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YMMV / Ace of Base

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  • Covered Up: When "Don't Turn Around" was climbing the charts, very few people were aware it was a cover. The song was originally performed by Tina Turner, and recorded by several other artists before Ace of Base, including Bonnie Tyler and Neil Diamond.
  • Critical Dissonance: Golden Ratio had a divisive response from fans, mainly because of Malin and Jenny being replaced by Clara and Julia, but was well-received by critics.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The group had gain some popular in Denmark, even becoming honorably Danes, before their native Sweden finally took them serious.
    • "Everytime It Rains" and "Beautiful Morning" did well in Romania.
    • The group was also very successful in Chile.
    • The group's Flowers album was No.1 seller in Greece and Switzerland, while it was able to be a Top 10 Hit in Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Hungary and Germany.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • The video for "All That She Wants" had a woman at a bar seeking a man to do who knows what, which was done in 1992. This seems disturbing after 1994 when Jenny was involved in a home invasion, where her sister, Malin, was a target of a stalker.
    • The song "Living in Danger" seems harsher when one looks at what happened to Malin.
  • Overshadowed by Controversy: Although they are still a respected name among Europop fans and many of their songs are among the 90s' most iconic, they received a great deal of unwanted attention when it was learned that band member Ulf Ekberg had dabbled in neo-Nazism in his youth. While Ekberg expressed regret for this phase of his career and renounced these views, it was still enough to get the entire band labeled as neo-Nazis and blacklisted from many radio stations.
  • Replacement Scrappy: Clara and Julia.
  • Signature Song: Probably "The Sign" and "Beautiful Life", but some might argue for "All That She Wants".
  • Special Effects Failure: Unfortunately seen in a few of their mid-90's videos that features heavy use of green screen which leads to...rather unrealistic scenes. Abused the most in "Never Gonna Say I'm Sorry" and "Beautiful Life".
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: "Alejandro" by Lady Gaga lifts its chorus from the bridge of "Don't Turn Around".
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Some of the songs by the band does contain some adult context.
    • "All That She Wants": It has been long debated on rather or not it was about prostitution, unlike "Love For Sale" which is clearly talking about the matter. Actually it's about a woman seeking casual sex.
    • The song "Happy Nation" has been viewed as either a protest song against totalitarianism, or having pro-Nazi subtext. It certainly didn't help that Ulf dabbled in such views prior to forming the band and expressed regret in doing so.

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