Chanakya Theatre, Apr 1978 (?) – a whole school group of spotty teenagers from Spingdales were there to watch ABBA The Movie. I will never forget that day – ABBA’s songs , all of us dancing in the aisles, singing at the top of our voices. It was mayhem. It was exhilarating. It was fantastic. The memory of that movie and that music is so precious to me I’ve actively refused to watch ‘Mama Mia’ . I’m scared it will overwrite the precious images in the etch-a-sketch in my head.

ABBA were all over the radio at that time – every ‘Date With You’ must have had an ABBA sing for a full five years I’m sure. I had their LPs, their cassettes, and their lyrics etched in my head. I first heard ABBA on AIR in 1975 I think – it was ‘Hasta Manana’ – and I fell in love at first sound. It still is one of my favs. I remember buying the Waterloo album at Rhythm Corner, South Ex II, with my precious pocket money!

We all know that they were two couples whose marriages came apart in the crucible of superstardom (more on that later). What’s interesting is that before they became ABBA they were individually successful artists. 1969 was a critical year in ABBA history – the core of the band, Benny and Bjorn started collaborating in ‘69. Benny met Anni-Frid in ’69 at a contest for selections for Sweden’s entry to Eurovision. Agnetha met Bjorn at a TV studio in ’69. Soon the two couples were inseparable and in early ’70 went to Cyprus on holiday. A fun singing session on the beach which turned into an impromptu ‘first ever ABBA concert’ for some UN troops – and ABBA was born!

The songs from their early albums – up to 1974 – were fantastic. ‘Ring Ring’ – with the girls trilling the sound of a phone was the perfect song for teenage lovelorn angst, ‘Hasta Manana’ – which was their reserve song for the Eurovision contest, ‘Nina, Pretty Ballerina’ and ‘Rock Me’ were soooo good!

They were so 70’s – watch the videos – Agnetha’s fabulous shorts and that lip bite, Benny’s feather boa, Bjorn’s glam rock guitar and Frida’s sexy onesie!

Until tomorrow….Enjoy!

Waterloo

Ring Ring

Hasta Manana