ABBA

ABBA biography

Fashion, videos, advertising campaigns

ABBA were widely noted for the colourful and trend-setting costumes its members wore. The videos that accompanied some of their biggest hits are often cited as being among the earliest examples of the genre. Most of ABBA's videos (and ABBA: The Movie) were directed by Lasse Hallström, who would later direct the films My Life as a Dog, The Cider House Rules and Chocolat.

ABBA made videos because their songs were hits in many different countries and personal appearances were not always possible. This was also done in an effort to minimize travelling, particularly to countries that would have required extremely long flights. Fältskog and Ulvaeus had two young children and Fältskog, who was also afraid of flying, was very reluctant to leave her children for such a long time. ABBA's manager, Stig Anderson, realized the potential of showing a simple video clip on television to publicize a single or album, thereby allowing easier and quicker exposure than a concert tour. Some of these videos became classics because of the 1970s-era costumes and early video effects, such as the grouping of the band members in different combinations of pairs, overlapping one singer's profile with the other's full face, and the contrasting of one member against another.

In 1976, ABBA participated in a high-profile advertising campaign by the Matsushita Electric Industrial (today's Panasonic Corporation), which was designed to promote the brand National. This campaign was designed initially for Australia, where "National" was still the primary brand used by Matsushita, who had not introduced the "Panasonic" brand to Australia yet despite its widespread use in other parts of the world such as the United States. However, the campaign was also aired in Japan. Five commercials, each approximately one minute long, were produced, each using the "National Song" sung by ABBA, which used the melody and instrumental arrangement of "Fernando", adapted with new lyrics promoting National, and working in several slogans used by National in their advertising.

Political controversy

In September 2010, band members Andersson and Ulvaeus criticized the right-wing Danish People's Party (DF) for using the ABBA song "Mamma Mia" (with modified lyrics) at rallies. The band had threatened to file a lawsuit against the DF, saying they never allowed their music to be used politically and that they had absolutely no interest in supporting the party. Their record label Universal Music later said that no legal action would be taken because an agreement had been reached.

• Ring Ring (1973)
• Waterloo (1974)
• ABBA (1975)
• Arrival (1976)
• ABBA: The Album (1977)
• Voulez-Vous (1979)
• Super Trouper (1980)
• The Visitors (1981)

Bibliography

• Oldham, Andrew, Calder, Tony & Irvin, Colin (1995) "ABBA: The Name of the Game", ISBN 0-283-06232-0
• Potiez, Jean-Marie (2000). ABBA - The Book ISBN 1-85410-928-6
• Palm, Carl Magnus (2002). Bright Lights Dark Shadows: The Real Story of ABBA ISBN 0-7119-9194-4
• Palm, Carl Joslin (2004). From "ABBA" to "Mamma Mia!" ISBN 1-85227-864-1

ABBA-related tributes

• Abbacadabra - A French children's musical based on songs from ABBA
• Abbacadabra - A tribute band
• Abbaesque - An Irish ABBA tribute band
• Abba-esque - Erasure's 1992 EP
• ABBAmania - An ITV programme and tribute album to Swedish pop band ABBA released in 1999
• Abbasalutely - A compilation album released in 1995 as a tribute album to ABBA
• adbacadabra - An American ABBA tribute band
• Arrival From Sweden - A Swedish ABBA tribute band, formed in 1995
• A*Teens - A pop music group from Stockholm, Sweden
• Björn Again - The earliest-formed ABBA tribute band (1988)
• Generation Abba - Live ABBA tribute concerts on tour in Canada, Europe and Middle-East
• Mamma Mia! - Musical stage show based on the songs of ABBA
• Mamma Mia! The Movie - Film adaption of the musical stage show
• Gabba - An ABBA/Ramones tribute band that covers the former in the style of the latter, the name being a pun on "Gabba Gabba Hey".
• Babba - Australian tribute band
• The Abba's/Supertroopers - A Dutch rock group, a spin-off from Hallo Venray, performing ABBA covers as well as Dutch traditionals

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