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ABBA fans rejoice! Two new songs set to be released

<p>Swedish disco group ABBA have reunited to release two new songs, 35 years after the release of their last single, sparking joy amongst the band’s many fans.</p> <p><a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Yahoo 7 reports</strong></em></span></a> the group will release two new songs called “I Still Have Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down” which were recorded last year on the sly.</p> <p>“We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did,” the group said in a statement.</p> <p>The legendary group split up in 1982 after a legendary run of hits with songs like, “Waterloo”, “Dancing Queen”, “Mamma Mia” and “Super Trouper”.</p> <p>“It was like time had stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!” the band members added.</p> <p>Fans are now waiting with baited breath for the release of the songs, and music expert Carl Magnus Palm, who has written several books about the group, sees no reason why the new music won’t be a hit.</p> <p>“I think it’s going to sound pretty much like their last songs from 1982, with quite a mild tempo, not like ‘Voulez-Vous’ or ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’,” he told AFP.</p> <p>“Frida’s and Agnetha’s voices are the same, so it won’t be a huge difference,” he said</p> <p>What are your thoughts?</p>

Music

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The reason behind the Bee Gees’ fall from grace revealed

<p>It’s hard to think back on the ‘70s without thinking of the Bee Gees. The Australian trio of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb enjoyed a string of worldwide number-ones for years, but by the time the ‘80s came around, their spectacular success had well and truly faded.</p> <p>Now, in the new tell-all book <a href="http://t.dgm-au.com/c/93981/71095/1880?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.booktopia.com.au%2Fstaying-alive-simon-spence%2Fprod9781911036272.html" target="_blank"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Staying Alive: The Disco Inferno of the Bee Gees</span></em></strong></a> by Simon Spence, the reason behind their decline has finally been revealed.</p> <p>In 1979, a year after their <em>Saturday Night Fever</em> soundtrack racked up a staggering 24 weeks at number one on the US charts, the Bee Gees were at their peak. Playing to crowds of 60,000 across America at the height of the disco craze, there was no stopping the Gibb brothers.</p> <p>Yet mere months later, that’s exactly what happened. Disco was dead, and to the US’s most popular radio stations, so were the Bee Gees. “Nobody wanted to touch them,” writes Spence. “What happened to them was unprecedented in popular music.”</p> <p>After the success of <em>Saturday Night Fever</em>, by 1978, 200 radio stations around the US were devoted to disco – something that didn’t sit right with many, particularly white men between the ages of 18 and 24. This demographic, Spence believes, loved rock and therefore “felt excluded, even threatened, by the disco scene. The phrase ‘disco sucks’ was a clear pejorative term.”</p> <p>By 1980, Billboard reported that the stations which had once played disco exclusively had virtually banned it. To Barry, the backlash seemed to come out of nowhere. “It was almost like people were angry with us and it was more interesting to make fun of us than to actually try and understand or appreciate what we had done.”</p> <p>According to Robin, however, the reason was much simpler. “The public had OD’d on us.”</p> <p>“The exhaustion of being the Bee Gees set in, and we couldn’t see what tomorrow was going to bring,” Barry agreed.</p> <p>Barry, now 71, is the only remaining Bee Gee. Despite once saying of “Stayin’ Alive” that he wanted to “dress it in a white suit and gold chains and set it on fire,” these days, he’s made peace with his demons. Two months ago, he even performed all the <em>Saturday Night Fever</em> songs at the UK’s Glastonbury Festival – and the crowd loved it.</p> <p>Are you a fan of the Bee Gees' music? Tell us in the comments below.</p>

Books

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South Korean seniors flock to disco clubs to dance

<p>Thousands of South Korean seniors are secretly sneaking out to disco clubs to dance the day away.</p> <p>“I come here every day of the week, except for Saturday and Sunday,” says 81-year-old Jun Il-Taek as he dances beneath giant disco balls and fairy lights.</p> <p>Jun is just one of the 200 men and women on the dance floor, all bobbing away to the beat of disco.</p> <p>Although their rather sedate nature of dancing contrasts with the high energy of disco music, everyone is having a ball at the ninth-floor dance club.</p> <p><img width="415" height="277" src="http://cdn.star2.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/doc6ofgchmpzfr19lbueobu.jpg" alt="TO GO WITH AFP STORY: SKorea-lifestyle-culture-population-ageing, FEATURE by Jung Ha-Won In a photo taken on February 4, 2016 a couple dance at a 'colatec' in Seoul. As the mercury outside plunges to minus 10 degrees on an ice-cold Monday afternoon, the dance floor inside the Kukilgwan Palace is packed with gray-haired Korean couples moving to the rhythms of high-volume disco. South Korea's rapidly ageing population may be a major headache for policymakers, but its members are determined to enjoy themselves, dancing the years away at clubs where 50-year-olds are turned away for being &quot;too young.&quot; Colatecs first emerged in the late 1990s as dance halls for teenagers, where alcohol was banned and the only drinks on offer were sodas like Coca Cola. But they soon fell out of fashion with their young clientele which migrated to gatherings at Internet cafes and karaoke clubs. And so the Colatecs rebranded themselves for an entirely different demographic. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones " class="wp-image-188744" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p>“Nothing keeps me healthier than dancing… I can’t live without this place,” Jun says, as he leads his 75-year-old female partner into a slow turn.</p> <p>The army veteran is one of the thousands of South Korean seniors who love going to “Colatecs” – special disco dance clubs for the elderly.</p> <p>Colatecs first emerged in the late 1990s as dance clubs for teenagers but soon fell out of fashion. They’ve now rebranded for the senior demographic, with opening hours between midday and 6pm.</p> <p>The clubs are flourishing across the country, where anyone under 60 are turned away for being “too young”.</p> <p><img width="420" height="280" src="http://cdn.star2.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/doc6ofgct092jk1c7vovobu.jpg" alt="TO GO WITH AFP STORY: SKorea-lifestyle-culture-population-ageing, FEATURE by Jung Ha-Won In a photo taken on December 2, 2015 a musician plays keyboards as people dance at a 'colatec' in Seoul. As the mercury outside plunges to minus 10 degrees on an ice-cold Monday afternoon, the dance floor inside the Kukilgwan Palace is packed with gray-haired Korean couples moving to the rhythms of high-volume disco. South Korea's rapidly ageing population may be a major headache for policymakers, but its members are determined to enjoy themselves, dancing the years away at clubs where 50-year-olds are turned away for being &quot;too young.&quot; Colatecs first emerged in the late 1990s as dance halls for teenagers, where alcohol was banned and the only drinks on offer were sodas like Coca Cola. But they soon fell out of fashion with their young clientele which migrated to gatherings at Internet cafes and karaoke clubs. And so the Colatecs rebranded themselves for an entirely different demographic. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones " class="wp-image-188745" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p>However, in the ultra-conservative Korean society Colatecs are seen as immoral, meaning many seniors keep their disco-dancing hobby a secret from their families.</p> <p>Despite the stigma, South Korea’s ageing population are determined to enjoy themselves and many flock to the Colatecs to dance, unwind, have some fun, and meet new people.</p> <p>“My children and grandchildren think that I just meet my friends over coffee or lunch,” says Han Keum-Ok, 75, who has been a regular attendee of Colatecs for 10 years.</p> <p>“At my age, you never know how long you will live, and I’d like to enjoy the rest of my life to the full.</p> <p>“But I tell no one I come here because a lot of people think Colatecs are immoral,” she says. </p>

Retirement Life