History Music / AceOfBase

Another peculiarity of ''Happy Nation'' was being the first album to represent three top 5 hits at the Billboard chart list, these being "All That She Wants" (their initial breakthrough), "The Sign" (their biggest hit in the US) and "Don't Turn Around", all from 1993-94. Last but not least, these three songs from one and the same album were in the Billboard Top 100 for 48 weeks. This record would only be broken by Music/KatyPerry (who said to be inspired by Ace of Base nonetheless) who made the same stunt for a whole year.

* TheBandMinusTheFace: More and more so with the gradual retreat of Malin.

* BreakupSong:
** "Everytime It Rains"
** "Don't Turn Around"
** "Love In December"
** "Lucky Love"
** "The Sign"
** "Wave Wet Sand"
* CloudCuckooLander: "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry"

* ComingOfAgeStory: "Blooming 18"

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Ulf

* EthicalSlut: "All That She Wants".
* GenderEqualEnsemble
* GiveMeASign: "The Sign," making it a quasi-TropeCodifier

* IntercourseWithYou: "Adventures In Paradise"
* LonelyAtTheTop: "Living In Danger"
* LongRunnerLineUp: Type 1 before becoming type 2.
* LoveNostalgiaSong: "Lucky Love"
* TheMunchausen: Lampshaded in "Münchhausen (Just Chaos)".

* SurrealMusicVideo: "Beautiful Life"
* {{Utopia}}:
** "Happy Nation"
** "Perfect World"
* YouCannotKillAnIdea: "Happy Nation"

[[caption-width-right:267:Before they literally grew beards and faded from the spotlight...]]

*''Happy Nation / The Sign'' (1993)

--> ''I am like a cloud and I know I'm not known and''\\
''I am like a cloud and I know I'm not known and''\\
''I am like a cloud and I know I'm not known and''\\
''I am like a cloud and I know I'm not known and...''

** My love is my engine/And you might be fuel" in "Wheel of Fortune."

* SpecialEffectsFailure: Unfortunately seen in a few of their mid-90's videos that features heavy use of [[ChromaKey green screen]] which leads to...rather unrealistic scenes. Abused the most in "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry" and "Beautiful Life".

* NewSoundAlbum: ''The Bridge'' moves away from the reggae fusion of ''Happy Nation'' (or ''The Sign'' if you live in America) into a more traditional pop sound, even foraying into Eurodance on "Beautiful Life", and even folk-pop on "Lucky Love" (the acoustic version, that is).

* TheMunchausen: Lampshaded in "Münchhausen (Just Chaos)"

* CreatorBreakdown: Back in 1994, Jenny and the mother of the [[BandOfRelatives Berggren family]] were attacked by a knife-wielding [[StalkerWithACrush lunatic fan girl from Germany]] who actually targeted Malin. Fans suspect that this was the reason why Malin became [[DemotedToExtra less and less involved with the band]]. The incident also fueled the song "Ravine," written and sung by Jenny.

* FollowTheLeader: "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry" was made deliberately to sound like their first big hit, "All That She Wants". Unfortunately, it didn't reach nearly the same amount of commercial success.

* SignatureSong: Probably "The Sign", but some might argue for "All That She Wants".

* EthicalSlut: "All That She Wants"

* GratuitousEnglish: This shows quite a bit in some of their songs:
** "It's not a day for work/It's a day for catching tan" and "It's a night of passion/But the morning means goodbye" in "All That She Wants."
** "How can a person like me care for you?" in "The Sign."
** My love is my engine/And you might be fuel" in "Wheel of Fortune."

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The original "Happy Nation" album differs from and specifically lacks many later world hits to be found on "The Sign" which was re-released as "Happy Nation (U.S. Version)" outside of the US. There's also a visible difference on the album cover: It shows little more than a glitter ball.

Another peculiarity of ''Happy Nation'' was being the first album to represent three #1 hits at the Billboard chart list, these being "All That She Wants" (their initial breakthrough), "The Sign" (which made their breakthrough into the US) and "Don't Turn Around", all from 1993-94. Last but not least, these three songs from one and the same album were in the Billboard Top 100 for 48 weeks. This record would only be broken by Music/KatyPerry (who said to be inspired by Ace of Base nonetheless) who made the same stunt for a whole year.

* CreatorBreakdown: Back in 1994, Jenny and the mother of the [[BandOfRelatives Berggren family]] were attacked by a knife-wielding [[StalkerWithACrush lunatic fan girl from Germany]] who actually targeted Malin. Fans suspect that this were the reason why Malin became [[DemotedToExtra less and less involved with the band]]. The incident also fueled the song "Ravine", written and sung by Jenny.

* GiveMeASign: "The Sign", making it a quasi-TropeCodifier

** "It's not a day for work/It's a day for catching tan" and "It's a night of passion/But the morning means goodbye" in "All That She Wants".
** "How can a person like me care for you?" in "The Sign".
** My love is my engine/And you might be fuel" in "Wheel of Fortune".

** "Don't Turn Around" by Tina Turner

Their subsequent albums ''The Bridge'' and ''Flowers'' failed to repeat the success of ''Happy Nation'', but were still a commercial success with 7 and 2 million sales respectively. ''Da Capo'' was the last album of the traditional line up and only sold about 500,000 copies. The wane of success coincided with the [[DemotedToExtra gradual self-disengagement]] of the perceived face of the band, Malin, leading to her eventual exit in 2007 and the subsequent exit of Jenny in 2009. With only Jonas and Ulf left, they watched for two new female vocalists and eventually found them in Clara Hagman and Julia Williamson who were lost in the meantime after one album (''Golden Ratio'') and made the band a lone pack of two wolfs once again. Ever since, Ace Of Base released a compilation album fittingly called ''Hidden Gems'' containing previously unreleased material from every era of the original line-up.

** "The Sign" from "The Sign". Although this tropes does it apply if you live anywhere outside the US.

Their subsequent albums ''The Bridge'' and ''Flowers'' failed to repeat the success of ''Happy Nation'', but were still a commercial success with 7 and 2 million sales respectively. ''Da Capo'' was the last album of the traditional line up and only sold about 500,000 copies. The wane of success coincided with the [[DemotedToExtra gradual self-disengagement]] of the perceived face of the band, Malin, leading to her eventual exit in 2007 and the subsequent exit of Jenny in 2009. With only Jonas and Ulf left, they watched for two new female vocalists and eventually found them in Clara Hagman and Julia Williamson who were lost in the meantime and made the band a lone pack of two wolfs once again.

* CreatorBreakdown: Back in 1994, Jenny and the mother of the [[BandOfRelatives Berggren family]] were attacked by a knife-wielding [[StalkerWithACrush lunatic fan girl from Germany]] who actually targeted Malin. Fans suspect that this were the reason why Malin became [[DemotedToExtra less and less involved with the band]]. Hard to blame her, really. The incident also fueled the song "Ravine", written and sung by Jenny.

** "It's not a day for work/It's a day for catching sun" and "It's a night of passion/But morning means goodbye" in "All That She Wants".

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Many listeners of "All That She Wants" thought that the song was about a woman wanting a child, due to the song's famous 'All that she wants is another baby' line, not realizing that the 'baby' here is used as a synonym for 'boyfriend' or 'lover'.

AceOfBase is a [[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Gothenburg]]-based {{Europop}} band with its heyday in TheNineties and arguably one of the most prominent Swedish pop music exports right after the likes of Music/{{ABBA}} and Music/{{Roxette}}.

AceOfBase is a [[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Gothenburg]]-based {{Europop}} band with its heyday in TheNineties and arguably one of the most prominent Swedish pop music exports right after the likes of Music/{{ABBA}} and {{Roxette}}.