13 Things You Didn't Know About Ace Of Base

In the '90s, you saw the sign. And damn straight it opened your eyes.

1. The band's original name was Tech Noir.

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Which was inspired by the nightclub in The Terminator. Unfortunately, they discovered that another Swedish band had taken the same name. Nooooo!

2. The name that they came to (Ace of Base, duh) was sort of inspired by Motorhead’s song, "Ace of Spades."

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Ulf explains: "We were the ‘four aces’ in the studio and we all thought ‘Ace of Base’ sounded great."

3. The original band included three siblings.

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The original line-up (clockwise from top left): Ulf "Buddha" Ekberg, Jonas "Joker" Berggren, Jenny Berggren, and Linn Berggren. They were all in their early twenties when their debut album, "Happy Nation," was released in 1993.

4. The line-up now includes two new female members.

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Julia Williamson (the blonde) and Clara Hagman. Ulf found Clara when he sat in as a judge on the Swedish version of American Idol, and managed to scoop her up after her elimination.

5. Britney Spears covered "All That She Wants."

She altered the lyrics and the song was never released.

6. BTW, people STILL don't know what this song is about.

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"All that she wants is another baby." Is it a real baby? Is it a boyfriend-baby? Or was there a missing comma — All that she wants is another, baby — in which case, is "another" a drink? Dessert? OMG, JUST TELL US ALREADY.

7. Ulf (far left) was once accused of being a neo-Nazi.

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His association is a bit unclear, however, in '93, a Swedish newspaper apparently reported that he was once a member of a band called "Commit Suiside" (yes, spelled that way), which sang racist songs. According to the Toronto Sun, Ulf was "a drug and alcohol-abusing teenager, when he was a member of a neo-Nazi skinhead gang."

8. The band's 1994 hit, "Don't Turn Around," was actually covered by several artists before Ace of Base's version.

Tina Turner was the first (her version was never released). Neil Diamond and Bonnie Tyler are also among the handful of artists who have sung this song.

9. Of course, the best cover anyone's ever done of an Ace of Base song was on "Full House."

Stephanie Tanner's band "Girl Talk" did their best with "The Sign."

10. Oh, they're Swedish. You knew that though, right?

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Some people think they're Danish. Those people have not done their research.

11. Has it really been 20 years since "The Sign" came out?

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Yup. It was released in 1993 and Billboard ranked it as the number one song of 1994 in its year-end charts. The album it was on — "Happy Nation" — sold 23 million copies worldwide.

12. Bananarama wrote and recorded "Cruel Summer" in 1983.

Ace of Base did their version in 1998.

13. Ace of Base 2.0 released an album called "The Golden Ratio" in 2010.

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They also toured in 2011. The sound is similar to the Ace of Base you knew back when...but nothing will ever be the same.