It is (amazingly) thirty years since a landmark song in gay history was hitting the top of the charts across Europe. Abba (for it is they) embraced the dying embers of the Disco era in late 1979 and decided to go for gold.
Finally acknowledging (perhaps with their Swedish tongues in their cheeks) their massive queeny following that had built up, ever since their satin-and-platformed-glitter-boots arrival on the scene on Eurovision five years previously in 1974 and their drag queen classic Dancing Queen two years afterwards in 1976, they released the most "out gay" single of their career - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight).
An eternal staple of bizarre gay club nights thenceforth (until and including the arrival of Hi-NRG in the 80s), this is one helluva "Marmite" tune. You either love it or you hate it. But nevertheless, it survives, and many artistes have decided it is worthy of a cover version (notwithstanding the recent Madonna sample). So without further ado here are a few of them:
First up, someone described as a "guitar virtuoso" with a name that looks like an anagram, Yngwie Malmsteen:
Of course, Erasure did the song greater justice:
Even Benny Benassi gave it a go, with a heavy dance version:
And then there is this loud version by the world famous (in Serbia, possibly?) Doro Pesch and Dirk Bach...
I couldn't let this blog post pass, however, without the original...
Enjoy!
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