Not ashamed anymore.

[Violet]

There is some magic in the voices. I might understand you might find the tone jarring. I don't. I love it. Instruments? Never noticed them. Hook lines, sure. Melody is something else, and the guys have a genius for it.

Some, perhaps... again: their choruses are typically well done across the board.

Pay attention to the background, and the harmony. Sometimes, they pull the melody out of their songs and just let the harmony go... by itself. Irritatingly, in a way designed to make the creative portions of your brain scream for the melody they expect to be there... creating a release of endorphins when they finally decide to play the music that they could have been playing the whole song at the chorus

A more talented group might make the whole song sound great, and their choruses sound fucking awesome... but this is ABBA we're talking about. They 'get it', the same thing that makes justin beiber so very successful

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To you it is jarring. Not us.

You are right that it is intentional though. Metallica uses the same tactic in songs like Fade To Black and One.

Yup, and guess what my opinion of those songs is too

Down then UP then down then UP, to me that tactic when done right, can make a song very emotional and powerful. Like riding a roller coaster.

... I swear, that's got to be the most hilarious way to describe that ever... I'm not even dead-sure what you're describing XD

But I think we're on the same page: it's what allows them to be popular successes, while at the same time their music is rather shallow and (for the most part) what you heard as a passerby is the same thing you'll hear intentionally listening to it.