Instant Gratification

Agnetha sings “I Would Bring You Happiness…” But Is The Instant Gratification Stealing The Excitement?

Agnetha Fältskog is officially back in the public eye with the single “If I Thought You’d Ever Change Your Mind” penned by John Cameron (no relation). All I can say is that the experience of hearing the song for the first time was spectacular. But unlike many of the diehard fans on ABBAMAIL, I was not moved to tears by the experience of hearing Agnetha sing for the first time in nearly two decades. Rarely, if ever, is a three-minute song ever able to evoke such a response for me. Only in the context of theatre or films where there is a build up of emotion built over a period of time involving emotional investment in the characters before the key song comes in to trigger an emotional outburst is going get me to react to the song. Three minutes is simply not enough time to become emotionally invested in a song.

I must be not quite obsessive enough of a fan, but despite the lack of tears over Agnetha’s performance, I can offer only praise for “If I Thought You’d Ever Change Your Mind.” I had not previously heard the song by any of the other artists who had performed the song and I deliberately did not seek out the opportunity to hear the other versions, as I wanted Agnetha to introduce my ears to this song. Agnetha did not disappoint.

But what truly enhanced the experience of hearing Agnetha’s performance for the first time was the fact that we had a global online listening party with folks from many countries all tuning in via the world wide web to Rix FM in Sweden to catch the very first broadcast of the song on March 8. So long as you had access to the Internet, it didn’t matter where in the world you were to be able to hear the song, and you could do it with friends around the globe, all at the same time, as if you were all seated in the same room huddled around a radio. And as soon as the song was played, there was instantly a forum in which to discuss what was heard.

It just amazes me how wonderfully advanced the Internet is becoming and allowing things like this online listening party to happen. This was just so inconceivable an experience in 1996, the last time we had an album from one of the ladies of ABBA. While at that point in time we did have an ABBA mailing list (prior to formation of ABBAMAIL) but there was no way to share the song online so everyone could hear it at the same time. And while Internet shopping wasn’t quite as prevalent at the time, I did order Frida’s album from Skivhugget.se (long before they had an English web shop, in fact it was probably my very first order with them) and within a couple weeks of the first reports of what people thought of the album, I was finally able to experience the album for myself. But it was still a very solitary experience.

Another interesting thing I’ve noticed as the Internet gets more advanced is that its becoming more and more easy to obtain instant gratification. In this day and age, you can buy an album from an online retailer like Amazon.com and in some cases with the purchase you’ll gain access to a streaming audio version of the album that you’re able to play for two weeks to a month following your purchase. This is generally more than ample time for your physical album to arrive in the mail so you can instantly listen to your album while the physical CD is in the mail and by the time your access to the streaming version expires, you have your physical CD to play whenever you want. But I find this instant gratification tends to kill any buildup of excitement.

In 1996, I was in agony waiting for Frida’s “Djupa Andetag” album to arrive from Europe so I could listen to it. But these days I don’t feel so much in a hurry to hear the albums because I know, if I really wanted to satisfy an insatiable need for immediate gratification, I can find ways to hear it before I have the album in my hands. But what is truly ironic is that often I don’t, and I now have the patience to wait for my album to arrive and even then, I still have the patience to let the album sit days, weeks, or even months before I get to it. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that excitement has an opportunity to build when you can’t have something when you want it and you have to wait.

So even though I do consider myself very excited about Agnetha’s album, I will be patient and won’t be cursing the postal services each day between the time my copy is shipped and when it arrives like I did when waiting for Frida’s album all those years ago. (But to be fair, I wouldn’t be cursing the postal services waiting for a new album from Frida if she were to release another one soon). In the meantime, thanks to a friend from ABBAMAIL who helped me with some European funds to allow me to download “If I Ever Thought You’d Ever Change Your Mind” legally from msn.co.uk (as the site wouldn’t take my American credit card to buy it myself) I can listen to Agnetha sing John Cameron’s beautiful song until my ordered copies of Agnetha’s album and single arrive.

Who knows, maybe the album as whole will be an emotional experience, but somehow I doubt I’ll be struck emotionally by it.

Ryan Cameron

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