I'm in Stockholm, Sweden for a couple of days on a guitar gig, and am having a blast. I had no idea of the fact that Sweden exports the third-most amount of music (behind the U.S. and the U.K.) until today, but it's not surprising when you consider the amount of talent that has come from this country of merely nine million: ABBA, Refused, Ace of Base, Fireside, Entombed, The Cardigans, pop guru Max Martin, the list goes on and on.

My personal favorite: the recently defunct Hellacopters. The band started as an Entombed/Backyard Babies side project and turned into one of the best and most-loved garage revival acts, though that pigeonholing does a disservice to their complex Blue Cheer meets Cheap Trick romp. The Hellacopters weren't doing anything new, but I can't think of anyone in the past decade-and-a-half that did frill-free hard rock as consistently well as these guys.

The twelve nominees for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced today -- six are new, and six return hoping for better luck this year. Newbies the Kiss, Red Hot Chili Peppers, LL Cool J, The Hollies (yeah!), Jimmy Cliff, Kiss and Genesis join returnees ABBA, The Chantels, Darlene Love, The Stooges, Donna Summer and the incredibly deserving Laura Nyro. Inductees will be chosen in January and honored at the big annual party on the Ides of March.

"I Know There's Something Going On" by Frida, aka Ani-Frid Lyngstad of ABBA, is an intense slab of righteous relationship paranoia. The drums and the background vocals, both provided by Phil Collins (operating firmly in "In The Air Tonight"/"Take Me Home" mode) keep this song's tightrope near the snapping point from start to finish. This was the most successful non-ABBA song from any of the four Swedes. One listen and it's clear why.

We're supposed to keep the LNMC apolitical, but David Wild's new list of songs for Ahmadinejad is too good to pass up.

At your own risk, here's my Playlist For A Total Dick-Tator: Songs To Put You In The Mahmoud:

"Elected" - Alice Cooper
"The Clampdown" - The Clash
"The Winner Takes All" - Abba
"Psycho Killer" - Talking Heads
"Boom Boom Pow" - Black Eyed Peas
"The Bitch Is Back" - Elton John
"Little Man" - Tom Waits
"Know Your Enemy" - Green Day
"Heartless" - Kanye West
"Hoedown Throwdown" - Miley Cyrus
"Frail Grasp On The Big Picture" - The Eagles
"So Small" - Carrie Underwood
"Bastard" - Ben Folds

I can't believe he forgot Short People by Randy Newman, Steal Away (The Night) by Ozzy Osbourne, or Wild in the Streets by the Circle Jerks.

I was in a conversation about one-hit wonders recently and started thinking about a subset: songs that everyone knows the name of, but few know the artist.

Case in point, Murray Head. It actually turns out (thank you, music dork utopia songfacts.com) that Murray Head had a hit with "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar, in which he played Judas, so he technically isn't a one-hit wonder -- but who's counting.

Anyways, "One Night In Bangkok" (which was written by consummate tunesmithing professionals Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from ABBA, with Tim Rice) made the top ten despite being about an epic chess match in the far east, and containing a flute solo. Well played, gents.

What other songs can you think of with equally high levels of ubiquity and anonymity?

Since it's no longer taboo to point out John McCain's ridiculous and offensive attempts to use of his experience as a POW as if it's somehow an excuse for everything from his extramarital affairs to his rule-breaking to his having more pieces of real estate than he can keep track of, and so on, we would be remiss if we didn't point this one out too.

When CNN's Walter Isaacson confronted John McCain about his professed love of the band of ABBA, which of course was a lame attempt to cater to "disaffected Hillary supporters" as his blogger Michael Goldfarb made clear, McCain (you guessed it) whipped out the trusty ol' POW card to explain:

“What were you thinking?,” Isaacson asked him, looking incredulous.

“If there is anything I am lacking in, I’ve got to tell you, it is taste in music and art and other great things in life,” McCain joked. “I’ve got to say that a lot of my taste in music stopped about the time I impacted a surface-to-air missile with my own airplane and never caught up again.”

But, as Spencer Ackerman was quick to point out:

What? McCain was shot down in 1967. ABBA began making music in 1972. Don't try this sh** on me, McCain! Your POW experience has nothing to do with your Partridgey musical taste.

Cue the mockery...  Nicole thinks maybe we should just put out a distress signal for McSame instead