Freeway - ABBA – platform shoes, spandex and undying hits.

ABBA – platform shoes, spandex and undying hits.

Björn, Benny, Agneta & Anni-Frid. That was the name of a group consisting of Björn, Benny, Agneta and Anni-Frid. Although very informative, the name was not very catchy. After trying a number of different names the group´s manager Stig Andersson made a joke about calling themselves ABBA, from the first letter from each of the member’s first name.The rest is, as you say, history.
Before being a group the members each had individual careers. Björn Ulveaus was a front man in the group Hootenanny Singers, Benny Andersson was a member of the popular group Hep Stars; Agneta was a critics darling, having a #1 record at the age of 17, and Anni-Frid had worked with numerous dance bands. Björn and Benny´s paths crossed and they talked about making music together.
Björn was married to Agneta at the time, and Benny and Anni-Frid were engaged to be married so the two melodic couples soon performed together.

ABBA had their breakthrough in 1973 when they came in third place in the Swedish Song Contest with Ring Ring. But the big success came the following year when ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton with Waterloo. This was the first Swedish entry that had ever won. Six months later the next big hit came: SOS.

In 1976 ABBA was one of the world’s biggest groups. This was during a time when European pop music was very big in USA.

A tour in Australia in 1977, a place where they were also very popular, resulted in a documentary called ABBA the movie which opened in December the same year. The film was directed by Lasse Hallström.
A few months later ABBA released another big hit: Take a chance on me.

Unfortunately the group found it difficult to combine work and personal life so they decided to take a break. But what was meant as a break lead to the end of the Swedish pop group, and also the end of the couples – both couples were divorced.

But even though it was almost 30 years since ABBA split up they are still as big as ever, if not bigger. People still buy amounts of ABBA´s cds. In 1992 the collection album ABBA Gold and the sequal ABBA Gold More came out. Those albums were very popular and sold well all over the world.

But ABBA doesn’t only have themselves to thank for their endless popularity. Big artists such as Erasure, U2, Sexsmith and Westlife have all successfully made covers of ABBA´s songs.
A great example is the ex-group A-teens, earlier known as ABBA-teens, which was established in 1998 and their purpose to do modern ABBA covers.
The latest artist to honour the Swedish pop group was none other than Madonna. Her song Hung up features a well-known theme from ABBA´s Gimme Gimme Gimme

The two B´s in ABBA, Björn and Benny continued to work with each other. Together they have created well-known musicals such as Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla and Mamma Mia.
Mamma Mia is a musical based on ABBA´s music and features 22 ABBA classics.

ABBA is a very important aspect of the Swedish music history. Wherever you go in the world you can count on most people having heard of ABBA and knows a song or two.

37-year-old Mikael Körning from Örnsköldsvik owns a music and video store called mica. Mikael has also worked as a dj since the age of sixteen. When he was eigthteen he got his first real job at the musicsection of a departmentstore.

- Did ABBA have a big influence on your work during the years?
- Well, not exactly but they have always been there.
- Do people still buy ther records?
- Yes, people buy their collectionalbums all the time.
- Have you noticed if ABBA have influenced other artists?
- Some artists have sounds that resembles the ”special ABBA-sound”, and many covers have been made.
- When you started to work as a dj, was ABBA more popular than they are now?
- Yes, they were more popular twenty years ago. Now I play ABBA most for older people.
- Do people still ask for ABBA when you are playing?
- Sometimes, but it is always girls.