Ace of Base "The Sign" [1993]

True, by the time this album was released in the States the 80s were over, but it sure didn't sound like they were: techno-bubblegum synthesizing the most hideous aspects of Madonna, reggae sell-outs Third World and computerized soul conglomerations Snap! and C+C Music Factory quickly became ubiquitous in every uncool venue in America, including television. Essentially the rebirth of Abba as cyborgs, Ace of Base seems to represent a long-term pop trajectory that will one day culminate with plastic mannequins automated to move around onstage with pre-fabricated tracks bouncing rubbery plastic through the speakers. The kids will love it. This will also, of course, be Armageddon for actual musicians, who will choke to death in poverty on the toxic waste cranked out by corporate cockroaches like Clive Davis, who will not only survive the calamity but thrive on it. Then again, it would probably be a mistake to expect Sweden to actually produce the musical anti-Christ, bad as Ace of Base, Roxette and Abba truly are -- they're only imitators, after all, and always have been. That they were still faking Madonna in the grunge era only meant they hadn't begun to counterfeit Kurt Cobain yet.