ABBA

ABBA was a pop music group that enjoyed significant success during its decade long career.

History

Three Swedish musicians, and one born in Norway, release a single, 'People Need Love' as group in 1972 under a rather unwieldy group name setting out each of their four names: 'Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid'.

The four members of the band were Swedes Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog and Norwegian-born Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

The ABBA name

It was not until almost a year later in 1973 that the band's manager became annoyed with such an extended nomenclature to refer to the band, and began referring to the group using their first letters of each of their names to form an acronym, ABBA.

ABBA tastes success

ABBA became one of the most successful pop groups ever, and their music continues to remain commercially popular 25 years after the release of their last studio album, 'The Visitors'.

At the height of their career, a movie was filmed of their 1977 Australian tour, and released as 'ABBA - The Movie', along with an accompanying album 'ABBA - The Album' in 1978.

Most interesting is the pervasive presence of ABBA songs, even though, on the whole, they had a modest showing in terms of how many became Number One hits. Australian movies The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding featured ABBA songs on the soundtrack. Gimme, Gimme, Gimme was used as the title song to the British comedy series of the same name.

An unmistable indicator of popularity is the extent to which something can be referred to and be instantly recognized, without the need for explanation. The spoofing of ABBA and ABBA songs is an example. BBC comedy Not the Nine o'clock News parodied ABBA in the musical sketch "Super Dooper", probably a play on the title song from the "Super Trooper" album. In an episode of The Vicar of Dibley, a character called Jim, a perpetual ditherer who prefaces every answer by stuttering "N..n...no...no...no...." raised uproarious laughter in the live audience by attempting to say the title Knowing me, Knowing you. New York City's "Gay ABBA Fest" prompted the tagline "Talk about your Dancing Queens".

The end of ABBA

By 1981 the band was clearly moving apart. The band's final album 'The Visitors' was released in 1981 to much lower sales than most of the group's earlier recordings. An often hoped for later album, 'Opus 10' which had been planned, has never materialized. Final studio recording sessions took place in 1982.

The individual band members have continued to pursue careers in music, albeit sporadically in the case of the female members.

Notes and links

Official (Record Company) ABBA Website