Has there ever been a pop band which has been as loved - and as hated - as ABBA? Even in the period before they appeared on the Eurovision Song Contest, when they were only well-known in Sweden, there were protests held and satirical songs written about them. In parallel with the long history of critical condemnations of ABBA, however, they have attracted greater love and admiration, from a wider range of listeners, than perhaps any other band of the era. What explains this range of reactions to them and why are they still so popular decades after their late-70s heydey? I break down their early hit, ‘SOS’, among others, to try to answer the surprisingly tricky question of what we’re listening to when we listen to ABBA.All the songs discussed in this episode, including the original recording of 'SOS' can be heard here. If you've enjoyed it, please leave a review on Apple podcasts; thank you.With very special thanks to Paul Wierdak, the producer of this episode.
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#12 - Family Affair / Sly and the Family Stone
When people first encountered Sly and the Family Stone in their early performances in San Francisco they were often struck by how much they really seemed like a family. They eschewed starriness; no one was put on a pedestal and it was clear that each member was valued and cared for. In a few short years, however, as the 1970s dawned, the band and this idealism seemed to implode. Sly Stone, the band's songwriter, had retreated into his Beverly Hills mansion, making music virtually alone and in the grip of substance addictions. In this context, he made the great song, 'Family Affair', which asks some very fundamental questions: who is our family? What do we owe them? What holds us together when promises are broken and lives fall apart?All the songs discussed in this episode, including the original recording of 'Family Affair' can be heard here. If you've enjoyed it, please leave a review on Apple podcasts; thank you.With very special thanks to Paul Wierdak, the producer of this episode.
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#11 - I Feel Love / Donna Summer
When Brian Eno first heard 'I Feel Love' by Donna Summer, produced by Giorgio Moroder in 1977, he declared that he had 'heard the sound of the future'. It was the first pop song to be entirely produced on a synthesiser and quickly came to be seen as an important milestone in the history of record production, pointing the way forward to the dominance of electronic technology in the decades following its release. Equally, it's a song which was immediately embraced by gay clubbing communities; when Sam Smith recorded their cover of it in 2019, they could describe it as a 'queer anthem'. In this episode, the first of a new series focussing on songs from the 1970s and 80s, I ask what it is about 'I Feel Love' which has inspired these responses and what might link these two key strands of its history.All the songs discussed in this episode, including the original recording of 'I Feel Love' can be heard here. The theme from A Clockwork Orange is not on Spotify but at the time of writing can be found here. If you've enjoyed the episode please leave a review on Apple podcasts. Thank you.With very special thanks to Paul Wierdak, the producer of this episode.
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Series 2 trailer
The return of the award-winning music analysis podcast, The Secret Life of Songs, is a major event in the worlds of podcasting and pop music writing. Building on the success of the first series, which was awarded Bronze in Best Arts & Culture Podcast at the British Podcast Awards 2021, the ten new episodes explore classic songs from the 1970s and 80s in ways which transform our understanding of popular music and break new ground for the podcast as a medium.We’ll hear how the fallout from the disappointed hopes of the 1960s was explored in the work of Sly Stone and Joni Mitchell, how the unearthly new sounds unlocked by radical new music technology was used to express both utopian and dystopian impulses by Giorgio Moroder and the originators of Detroit Techno, and how the era’s most divisive cultural concept - postmodernism - was uncannily reflected in the output of the era’s most divisive pop band - ABBA. All of this - and more - will be presented by host Anthony in his inimitable style: deftly weaving fine-grained musical analysis, historical context and philosophical reflection with his own impassioned recreations of the music in question to produce embodied, thoroughly grounded and deeply personal insights into these wonderful songs. The first three episodes will be released on Thursday August 20th, 2025, then fortnightly on Thursdays after that.
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#10 - River Deep — Mountain High / Ike & Tina Turner
How does a record make us feel like we're in a vast space, one that we've never experienced, one that may not exist? In this episode, the last of the series, I look at the Phil Spector production, 'River Deep — Mountain High', performed in 1966 by Tina Turner, to explore how we hear space in music. It was a groundbreaking record in its time, costing an unprecedented amount of money to make, and it still sounds as if it's pushing at the outer limits of what can be captured on record. I'm interested in how we experience all that as listeners: how something so apparently small as a three-minute pop song can contain intimations of cavernous feeling and impossible depths.All the songs discussed in this episode, including the original recording of 'River Deep - Mountain High' can be heard here. If you've enjoyed the episode please leave a review on Apple podcasts! Thank you :)
Award-winning music analysis podcast, The Secret Life of Songs, returns with a new series exploring classic songs from the 1970s and 80s. Hear how the fallout from the disappointed hopes of the 1960s was explored in the work of Sly Stone and Joni Mitchell, how the unearthly new sounds unlocked by radical new music technology was used to express both utopian and dystopian impulses by Giorgio Moroder and the originators of Detroit Techno, and how the era’s most divisive cultural concept - postmodernism - was uncannily reflected in the output of the era’s most divisive pop band - ABBA. All of this - and more - is presented by host Anthony in his inimitable style: deftly weaving fine-grained musical analysis, historical context and philosophical reflection with his own impassioned recreations of the music to produce embodied, thoroughly grounded and deeply personal insights into these wonderful songs. Winner of the bronze award in 'Best Arts & Culture Podcast' at the British Podcast Awards 2021.
Ireland