ABBA

THEIR MUSIC WILL LIVE FOREVER.
Their music will last forever.

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―Robin Gibb #

ABBA's pop, unlike most contemporary hits, is completely divorced from non-white musical traditions: R&B , hip-hop , soul music , funk , and Latin influences. Ulvaeus summed up their approach rather neatly in a 1981 interview: "Our musical roots are European. We like French and Italian songs." "Because of this, our songs will probably work well in Latin American countries. In the US, pop music is heavily influenced by blues , soul music and gospel , which is probably not present in ABBA's heritage."

Ulvaeus and Andersson grew up in traditional Swedish folk and Schlager music. The music is sloppy and simple, with a distinctly continental European flair. And as their tastes began to develop into their teens, they developed a network of influences that remained almost exclusively: The Beach Boys ' Golden Teen Hymn, Phil Spector 's Wall of Sound, Lennon-McCartney 's Rubber Soul , classical music, and musical theater. As a mature composer and lyricist, it's no surprise that I've come to prefer decisive melodies, dizzying arrangements and counterpoints, and overly exaggerated emotional gestures. This mix of different influences helped the band gain a reputation as purveyors of unrefined sentimentalism.

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― Pitchfork #

ABBA represented pop maximalism disguised as intellectual and musical simplicity. More culturally distant than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, they nevertheless studied them and reconstructed them with scholarly numerical precision. Each member achieved considerable local success before bringing together what Scandinavians understood as a supergroup. Keyboardist Andersson wrote hits, making ABBA the "Swedish Beatles". Guitarist Hutenanni Singers of Ulvaeus also wrote the Swedish-language cover and future star, and the two eventually contributed to each other's bands. Ulvaeus' future wife, Feltskog, topped the charts as a teenager with a self-written schmaltz. The two worked together on her solo production in the early '70s, and Anderson, similarly penned, produced a slew of hits for his partner Lynsta. All four of them pooled their talents and experience, and the results couldn't be more densely packed.

While contemporaries initially relied on outside producers/songwriters, ABBA were largely self-sufficient. With manager Stig Anderson assisting with some English, Ulvaeus and Anderson wrote their own lyrics. They arranged, produced, sang and performed them with the same skilled session musicians as they had played with Steely Dan . ABBA has made more music videos than most pre- MTV performers. Because they didn't like touring. The recording studio was their home, and they were among the first to build Stockholm's Polar Studios. Like Queen and 10cc, ABBA quickly built arrangements that exploited the symphonic and choral possibilities of the newly expanded multi-track recordings. The blunt-looking, richly textured rendering of the rings was tantamount to Dolly Parton 's axiom that "it costs a lot to look this cheap."

Masters of tunes that kept ringing in our ears, Andersson and Ulvaeus boasted considerable harmonic complexity, a mix of bitter and sweet. Like the classic Motown lyricists, they excelled at juxtaposing sharp melodies with painful lyrics ("SOS," "Money, Money, Money") and sometimes diametrically opposed combinations ("I Have a Dream," "Chiquititita"). I also fell into sadness and happiness. Even their happiest hits contain more than a few blue notes . Stripping away the euphoric strings and rhythms of "Dancing Queen," their only US chart topper would be a much sadder song. But it is arranged to feel ecstatic. The presong between notes is disproportionate to the lyrics, as the harmony peaks with the refrain of 'Feel the beat from the tambourine, oh yeah'. And that's right; Life is full of emotions far greater than their circumstances.

As any of you who have tried them in karaoke already know, ABBA's classics can be challenging. This is a fact attested by everyone in the movie version of ABBA's jukebox musical Mamma Mia!, not Meryl Streep. Funk and hip hop have all but reduced the melodic complexity of much contemporary pop, especially in these passages where the tune tends to tune well between a handful of notes currently within the marginal interval. ABBA's verses are considerably more melodically developed than today's typical refrain. They were so named because soprano Feltskog and mezzo-soprano Lynxta each had a wider range than the average rocker. Their voices, often revamped into full choirs, aligned to create something greater than the sum of their parts, as when Freddie Mercury paired superhumanly with Queen's falsetto drummer Roger Taylor.

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― PBS#

The Swedish group burst onto the world stage 40 years ago in October and are still one of the most successful bands of all time.
It is a legendary pop group representing Sweden, and since the Beatles , the most influential and commercially successful group musicians are almost five fingers. ABBA, which was commercial in the late 70s, is known to have contributed to Swedish exports after Volvo . This was an unprecedented popularity of musicians in other countries outside English. Meanwhile, Mamma Mia is currently being performed by more than 54 million people around the world. The band's album is continuously being sold by the Jukebox musical , which is enormously activated and promoted.

Despite all this, their music remains a bizarre anomaly, a globally successful sound grounded in more domestic and understated European values ​​rather than the wild and sexual lingua franca of rock and R&B . If rock 'n' roll is about escape and the world of the outsider, ABBA's pop songs unearth the dreams and disappointments of those who never want to rebel. To sum up the raucous ecstasy of Dancing Queen or the cascading fatalism of The Winner Takes It All, suburban hopes and fears are just as epic and valid. And there are a lot of people living there.

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― Why are BBC and ABBA so popular?

Swedish Europop group, one of the most commercially successful groups in popular music history.

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― Encyclopedia Britannica #

Swedish sensations who hit stratospheric success in the '70s and influenced the sound of pop for decades to come .

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― AllMusic#

ABBA is the best band in the world. There are no competitors.

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― NME#

ABBA made waves in the popular culture of the '70s that still resonate today. Thirty years later, their popularity is still going strong.

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― Rock and Roll Hall of Fame #

When it comes to pop, ABBA has been far more influential over the past few decades than The Beatles .

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― PBS#

I think that's what makes them special, because ABBA has pure joy in their music.

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― Bono #

In the mid-to-late '70s, no one wrote and produced pop songs as great as ABBA.

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― Stephen Wilson #

There is an ABBA every 10 years; It's proof that pop will always exist.

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― Gary Buckle ( Member of America ) #

ABBA's music is one of the most irresistibly melodic and rhyming music ever written. Without trying to be cool or vague, the entire song sinks into a soaring melody. Freshly, they are unafraid of her melodrama and have the courage to entice her listener to sing along or carry him/her on the wings of an easy melody. The songs sound so natural and easy that it's easy to forget how original they are. If you look a little closer, you will be amazed. Because this is not something that can be thrown together spontaneously or casually. This is a composed pop excellence, carefully constructed and always fresh, new and original.

VIEN and Ben Nudes can be easily ranked among geniuses such as Lennon-McCartney , Brian Wilson , Burt Bagker Rack, and Elvis Costelo , and their devotion, effort and natural instincts have gradually turned into good arts. Although ABBA's music is immediately, fun, and anyone can understand it, it can be complicated and filled with deep perfumes, regrets, and hope. ABBA's music can be compared with Queen 's music in many ways. Both bands used the studio to the most. It is a multi -layered music with interesting details for each step, and Aba is more delicate. Both bands tried to deal with all the songs as an individual to discover new melody songs and approaches. Thus, their music rarely reflects amazingly fresh and old songs. The melodic sweep also has some splendor, magnificence, and confidence. There's no singer to be comparable to Freddie Mercury , but Anneta and Annie Fried makes the listener dazzling with beautiful singing power and sophisticated chords. When their voices are contrasted with each other, pop tapestry can be interpreted in various ways as if they were composed of bands that were more difficult to find like Cockto Twins .

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― Rate Your Music#

• ABBA is famous for never allowing third parties to sample their songs. They do not allow sampling of their creations because they feel it is like eating them raw. There are extremely rare examples of permitted use, including 'Rumble In The Jungle' (released in 1996, sampling The Name of the Game) by Lauryn Hill 's hip-hop group the Pussy , and Madonna 's song ' Hung Up ' (released in 2005, sampling Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!). Madonna also had difficulty getting permission to sample. Madonna asked for permission to sample via email → ABBA refused, phoned to ask for permission → refused, and eventually Madonna went to Abba composer Bennu Andersson's home on a rainy day to ask for permission and finally received permission. This song, which was difficult to obtain permission to sample, is a mega hit that led to Madonna's third heyday.
  

• Although the music genre was popular pop, there are quite a few rock artists who like ABBA's music. For example, Kurt Cobain[9] , Dave Grohl , Frank Zappa , Elvis Costello[10] , Noel Gallagher , John Lydon[11] , Sid Vicious , Joe Strummer , Alice Cooper , Ritchie Blackmore , Pete Townsend , John Lennon , Ray Davis # , etc. In particular, among metal bands, there are many bands that like ABBA's music.

• It currently ranks as the 11th most covered artist in popular music history. # metal Bands often cover ABBA's songs.
  At Vance is an ABBA fanatic who covered ABBA in every album from their debut album to their 3rd album.
  

  
  Cover by Yngwie Malmsteen .
  

  
  Cover of Ghost .
  

  
  Cover of Avantasia .
  

  
  Metallica 's cover.
  

• In recognition of their musical achievements, Bennu Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus jointly received the 'Special International Achievement Award' from the British Academy of Composers, Lyricists and Writers, the "Music Export Award" from the Swedish Ministry of Industry and Trade (2008), and the Swedish Music Publishing Association (SMFF). ) was also co-recipient of the "Lifetime Achievement Award".

• The Swedish people's affection and pride in ABBA are amazing. The first thing to see at the Stockholm Alanda Airport is the Ava on the large screen, and the two male bears born in Scansen Folk Garden are 'Ben Nil' and 'Ben Nu' named after Aba male members.
  
  Stockholm Alanda Airport ABBA Large Screen

• If you listen to the discography in turn, you'll know, but in the early days of the activity, the male member Bjorn often took the lead vocal or even did a duet, but as you go into the later stages, you can see that the female members form the majority. In fact, most of the representative songs are female vocals. Since most of the later hit songs are female vocal songs, the two male members are sometimes misunderstood as nothing more than a folding screen. Most of ABBA's hit songs were co-composed by two male members, Bennu Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Just by looking at Does Your Mother Know, you can tell that "Björn" sings most of the song.

• It is said that the composition duo, Bennu and Björn, did not know how to write music, and only Annette could do it ( as revealed in an interview with 'Dick Cavett' in 1981 ). The instruments they used were experimental and improvisational, and they also sang to accompany recordings in the studio. These restrictions actually had an impact on the later production of the musical 'Mamma Mia!', in which the music was completed first, and then other musicians participated, then listened to the music, notated it, and added lyrics. This post-production work took more than six months, and the composers also revealed that Bennu and Björn created the sound source first and then added the lyrics later.

• It was extremely popular all over the world except the United States , with approximately 200 million albums sold worldwide. The sitcom is quite popular in Korea as well. 'I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do' and 'Honey Honey' were used as openings for Old Miss Diary and Three Friends .

• However, its popularity in the United States was relatively small. The only ABBA song to reach #1 on the Billboard singles chart is Dancing Queen . One of the main reasons is that while the lyrics are in English, her members at the time barely knew English. Thanks to that, I had to focus on the lyrics I memorized throughout the performance on TV, etc., so I stood like a mannequin in a state of nervousness and sang all the time.

• In Korea, songs by other singers are mistakenly known as ABBA's. " One Summer Night " and " Summer Night " are confused with ABBA's song " Summer Night City ", and in " Sugar Sugar ", "Honey Honey" at the beginning of the lyrics seems to be confused with ABBA's representative song "Honey Honey". Let's listen to it once and don't get confused.

• There was a misconception that ABBA members changed their nationality to avoid Sweden's harsh tax rates, but this is not true. Even though it was possible, he maintained his Swedish citizenship and paid all the taxes. As of the early 1980s, the highest income tax rate was 87%, which is lower than the 90% tax rate in the early 1970s. However, this was not unique to Sweden, and in fact, the United States and the United Kingdom also maintained a high tax rate policy with the highest income tax rate in the 80-90% range until the 1970s. The tax rate was lowered this way thanks to the combination of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan , and it is widely accepted that the tax rate would not have been lowered this much if Reagan had been unpopular, if Margaret Thatcher had been defeated in the Falklands War , or if the Falklands War itself had not occurred.
  It was only Frida (a brown-haired woman from Norway) who renounced her Swedish nationality, and the reason for this was not tax issues. After Abba disbanded, Frida remarried Heinrich Ruzzo Prinz Reuss (Graf von Plauen), a German nobleman of Swedish-Swiss descent, and was naturalized as a German due to the rules of German nobility. Germany also has a fairly high tax rate. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore originally wanted to live in Germany, but the taxes were extremely high, so he ended up living in the United States. Thanks to this, her official title became Anni-Frid Lyngstad Prinzessin Reuß von Plauen ( German ) ( Swedish : Anni-Frid, Prinsessa av Reuss, Grevinna av Plauen, English : Her Serene Highness Princess Anni-Frid Synni Reuss, Countess of Plauen), and it is said that she became acquainted with the Swedish royal family. Heinrich Rougeau died of illness in Stockholm in 1999 and lost Frida.

• They were famous for performing in very unconventional costumes by the standards of the time, and it is said that this was an inevitable choice in order to receive legal tax deductions under Sweden's really tight tax system at the time mentioned above. To put it simply, the costume had to be so unconventional that it could not be worn in real life in order for it to be recognized as a stage costume for performance activities and be deducted as a cost. # At that time, when Annetta was jokingly asked in Australia, "Do you have the sexiest butt?" for wearing such outrageous clothes, she jokingly replied, "Well, I've never seen one before." This is also a joke that appears in the ABBA Museum.
  

• As it is so famous, it often sings ABBA's songs in English-speaking audition programs. My favorite song is 'The Winner Takes It All'. 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9
  

  
  

• In 1999, the Swedish mixed group A*Teens (originally ABBA Teens) debuted with a remake of ABBA. After disbanding and working independently, her best known song is " Upside Down ". In Korea, it was used as the ending song for Season 2 of the KBS animal program Juju Club , and was adapted into a duet song by Jang Na-ra and Seong Si-kyung . Other popular Nordic pop songs include Ace of Base or Aqua , which were closest to the second ABBA .
  • Dani Renewald: Born July 24, 1984. A male member with platinum blonde hair and a handsome boy. As an adult, he is now tall enough to be 185 cm tall.
  • Marie Scherneholt was born on July 11, 1983. The larger of the female members. she is also blonde As an adult, she is now 170cm, which is tall for a woman.
  • Sara Rumholt was born on October 25, 1984. The smaller of the female members. Her black hair gave her mouth a distinctive look. She is now 165cm as an adult.
  • Amit Paul: Born on October 29, 1983. A male member who looks Asian. Since I am of Indian descent, it is not strange that I look Asian. Now that he is an adult, he is 173 cm tall, which means he hasn't grown much since then.

• Benny says he runs a hotel in Stockholm.

• Unlike Japan, which had a promotional visit in 1978 and a large-scale tour (total of 11 performances) in 1980, Korea has never even visited Korea except for Bayern Ulvaeus, let alone performed in Korea. However, there were plans to tour Far East Asia, including Japan, in 1979, and Korea appears to have been included as a performance candidate, but ultimately only the Japan performance was accomplished in 1980. It's a shame considering it was quite popular. Byrn Ulvaeus visited Korea for work in January 2004 during the Korean premiere of the musical Mamma Mia .

• Abba's song appears throughout the 1994 Australian film Muriel's Wedding. The scene where the main character dresses up as an ABBA with her friend and sings is the highlight.

• Melissa Lewis, a character in the novel and movie The Martian , appears as a passionate ABBA fan. As for the setting, I really like old-fashioned disco. For reference, the main character, Mark Watney, really hates the disco genre. When my husband told me that he had acquired ABBA's original, unopened 1978 album, I was naturally very excited. At the time of activity, Abba's albums were not released on CD. This is because CDs were commercialized in the early 80s. It's worth being very happy that you found an unopened LP. Of course, the album was later remastered and re-released on CD, and compilation albums such as ABBA Gold were released on CD.

• Member Ulvaeus has consistently credited the LGBT fan base for keeping ABBA popular in the years after the band effectively broke up . ABBA was one of the most popular artists for gay people in the 70s and 80s. Ulvaeus said in 2011, "In the '80s, ABBA was obviously out of fashion, completely out of fashion. Okay, I thought it was over. It was fun while it lasted, and now it's over. But for some strange reason, we're still popular in the gay scene." Then there was the revival event in the late 80's, early 90's, obviously because we were popular with gay people." #

• Among the members, Annifried Lynxta is from Lebensborn . He feared being punished in Norway, so his grandmother and mother reportedly moved to Sweden early to raise him. And Frieda grew up hearing that her father ( who was said to have been an officer in the Nazi German Army ) died in a warship sinking for a while, and after becoming famous as Ava, the fact was exposed (?) in the German magazine 'BRAVO' and only then did she meet her father. ( Reference ) This part was covered in Mystic TV Surprise on April 24, 2016.

• In 1998, the mixed group A-Teens was formed, which benchmarked ABBA as it is and performed as it was with ABBA's songs.

• In 2011, Ubisoft released 'ABBA: You Can Dance', a spin-off of the Just Dance series.

• It is also said that Annifrid Luxta was already a married woman and had two children before marrying Bennu. I sang like that. And after divorcing Bennu, she married a Swiss nobleman. It is said that after the nobleman's death, she met a British man and lived together as a duchess. If you look at this aspect alone, he is an incredibly talented person...

• Rumors are spreading around the world that 「The Winner Takes It All」 is a song that Bjorn wrote with his feelings when he was going through a divorce. She once denied it.

• Quite a few songs were used as baseball cheer songs, but many of them were buried as ABBA refused to use all cheer songs. LG Jo In-seong[12] , Jinho Yoon[13] , Samsung Chae Tae-in[14] , Lotte Shinbongi[15] , Hanwha Song Joo-ho[16] , Doosan Min Byung-hun[17] . In particular, Min Byung-hun created a skit in which his team at the time, the Doosan Bears, continued to use the song despite ABBA's request, only to give up after reaching the brink of a lawsuit. Among the cheer songs that use ABBA songs, I think the most famous cheer song with a different meaning is Chae Tae-in 's cheer song, see the article .

• ABBA is famous for being a Swedish legendary singer, and Tottenham Hotspur is a cheering for Kullucepski, ABBA 's masterpiece Gimme Gimme Gimme . This is because Kulluceski is from Sweden.

• The closing music for a department store in the late 2000s was ABBA's " I Have a Dream ".

• In Ireland , they have their cover band, 'Abbaesque'. They have become one of Ireland's most successful cover bands, performing over 150 sold-out performances each year across Ireland. home page

• Unsurprisingly, he is one of the first artists to be inducted into the newly created Swedish Music Hall of Fame in 2014. #

• Their music even appeared on The Simpsons . This is the scene where Burns listened to ABBA's song 'Waterloo' taped by Smithers .
  

  
  
• British Prime Minister Theresa May , who faced a political crisis over the Brexit plan in 2018, appeared dancing to Dancing Queen. She even became a meme because her dance moves were so funny .
  

• The 25 Best ABBA Songs of 2018 by Rolling Stone . #

• In 2018, Cher released their cover album and received favorable reviews.[18] It was also commercially successful, selling 150,000 copies in the first week alone and ranking 3rd on the Billboard chart. This sales volume is the highest initial sales volume of Seo's career. It is also Cher's highest ranking on the Billboard album chart.
  

• 'Money, Money, Money', one of ABBA's hit songs, was banned in 1976 during the Park Chung-hee administration right after its release for promoting mammonism .

• At the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Australia's leading pop icon, Kylie Minogue , sang Dancing Queen passionately.
  

• In 2010, the Danish People's Party's Danish People's Party used their music 'MAMMA MIA' at the rally. Bennu Andersson and Bennu Andersson and VIENNEREAREUS have criticized them. ABBA said that they would not allow their music to be used politically, but he would sue the Danish People's Party, but he did not sue because the Danish People's Party lowered his tail and didn't use their songs. The ABBA said in a statement, "First, you can't just write the song as you like, and secondly, we hope that we are not interested in supporting their sugars. ABBA never allows to use music in the political context." #

• 4K on official YouTube from August 2021 The music video is being re-uploaded in a remastered version. #

• ABBA Museum
• english wikipedia
• International ABBA Fan Club
• ABBAtalk