A little Dutch p...

Okay, not really.  But I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback when I saw this video by the 70s era Dutch pop group, Luv.

At first, it looked like these women were not wearing anything under their skimpy tops.

Upon closer examination, I see they're wearing nude body suits.  Listening to them, I hear them totally channeling ABBA, which was also big during that time period.

I tried another video, again with them looking all sexified...  And then I was suddenly reminded of a song I haven't heard in years!

Yes, I remember this was a hit.  No, I hadn't thought of it in years!

I had to share this with a few friends and my friend Joann found another video of Luv singing "You're the Greatest Lover".  

This band seems to be a mix of ABBA and Silver Convention, which was a girl group from Germany that was popular at about the same time.

It's funny, because when I was a kid in the 80s, I used to think girl bands were rare.  Now I know they weren't, but it does seem like a lot of them consisted of sexy women singing and dancing to vapid music.  This kind of stuff doesn't have a lot of staying power, even if it can be faddish or fun...  especially when the women get older and less fetching.

I can see why this was popular in Europe, though.  The music is festive and catchy and the girls are pretty.

The 70s was chock full of chicks like this, doing their thing...  I kind of miss it.  I guess it takes talent and beauty to pull off this particular act, but really, it's just entertaining for a different reason... perhaps because they seem to shock the audiences!

Should I laugh or cry?

In January 1998, I visited a guy with whom I had served in the Peace Corps.  He had ABBA's box set, which he played during my very awkward visit with him.  Coming back to the United States after two years in a developing country can do weird things to a person.  Anyway, I left his apartment never to return, but I did end up buying the ABBA box set.  I was soon exposed to a number of songs I had never heard before, including one called "Should I Laugh Or Cry".

I kind of got hooked on this song.  I remember making tapes of ABBA and walking to class in grad school, listening... Wow, I can't believe I had an old school Walkman back then.  But this song has some very interesting lyrics and a haunting melody that still resonates today.  Indeed, it's on the brain this morning.

Another song I liked from that box set is this...

This is a breakup song.  It's all about divorce, but it has a pretty awesome melody coupled with some more interesting lyrics.  If only we could all be so amicable when there's a breakup.

And if you were around in the 1980s, you will recognize some of the cultural references in this song, "The Day Before You Came".  Again, very interesting lyrics.  I have a feeling that the words might have been tricky, given that English was not necessarily their first language.

"Head Over Heels"... a great song to walk to and very flirtatious..

I miss ABBA.  Their wordsmithing wasn't all that great, but they were great performers and they had some really excellent melodies.  Even thirty years on, a lot of their music is still fabulous.

Okay, I've sobered up...

And oddly enough, this classic hit from Suzi Quatro and Chris Norman is on my mind...

For some reason, this song was very popular when I lived in Armenia in the mid 1990s.  It played all the time on the shitty Russian radio station that was beamed to Yerevan.  I had totally forgotten about it until the radio station made it impossible to forget...

Another weird song the Russians liked was...

It was kind of poignant, given what happened to ABBA not long after this video was made...  Of course, they don't make music like this anymore...