Benny always had a beard, and that helped distinguish him from Bjorn, just as Anni-Frid's dark hair distinguished her from Agnetha.

The Stones aged in the public space. Abba, on the other hand, disappeared for 25 years. So when they reappeared they seemed. with the exception of Agnetha. Old.

If sales figures determined who got tenure then we would fire all our professord of musicology and hire ABBA.

Kim Wilde is the daughter of 60s British singer Marty Wilde. She had a hit in the early 80s with Kids In America when she was 20, blonde and cute.

REM songs are sometimes good enough to get covered. Tori Amos recorded Losing My Religion.

Steely Dan drummer Jeff Porcaro died while gardening, possibly due to drugs and pesticides. A drummer for Spinal Tap also died in a freak gardening accident.

A 2nd drummer dies in garden in freak accident: Abba's drummer fell forward through a glass door. It slit his throat. He crawled into his garden and collapsed.

Back in 1992 BennyBjorn was happy to go onstage with U2 and perform Dancing Queen. Now U2 ABBA are bigger than U2. They have had a hit show and movie.

Ballad of John and Yoko is a simple ditty about something going on in John's life at the moment. Beacause he was musical he could write a popular throwaway song

Ballad of John and Yoko was a simple little song about something that was going on in John's life at the time. Because he was so musical he was able

Frida is now a 63-year-old grandmother. One should not expect her or the other members of Abba to look the way they did 30 years ago. I didn't recognize Benny.

The New Colony Six wore identical mock-colonial outfits and high black boots. Strangely, they later added a seventh man but kept the name New Colony Six.

Despite Geldof giving his band a spot on LiveAid, by '86 the Rats were over 30 and without a record deal in the US. They broke up and Geldof went solo.

Sting had the ability to come up with simple, catchy refrains or repeated elements which would stick in listener's minds. E.g.. "Da do da di, Da do da da."

After Trevor Horn was in the Buggles and Yes he produced Frankie Goes To Hollywood during their brief chart run.

Tears For Fears were two Brits, one of whom was named Raymond Orzabal. They feuded and one quit, leaving the other to perform as a solo act under the name.

Difford and Tilbrook were a successful songwriting team as members of Squeeze. "Black Coffee In Bed" had an R&B-influenced vocal accompaniment.

The Guess Who were from the Prarie Provinces and had an album called Wheatfield Soul. But to an American wheat comes from Kansas and Nebraska, not from Canada.

The Guess Who were from the Prarie Provinces and had an album called Wheatfield Soul. But to an American wheat comes from Kansas and Nebraska, not from Canada.

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Frankie Goes To Hollywood's name was from a headline about Frank Sinatra. Since Sinatra started making movies in the 50s it must have been an old headline.

Iggy Pop cowrote "China Girl" with David Bowie. I find "Lust for Life" and "Search and Destroy" pleasant. But Iggy Pop has written little of lasting worth in a 40 year career.

The Raiders couldn't just swap out three of their members in late '67 and expect fans not to notice or care. I wondered who Charlie Coe and Freddy Weller were.

I stopped keeping up with current music decades ago. I listen to "Double Dare" by Bauhaus and it seems as if Bauhaus is a new band, albeit Hendrix-influenced.

But Bauhaus was actually one of numerous British 80s bands that remained unknown in the US. YouTube has a video of their cover of T Rex's "Telegram Sam." Because Bolan was a superstar in the UK the song would have been well-known to Bauhaus's UK audience, the equivalent of covering a Grand Funk Railroad song in the US.

Siouxee and the Banshees, the Power Station, and others Brit groups also covered T. Rex material. He remained an influence long after his death, particularly in the UK.

Billy Joe Royal's "Cherry Hill Park" was probably about a girl who would make out at a park. I used to think the girl was having sex in the woods. Maybe she was

Groups which had an organist didn't necessarily need a bassist. Neither the Rascals nor the Doors had them. Manzarek would play the bass part with his left hand

Saxophonist Denny Peyton said before his cancer death in 2007 that the DC5 had been an important part of his life of which he was very proud.

Dave Clark owns the rights and publishing to the DC5s recordings. But for many years he was unable to come to terms on rereleasing them in the US.

Gene Pitney was popular in the UK after his US fame faded. He died a few years ago after a successful UK concert. He went out on top.

Sting did a stadium concert in Israel with Matisyahu opening. They did a duet in which Sting proclaimed twice "We want moshiach now!" The audience cheered.

Synchronicity contains two songs written by the other group members. The songs were filler, like Ringo's song on The White Album. I disliked them.

Sting was not an immensely talented songwriter, but in the Police's last two albums he made the best use of the talent he had. I love Synchronicity.

Joan Baez in her autobiography described a lesbian relationship. People asked why she included it and she replied that it was because she wanted to.

"Catch A Wave" features Brian and Mike trading off lead vocals in the middle of the verses. You can also hear them in the choruses, along with the other Boys.

"Positively 4th Street" is basically iambic, but Dylan introduces extra syllables here and there. Purely iambic lyrics build up the tension but don't release it.

Nik Kershaw's "Wouldn't It Be Good" was a highlight of LiveAid. As was Bryan Adams' "Kids Wanna Rock." At LiveAid everyone played live, unlike on Ed Sullivan.

Those mentioned in REMs "End Of The World As We Know It" had not necessarily died recently. Rock critic Lester Bangs had died almost a decade earlier in 1982.

Mark Lindsay on a nighttime talk show ca. 1971 was asked about groupies. He said there were women who came backstage, but wouldn't say what they did there.

Bobby Keyes played sax on "Brown Sugar" and other Sticky Fingers tracks that included a saxophone. The Dave Clark Five had a saxman in the group, as did Roxy Music and Morphine. Mark Lindsay played sax in the Raiders, notably on "Melody For An Unknown Girl" which he also wrote.

Springsteen live engages in a call and response which sounds like a black church service. Most American congregational prayer has lost that spontaneity.

Phil Ochs songs were often marred by political references which date the lyrics. He could write apolitical songs like "There But For Fortune" and "Flower Lady."

Brian Wilson sang in a falsetto on "Warmth of the Sun," "I Get Around" and most Beach Boys hits. A mere decade later his voice was shot as a result of smoking and poor health.

I remember listening to "Hello, I Love You" the summer it came out. The Kinks later sued the Doors for stealing the melody to "All Day And All Of The Night."

I'm not a fan of music where the singer has a strong British accent, e.g. Depeche Mode. A major exception is Morrissey. Ca. 85-95 he was brilliant.

One can imagine George Martin directing the harmonies on "I'll Follow The Sun." It's an old-fashioned song with old-fashioned harmonies.

In the middle of "I'm A Believer" Micky Dolenz sighs: Unhh!. Young teenaged girls thought it sexy. Boys thought it cool. Micky had to think of himself as both.

In "Sunshine of Your Love" Clapton repeated the lead riff continuously. It had a feedback-laden chugga-chugga rhythm which 14-year-olds thought was cool.

Pete Briquette was born on this date, July 2, in 1954. Who? Well, if not for his booming bass propelling the Rats in The Art of Surfacing we all might have missed Sir Bob Geldof's talents.

Three members of Abba were born in '45. Thus they were 30 when Abba broke in America in '75. Agnetha was born in '50. Three were Swedes. Anni-Frid was Norwegian

Bryan Ferry was tall and handsome. He always dressed stylishly, which made him seem older than he was. David Bowie would have liked to resemble Bryan Ferry.

Doors drummer John Densmore likes LA Woman best of the Doors albums because of its jazz influences. He added some jazzy flourishes on the cymbals to the Doors' 1969 hit "Touch Me."

My tendency is to think of Paul Rodgers as an also-ran with Free and the Firm. But he was the prime mover in Bad Company, and they were a major band.

Frey had early post-Eagles success, especially "Smuggler's Blues" in '86. But he eventually faded while Henley hung on awhile longer, with hits in '89 and '90.

But for his weight Kaylan would have been handsome. In the late 60s he wore a mustache and hat which made him look like a rotund Jack Palance playing a bandito.

Dylan wrote the first two rhymes in the Byrds' "Ballad of Easy Rider." McGuinn offered him cowriters credit, but Dylan declined, saying "I don't need the money."

Chubby Checker once said "No playday, no payday." For an older artist play on oldies stations is important. He complained that nowadays radio stations play "Twist and Shout" more often than they play his own twist records.

Donna Summer was statuesque. She was a diva, like Celine Dion. I wouldn't have expected to see her modelling on the cover of Vogue. Her first hit was in late '75.

Paul Jabara wrote "Last Dance" and visited Donna Summer to convince her to record it. Such sales visits were common. Jimmy Webb tried to sell the Association "Macarthur Park"