ABBA — those four letters are iconic!
Yet, for me, they have an added, special meaning.
If you follow me on social media or if you’ve regularly read my blog over the years, “ABBA” instantly makes you think of my beautiful late golden retriever.
If you’re seeing this from anywhere else across the world, the four letters, “ABBA”, instantly identifies one of biggest and the best musical acts ever!
My love of Agnetha, Anni-Frid, Benny, and Bjorn inspired me to name my dog ABBA and it’s the inspiration for today’s blog — a love letter to the foursome and a big “Thank You For The Music” and for the memories!
As I get into the meat and potatoes of today’s blog, I’ll be sharing a few personal stories that connect me to ABBA — the super group and the dog!
This was my dinner in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2017, which is where Bjorn was born and a city that played a big part in ABBA’s musical history. (Okay, that’s a slight deviation there, but I said this was going to be personal!) 🙂
ALMOST 50 YEARS ALREADY!
We’re not quite there yet, but it’s mind-boggling to think that we’re approaching the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s world domination!
They scored their first Swedish hit, “People Need Love”, in the summer of 1972 as “Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid”, then recorded “Ring Ring” for the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest.
But, it was winning Eurovision the next year, in 1974, with “Waterloo” that propelled ABBA to international fame!
I still listen to ABBA’s music regularly and it brings me just as much joy today as it has over my lifetime!
However, I was inspired to share my stories and my love of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, and Frida (Anni-Frid) after reading Carl Magnus Palm’s 2001 biography called, “Bright Lights, Dark Shadows: The Real Story of ABBA”, which sat on my bookshelf for almost two decades!
Crazy, right?
What a great read! Check it out!
Growing up in the southern United States (Kentucky) in the early-1970s, I was country when country wasn’t cool!
I was still infatuated with Tanya Tucker, while my teenage cousins (our summer baby sitters) were dancing around to the Carpenters, Olivia Newton-John, and ABBA. But, I was slowly coming around to pop music!
Somehow I acquired the 45 rpm single “SOS” and I was hooked on ABBA!
It was just two years earlier that I bought my first pop single, “Delta Dawn” by Helen Reddy, at the age of eight!
And, just as I was getting on the ABBA bandwagon as a fan, the international super group was coming undone and were calling it quits.
In the summer of 1980, they released the single, “The Winner Takes It All”.
It was the lead single from the upcoming November album, “Super Trouper”, with Agnetha singing lead.
While Bjorn says the song is about divorce and it’s fiction, he and Agnetha divorced early that year.
Yet, that wasn’t the end. The group would release what would become their last studio album, “The Visitors”, in November 1981.
The lead single in America was “When All Is Said And Done” with Frida singing lead.
Like “The history book on the shelf/Is always repeating itself”, Frida and Benny ended their relationship and divorced earlier in the year!
With both couples in ABBA divorced, new relationships pursued, and outside musical ventures already underway, there was no reason for the band to make new music together.
1990s ABBA-RENAISSANCE
While they hadn’t charted on the American singles charts since early 1983, the world would experience an ABBA-renaissance a decade later!
It started in the summer of 1992, when my favorite English pop group of the 1980s, Erasure, released “Abba-esque”.
That four-song EP featured remakes of the ABBA hits, “Lay All Your Love on Me”, “SOS”, “Take a Chance on Me”, and “Voulez-Vous”.
The duo scored an American Top 10 Dance Club Songs hit with “Take a Chance on Me”.
An ABBA revival was just getting underway and was ready to sweep the world!
After eight studio albums and countless compilation and greatest hits albums in the 1970s and 1980s, the real ABBA was ready to claim their rightful place again in music history.
“ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits”, featuring 19 of the group’s biggest hits, was released in September 1992.
It has gone on to sell more than 30 million copies worldwide making it the best-selling ABBA album ever!
In the spring of 1994, I was getting ready to make the biggest (and best) decision of my life.
I was moving from my small hometown of Mayfield, Kentucky (population around 10,000) to Chicago, the third largest city in the U.S. This move would lead to my career as a television meteorologist and it opened the world of international travel to me.
That spring, while packing to move, “ABBA Gold” was on repeat and the song I remember most vividly was “Knowing Me, Knowing You”.
THE BIG SCREEN LOVE AFFAIR WITH ABBA
After the international success of the Erasure album and “ABBA Gold”, the band’s profile would be raised even more in 1994 and 1995 with the release of two Australian dramedies — “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and “Muriel’s Wedding”.
In “Priscilla”, the movie centers around three drag queens on a cross country trip across the Australian Outback. One of the queens is obsessed with ABBA and two of them perform “Mamma Mia”.
In “Muriel’s Wedding”, socially awkward Muriel spends much of her time fantasizing about a glamorous wedding to get out of Porpoise Spit, Australia, by listening to ABBA (and 1970s music)!
Like in “Priscilla”, Muriel and her friend, Rhonda, perform an ABBA number. They choose “Waterloo”!
After seeing “Muriel’s Wedding” in 1995, I decided that my next dog would be named “ABBA”.
That became a reality in the summer of 2000, when I got my golden retriever. And, yes she was named ABBA!
With their chart domination and stardom in the 1970s and with “ABBA Gold” and those two Australian movies in the 1990s, the world already had two chances to fall in love with iconic group.
However, the music of ABBA was getting ready to conquer another entertainment staple and a whole new audience!
ABBA 2.0 — “MAMMA MIA!”
The musical “MAMMA MIA!”, featuring a story line based around the music of ABBA, opened in London in April 1999. Almost a year later, it made its North American debut in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
My personal connection with the musical: Before it opened on Broadway in the fall of 2001, it played at the Cadillac Palace Theatre in Chicago that summer, where I first saw it.
Since we got to the venue early, we stopped in at Dunkin’ Donuts, right around the corner. And, you’ll never guess who was standing right in front of me?
It was Louise Pitre, who was playing Donna in Chicago and would originate the role on Broadway! I so wish I had said “hello”, but I let her be!
Pitre earned a Tony nomination in 2002 in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role category!
Worldwide, since 1999, based on limited available data, ‘MAMMA MIA!”, the musical, has grossed almost $2.1 billion (yes, that’s BILLIONS)!!!
BUT, WAIT!!!!
In the summer of 2008, the movie version of “Mamma Mia!” with Meryl Streep in the lead role became an international blockbuster bringing in $615.7 million at the box office.
It spawned a successful sequel in 2018, “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again” ($395 million).
There’s even talk of a third movie that may feature new ABBA music!
And, before I share my ten favorite ABBA songs, I have the ultimate connection to the group as if naming your dog after them, isn’t enough. 🙂
It’s like “life imitates art” or “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”!
In late 2016, being the planner that I am, a trip to Scandinavia was booked for August 2017 to see much of Norway, some of Sweden, and Copenhagen, Denmark (loved it)!
However, in early 2017, my ex and I decided to end our eight-year relationship, but the big down payment on the Scandinavian trip was already paid!
So, in true ABBA fashion — the band with their last two albums and us with our trip — we honored our commitment to travel together even as divorced or separated couples!
That was us in Gothenburg, Sweden.
We parted amicably with fond and beautiful memories of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark!
A LITTLE CHART HISTORY FIRST
Okay, let’s kick off the countdown with a little ABBA chart trivia.
Ironically, Australia was one of the ABBA’s biggest success stories, while the U.S. was one of their biggest disappointments! It’s no secret that the band didn’t enjoy touring and that’s vital to success in America!
On the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, ABBA scored 14 Top 40 hits.
Of those, four reached the Top Ten (“Waterloo” #6, 1974; “Dancing Queen” #1, 1977; “Take a Chance on Me” #3, 1978; and “The Winner Takes It All” #8, 1980).
Shockingly, in the U.S., “Dancing Queen” was the band’s only #1 song on the Hot 100. Yet, when you add in sales and other variables, “Take a Chance on Me” was their biggest hit in America!
MY TEN FAVORITE ABBA SONGS
I narrowed this list down to 23 songs and it was so hard cutting it down to just my ten favorites!
“DANCING QUEEN”
INTERESTING TIDBIT: Original working title was “Boogaloo”!
“GIMME! GIMME! GIMME! (A MAN AFTER MIDNIGHT)”
INTERESTING TIDBIT: ABBA rarely allows artists to sample their music, but Madonna was permitted to use the instrumental introduction of this ABBA hit in her #1 2005 smash “Hung Up”!
“SUPER TROUPER”
“TAKE A CHANCE ON ME”
“WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE”
“FERNANDO”
INTERESTING TIDBIT: Originally recorded for a Frida solo album!
INTERESTING TIDBIT #2: Spent a record setting 14 weeks at #1 in Australia!
“KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU”
“WATERLOO”
INTERESTING TIDBIT: Original working title was “Tango”!
FROM “MURIEL’S WEDDING”
“MAMMA MIA”
FROM “THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT”
“SOS”
INTERESTING TIDBIT: Considered as Agnetha’s first “heartbreak classic”!
INTERESTING TIDBIT #2: I still think Pierce Bronson should be sued for slaughtering (not slaying) the song in the “Mamma Mia!” movie! 😦 🙂
Now that you know my favorite ABBA songs and my history with the band, I have one more confession to make… as a teenager, I had the biggest crush on Benny!
Thank you for taking the time to ready my love letter to ABBA. What are you favorite ABBA songs or memories?
THAT’S IT
With all the craziness in the world, make it the best in your little part of it!
Anthony
What's Peeps Thinking About Now? It's Probably Random! 