Posted on 09/15/2020 2:51:46 PM PDT by Borges
When you’ve sold as many records as Abba have – and only The Beatles have sold more – specific figures become hazy. They disappear into a statistical stratosphere occupied by a tiny elite of global megastars. There are simply too many territories to report on, too many releases to keep track of, too many vast numbers to juggle.
All one can say with any certainty is that the Swedish quartet have sold in excess of 380m albums and singles since they first came to prominence 40 years ago this month, winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with a performance of Waterloo that still ranks as the high point of the much-maligned transcontinental cheese-fest. At their commercial zenith in the late ‘70s Abba were reputedly second only to Volvo in their contribution to Sweden’s exports. Such was the demand for their music that their management had to arrange for royalties from the Soviet Union to be paid in oil commodity rights rather than the embargoed rouble.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
I’ve heard a claim that Pete Townsend thought “SOS” was the best pop song ever written, and played it nonstop for about a year, driving everyone around him crazy.
Probably my favorite song from Sweden
The Hives - Hate To Say I Told You So
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz1Jwyxd4tE
I mean come on, a bass player that looks like Ron Jeremy, it doesn’t get any better than that.
You dirty old man! You posted all those pics knowing I would scroll through every one, didn’t you?
Well, I won’t have you banned for that. So there. :-)
LOL! Same as mine.
My brother bought Stone’s “Goat’s Head Soup”. When my dad heard the song “Star F***in Star” that album was smashed and trashed in milliseconds!
hmmm....I thought it was a play on their names with the poem structure, ABBA> I could be wrong.
When we visited London last year, me and the wife, went to the Mamma Mia Experience, which was a Greek Dinner and the songs from Mamma Mia with audience participation, it was a lot of fun.
Also... The Sweet! :-)
The Sweet is British.
Maybe you’re thinking of “Blue Swede” (ooooga ooooga ooooga shaka ooooga ooooga ooooga shaka ooooga ooooga ooooga shaka....)
Don’t forget “Europe”, and “Sabaton”.
Because the beat is fun and dance-able
Our Dad listened only to Classical music, and ABBA was the only modern music he could tolerate. Why? because it was simply but absolutely musically superior. None of this 4/4 rock chord repeat ad infinitum.
This is an album list, ABBA sold mostly singles. ABBA is also big on international sales. No one pretends they are #2 in the U.S.A. I’d be interested in knowing how they sell in the Far East, a large potential audience, but distinctive tastes.
Sweden also produced this great singer as well:
Sån't Är Livet (that's life)--Anita Lindblom (1961)
In this county, it's better known as You Can Have Her (1961)
I always thought ABBA was to pop music what Andre Rieu is to orchestral music. They are so sweet I feel I need insulin after listening to them.
They had a hot blond chick and catchy tunes.
I like this Fernando better. :-)
Maybe the plural of ABBA is ABBI (kind of like bimbo/bimbi from an old Cheers episode)
Ha!
“The hot blond Swedish chick is probably what it came down to. Abba Arrival was a very good album. They had some other hit singles too. Maybe its the fact that they were a Euro band that had so much appeal in both Europe and the US. However, from a European perspective, Queen was a better band and Elton John was a better performer.”
Queen was a better band in the true sense of band. ABBA had two great hot chick voices and two guys (along with a cousin or two) who could write songs and music rings around everyone. Not sure Elton John even belongs in 3rd place.
I think ABBA actually became more popular here in the US after they broke up.
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