy Nation", if you read the article's comment section, you'll find posters who understand the language, and their translations are far more benign than the one the author provided. You missed out the bit about one of their founding members, Ulf Ekberg, having been a proper, died-in-the-wool Nazi. With that as the cornerstone of this theory, other stuff like the Base of Aces Nazi submarine thing and some of those lyrics taking on a much darker meaning certainly don't look great. As for the band's name, if it was inspired by the song "Ace of Spades", then why not call themselves that, or Ace Spade or, more likely, Ace of Bass? The spelling of "base" makes little sense, unless you read about the Nazi submarine thing. Even at the time I thought that was weird how it wasn't spelt Ace of Bass. I'm not sure about the "common interpretation" of "All That She Wants", but I always thought it was a song about a single mother who wanted to have more children as a way of claiming more child benefit from the state. That seemed obvious to me. Does all of this build up into conclusive proof that Ace of Base were a band of Nazis spreading racist Nazi propaganda under the guise of bad Euro-pop? No, of course not. But given that the band's most important member was a skinhead Nazi before forming the band, the other stuff doesn't look great. So, I'm gonna say, "Yep. Racist Nazis." Even worse though, their music really did suck (a bit like Roxette's).
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Post by Duragizer on Apr 22, 2020 0:00:17 GMT -5
Ekberg claims the band's name was inspired by Motorhead's "Ace of Spades". euromentravel.com/culture/popculture/ulf-ekberg-ace-of-base-interviewAnd that's the Cracked author's best evidence. Their remaining points are presumptuous/spurious. The video for "Happy Nation" references many influential thinkers from various backgrounds; Darwin isn't the only one singled out, and the mention of his most influential book is hardly evidence for scientific racism. The common interpretation of "All That She Wants" is that it's about a promiscuous woman who's constantly seeking out new sexual partners; inclusion of a necklace bearing six-pointed stars in the video hardly makes it about a lazy Jewish woman who wants to fill the world with Jewish rugrats. As for the Latin chant in "Happy Nation", if you read the article's comment section, you'll find posters who understand the language, and their translations are far more benign than the one the author provided. You missed out the bit about one of their founding members, Ulf Ekberg, having been a proper, died-in-the-wool Nazi. With that as the cornerstone of this theory, other stuff like the Base of Aces Nazi submarine thing and some of those lyrics taking on a much darker meaning certainly don't look great. As for the band's name, if it was inspired by the song "Ace of Spades", then why not call themselves that, or Ace Spade or, more likely, Ace of Bass? The spelling of "base" makes little sense, unless you read about the Nazi submarine thing. Even at the time I thought that was weird how it wasn't spelt Ace of Bass. I'm not sure about the "common interpretation" of "All That She Wants", but I always thought it was a song about a single mother who wanted to have more children as a way of claiming more child benefit from the state. That seemed obvious to me. Does all of this build up into conclusive proof that Ace of Base were a band of Nazis spreading racist Nazi propaganda under the guise of bad Euro-pop? No, of course not. But given that the band's most important member was a skinhead Nazi before forming the band, the other stuff doesn't look great. So, I'm gonna say, "Yep. Racist Nazis." I've known about Ekberg's past for quite a while, actually; it's why I haven't automatically discounted the possibility that he remained a closeted neo-Nazi or that he named the band after a Nazi submarine base. But it's quite a leap to go from there to saying the entire frickin' band is made up of neo-Nazis. If you're gonna make that claim, you'd better have solid evidence backing it up — quotes from the Berggrens espousing antisemitism/white supremacism, history of the Berggrens fraternizing with white supremacist groups, etc. Subjective lyric interpretations and pareidolia don't cut the mustard.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 22, 2020 3:30:56 GMT -5
You missed out the bit about one of their founding members, Ulf Ekberg, having been a proper, died-in-the-wool Nazi. With that as the cornerstone of this theory, other stuff like the Base of Aces Nazi submarine thing and some of those lyrics taking on a much darker meaning certainly don't look great. As for the band's name, if it was inspired by the song "Ace of Spades", then why not call themselves that, or Ace Spade or, more likely, Ace of Bass? The spelling of "base" makes little sense, unless you read about the Nazi submarine thing. Even at the time I thought that was weird how it wasn't spelt Ace of Bass. I'm not sure about the "common interpretation" of "All That She Wants", but I always thought it was a song about a single mother who wanted to have more children as a way of claiming more child benefit from the state. That seemed obvious to me. Does all of this build up into conclusive proof that Ace of Base were a band of Nazis spreading racist Nazi propaganda under the guise of bad Euro-pop? No, of course not. But given that the band's most important member was a skinhead Nazi before forming the band, the other stuff doesn't look great. So, I'm gonna say, "Yep. Racist Nazis." I've known about Ekberg's past for quite a while, actually; it's why I haven't automatically discounted the possibility that he remained a closeted neo-Nazi or that he named the band after a Nazi submarine base. But it's quite a leap to go from there to saying the entire frickin' band is made up of neo-Nazis. If you're gonna make that claim, you'd better have solid evidence backing it up — quotes from the Berggrens espousing antisemitism/white supremacism, history of the Berggrens fraternizing with white supremacist groups, etc. Subjective lyric interpretations and pareidolia don't cut the mustard. No solid evidence, but just ask yourself, would you be in a band with a Nazi? This goes way beyond having a differing political viewpoint to your bandmates. Some political opinions are so odious that the only people who will tolerate them are people who either openly or secretly agree with them. This is especially relevant given that Ekberg was one of two main songwriters in the band. I'd be interested to know how much of their song lyrics he wrote. Like I said before, we have no definitive proof, but it sure don't look too good.
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