Why Abba are the best according to Ritchie Blackmore
Considered one of the founding fathers of hard rock and heavy metal thanks to his work with Deep Purple and Rainbow, Ritchie Blackmore has candidly admitted that he deeply admires one of the most pop bands that have ever graced the international scene: Abba.
The “confession”, so to speak, took place during a public back-and-forth that the artist had on Instagram. When asked what her favorite piece from the historic Swedish band's repertoire was, Blackmore said: “There are too many. I love them. They are incredible. They have progressions…”.
“I have a funny story about that,” he continued: “We were in a castle in France trying to do 'Long Live Rock 'N' Roll' (Rainbow's 1977 album). We were all very bored. We were sitting around the fireplace – Cozy (Powell, Rainbow drummer), me and Ronnie (James Dio) – and we were getting a little angry because we didn't have any ideas. Cozy said, 'Okay, I have to admit it.' We looked at him, because we had been drinking, as usual, and said: 'You have to admit what?'. He replies: 'Are you ready?'. 'Yes'. And he said: 'I like Abba'. I said, 'My God. I love Abba.' And then Ronnie says, 'Yeah, me too.' So we were all embarrassing ourselves by saying, 'Ah, we love Abba.' So Cozy went and got their songs and started playing them, so we listened to them, together, for hours, around the fire, in this castle. We should have written our own songs, but it was much better to listen to Abba.”
“I think Abba were the best band ever,” he continued: “I've been listening to them forever. They were so melodic, and they worked. They were fantastic. And they remain probably my favorite band of all time. I know it's not nice to say that, in certain areas. But they were wonderful.”
Regarding more “contemporary” listening, Blackmore admitted that he is not particularly fond of current releases. “I have a bad habit of not listening to the radio,” he clarified: “That is, I listen to the radio, but it's a bad habit, because I don't like what they broadcast. For me music is a very serious thing, and I don't like what they send. It's disturbing. I find it irritating, but I know it's the trend of the moment. It's stuff that sells, I know, but it's not for me. I stopped listening to the radio musically about forty years ago. I often listened to classical music. I found it more refreshing because it doesn't pander to the audience. But I don't particularly listen to the radio.”