ABBA: BY THE BOOK
Behind-the-scenes detail on the band’s output, from their folk-pop origins to their disco phase and Scandi-pop-noir final album.
Ian Cole is one of the world’s leading authorities on the Swedish pop legends. His new book, ABBA: Song By Song provides behind-the-scenes detail on the band’s output, from their folk-pop origins to their disco phase and their Scandi-pop-noir final album. For DNA, Cole explains ABBA’s special place in Australian hearts, offers his verdict on the Mamma Mia! phenomenon and gets excited for the longpromised new tracks and hologram touring show.
DNA: Ian, you’re described as an “ABBAologist”. Is that correct?
Ian Cole: Ever since I became hooked on ABBA in 1975, I’ve devoured everything I could read or watch on ABBA. When the internet arrived in the mid-’90s I joined ABBA forums, where I gained a reputation for knowing a lot about them, answering people’s questions and sharing information. So I guess that’s an appropriate description.
You weren’t an instant ABBA fan though, is that true?
I’d heard Waterloo on the radio in 1974 but it didn’t grab me. A year later Mamma Mia exploded after being played on music TV’s Countdown show. At a family friend’s party, the hostess kept playing side one of the ABBA album, which featured Mamma Mia and SOS. By the end of the night I was obsessed with Mamma Mia. In the car home, I asked my parents for the album for Christmas.
You saw ABBA perform live in Sydney in 1977. What was that show like?
It was a fantastic, unforgettable experience. I’ve still got a lot of strong memories of the night; the songs they sang, things that happened in the crowd. They sang a fun song introducing themselves that’s never been released and a bizarre mini-musical with new songs that seemed to go on forever. At the end, after Dancing Queen, there were fireworks, which was a huge surprise.
ABBA: The Movie followed the group during their Australian tour. What do you think of that film now?
It’s a fabulous time capsule capturing Australia’s love of ABBA in 1977. The storyline about the DJ following ABBA around the country is annoying but it does give us a great look into the ABBA phenomenon through an outsider’s eyes. It’s fantastic to see ABBA on stage on the big screen. All the scenes of Ashley the DJ travelling on a plane were filmed on ABBA’s chartered Ansett jet and the scenes of him running around Sydney buying up ABBA merch were mostly filmed in Stockholm.
Over the last 30 years you’ve been involved in numerous ABBA-related projects. Talk us through the big ones.
It’s exciting and an honour to contribute to the legacy of your favourite band. A couple of the big projects were Carl Magnus Palm’s ABBA biography, Bright Lights Dark Shadows, which I proofread and did some research and fact checking on. For The Complete Studio Recordings box set I made a few suggestions that were included. It’s a thrill to know that my input made a difference to the released product.
Why did you decide to write this ultimate guide to ABBA’s music?
The publisher reached out to a few well-known fans, looking for someone to write the book for a series they were launching. I’d actually already thought of writing a book like this, presenting all the ABBA songs, commenting on the recording, the reception, and lasting impact of ABBA’s music, so I offered myself, submitted a couple of sample entries, and was accepted. ABBA’s two new songs are due to appear this year. What can we expect?
I expect they’ll sound like the ABBA we remember and love but with the poppier tunes Benny and Björn have written in recent years for the Benny Andersson Band. When news about the new songs broke two years ago it was beyond exciting, but with the delays the excitement has dulled. I’m sure when we finally hear them this year that excitement will return and be multiplied.
With the “ABBAtar” (hologram) tour still on the cards it seems like the world’s passion for ABBA continues. Why is that? It’s the music, of course. The songs are so well crafted they still appeal and attract new listeners. For good or bad, the music continues to be repackaged and presented to the world. First with CD re-releases and new greatest hits packages, then they became a musical with Mamma Mia!, the two films, and the dinner theatre experience Mamma Mia! The Party, which is much better than it sounds. But without the quality of the original songs, there would be nothing. Australia played a significant part in the ABBA story. They were huge here in the 1970s before the rest of the world caught up, and we kickstarted the ABBA revival with Muriel’s Wedding and Priscilla and Björn Again in the ’90s. Can you explain that relationship? It’s real and it’s deep. For one thing, their music transcended generations.
Again, first and foremost, it was the quality of the songs that appealed to everyone. The image of two young, attractive couples in well-made videos and photographs helped. They were sexy, but non-threatening. Their costumes were visually striking and memorable. Even after the bubble burst in 1977, due to overexposure, there was still an affection, and though they didn’t top the charts anymore they still made the top 10. Muriel and Priscilla reminded us of that abiding love.
Have you met the band?
I’ve met Benny and Björn a couple of times. I first met Benny in Stockholm: there was a group of gay guys standing outside the theatre after the show, trying to decide what to do. There was no one else around and Benny walked right through middle of the group – twice! – and then looked surprised when we asked him to stop for a chat and photos. It’s always awkward when you bump into an idol unexpectedly – you’re not prepared and no one knows what to say or do. Mamma Mia! took the band’s music to a whole new audience through the musical and then the two movies. What’s your take on it as a project?
I went to the premiere of the musical in London in 1999 and hated it! I thought it was so provincial, so panto, so British, that it would last six months and never travel. Well, I was wrong there. I’ve seen the musical a few more times in Sydney and Melbourne and come to accept it’s a part of the ABBA legacy. It’s not so bad, really, but I do think the two movies work a lot better than the stage >>
ABBA: Song By Song is published by Fonthill Media and is out now.
>> version, despite the singing of the actors. Mamma Mia!, has definitely been part of ABBA’s ongoing popularity.
ABBA The Museum has become one of the top tourist destinations in Stockholm. You’ve been there, of course?
I’ve been three times. It’s fabulous. ABBAWORLD opened in London in 2010 and after a short run transferred to Melbourne and then Sydney, where there were a few items from my collection. I also worked as a volunteer in Sydney for its whole run, helping visitors, which was fun. The touring exhibition eventually led to the museum in Stockholm. It’s a bit small and cramped and after seven years it could do with a refurb.
Do you remember what ABBA’s music meant to you while you were growing up as a young gay person?
As a teenager, I was a Muriel Heslop [Muriel’s Wedding]. I had friends but felt different and alone and didn’t understand why. I’d sit alone in my room for hours listening to ABBA. They gave me solace. As I got older, I found that there were other boys just like me and realised what I felt wasn’t strange or unique. ABBA were always with me through the highs and lows. A friend once said to me, “ABBA are in your DNA”, and I guess that’s true.
Why are ABBA so beloved by the LGBT community?
You’ve got glamorous women singing tortured love songs like SOS or The Winner Takes It All. You’ve got songs that became gay anthems like Dancing Queen and Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight). There are songs made for the dance floor. ABBA’s image was pretty camp, with their iconic music videos and their fabulous costumes, created by a flamboyant gay man. It started with the first generation of ABBA fans, when many teenage boys in the ’70s like me reached adulthood in the ’80s and came out as gay men.
Eurovision has become a huge gay annual celebration. Did ABBA’s Waterloo start something huge… especially now that Australia is part of the show?
Before Waterloo, most people outside of Western Europe had never heard of Eurovision. Afterwards, whenever ABBA was mentioned, so was Eurovision, increasing its profile alongside ABBA’s popularity. In 1983, SBS started broadcasting it in Australia, and right from the start people had Eurovision parties. It was always camp, but in the ’90s became as gay as Mardi Gras. Now it’s broadcast all over the world and, more exciting for us, with Australia participating. There’s nothing like downing some nibbles and wine at 5 o’clock on a Sunday morning watching the finale live.
Reading your appraisal of ABBA’s Dancing Queen brought us to tears. Why does that song have such universal appeal?
Thank you, I’m touched that the book had that effect on you. Dancing Queen is such a euphoric song and a perfectly created pop masterpiece. It’s of its time, but it’s not dated. It’s a song that will always fill the dance floor in a gay bar, at a wedding reception, an ABBA fan event, or the closing of the 2000 Olympics, thanks to Kylie. What do you hope readers will take away from the book?
I hope they learn something about ABBA’s songs, especially the songs beyond ABBA Gold. There are a lot of hidden gems in the ABBA catalogue. With the help of some good friends’ research I’ve uncovered little-known information even the most ardent ABBA fan may not be aware of. I hope readers will enjoy the journey through ABBA’s output, from the very beginning to the end and beyond.
NEW MUSIC AND “ABBATARS”
In April 2018, ABBA surprised the world by announcing they’d recorded two new songs, some 35 years after their final recordings.
The tracks emerged as “an unexpected consequence” of the ABBA avatar tour project announced 18 months earlier. Digital representations of the four ABBA members, circa 1979, will sing ABBA’s pre-recorded vocals in front of a live band.
Björn described I Still Have Faith In You as “Nordic sad” and “reflective”, while the second, Don’t Shut Me Down, he called “a pop tune, very danceable”.
At least one of the songs was to be unveiled in a live, all-star TV tribute in December 2018 to launch the so-called ABBAtar tour, but due to delays in creation of the digital ABBA – not holograms, insists Björn, but “something else” – plans were postponed indefinitely. Since then, Björn and songwriting partner
Benny have said the songs will come when the ABBAtars are ready.
In late 2018 Benny indicated a third song might be recorded, while throughout 2019 Björn hinted there could be up to five songs. Rumours persist an entire album is in the pipeline. In recent interviews, Benny announced the new songs would be released in September this year. Dancing queens and the entire world await anxiously!
2020: 50 YEARS OF ABBA
This year marks some momentous ABBA anniversaries.
November is the 50th anniversary of the band’s stage debut in the cabaret show Festfolk (depending on the spelling, it means party people or engaged couples), which came a month after the release of the first recording featuring all four, when Agnetha and Frida backed Björn and Benny on their single Hej Gamle Man! (Hey Old Man).
It is 45 years since the release of the single, Mamma Mia from ABBA’s self-titled third album, which launched unprecedented Abbamania across Australia.
ABBA’s final live concerts took place 40 years ago, when they spent two weeks touring Japan in March 1980. A remastered ABBA Live At Wembley Arena triple vinyl album has been re-released, coinciding with the anniversary.
In 1980, ABBA’s biggest-selling studio album, Super Trouper, was released. Like the previous three albums, Arrival, ABBA The Album and Voulez-Vous, the 40th anniversary is expected to be commemorated with a halfspeed remastered re-release of the album and coloured vinyl and picture discs of the singles.
Finally, born at the end of World War II, both Björn and Anni-Frid (Frida) turn 75, while youngest ABBA member, Agnetha turns 70.