“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” by ABBA
A late-70s dancefloor anthem celebrates its 45th anniversary!
It's the end of the week, and I want to send everyone off into the weekend with the best vibes possible. That’s why the Daily Music Picks newsletter features a weekly segment called Fun Song Fridays! Regardless of era, genre, or style, the criterion is simple: it must deliver the joy and excitement we all need in our lives.
You can access the entire Fun Song Fridays archive here. While you’re at it, add the companion playlist to your favorite streaming platform.
Hello! 😊👋
Welcome to a new edition of the Best Music of All Time newsletter!
Today’s music pick celebrates 45 years of an ABBA dancefloor anthem.
Genre: Pop, Disco
Label: Polar Music
Release Date: October 12, 1979
Vibe: 🕺🕺🕺
Here’s a hot take for you: The greatest songwriting duo in pop music history aren’t American, former Beatles, or current Rolling Stones.
They didn’t write for rock radio or the Motown machine. No, the two humans most adept at crafting catchy, timeless, endlessly listenable songs are Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, the chief architects of ABBA’s global success.
We’re talking jaw-dropping commercial momentum that, as of this writing, has sustained for a half-century. They’ve sold over 385 million records worldwide, helped create one of the most successful stage musicals of all time, and, as of November 2023, sold more than 2 million tickets for their cutting-edge ABBA Voyage live show in London. Plenty of their hits would fit the bill for this recurring column, from the addictive “Take a Chance On Me” to the inescapable “Dancing Queen.” But it’s my newsletter, so we’re going with my personal favorite and a banger of a dance track, “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight).”
Written in part to capitalize on the disco craze, Ulvaeus and Andersson deliver one of the most iconic melodies of the decade—maybe of all time. But, perhaps more importantly, they build an incredible amount of tension and intrigue in the opening seconds that preceded it. The synthesizer slices past your defenses, swirling into a beat drop that ranks among the best stompers of disco’s peak period. It’s enough to make you forget how much of a bummer the lyrics are, though I find it hard to believe that any self-respecting man would pass up the chance to help Agnetha Fältskog “chase the shadows away.”
But, all that to say, let’s be real: that chorus is so incredible, so uplifting, that you can’t help but sing along to it. Dare I say physically impossible? I’ll let you soak in this famous Boiler Room DJ set moment it cultivated and let you judge for yourself.
Keep in mind, however, there’s only one correct response.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈
A couple of decades ago I began accepting that pop music contains stuff that is worth listening to. That was when I finally decided that there was a place for a Greatest Hits by the greats from Sweden in my collection. My favorite track, though, is a rock: "Does Your Mother Know?" Also, I strongly recommend visiting their museum in Stockholm.
The funny thing is, on the video you linked, you see the "bloke's with the beers" jumping up and down and singing "gimme gimme gimme a MAN after midnight" to a predominantly gay disco anthem. There's hope yet 😃 !