My Top 2000 Songs #1063: Does Your Mother Know

Yep, we're going there... ABBA finally hit the list! It had to happen!

Sure, ABBA is pretty much the definitive entry in the Guilty Pleasures file, but if you pretend they didn't have some great songs, I don't think we can hang out. Of course, "Does Your Mother Know," from 1979's Voulez-Vous, is something of an anomaly in their catalog. A guitar-driven bubblegum song helmed by the boys in the band, it's far more glam/power-pop than most of their candy-coated disco-ready pop hits, drifting into Bay City Rollers (or even Sweet/Mud) territory. Great riff, absurdly catchy sing-along chorus, it's a might've-been look at what could've resulted had the band gone in a different direction.

And, ok, it's problematic, the lyrical motif of the older guy trying to stay out of trouble with the underage girl. But hey, at a time when we have a US President who palled around with Jeffrey Epstein, it's pretty damn tame, so no worries.

Live (and oh god those outfits!):

Christine Baranski in Mamma Mia 'cuz why not?

Suzi Quatro, live 2014:

Bootleg R.E.M. circa 1983!

Irish rockers Ash:

New wavers Gleaming Spires:

Teen Machine: