Posted on 04/06/2014 1:46:30 AM PDT by JoeProBono
It is 40 years since Abba won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton - a victory that started their meteoric rise to super group status with millions of fans around the globe.
When the four-piece stepped on to the stage accompanied by a man dressed as Napoleon to deliver their country's entry for the competition, they were virtually unknown.
The audience at the 1,700-seat Brighton Dome on 6 April, 1974, had no idea how huge the Swedish group, which performed Waterloo, would become. Most of them were concentrating on the UK entry - Olivia Newton John with her song Long Live Love.
John Henty, who lives in Lewes, East Sussex, was one of those watching and describes the instant impact the band had on the crowd.
He said: "Nobody knew Abba. Who were Abba? They were an unknown quantity.
"But clearly the moment they went into the number and the style of it and the outrageous costumes and the guy wearing Napoleon gear and you suddenly thought, 'this is something'."
Sure they were cheezy by current standards but they are responsible for a lot of happy. To say nothing about how what they did in the recording studio...techniques ect set standards in innovated concepts for many that came later.
OK...HALF of ABBA was responsible for a lot of happy. The OTHER half was good in the studio ;)
Actually, two members of Abba were responsible for the wonderful score of the hit London show “Chess,” which, unfortunately bombed in NYC. The music from that show is remarkably pretty.
They are the bomb, I love them. I’ve been watching their videos the last couple of months.
Karen Carpenter makes me cry, Agnetha makes me smile.
Their studio innovations are still being used, and the guy’s song writing skills are still very much alive.
Agnetha has a couple of pretty good studio albums out too.
One Night in Bangkok still rocks.
Ah... The dream of united Europe under Napoleon... err... Hitler... err... Putin. Oh well, let’s just hope that never happens. I’m all for European union, but with borders to ensure that the maniacal types stay in their own country. As for ABBA, they were truly awesome but a real rock n’ roll fan would never admit that in the day. I remember one poor chap that we used to torture because he was a huge ABBA fan. Of course, everybody was a fan secret or otherwise and how can you not like their taste in women?
I like the ballads and the Russian anthem and some of the beautiful choral music in the beginning. It was a good play, too, but NYC rejected it. Probably the rotten Frank Rich had something to do with it.
I saw them live in 79. The only year they toured North America IIRC. It was a good show. They were popular in the US but much more so in the UK and Australia and elsewhere.
I remember that song! Thanks.
Of course, they live on in that non-stop musical “Mama Mia.”
I remember reading that ABBA wore these outrageous costumes because Sweden taxed them so much, they could get a tax write-off for purchasing “uniforms”. They paid top dollar for those funky threads, but the cut on taxes was bigger than the costs.
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