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Abba

Monday, August 3rd, 2009
In the minds of many who lived through the 70s, ABBA is one of the greatest bands ever. The extremely attractive and very talented group formed in 1972 and enjoyed floods of success for the next decade. Theirs is a beautiful story of pop music as they went from a small band made up of four friends to the most successful musical group to come from Scandinavia. ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of each group member’s names (Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha, and Ani-Frid). Their music was indeed a bright spot in the tumultuous 70s.
ABBA sold over 280 million LP’s, CD’s and tapes. What brought them so much success? They had superb production values, genius blending techniques, and they brilliantly mixed their strings & keyboards. They synthesized sounds with the electronically modified voices of their female vocalists. ABBA was also successful because of their colorful costumes which epitomized 70s fashion. They could be seen wearing these famous stage outfits at any concert from late in 1975 to the end of their careers. Their costumes included cat dresses, blue satin suits, peasant dresses (seen in the film clip for “Fernando”), and velvet jumpsuits that were later made famous in the official film clip for “Dancing Queen.” ABBA also recorded their biggest hits in four different languages, including English and Spanish, which fueled their international success. The final key to the group’s success was their willingness to make music videos. Although customary today, in the 70s making a video to accompany a song was a very new idea.
In and around 1976 and 1977, ABBA filmed a full length movie while touring Australia. The movie was hugely popular among their fans, but it wasn’t enjoyed very much by average audiences. The movie featured group interviews, clips of them traveling together, and performances of their multimillion best sellers such as “Dancing Queen,” “The Name Of The Game,” “Tiger,” and “Ring Ring.”
Today ABBA is finally getting the respect it deserves among music critics who have recently expressed growing admiration for the group’s magnificently crafted, infectiously danceable songs. ABBA was the first pop group from mainland Europe to enjoy long-lasting success in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand—which subsequently opened doors for other European acts. Their music has been reissued in digitally re-mastered form three times, the latest of these being in 2005 as part of “The Complete Studio Recordings” box set. With an effective synthesis of pop and rock styles, ABBA surprised the music world by becoming the first non-English-speaking band to produce effective American-style contemporary music—and this legacy lives on today in the hearts and minds of their dedicated fans.

Shop Online for Abba Costumes and Accessories

In the minds of many who lived through the 70s, ABBA is one of the greatest bands ever. The extremely attractive and very talented group formed in 1972 and enjoyed floods of success for the next decade. Theirs is a beautiful story of pop music as they went from a small band made up of four friends to the most successful musical group to come from Scandinavia. ABBA is an acronym formed from the first letters of each group member’s names (Benny, Bjorn, Agnetha, and Ani-Frid). Their music was indeed a bright spot in the tumultuous 70s.

ABBA sold over 280 million LP’s, CD’s and tapes. What brought them so much success? They had superb production values, genius blending techniques, and they brilliantly mixed their strings & keyboards. They synthesized sounds with the electronically modified voices of their female vocalists. ABBA was also successful because of their colorful costumes which epitomized 70s fashion. They could be seen wearing these famous stage outfits at any concert from late in 1975 to the end of their careers. Their costumes included cat dresses, blue satin suits, peasant dresses (seen in the film clip for “Fernando”), and velvet jumpsuits that were later made famous in the official film clip for “Dancing Queen.” ABBA also recorded their biggest hits in four different languages, including English and Spanish, which fueled their international success. The final key to the group’s success was their willingness to make music videos. Although customary today, in the 70s making a video to accompany a song was a very new idea.

In and around 1976 and 1977, ABBA filmed a full length movie while touring Australia. The movie was hugely popular among their fans, but it wasn’t enjoyed very much by average audiences. The movie featured group interviews, clips of them traveling together, and performances of their multimillion best sellers such as “Dancing Queen,” “The Name Of The Game,” “Tiger,” and “Ring Ring.”

Today ABBA is finally getting the respect it deserves among music critics who have recently expressed growing admiration for the group’s magnificently crafted, infectiously danceable songs. ABBA was the first pop group from mainland Europe to enjoy long-lasting success in the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand—which subsequently opened doors for other European acts. Their music has been reissued in digitally re-mastered form three times, the latest of these being in 2005 as part of “The Complete Studio Recordings” box set. With an effective synthesis of pop and rock styles, ABBA surprised the music world by becoming the first non-English-speaking band to produce effective American-style contemporary music—and this legacy lives on today in the hearts and minds of their dedicated fans.

Shop Online for Abba Costumes and Accessories


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