ABBA, The #49 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 

(Continued from Part Two)

 

ABBA pulled another single from Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 with the influential "Gimme!  Gimme!  Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", a #1 smash in Ireland,  France, Belgium, Finland and Switzerland, #2 in West Germany, the Netherlands and Norway, #3 in the U.K. and Austria and #8 in Australia.

 

ABBA recorded this great song at their Polar Music Studios and invited the choir from Stockholm International School to sing the chorus.  "I Have A Dream" hit #1 in Austria and the Netherlands and #2 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The group performed a select few dates in North America to sold-out crowds, the last time ABBA would set foot on the continent.  They played 23 dates in Western Europe, including six sold-out shows at Wembley Arena in London,  and played 11 dates in Japan, nearly as many as they did in the much-larger United States.

 

In 1981, ABBA released the album Super Trouper, the ninth #1 album in the U.K.  The poignant single "The Winner Takes It All" raced to #1, it was the group's 10th #1 song in Ireland, their eighth chart-topper in the United Kingdom and their seventh #1 in the Netherlands.  It also peaked at #2 in Austria, #3 in Australia, #4 in West Germany and #8 in the U.S.

 Unfortunately, the United States missed the boat once again on the big picture--they had the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world in which Super Trouper wasn't a Top 10 album.  The title song went to #1 in the U.K., West Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, #2 in Norway and #3 in Austria.

 

"On And On And On" reached #9 in Australia.

 "Happy New Year" was not released as a single until 1999, when European radio stations received it, though the Spanish version, entitled "Felicidad", reached #5 in Argentina.

"Andante, Andante" makes brilliant use of a musical term that signifies that the piece of music is to be played or sung at a tempo that is not too fast or too slow.  In this song, which was originally titled "Hold Me Close", Frida is using it as a metaphor for the man not to go too fast with her.

 

This solid song was later remade by Information Society.  In 2006, Slant magazine ranked it as the #60 Dance song of all-time.  The descending vocal tones at the end of the verse right before the refrain was achieved by sending the vocal into a harmoniser, which produced a slightly lower-pitched version of the vocal.  That output was fed back to its input, thus continually lowering the pitch of the vocal.  Another great ABBA tune--"Lay Your Love On Me"

 

Bjorn wrote the lyrics to this based on his memory of a teenage romance he had in Paris, France.  "Our Last Summer" is another example of how much he had grown as a songwriter since 1974.  And Frida turned in a stellar vocal performance as well.

 Another amazing song, "One Of Us", hit #1 in West Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands and #3 in the U.K. and Austria.  The United States still didn't get it, but they soon would.

ABBA recorded a compilation of Spanish-language versions of their hits, Gracias Por La Música and released the album that year.

Andersson and Lyngstad announced they were filing for divorce.  The next year, ABBA released their final studio album, The Visitors, which revealed perhaps Andersson and Ulvaeus' best songwriting of their careers.  

There was rampant speculation as to the future of the group, especially given that both couples had now split.  In 1982, the group recorded three new songs, but Andersson and Ulvaeus were not satisfied, and the group took a break.  Instead, they released the double compilation album The Singles:  The First Ten Years.  

 

ABBA recorded new songs for the compilation, including "The Day Before You Came", #3 in Australia and the Netherlands.  It is the band's most intriguing song, because the listener is left guessing what happened when "the man came" into her life.  It is like a mystery with the final page torn out.

The listener seems to be taking a journey on a woman's mundane everyday routine before she met the lover who changed her life.  But when one probes deeper into the lyrics, it is evident that something else darker is going on.  The woman is fragile and her pronouncements of "I'm certain...", "I must have...", "I'm sure," seem to imply that she is going though life like a zombie without really appreciating her activities or having control over them.  

 

Just as "The Winner Takes It All" may have been influenced by the divorce of Bjorn and Agnetha, this song, featuring the powerful and emotional vocals by Frida, is about the divorce of Frida and Benny.  Ulvaeus asked both members for permission before the group began working on the song.  This is  "When All Is Said And Done".

ABBA promoted the release of the album with television appearances.  Andersson and Ulvaeus collaborated with Tim Rice to write songs for the musical Chess and the children's musical Abbacadabra, a French television program featuring ABBA songs, while Fältskog and Lyngstad concentrated on solo albums.

 

There shouldn't be a parent alive who cannot identify with this great song.  It should serve as an inspiration to fully enjoy every moment with your child, for their time in your home is short.  Ulvaeus wrote this song with his then seven-year-old daughter in mind.  "Every parent knows that feeling, even if you were with them every waking hour you'd still feel that you were missing something."  With passionate vocals from Faltskog, "Slipping Through Your Fingers".

In 1986, all four members recorded a video performing an acoustic version of "Tivedshambo", the first song written by manager Stig Anderson, for Anderson's 55th birthday.  It was the first time they had all been together in two years.  ABBA performed for the final time on the British television show The Late, Late Breakfast Show.    

In 1992, ABBA released the compilation ABBA Gold:  Greatest Hits.

Despite all of their hit records and international sales, management at American radio stations still could not comprehend the popularity of ABBA in the United States.  Something was about to happen that would change all that and would be a slap in the face to those who had been unable to see what their listeners liked.

In 1994, two Australian movies were released related to ABBA's music--The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel's Wedding.  ABBA released the four-disc box set Thank You for the Music.

Several artists did covers of ABBA's songs and compilations did so well that ABBA fans clammored for a comeback by the group.  In 2000, ABBA nonetheless turned down an offer of $1 billion U.S. dollars to perform 100 concerts in a reunion tour.  

In 2002, ABBA was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.  Andersson and Ulvaeus had been working on a story that would feature ABBA's music, and in 2008, the movie musical Mamma Mia! premiered, starring Meryl Streep.  All four members were on hand for the Swedish premiere on July 4.  

The movie sparked renewed interest in ABBA's music throughout the world, with the album ABBA Gold:  Greatest Hits remarkably reaching #1 for the fifth time in the U.K., 16 years after its release.  The Mamma Mia!  The Movie soundtrack album went to #1 in the United States, better than any of their studio albums had ever done.

On January 20, 2016, all four members reunited for Mamma Mia The Party in Stockholm for the first time since the movie premiere of Mamma Mia!.  

In 2010 ABBA was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

Also that year, ABBAWORLD, a touring exhibition with interactive and audiovisual activities that allowed fans to relive the story of the group, premiered at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.  

In 2015, "Dancing Queen" was included in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

ABBA collected 20 hits in the U.S., with four Top 10 songs and one #1.  Of all the stories in The Top 100 Artists*, ABBA's is one in which radio station management didn't get it, to put it bluntly.  It wasn't that people in the United States didn't love ABBA; that fact was proven many times over with Mamma Mia, but rather that some radio stations stubbornly refused to play their songs.  With Mamma Mia, ABBA had the last laugh on those radio stations.

Compare those career chart statistics above with other countries:  in the U.K., which generally prefers a harder style of Rock to the United States, ABBA generated 25 career hits with a sensational 19 of those going Top 10 and nine #1's.  Australia, another country with similar listening tastes, the group landed 30 hits with 16 Top 10 songs and six #1's.  In West Germany, ABBA charted 26 hits with 20 Top 10's and nine #1 songs.  The group had 23 career hits in Ireland, with 19 Top 10's and 12 #1's.  

We consider all of that in our rankings.  Had ABBA generated more hits or sales in the United States, they would be closer to the Top 10, but as Mamma Mia continues to play to sold-out audiences and sales continue to grow in the U.S., perhaps they will edge closer in the years to come.  They are more popular now than ever, despite not recording a new album or performing together in two decades.

Actual record sales are disputed.  Certifiable sales top 100 million, with some estimates putting the figure at 500 million.  We use certified sales backed by reliable sources--the 100 million figure is the one we used in ranking them among the top artists.