The story of Abba has become much like the story of the Titanic, everyone thinks they know it; they won Eurovision and became one of the biggest selling acts in recorded music. This is partly true, in the UK at least. In 1973 the group released their first single in the UK ; “Ring Ring” under the name; “Bjorn & Benny, Anna & Frida”, the single was completely unsuccessful selling a mere 500 in the UK . “Ring, Ring” was written for the Swedish entry to the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest but never made it through the Swedish heats, as the song was decided upon by so called “music experts” “Ring Ring” was favoured most by the Swedish public and such was the uproar that come next year the public would decide the song entry.
Back in the 1970s the Eurovision Song Contest was a serious game, much a contrast to today’s version! In the year 1974 the group, now under the title; Abba recorded “Waterloo” for the Swedish entry for 1974’s Eurovision Song Contest. It came top in the Swedish heats and the four headed for Brighton, England for the contest. They were up against favourite to win, UK’s Olivia Newton-John.
Abba won by a significant margin and “Waterloo” the single went to number 1 in the UK and stayed there for two weeks, the single even made the top 10 (#6) in the US where Eurovision means nothing. The Waterloo album peaked at an impressive number 28. Their next try at a hit single was a remix of “Ring Ring”. This version was slowed down and some heavy arrangement added. This proved unsuccessful though and the record just missed the Top 30 at Number 32. This was not good but things would get worse. the single released in many countries worldwide was the album track “Honey Honey” which Abba had allowed British group Sweet Dreams to do a cover of and it reached the Top 10. This must not have been a good feeling for anyone in the Abba circle at the time. Their next single “So Long” faired out worse than “Ring Ring” and failed to enter the UK chart. Their next single “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” was – as was “So Long” – taken from the new album; “ABBA” this was apparently chosen for commercial reasons which even prompted Abba’s British label; Epic to launch a big promotional campaign where representatives would tour London in a wedding outfit. Not even these efforts paid off, Abba had been tagged with Eurovision and it was proving hard to shake off, but there next single “SOS” was to change all that.
When “SOS” was released in the UK it was the first sign of success for a long while. the song was praised by critics and again was successful in the US taking pride as “Most Played Record 1975”. It reached number 6 in the UK chart. The next single off the “ABBA” album was “Mamma Mia” this song, now one of the groups best known was never intended for release but the group had already taken off in Australia at this time and the demand was so high the groups Australian label; RCA were granted permission to release it, the success was phenomenal overcastting all the previous hits in Australia and so “Mamma Mia” was released in most countries. It topped the charts in the UK , eventually knocking Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” off the top spot but not in time to make Christmas number 1. “Mamma Mia” was the first number one of 1976, a good start to what would be a chart dominating year for Abba.
^ABOVE^ (left-right)1. Mamma Mia on Disco, 2 & 3 Frida in an interview before the release of “Fernando” in Australia, 4 & 5 “Fernando” video.
In Australia Abba-Mania was at a high and the people could not get enough. There next single; “Fernando” became the biggest selling single in Australia staying at number 1 for 15 weeks, matched only by The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” also 15 weeks on the UK top spot, both of these would later be condemned by the Brian Adams track “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” (16 weeks, UK). Fernando was also released in the UK topping the charts. It was the first song not taken from the “ABBA” album. It was included on the UK “Greatest Hits” compilation which also topped the charts and would become one of the biggest selling albums of the 1970s. The next single; “Dancing Queen” is possibly the best known song by Abba; it was recently voted (2003) “Number 1 Dance Floor Filler”. The single reached number 1 and stayed there for 6 weeks. This was the first track to be cut from the forthcoming “Arrival” album. This was Abba’s first number 1’s hat trick but the next single, also from “Arrival” would break that reaching only number 3. Some critics readily ruled Abba off here, they would be wrong to do tat, others believed that the choice of the “cursed” money track was the reason, in fact many UK critics favoured “Tiger” as a follow up to “Dancing Queen”, “Tiger” was never released as a single. The last single from the “arrival” album; “Knowing Me, Knowing You” showed a more mature style to Abba and also returned them to the top of the charts, odd as many people already owned the track on the “Arrival” album.
Abba’s new single for 1977 was “The Name Of The Game” it was number 1 in the UK on the 25th Anniversary of the UK singles chart. The single was taken from the forth coming album; “The Album” set to coincide with the release of “ABBA – The Movie” which had been shot earlier in the year while the group took on their first major tour from Europe to Australia .
In 1978 Abba took on a huge promotional campaign in America to try and boost their success to the levels it was in the rest of the world. This paid off. “The Album” was the highest charting and most successful album in the US and their single “Take A Chance On Me” was the most successful but only charted at number 3, in the UK however it was another Number 1 and the groups second hat trick of number ones. In some countries “Eagle”, the lead track from “The Album” was chosen as another single and was a top 5 hit in most countries. In the UK though the next release after “Take A Chance On Me” was the disco flavoured ” Summer Night City ” this was also the first track the group worked on in their new Polar Studios. The mix was hard to do and they never got it right. Originally it had an extra intro which was scrapped for the more elaborate intro, but the deleted intro was used when they performed their 1979 tour. As with “Fernando” the track was never released on a studio album in the UK , ” Summer Night City ” charted at number 5 in the UK , it was their lowest charter since “SOS”.
1979 was one of the groups busiest and most successful. They released the number 1 album “Voulez-Vous” including single cuts such as “Chiquitita”(2), “Does Your Mother Know”(4), “Angeleyes”(3) and “Voulez-Vous”. The latter two tracks were actually released in the UK as a double A-side as a pose to A-B release with “Voulez-Vous” as the A-side. The public apparently preferred “Angeleyes” and was chosen as the header for the double A-side single, it reached number 3 in the UK which is pretty good considering “Angeleyes” had no video and was never performed for promotion or live.
“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” was the groups next single, it reached number 3 in the UK and was the header off the new album “Greatest Hits Vol .2”, as they completed their second world tour the group released a live version of “I Have A Dream” as a single in the UK, it reached number 2 and just missed the Christmas number 1 to Pink Floyds “Another Brick In The Wall”
One of Bjorn and Benny’s on going ambitions at the time was to write a musical, they came up with the idea of a New Year’s Eve party, they wrote the song “Happy New Year” while on holiday and even met up with John Cleese, star and writer of Fawlty Towers to propose he wrote the story, unfortunately he declined. “Happy New Year” was included on the group’s forthcoming album, “Super Trouper”. The first single to be released in the new decade was “The Winner Takes It All”, the emotional ballad, flavoured by Bjorn and Agnetha’s divorce hit the number 1 spot which proved critics wrong that Abba were “finished”. The next single from the album was the title track, “Super Trouper” it was another number 1 but would be the group’s final number 1 in the UK . The dance track “Lay All Your Love On Me” was released as a special 12″ “Collectors Disc” although it was available to anyone as an ordinary single would be. It broke the record for the highest charting 12″ single at the time when it reached number 7.
“The Visitors”, Abba’s 8th studio album and 7th consecutive number 1 album; showed the first signs of the groups decline. Frida and Benny were now also divorced. The first cut from the album “One Of Us” was the most successful with a UK chart of number 3. Back then the chart was not counted during the Christmas week, had it have been “One Of Us” would have been Abba’s 10th number 1 hit in the UK , as it happened, it wasn’t. The next single “Head Over Heels” bombed at number 25, the Abba magic was dying. In the UK they hold the record for the biggest decline in popularity ever. No other singles were released from “The Visitors”
In 1982 the group started work on a new album. Because all members were going off to carry out separate projects they finished at 6 new tracks; “Just Like That”, “I Am The City”, “Cassandra”, “Under Attack”, “You Owe Me One” and “The Day Before You Came”. Instead of a new studio album they added “The Day Before You Came” and “Under Attack” to a double album; “The Singles” which was number 1 in the UK although the promo sticker could only use “Includes The Day Before You Came and Under Attack” losing the ever present “hit” word. “The Day Before You Came” along with “Cassandra” as a B-side missed the top 30 at number 32, “Under Attack” with “You Owe Me One” as it’s B-side faired better at number 26 but that was it. “I Am The City” was eventually released in 1993 during the revival on the compilation; “More Gold” but “Just Like That” remains unreleased, officially at least, it remains one of the most talked about songs in Abba communities worldwide.
In 1983 Epic released a compilation album “Thank You For The Music – A Collection Of Love Songs” which managed to climb to an impressive number 13 and the single “Thank You For The Music” reached number 33.
Frida and Agnetha both had small successes with solo careers but neither hit off major outside Scandinavia . Bjorn and Benny went on to write the musical “Chess” with Sir Tim Rice, which was a massive hit all over.
When Abba Gold was released in 1992 the Abba revival started, in the 1980’s they were cast away to make room for new music but when Abba Gold reached number one and the preceding single re-release “Dancing Queen” hitting number 16 the Abba phenomenon took over once more. When the musical “Mamma Mia!” was opened Abba Gold hit number 1 again, their popularity goes on and will do for years to come.