Album of the Week: The Sign

The Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards are this coming Saturday, April 9, 2022, at 7:30 PM, and boy am I excited. Congrats to all the Record Club alumni who are up for an award! Olivia Rodrigo is up for Favorite Female TV Star, Favorite Breakout Artist, and Favorite Global Music Star. BTS is up for Favorite Musical Group and Favorite Global Superstar. Adele is leading the pack with four nominations—Favorite Female Artist, Favorite Song ("Easy on Me"), Favorite Album (30), and Favorite Global Superstar. The new Space Jam is up for Best Movie, and that features Cordae on the soundtrack. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run is up for Best Animated Movie, and that features Weezer on the soundtrack. Sing 2 is up for Best Animated Movie, and that features Halsey on the soundtrack. Minecraft is up for Best Video Game, and 100 gecs threw a concert festival inside that game. Clifford the Big Red Dog is up for Best Animated Movie, and that features McGruff the Crime Dog on the soundtrack. Fishmans are up for Best Japanese Band Named After Fish. Roger Clemens is up for Best Male Athlete, and he was rapped about on that Innanet James album. Duke Deuce is scheduled to perform, and will be yelling WHAT THE FUUUUUUU before getting slimed. Okay, maybe not those last few, but a man can dream. Good luck to all the RC nominees!

As always, you can check out the archives (including the playlists), or the 2022 goals, or you can just continue on ahead and check out this week's album. Is it golden-blimp-worthy? Only YOU can decide.

WEEK 166 — April 3-9, 2022

What we're listening to this week (Sean E.'s pick):

ALBUM: The Sign

ARTIST: Ace of Base

RELEASED: November 23, 1993

LOCATION: Gothenburg, Sweden

WHAT GENRE IS THIS: Pop—dance pop, Europop, whatever you wanna call it

WHY SEAN PICKED IT: "When I was a kid I had a cassette tape with 'The Sign' on one side and I think 'All That She Wants' on the other side. On road trips, my parents would let my siblings and I each play an album on rotation (i.e. my sisters would each get to chose an album, then my brother, then me, then my mom, then my dad, then we'd repeat from the top, depending on how long the drive was). Everyone always chose a full album (except for my dad, who chose 30-45 minutes of silence), and if they got a chance to chose a second time they would chose a different album. All I ever wanted to play from ages five to nine was this cassette tape. Because everyone's tapes were 30-45 mins long, my parents would let me play this cassette tape with only two songs on it over and over again for 30 to 45 minutes. It pissed my siblings off (which I think amused my parents). I have chosen the album The Sign because I don't think I have ever listened to the full album and would like to see if it holds up."

TRACKLIST:

1. All That She Wants
2. Don't Turn Around
3. Young and Proud
4. The Sign
5. Living in Danger
6. Dancer in a Daydream
7. Wheel of Fortune
8. Waiting for Magic
9. Happy Nation
10. Voulez-Vous Danser
11. My Mind
12. All That She Wants (Banghra Version)**

**This doesn't appear to be a bonus track, but I don't know. It's usually not a good sign when the same song is on the album twice. I'll trust Wikipedia on this one, cautiously.

LENGTH: 45:24

WHERE TO LISTEN FOR FREE: YouTube

READING SOME SHIT: If y'all wanna keep picking older, popular albums, then I'm gonna keep linking to The Number Ones. (Subheadline: Ace of Base has a Nazi in its ranks!!!)

PREVIOUSLY ON RECORD CLUB: How come as soon as I announce that we're gonna try to fill in the map, everyone starts picking bands from Sweden?

Happy listening, fam! Have a great week!