The Sign by Ace of Base

Every New Zealand #1 single…

Ace of Base

Jonas, Linn, and Jenny Berggren grew up in Gothenburg, Sweden. Jonas played in local bands, while his sisters sang in their church choir. The three siblings formed Ace of Base with Jonas’s friend Ulf Ekberg.

The new band initially pursued synth-pop, inspired by Jonas’s love of Depeche Mode, A Flock of Seagulls, and Kraftwerk. But reggae bands often played nearby, and Ace of Base incorporated airy reggae grooves into their synth-based sound.

Ace of Base were immediately immense. Their debut album, Happy Nation, renamed The Sign in the US, spawned three US #1 singles. The Guinness Book of World Records recognised it as the best-selling debut studio effort in music history.

Everything was being driven by grunge or techno, then suddenly these people arrived and did something which was completely different and happy and simple. I just think they write brilliant pop tunes and it hit a nerve at the time. (…) I think they’ve developed their own style. If you listen to the radio and you hear a record, you immediately recognise that it’s Ace of Base.

Albert Slendebroek, Music and Media

The Sign

‘The Sign’ wasn’t included on the original version of Happy Nation. The band intended it for their second album, but Arista Records insisted they record it to fortify their record for the US market.

The band worked with producer Denniz Pop. Pop had already built a legacy of pop hits when he passed away from stomach cancer in 1998. He mentored Max Martin, a towering figure in 21st-century pop music.

What he [Denniz Pop] was really good at, which Jonas and I were quite bad at, was to simplify the music. We had way too many hook lines and melodies in our songs. The first thing Denniz Pop did was to completely slaughter the songs and just keep a few of the melodies, which you can very much hear on, for example, All That She Wants. I think that became the key for the sound we had, and why we were able to reach so many people in so many cultures – simplified music that was easy to listen to.

Ulf Ekberg, Forbes

My verdict

‘The Sign’ is beloved by many poptimists, but not by me. There’s a strong verse melody, but little else that I find appealing. It’s unbearably stilted with awkward lyrics and clipped vocals. A chirpy keyboard awkwardly plays the reggae rhythm guitar part, and the arrangement is thin and dated.

As a Swedish pop quartet, Ace of Base were often compared to ABBA. That’s a tough legacy to live up to – it took ABBA a few albums to hone their sophisticated pop sound.

The Aftermath

Ace of Base continued to enjoy hits through the 1990s, including a cover of Bananarama’s ‘Cruel Summer’. Linn Berggren struggled with fame and began to pull back from the spotlight in the late 1990s.

2002’s Da Capo was the last album from the original band – the boys returned with two new female vocalists for 2010’s The Golden Ratio. Jenny Berggren tours as a solo act, playing Ace of Base hits.

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