Almost everyone knows the song “Dancing Queen” by Abba, right?
It’s a quintessential disco-era song that topped charts in Europe and pops up in plenty of movies to this day.
Well, I’ve got a copy of Abba’s greatest hits, and much to my dismay, the CD got a scowl out of Mike.
Naturally, that lead to me questioning why he held such disdain for Abba.
Turns out that he claims to “hate” disco and that he’d rather avoid that era of music history altogether.
And while I don’t remember much more of his reasoning than that, it definitely threw me for a loop.
After all, this is the same man who espouses his love for 1980s music as arguably the best decade ever, and yet he shuns disco?!
I mean, would we have ever had glam rock and metal if we didn’t have disco?
And what about musicians like David Bowie, Blondie, or Freddie Mercury?
You can’t tell me that those mainstays of classic rock weren’t influenced by disco.
On one hand, I was dismayed, but since I have a similar resentment for most country music - I can understand where he’s coming from.
However, it also put me on a personal quest to find at least one song that he’d enjoy hearing.
But, due to work, that quest took a bit of a back seat in the face of football Fridays and more community events.
Luckily, my best friend knew my frustrations and kept her ear to the ground for something unmistakably disco, catchy, and off-the-wall enough to maybe hook Mike’s interest.
She was browsing TikTok when she came across Boney M’s late-1970s disco hit – “Rasputin” and immediately downloaded the song to share with me.
To be fair, she only experienced clips on TikTok, but once she had her hands on the full song, it’s become something we both enjoy.
The first time I heard it, I was confused and baffled at the lyrics.
I mean, why would a German pop group write a song about Grigori Rasputin – better known as the Russian “Mad Monk” who became a prominent figure in the country’s politics in the late 19th and early 20th century?
But, in true music nerd fashion, I had her play it on repeat until I was clapping along and laughing.
I think we listened to it about four or five times over the course of the day!
It was addictive to the point where it stuck in my thoughts and lingered in that awesomely bad and annoying earworm sort of way.
Though, that could be that it’s a mix of disco, polka, and pop music.
Naturally, I had to show it to Mike, but struggled with how best to present the song to him.
After all, for a man who hated disco, I worried he’d crush my hopes for this song.
So, I had to wait for a good day after press time, and when he was in a good mood before I played Rasputin for him as loud as I could on my computer.
I also prefaced it with the historical ties to the real Rasputin and told him that the lyrics were the best part.
Not to mention, it has a slightly Middle Eastern-ish sort of riff and catchy chorus line.
I’ve always felt that exposure to new music benefits more from immersion in a room rather than a pair of cheap earbuds.
So, cue my delight after the song is over and he’s smiling!
I feel like I’ve accomplished some never-ending mission and am ready for the next one – whatever that may be.
