ACE OF BASE – "All That She Wants"

I remember seeing that Stephin Merritt quote and finding one or two examples of swedish reggae, but can’t find them again now.

Well you can at least add Robyn’s Dancehall Queen to the Swedish regrae canon, now.

Only one Swedish reggae song? Surely Ace of Base’s other main hits (The Sign, Don’t Turn Around) are in that genre too?

Anyhow, I agree with Tom’s 8 for this one. Swedish pop genius and Abba’s visual template re-emerging at the height of grunge in the US was genuinely refreshing. All the space in AOB’s tracks was indeed glorious, and when they fully exploited their visual potential as in this ToTP vid for All That She Wants or in The Sign’s official vid. the effect was intoxicating. Interestingly, now that dance-pop has become as bludgeoning and cluttered as grunge ever was, AOB’s stuff *still* refreshes, and I find myself liking ATSW, The Sign, and a few others more than ever.

Oh, and I love that little rasp/grunt from Linn after the leading ‘She leads a lonely life’. Excellent.

Leila K was Swedish, I think, too.. and more to the point (someone who I really wish qualified for inclusion here) didn’t Neneh Cherry (and brother) have some kind of Swedish connection too. “Buffalo Stance” would have made a fantastic no 1….

Love the characteristic melancholy that is a constant undertow on this track (though Happy Nation the song is that and little more), as well as the reggae beat. Although, still, I think, in fact, this is probably my least favourite single by Ace of Base.

They did (later – “The Sign”, and later still “Lucky Love”, and possibly elsewhere too) develop the art of the carefully edited 2-3 minute pop song that went as quickly as it came, leaving a clear and sharp impression that couldn’t overstay its welcome. ATSW is a bit blander, less focused, and doesn’t seem such a polished complete object as some of those other singles. And unlike those others, it does go on for too long.

I have to applaud getting such misery in to the form of the Capital Radio-friendly pop song, though.

I was a kid when this was a hit, so I took baby literally and thought this was a song about a woman trying to have a second child.

Not having thought about the lyrics since I was about 12, I was still under the impression that it was an actual baby she wanted until, um, just now. I remember my uncle saying it was about the woman next-door to him who’d had three kids with different fathers – I forget if he was spinning this alleged fact in a “she must really love having babies” way or a “bloody scroungers” way.

Yaki Da (who a bit of googling shows had a direct link with Ace of Base.) also spring to mind.

I was living in South-Eastern Europe (Ukraine, and a summer in Romania) for a time in the mid-90s, and they bloody loved this kind of stuff there.

I’m sure the films of Lukas Moodysson (at least: before he disappeared up his own backside – from “Container” on) will reveal more, actually…. (which makes me ask…is “Hole In My Heart” almost this song expressed in filmic form? More shocking and aggressively miserable and deliberately unpleasant, sure. But the same solitude and despair is overwhelmingly present)

I fear other artists of this genre will reenter my mind now, having been safely buried for 15+ years.

Think there’s an insistent bunny chomping greedily on a carrot in the area of Swedish Reggae too. (Again – definitely not *that* group’s best single)

I seem to remember tabloid commentary about this song at the time giving it a ‘moral panic’ interpretation as being about women who literally only “want another baby” i.e. single mothers who seek to be impregnated by anonymous fathers.

RE Swedish Reggae, the Ace of Base sound actually came from them attempting to recreate the vibe of this Swedish classic that sadly never crossed over to the UK. You can hear how liberally they “Borrowed” the sound for All That She Wants. http://youtu.be/bRMuQt9G_UM

Like ABBA and Roxette, AoB were deceptively good songsmiths who were frequently written off as eurotrash. I love all of their albums for different reasons. My personal favourite of their hits (and they had more than you think) is Life is a Flower, surely one of the most uplifting candy-coated earworms of the 90s.

I love current Swedish reggae artist Kapten Röd, though singing in Swedish he seems unlikely to reach the US/UK market:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbPNwzFNQ7E

Strange to think how ridiculously massive Ace of Base were in America, although it didn’t really last beyond this album (which sold something ridiculous like 9 million!)

The Sign spent six weeks at #1 in America, whereas this was held off the top by the juggernaut that was Meatloaf’s I Would Do Anything For Love (and, for one week, Janet Jackson’s Again).

Because I love pedantry (and ludicrously specific genre knowledge), I’ll add my friend’s response:

“Ace of Base was a _very_ late addition to Swedish Reggae. That webpage seems to have completely missed the genre-defining “Hög Standard” album from 1975 by Peps Perssons Blodsband. Tsk, tsk.”

the meaning of the song remains (for me) satisfyingly unsettled – I’ve always thought it was about a woman whose biological clock was ticking – but other aspects of the lyrics don’t entirely support that. The bassline is very reminiscent of ‘Dub be good to me’ and there’s a similar tension between the reggae rhythms and the frosty vocals and compressed musical arrangement.
I hear hints of reggae in Little Dragon as well – although I may be thinking of the singers work with Gorillaz

Another observation that probably seems quite obvious, but I’ll mention it anyway:

Fernando – ABBA
La Isla Bonita – Madonna
All That She Wants – Ace Of Base
*BUNNIED* – Shakira
Alejandro – Lady Gaga

They all share a similar sort of Pop DNA and arguably define the pop landscape within their own periods in time. The explicit connectedness of the tracks I mentioned with ATSW acting as a kind of fulcrum point seem to suggest one informs the next and so on. This sort of thing happens in Rock quite often, but in pop it seems less obvious. I’m sure a lot of the commenters here will go “Well, DUH!”, but I’m starting to notice this effect more often since contributing to Popular.

I missed Ace of Base the first time around; I don’t know if there was any particular moment when I went back and caught up on them. They seem generally beloved by people my age (30) as something most of my peers except me got really into as kids and then quickly suppressed but never abandoned. Baffling really – – “Don’t Turn Around” is pretty good, “The Sign” kind of short on ideas but catchy as hell… but to me “All That She Wants” is a great melody and fairly compelling vocal, trapped in a clattering, distracting production. I can usually bracket this kind of thing as a period/genre piece – they all sound like that so it’s a bit lame to really harp on the beats, but man do they not serve the song. If it’s meant to be wistful, get all that crap out of there (especially the goofy synth sax!) and if it’s meant to be driving get a rhythm section that doesn’t sound like it came free in a box of Cheerios. As it is, the song just kind of minces along, making the vocals feel slower and more half-hearted than they actually are.

(I actually love the [i]sound[/i] of the goofy synth sax – just think it’s a weird fit here.)

#35 Not quite. The intro and choruses are minor, then it modulates to the parallel major the start of both verses (the verse melody never lands on the third so the change can go unnoticed), but there are little differences. The shift from F# major to F#minor under the line ‘It’s a day for catching time’ (or whatever) is not replicated in the second verse, which makes the whole verse ‘feel’ more major key as the tonal ground is more stable!

a rhythm section that doesn’t sound like it came free in a box of Cheerios
@#34, I guess I know what you’re getting at, but for myself I really like the drum machine and bass on this track and regard it as a cornerstone of the AoB sound (they used these same sounds and patterns on all of their early hits). It’s punchy but not at all pummelling if that makes any sense. In a way, I regard it as a useful update of the sort of driving but non-oppressive (non-drum machine) rhythm tracks that one finds on Evelyn King’s first album (Shame, The Show is Over, etc.) or even on Off The Wall. And it feels to me now about equally classic, and equally welcome when it turns up in mash-ups. Compare Miley Cyrus’s Party in the USA with its mash-up/reboot to the AoB back track from The Sign.

they came and went without really making much of an impression on me
@#23. I kind of had the same feeling but I’ve tended to put that down to just that AoB weren’t able to follow up this initial period of storming success with anything much (in the US at least). Apparently, I gather, this was because (A-singer and visual focus) Linn very quickly wanted out of the business (Agnetha squared?). I’ve only caught up with AoB’s later semi-hits (outside the US) recently on youtube and the sense of Linn shrinking away from the camera (and the music) in those vids is quite palpable and remarkable.

#37 Yes, there is quite an emphasis on avoidance of the 3rd. I seem to remember them doing a similar thing harmonically in The Sign (which is predominantly major).

#33 – other accordion solos in reggae(ish) songs = almost everything ever by Edward II…

NOW watch: All That She Wants was on Disc One of Now 25. Bits of soft reggae, a few 80s throwbacks (incl. the bunnied entry), and even room for Kingmaker. It went pretty much like this:

George Michael & Queen : “Somebody to Love”
4 Non Blondes : “What’s Up?”
Tina Turner : “I Don’t Wanna Fight”
Ace of Base : “All That She Wants”
Gabrielle : “Dreams”
Lena Fiagbe : “You Come From Earth”
R.E.M. : “Everybody Hurts”
New Order : “Regret”
*******bunny ears*******
Gloria Gaynor : “I Will Survive”
Inner Circle : “Sweat (A La La La La Long)”
Chaka Demus & Pliers : “Tease Me”
Louchie Lou & Michie One : “Shout (It Out)”
Shabba Ranks featuring Maxi Priest : “Housecall”
Duran Duran : “Come Undone”
Paul Weller : “Sunflower”
Kingmaker : “Ten Years Asleep”

Other examples of Swedish reggae: T-Spoon, Mr President.

Nothing will convince me that this song isn’t about a woman trying to get pregnant from a one-night stand. What is the alternative reading?

Good grief.
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/ace-of-bases-secret-nazi-past

(See also: and for a slight correction http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/ace-of-base-nazi-past-lyrics_n_3148797.html )