AQUA 'Aquarium' - Classic or Dud?

That's usually what makes the difference for me between just a regular pop song and an absolute classic. It has to make me think.

Smooth.

Oh, and "Turn Back Time" is what Dianne Warren _thinks_ all of her songs sound like, i.e. fantastically moving and poppily gorgeous. That said, the best song on that album is "Calling You" - and the bonus track on some editions, "Didn't I" kicks arse too.

I love Lene Nystrom far too much, I really do.

this is an interesting song. Did the band write it themselves. I think the Diane Warren comparison is an interesting one. The song reminds me of some of Roxette's slower numbers ("listen to Your Heart") for example, but improves on it lyrically and also because Lene is a better singer.

I actually work with a Dr. Jones and whenever anyone mentions his name, *somebody* will start singing the Aqua song. This is a measure of the greatness of Aqua, that six or seven years on the song still has this impact.

Aqua videos were fantastic, too.

Actually the...Swedish? version of "Barbie Girl" is better than the English one. I have no idea what they are saying but the guy sounds a lot more pissed off on it, he's growling half the time and at one point she calls him something that sounds like "Spitzer" which is a good name.

This used to be all Wheeler would listen to for like 3 months so I got well acquainted with the album.

Swedish version hmmm....

I'll send you the one I have, it's just that I'm not at home and also my home connection is terrible so sometimes it takes an hour to upload but I've been meaning to put up a lot of stuff lately.

Didn't Lene take up with Morten Harket? I thought that was swedelicious.

(ie you have to save the world from a giant octopus — why?? not explained — by shooting at it from yr undersea podule... tomb raider it is not)

No, it's much much much better than that.

thats the only song i know, but for that alone classic and the video was great too.

i just remembered there was a Aqua ref. on True Porn Clerk Stories so dug up that link, it's the first one and then there is a followup titled "can't Stop the Music" about halfway down (and how do ppl link to specific parts of pages?)

http://www.improvisation.ws/mb/tpcs3.php

You don't need the second album, you just need the wonderfully idiotic chintz-fest of "Halloween" - though to be fair the ballads on "Aquarius" are better than the ones on "Aquarium".

Aqua = best video artist of the late 90s, no?

I mean, like, this, "Grrr! It's Betty Boo", "We Didn't Say That" and "Spiceworld", that's what should be in the canon.

So there!

hello,the last time i came to perth to see my auntie we came and we thought all the sharks were excelant.from matthew.

-- matthew desmond mcgrath, Thursday, 2 March 2006 04:05 (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

Gotta steal from the rich when they don't know I'm coming
Gotta give to the poor, no time for looo-vin

i have a high tolerance for euro-dance-pop-cheese but aqua are just gross

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz8loLIYc2Q

They're back!

Back To The 80's Lyrics:

Back in the Ronald Reagan days
When we put satellites in space
When boys wore skinny leather ties, oo-oh-oh
Like Don Johnson from Miami Vice

When Eminem was just a snack
And Michael Jackson's skin was black
Back when the coolest thing in store, oo-oh-oh
Was a Commodore 64

(Yeah)
(Yeah)
(Yeah)

Back to the 80s
Back to Soap
Back to Rocky and Cherry Coke, yeah
Those were the days
And we go

Back to the 80s
Say 'Hey there, Mister T.'
Put Twisted Sisters on MTV, yeah
Those were the days
I'll come back

To Iron Maiden and 7Up (Oo-oh yeah)
Bananarama and Breakfast Club
Come back (Yeah)
Come back (Yeah)
I'll come back

When Huey Lewis was the news
And we went flying with Tom Cruise
When shoulder pads and looking tough, ooh-oh-oh
Was the dirty David Hasselhoff

Too many men with heavy makeup on (Hey)
Too many poodles with guitars
Thanks for all the joy you've given us
You will always be our superstars

(Yeah)
(Yeah)
(Yeah)

[ Find more Lyrics on www.mp3lyrics.org/H3Ah ]
Back to the 80s
Back to Soap (Back to soul)
Back to Rocky and Cherry Coke, yeah
Those were the days
And we go

Back to the 80s
Say 'Hey there, Mister T.'
Put Twisted Sisters on MTV, yeah
Those were the days
I'll come back

To Iron Maiden and 7-Up (Oo-oh yeah)
Bananarama and Breakfast Club
Come back (Yeah)
Come back (Yeah)
I'll come back

(We love the 80s)
(Oh)

Hooray for Cosby and Rubik's cube
Hooray for Dynasty and moon boots
Hooray for Devo and barber curls
Hooray for Poltergeist and Barbie girls

We love
We love
We love
We love

Back to the 80s (We love the 80s)
Back to Soap (We love it all)
Back to Rocky and Cherry Coke, yeah
Those were the days...
Let's go back!

Back to the 80s (To Ferris Bueller)
To Mister T. (Yeah)
And Twisted Sisters on MTV, yeah
Those were the days
I'll come back

To Iron Maiden and 7Up (Oo-oh yeah)
Bananarama and Breakfast Club
Come back (Yeah)
Come back (Yeah)

Let's go back (to) (the 80s)
7Up
(We love it all)
(All the stars still standing tall)
Let's go back (to) (the 80s)
Back (to) (the 80s)
Back (to) (the 80s)
7Up
(We love it all)
(All the stars still standing tall)

I'm not sure if this is kinda funny or kinda sad. Sadly the song isn't quite as catchy as "Barbie Girl" or "Dr. Jones".

"sadly"

Ugh godawful (and I say this with "Cartoons Heroes" possibly in my decade top ten)! And wtf are "barber curls"? And Rocky = 1980s?

yeah, definitely putting up a solid fight w/ "boom boom pow" for worst single of the year

some A+ fakeposting in here

what a disaster for sweden

For kids now, pop music is just American Idol and 50 Cent.

― Jurgen Heimlich

grandpa? is that you?

And Rocky = 1980s?

I definitely associate Rocky with the 1980s, mainly Rocky IV.

I thought the chorus was "Back to Rocky and Then Jericho" until I saw those lyrics :/

My Oh My is still their finest moment.

Barbie Girl makes me want to kill myself! Or kill someone! I cannot, off the top of my head, think of a more torturous song.

Try "Ing" by The Roches (great song, btw...so is "Barbie Girl").

No love for "Dr. Jones"?? That may be the most perfect pop song of our generation!

They definitely had the best videos. They really seemed to take the piss out of anyone who took them seriously at all. Also on youtube you can find some clips of their 2008 tour that are AWESOME! Apparently they turned all their songs into Europop/metal hybrids; really over the top camp but they sound pretty good!

Lene Nystrom is everything that Katy Perry should be but isn't.

from the Barbie Girl Youtube page:

he will totally rape her
demboboy 2 hours ago

xp totally agreed; I always thought Aqua were very clever and generally handled their metaphors very well. I definitely understand now why I despise Katy Perry (at least, her music)

matthew desmond mcgrath

anyone heard any of the new stuff yet? are they back?

let me answer my own question. apparently the new album is coming out in a couple of weeks. here's the tracklisting:

1) Playmate To Jesus
2) Dirty Little Popsong
3) Kill Myself
4) Like A Robot
5) Viva Las Vegas
6) No Party Patrol
7) Come ‘N Get It
8 ) Sucker For A Superstar
9) Be My Saviour Tonight
10) How R U Doin?
11) If The World Didn’t Suck (We Would All Fall Off)

album cover:

http://tierramusical.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1fb81__AquaMegalomaniacdalbum.png

I am oddly anticipating this as I've always thought the group really transcended the garbage bubblegum acts they were often compared to, but man is this unexpected

The single didn't really stand out much, unfortunately.

There's been three singles already, none of which are great, not up to the standards of the tracks off the Greatest Hits from '09, and definitely not up to Aquarium stnadard. SIgh.

wow yeah I'm cruisin' Youtube and they really seem to be moving in a very 2011-mainstream direction, which isn't really a good thing given the circumstances. I hope they haven't lost their sense of humor, but it seems like Rene doesn't have any lines at all!?

really not feeling this "fuck me like a robot" song w/ the Chris Brown-lite autotuned vocals, this is straight up pandering, it's kinda catchy but really indistinguishable from anything you'll hear in a club these days; I understand that they're not gonna sound like they did 15 years ago but I really liked the tweaks they made on Aquarius, which evolved their sound without following any trends, so yeah let's wait and see

lol ok I have the full album now and "Like a Robot" is one of my favorites, it's really digging into my head. Intentional or not it's pretty funny! I still can't tell if they're being ironic all the time but this isn't a bad listen, it's super catchy plus there's a remake of some old unreleased tune that's pretty great. I just don't think there's a place for them in this post-Black Eyed Peas world

my daughter has gotten into this band lately! we're watching the videos and man, the bald dude is funny. and apparently, totally straight?

Aquarium is a fun record to revisit, dumb but stuffed with really catchy tunes, they sure don't make 'em like this anymore

The totp reruns went through Aqua's glory days recently and the way bald dude finds a different pose for each "come on Barbie let's go party" is hilarious.

even better was when he had nothing to do during "Turn Back Time" and did some great background mooching.

I love this album, it isn't trying to be tasteful or important but it is so generous with its hooks, its energy, and its humour that it's easy to get swept up in its charms.

hello,the last time i came to perth to see my auntie we came and we thought all the sharks were excelant.from matthew.
― matthew desmond mcgrath, Thursday, 2 March 2006 04:05 (nineteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm not sure how it was received when it came out (I was 11) but I remember hearing the word "fad" thrown around a lot, in fact I'm pretty sure that's the first time I ever heard that word. but look at the Billboard top singles of '97! how many other songs held up as well as "Barbie Girl"?? 1.6 billion views on YouTube. their other singles are doing pretty well too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1997

my daughter now loves "Doctor Jones" most of all...what can I say...she's got taste. probably their funniest video too. the way the dude saves the other three members from being eaten alive by just uh...walking out in avaitors and making funny faces.

I'd never actually seen the "Roses are Red" video before. it's not like their other ones, though every member of the group still looks insane, it more resembles a Scooter video but way way brighter. maybe they didn't want to come out of the gate swinging like that.

I dunno if this ever got posted anywhere here:

‘People Probably Want to Kill Us’: The Oral History of Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’

this man is a treasure

René Dif: As a DJ, it was important for me to read the people in the club and know exactly what tune to put on to get them to dance. The music I played was very varied. It was funk, hip-hop, house, and then electro [acts like] Erasure and Depeche Mode. But my all-time favorite, and always will be, is Rick Astley. I really, really love Rick Astley.

thinking about the Toy-Box single "Tarzan & Jane" which followed the "Barbie Girl" formula 1 year later

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlDjEd8gAkI

I knew a guy who was very into Toy-Box and would play the same three songs by them every time we were over, I asked him once if he'd mix it up with some Aqua and he said "nah I don't really like them", as if Aqua were just too subtle for him

The views on Aqua are a fair bit revisionist these days. Eurodance was indeed a fad, Aquas second album flopped (and has some absolutely awful stuff on it) and it was indeed music for children. As in, the two songwriters met doing children's music, and they had their first big break performing on a sunday morning children's show. The Danish charts were full of stuff like this in the nineties, and the label owners openly spoke about it, they claimed that they were changing culture by marketing to children he same way culture had changed when teens became a demographic in the sixties (At one point, a satirical tv-show had a sketch about the numbers showing that by 2020, 42% of the population in Denmark would be a member of a teendance band, that's how many there were).

Aqua was the best of them. I still remember seeing them on that sunday morning show, performing Roses Are Red, and even at nine I could see they were good. That back masked hook in Roses Are Red is amazing, right? And they tried to become more adult. But people hated them back then for very good reasons, they were spoonfed to us, and they weren't a breath of fresh air, they were part of a wave of awfulness.

I don't disagree with any of that, that whole scene's mainstream appeal obviously wasn't built to last, in order to stay relevant they'd have to do what Scooter did and start borrowing from more contemporary records but Aqua had such a unique and cartoonish image that they couldn't really do that. I remember liking the 2nd album fine even though the orchestrations made it sound like a knockoff Disney movie. I guess the point is they were by far the best at what they did and I don't think their big streaming numbers are a result of middle aged Dads waxing nostalgic like they're Third Eye Blind. My kids are 10 and 8 so there are other kids around constantly and they all know Barbie Girl as well as anything on the charts today. It's funny because every once in a while they'll bring up the Backstreet Boys or something as "mom and dad music", but Aqua is definitely something for *them*. I don't know if they're even aware its like 30 years old at this point.

They just came to my city. I didn't go but heard it was fun and very well attended. I liked Dr Jones; Barbie Girl was alittle too sickly sweet for me at the time. I liked that seemed to be having fun.

Happy boys and happy girls, we'll be
We are the happy boys and girls
Happy boys and happy girls, we'll be
So happy, yeah, so, so happy, yeah
Happy boys and happy girls, we'll be
We are the happy boys and girls
Happy boys and happy girls, we'll be
Oh yeah, so happy

Young and old (Be happy)
Everyone (Be happy)
I'm sure you could (Be happy)
'Cause happy boys and happy girls around the world

(Be happy) Come on, let's go get it on
(Be happy) Everybody, let's go have some fun
(Be happy) Come on, let's go get it on
(Be happy) Everybody, let's go have some fun

My kids are 10 and 8 so there are other kids around constantly and they all know Barbie Girl as well as anything on the charts today.

How do they feel about, or are they even aware of, the remake for the Barbie film?

Y'know, I don't mind lyrics like that these days, it's okay that something like that exists. But it was the biggest thing in the country for five years, and at that point it felt like brainwashing.

Like a lot of people I have a distinct memory of hearing "Turn Back Time" on the radio and thinking "the new Madonna single isn't bad", then being surprised to find out it was by Aqua. I find them incredibly nostalgic.

And also melancholic. There's an underlying sadness in their music. "Happy Boys and Girls" is so ridiculously upbeat it makes me feel sad. If we were happy all the time no-one would need that song. The band's mixture of comedy lyrics, upbeat music, and cartoonish image had a subtext that life for most people is not nearly as happy as the fantasy world of Aqua, but we can dream. They had an underlying complexity that was lacking in e.g. The Vengaboys, who were the next big thing in upbeat Europop.

I have a vivid memory of being in the HMV on Oxford Street, looking at a store display of a PlayStation playing the demo for Tomb Raider II, while "Dr Jones" played over the tannoy, which must have been late 1997. I remember thinking that many years from now, this will be my memory of the 1990s. Not Sunnyside Farm or The Cones Hotline. That would have been the huge HMV at 150 Oxford Street, which inevitably is now a Sports Direct. 1997 must have been at or near the high water mark for physical media. Final Fantasy VII, Be Here Now, and Terminator 2 on DVD. Back when there were shops, and we had bodies. I remember wondering at the time if the storage space of ever-higher-definition physical media would continue to outstrip the bandwidth of home internet (answer: no), and whether people would be prepared to give up the thrill of going to a shop in exchange for slightly cheaper music (answer: yes).

"Dr Jones" is a great song, too. It has three hooks. Four hooks. There's the chorus, the yippee-aye-wah, the interjections from Mr Aqua, and "please, please, kill me", which felt unusually dark for a song aimed at children. That lyric confused the heck of me until I realised that it was "cure me". Presumably Doctor Jones was a doctor of medicine rather than a doctor of archeology. But, yes, four hooks. Most pop songs nowadays have one hook that repeats a lot. Aqua said fuck that. "Barbie Girl" has three hooks (the chorus, "come on Barbie, let's go party", the spoken word section). The rest of their output was hook central. They were artists. Craftspeople.

If they were a pastime, they would be fishing. Because of the hooks. And also they were called Aqua.

I sometimes feel sorry for "My Oh My", which is a great song in its own right. It was completely overshadowed by the one-two punch of "Barbie Girl" and "Dr Jones" and then thrown from Hell in a Cell onto the announcer's table by "Turn Back Time". It's very rare for a band to have two iconic hits in a row, much less three. The Prodigy managed it, so did Frankie Goes to Hollywood. That's rare. If a record label ever gives me money to manage a pop band I will demand that the band writes two banging pop hits plus a really good ballad. The ballad will be the Christmas single. It'll give the band the illusion of depth. Then I will overdose on cocaine and insist that their next album will be a rock opera about spiders, because everybody has spiders crawling on their hands. I know I do.

I actually had Aqua's second album. The only thing I remember is Lene's tube top on the cover. She invented the midriff years before Gwen Stefani. I remember wondering why they had to draw a diving helmet on Mr Aqua. Couldn't they afford an actual diving helmet?

I feel like that's Aqua's secret sauce (beyond the fact that their songs have multiple hooks in them) - there's something inscrutable about them. their videos and lyrics are highly entertaining but barely make any sense, they're more weird than suggestive. there's almost like a Neil Breen quality to what they do. you think you know what they're talking about but do you really? the "Barbie Girl" oral history above is full of "wait, what??" moments...apparently the song is about plastic surgery, did anyone else get that? did anyone understand that Lene and Rene are *not* supposed to be Barbie and Ken in the video even though the first line in the song is them saying to each other "Hiya Barbie! Hi Ken!"

imo that's what makes them way more intriguing than the Vengaboyz, who always felt like an industry plant, or Toy-Box, which felt intentionally stupid and were full of such obvious innuendo. not to say Aqua's innuendo was subtle but it was also very weird. Lene's outfits and hairstyles were kinda sexy but also often looked just insane. and her male counterpart was almost like "what if there was an even gayer version of Mr. Clean?" they have such a strange on screen chemistry with each other. can you imagine a movie with those two as the romantic leads?? and yet they dated in real life!

https://playbill.com/article/aqua-the-musical-featuring-songs-of-danish-pop-group-sets-2028-premiere

(sadly looks to be a biomusical rather than a Mamma Mia style affair)

and "please, please, kill me", which felt unusually dark for a song aimed at children. That lyric confused the heck of me until I realised that it was "cure me".

hah just yesterday my son asked "why does she want to be killed?"

"there's almost like a Neil Breen quality to what they do. you think you know what they're talking about but do you really?"

Well, that's the thing. Indiana Jones was obviously a doctor in archeology, but the lyrics imply that he's a medical doctor. I can't tell if they genuinely didn't realise, or if it was a joke, or if they deliberately added the ambiguity to head off legal action from Paramount - so they could truthfully say the song was about a medical doctor who just happened to be called Jones - or if they just surmised that Indiana Jones would be able to wake people up.

Fascinatingly Wikipedia suggests that it was a direct quote from Temple of Jones, at 02:34 here, where Willie actually says "Dr Jones, Dr Jones, wake up please":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEsiTGo6VI4

So obviously they must have seen the film, and perhaps that bit stuck with them. Which raises the question of whether they saw the film in English, or if the Danish translation of "wake up now" is rhythmically close enough to the English that it works in a song. The real question is whether Aqua were able to think in English. Could they think in English? Where they self-aware? Is it possible to reverse engineer René Dif's consciousness from the media he created?

Also the whole "baby, I am missing you" bit is a hook as well. "You're the love I've found" is a classic piece of not-quite-correct, but-it-works Europop English. How is it that a band with a genuinely good lady vocalist and a comedy rapper could produce more than one excellent pop song? The Sugarcubes had similar ingredients and they struggled.

"When the rhythm is glad, there is nothing to be sad".

that kind of reminds me of the bit in The Disaster Artist where Greg Sestero talks about how The Room was influenced by The Talented Mr. Ripley, a film which it does not resemble in the slighest. but it makes a little more sense when you find out his character was named Mark after "Mark Damon"

I'm so mad someone borrowed my copy of that book and never gave it back
(obviously it is tearing me apart)

I have a feeling I listened to Lene Nystrom's solo album a fair bit at the time but all I can remember is 'It's your duty (to shake that booty)'

oh and 'Here We Go' which I guess is a bit Sound Of The Underground-esque

did Lene not write some Girls Aloud songs?

I didn't know that but it looks like yes - also Brian Higgins worked with both

I'm so mad someone borrowed my copy of that book and never gave it back
(obviously it is tearing me apart)

It’s so good, I was afraid it might pull back the curtain a little too far and reveal that maybe he was fucking with the audience somewhat but no it turns out he’s even weirder than you think. Funny story I read it on a flight to Mexico with my wife and accidentally left it at her parents house there, she found it later and read it and was floored to find out it was a true story. I was like not only is it true but you actually watched some of it with me and thought I was insane for enjoying it

oh and 'Here We Go' which I guess is a bit Sound Of The Underground-esque

― kinder

Girls Aloud covered it on their second album. They later did We Wanna Party on Out Of Control too.