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Kelly Rissman
US Information Reporter
Abba have been “damage” by how they have been handled of their native Sweden by each the general public and the media, a number one music skilled and biographer of the pop group has mentioned.
The “Waterloo” stars have been famously divisive following their Eurovision triumph in 1974, most of all of their residence nation, the place critics derided what they considered as vapid and commercially pushed songs.
Swedish journalist Jan Gradvall is the writer of The E book of Abba: Melancholy Undercover, an authorised biography that options unique band interviews and a decade’s value of analysis into the band.
Talking to The Unbiased, he instructed that the way in which Sweden handled Abba may need contributed to the truth that they not often gave interviews or seem collectively in public.
“Abba’s [status] in Sweden is odd, as a result of when their breakthrough occurred within the Seventies, they have been so disliked and distrusted by the mainstream media, which was very left-wing on the time,” he defined.
“Abba for a very long time weren’t thought-about a critical band. They slipped in between, and it wasn’t till fairly not too long ago that folks began taking them severely, not simply as an enormous pop band, however for the music itself.
“Within the Seventies, nobody needed to ask them about music, they solely needed to listen to concerning the cash, the politics, their non-public lives.”
Earlier than forming Abba, the group’s 4 members have been profitable in their very own proper, with each Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson in well-liked people teams.
Within the documentary Abba: Towards the Odds, Ulvaeus acknowledged that they have been “not well-liked” in Sweden, the place they got here below scrutiny from a “completely different mass-media local weather [at] that point”.
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“Individuals [in Sweden] thought that extra progressive music must be performed on radio and TV,” Gradvall mentioned. “And that their lyrics must be extra socialist, and about making society higher.
“Abba by no means took the struggle to the media, they only carried on making higher and higher music. However their supervisor [the late Stig Anderson] did – he appeared in debates on TV and radio, hitting again in opposition to the labelling of them as a capitalist band.”
That the band seemed to be apolitical additionally riled a few of their friends: “We have been the upset technology,” Michael Wiehe, singer with Swedish group the Hoola Bandoola Band, defined within the BBC documentary.
“We have been upset concerning the apartheid system, we have been upset concerning the navy coups in Latin America, we have been upset concerning the wars in South East Asia. And we have been upset that Abba weren’t upset.”
There was additional uproar attributable to Sweden taking over the function of Eurovision host in 1975, prompting the left-wing motion Progg to organise a 200,000 robust march on the streets of Stockholm in protest in opposition to the commercialisation of music.
“Had been they damage? Sure, I feel undoubtedly,” Gradvall mentioned. “Whereas they didn’t confess it, I feel that created a [longterm] mistrust of the media.”
Ulvaeus has beforehand denied being affected by the backlash in the direction of the band, tellingThe Guardian in 2014: “Personally I didn’t take note of all that, it didn’t imply s*** to me, even when they hated us, as a result of we acquired a lot response from the entire world.
“Proper from the beginning, we had modern colleagues, musicians, who preferred what we have been doing.”
Gradvall additionally instructed there was a component of misogyny surrounding the band, the place singers Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida) and Agnetha Fältskog weren’t correctly credited for his or her contributions.
“I’ve been watching TV exhibits, particularly Swedish ones, with male interviews within the Eighties after they had solo careers, and they solely get questions on their non-public lives, by no means concerning the music,” he mentioned.
“They actually have been a bunch with 4 equal members. After I requested them, what’s the secret sauce, the distinctive factor with Abba’s sound, they may all say individually, it’s the mixture of Agnetha and Frida’s voices.
“Agnetha has a soprano voice, Frida a mezzo voice, and after they sing in unison, you get the sound that nobody else has. And so they have been very a lot concerned in creating that. They didn’t prefer to tour, however they cherished being within the studio, so that they’d spend hours and weeks creating these excellent harmonies. They actually have been a correct band.”
The E book of Abba: Melancholy Undercover is being launched by Faber on 10 October in hardback and e-book codecs.
