ABBA or Steely Dan - you are compelled to choose one

the dan but this was hard

“Singing Voulez Voulez Voulez vous”

The Dan but it wasn't hard at all.

I’m not aware of having heard a song by Steely Dan.

you gotta go back jack and do it again

ABBA had some tunes

i don't like the idea of steely dan

arrival to the visitors is a hell of an albums run

as is say countdown to ecstasy to gaucho (can't buy a thrill included or excluded depending on how much of a freak you are)

But how is the idea of it?

Love them both, they would have been some of the first records I brought into the house as a young teen. Steely Dan was more consistent and had better lyrics and got my vote.

Can't Buy a Thrill seems to me like their most conventional Classic Rock album, with two big radio hits, what's so freaky about that?

so clearly ABBA the comparison doesn't even really make sense

but I feel that way about Sade vs Steely Dan too

They love the sound of words, an instrument's ability to produce beautiful notes, a producer's talent of knowing how many beautiful notes the ear can stand.

A draw.

what's so freaky about that?

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, March 8, 2021 7:33 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

having an alternate lead singer is pretty freaky in my book

i do love it and am a freak and should've just included it in the span

True, it's also weird that the "lead singer" only sings two songs, like on Fleetwood Mac's Penguin.

i know a lot of ppl for whom "dirty work" is the only dan song they can tolerate

I wonder if there are any Steely Dan fans who dislike Fagen's singing? Maybe musos who regard it as the weak link in an otherwise technically perfect package?

I know a lot of Sotos for whom "Dirty Work" is the only Stones song they can tolerate.

can’t buy a thrill is pretty much flawless

went for the band with the alternate lead singers. been a while since we had a poll this easy

abba is for true freaks from outer space

It was really sporting of the boys in ABBA to keep on showing up to stuff

The Dan but it wasn't hard at all.

Same here.

Steely Dan aren't half as well known or popular in the UK and Europe so this poll might be an east/West divide

I've been especially enamoured with ABBA's "I Am The City" lately. Not many songs out there about literally BEING a city

if this is too lopsided i will blame america

I'm always making the case for ABBA as an album first listening experience. Several super strong albums.

steely dan fans often seem to have a habit of describing the band in ways that make them sound singularly unappealing- not by mistake or as a gatekeeping move, but as a sincere point of recommendation. there is something to admire in that

there are ways to make abba sound as horrible but not so many fans would choose those ways. some seem to even want to downplay anything too weird or specific in favour of boring faux populist / universalist cliches

I like Steely Dan but this is no kind of contest.

I'm most often shunted into the goth corner of shame when I express distaste for ABBA. The Dan 4ever.

I'd say Arrival and The Visitors are as precise and in places terrifying as the best Steely Dan albums.

xp I was thinking about the overhanging sense of Nordic doom pervasive in a lot of ABBA's songs and chord structures

Though, lest we forget, "Dum Dum Diddle" is on "Arrival".

Yes, I think one thing ABBA and Steely Dan have in common is that the darkness in their songs is now slightly overstated, in compensation for them long being described as 'bland'.

maybe, but there are few non-metal/goth/whatever acts that i simultaneously enjoy but would also describe as "dismal" as ABBA.

you're OTM though. ABBA used to be synonymous with campy pop fluff for years, but they've been reframed in more recent times so the typical defense is a kneejerk "but-but-but actually they're REALLY DARK"!

The answer really is, why not both? Dancing Queen is a dancefloor filler AND a längtan paean to youth. That's why they're good

ABBA all day

Well, not really. But I voted ABBA. Could never get with The Dan.

ABBA. I have listened to two Steely Dan records, but cant remember anything apart from being a bit bored.

i genuinely don't know who's going to win here

I'd be suprised if Steely Dan didn't win but I invariably get polls wrong.

We could poll Steely Dan vs. sex and it would be a toss-up

Curious about this supposed dark undertone in abba

xp sex didn’t make gaucho

well, not directly

Curious about this supposed dark undertone in abba

The song is about a woman who quietly longs for the affections of a sad, lonely man who derives his only pleasure from constantly playing and practicing on his violin. The Guardian described it as "a song about a woman who feels sexually threatened by her partner's violin".[3]

Dan

Dan Dan Diddle

Dan. Don't really get ABBA.

Curious about this supposed dark undertone in abba

― calstars, Tuesday, March 9, 2021 6:12 AM (fifty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

“happy new year”

Benny is big on his Swedish folk music though!

And the Lester Bangs photo above, there is definitely something intentionally ironic about him, of all people, touting this band, of all bands. Isn't there? Isn't that the idea of him posing like that and making a big deal about it?

Bangs was a big proponent of Bubblegum (defined--iirc--as Rock in it's least pretentious form) and he considered ABBA a Bubblegum band.

I mentioned above that both ABBA and Steely Dan only recorded one cover apiece.

After the out of court settlement and Keith Jarrett later earning a songwriting credit, one might consider "Gaucho" a cover of sorts.

Honestly, I always did slot them in with, well, stuff like the Carpenters and Bay City Rollers, kind of cheesy pop targeted as such, as opposed to, say, Chic or Bee Gees, which definitely got targeted because disco/gay/black/dance/"the enemy of rock" music. As ABBA (like the Carpenters, briefly) got a bit of a hipper foothold, I just assumed a lot of people were enjoying them ironically, as kind of kitsch artifacts. But then there was another twist, at least as I remember it, where their general popularity at large crossed over with their kitsch/ironic appeal here, and suddenly you get phenomena like "Murial's Wedding," Bjorn Again, "Mamma Mia!" etc., which steadily, belatedly firmed them up as icons and/or totems in America, though hardly universal. All imo, of course.

This resonates with me, and I feel like it supports my contention that ABBA was not nearly as big in the US as they were in the UK. Even though I hadn't actually heard their music growing up, I was aware of them as a kitschy '70s relic, sort of like how I was aware of the Grateful Dead as icons of '60s hippie culture without having ever heard them, either. They were in the cultural ether without being present enough for me to form a connection.

Until the '90s.

As for Steely Dan, I heard "Boddhisattva" on WXRT when I was 16, thought that it ripped, and then checked out A Decade of Steely Dan from the library. My dad was also a casual fan who occasionally sang Dan songs around the house (though didn't actually own any of their albums), so I had more of an immediate context for them.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Recount!

dominion is with the dan

result is nearly as right as it could possibly be

lol nice

There are two kinds of ilxors

i like all kinds of music

Oh, I'm pleasantly surprised. I thought ABBA would walk this.

I kind of wanna say ABBA = hearts, DAN = minds

See, the opposite is the case for me.

As an adult, I can appreciate ABBA's craft but I'm still a little detached from it. There are a number of Steely Dan songs that really move me in a visceral way. I don't see the jazz-influenced music and acerbic doom as things that flatter my taste or intelligence. (Soft jazz-pop is quite the opposite tbh.)

I can’t believe that many people voted for abba

will you send an S.O.S.

They were practically the ILM house band when it started. Gold was voted #3 record of all time in the 2001 poll.xp

TOO LOW

But tell me does Dan kiss
Like I used to kiss you
Does it feel the same
When Dan calls your name

I was tempted to do a Steely Dan vs. ABBA poll - that would be a true battle of the '70s stalwarts.

― o. nate, Monday, July 28, 2008 12:25 PM (twelve years ago)

Steely Dan vs. Fleetwood Mac

"Do you have any good memories of the pandemic?"
"Yes--I singlehandedly won a message-board poll for Steely Dan over ABBA."

I voted Abba but I am surprised the vote was such a razor thin margin favoring Steely Dan.

I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like ABBA. I only know one person (my dad) who listens to Steely Dan.

I don’t know anybody

Haha, from the Steely Dan vs. Fleetwood Mac thread:

but the Dan versus ABBA is totally easy: the Dan by a fucking mile.

this one is so hard i can't even wrap my head around it right now.

― the table is the table, Monday, July 28, 2008 2:28 PM (twelve years ago) bookmarkflaglink

From this thread:

This is the hardest TS poll i've ever participated in.

ABBA.

― it's like edging for your mind (the table is the table), Tuesday, March 9, 2021 3:16 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

What’s next - Steely Dan vs. Steve Miller Band?

This is the kind of poll where I would legitimately like to see the demo breakdown. Also, what the ratio of spite votes were for each group.

the winner takes it all

Steely Dan vs Kylie

Those results. Poor ABBA. So close yet so far

Jeez, I thought ABBA (my vote) would win by a mile...

ILM prefers their divorces Haitian, not Swedish. Now there's only emptiness, nothing to say.

I thought Dan would win by a mile.

So quite pleased ABBA got so close.

I guess someone needs to do a Fleetwood Mac vs Abba poll to complete the triangle, sometime around 2032.

I'd be curious (not so curious as to create a poll) to have a more nuanced breakdown, how many love one and hate the other, love both, etc. Maybe it's anti-popism prejudice, but I think the ABBA voters here are less tolerant of the Dan than the reverse.

If this had been 81-82 (when each band effectively ended their initial incarnation), that really would have been something.

(I didn't vote. I'd have tied it, I guess. Oops)

What Steely Dan songs would be best for a Broadway musical adaptation and what would it be called?

I wonder if a single vote was swayed by the existence of Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go: "The Dan are more vital, because they made comeback records in the 00s."

I'd be curious (not so curious as to create a poll) to have a more nuanced breakdown, how many love one and hate the other, love both, etc. Maybe it's anti-popism prejudice, but I think the ABBA voters here are less tolerant of the Dan than the reverse.

Not sure about that. I'm fairly sure however that ABBA polled comfortably more with non-North American voters.

What Steely Dan songs would be best for a Broadway musical adaptation and what would it be called?

― peace, man, Sunday, 14 March 2021 12:40 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Josie or FM would be good songs to base it around, but it would obviously be called Reelin in the Years, wouldn't it

It already came out- “Oh, Hello” on Broadway

So… there's at least 165 of us?

https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.1598876479.9057/ur,socks_flatlay_medium,square,600x600-bg,f8f8f8.1.jpg

most of us are Abba socks

...and one of us is only waiting for a call

I almost didn’t vote but glad I did. helped vanquish the abba beast

holy shit.