1982 onwards.....

'Don't Do It' was a song that Frida wrote for her 1984 album Shine and yes I do think 'When The Waves Roll Out To Sea' should have been on it as the Instrumental version is beautiful, Elaine Paige's vocal version has never been released buts it should have had its official release in 2014 on the 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Chess that would have been the ideal time to release it.

1982 was very much the changing of the guard. All the new acts consolidating their successes in 1981 with bigger successes in the years 82/83. Better videos and catchier energetic songs than Abba we’re making by that point. However the Abba sound did reach the Top 5 in the form of Tight Fit with the song Fantasy Island. The song was so Abba especially the chorus. Reminds me of Angel Eyes for some reason. Also Bucks Fizz were a raunchier looking Abba having a run of very good songs. The pivoting point was Christmas 1981. In One of Us , Abba looked , middle aged , tired and bored during their performance on the video. Bucks Fizz on the other hand looked fresh, energetic and enthusiastic in the Land of Make Believe. And then there was the Human League....dubbed the electronic Abba. Abba were really up against it then. However, after being in the wilderness for 10 years, their talent has survived better than most if not all of the 80s acts.

1982 collapse in ABBA's commercial performance was sharp and very sudden.

As ForeverFan pointed out The Visitors album was successful. 3 weeks at #1 - and if we include all 52 weeks, the 4th best seller of 1981. That said, after those 3 weeks at #1 sales declined rapidly.

One of Us was big too. 500,000 sales is good. But then Head Over Heels, released just a couple os so months later catastrophic stalling at #25 (and only #19 in Germany)

Let's rewind a few months to 1981. I don't think you can talk about 1982 without mentioning 1981. Momemtum was lost that year. LAYLOM should have been released earlier and on 7" too.

I agree with Homerime - WAISAD could have had an Autumn release. The Visitors song if released instead of HOH could have prepared us all for The Day Before You Came.

The video for One Of Us was truly horrendous. All of them had aged so much. Benny looked like a bouncer.


I think too a lack of promotion for the album too. And let's be honest that was a very adult album. Yet ABBA fans were teens. There was new music from The Human League, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Wham. ABBA had becone Mum and Dad music - but to Mum and Dads ABBA were a throwaway pop group who won Eurovision some year earlier.

They fell between two stools. Too mature for fans, too dismissed by older people.

The 1982 songs were a disappointment in terms of quality and suceess. ABBA didn't know what direction they were going. Some songs a continuation of the maturity of The Visitors, others back to Ring Ring era.

ABBA had by this stage failed to come up with the goods for a 3 or 4 minute pop song. Bucks Fizz, Tight Fit and all newer "trendy" acts were doing that.


Yes, ABBA looked jaded and old. But they sounded it too. Compare The Day Before You Came with Dionne Warwick's Heartbresker, both released the same day. ABBA sounding theatrical and serious got to #32. Dionne with a catchy bitter sweet song got to #2. Dionne was older but had an appeal to all ages. ABBA didn't by 1982.

1982 was a sad end to ABBA's career....at the time. Thankfully we got Voyage almost 40 years later.


Probably a combination of reasons for the downturn in 1982.

1. Wrong choices of singles
2. The Visitors album too mature for fanbase (at the time)
3 ABBA not really knowing what direction to go in/heart not in it
4. New music acts for fans
5. Lack of promotion or bad promotion eg One of Us video or notorious interview on Noel Edmond's TV show. The tense atmosphere between them at the time must have coloured what they did in 1982.

I think everyone is correct and it’s not just one thing that caused the downturn in ABBA’s success: it was their life imitating their art, and other’s art too! Think how odd it must have been when Not The Nine O’Clock News sketch show issued an ABBA parody with “One Of Us Is Ugly…” then ABBA release One Of Us! The divorces, the bad business deals which lead to protests outside of Polar offices, Frida’s solo success (I honestly suspect that Benny was less than happy with the content of such songs from that album being a direct link to him, he definitely didn’t want to contribute anything to that album.) ABBA’s 70’s styled cabaret act compared to Shakin’ Stevens, Adam Ant and Bucks Fizz, but the true giants were sweeping in: Duran Duran, Michael Jackson (compare Thriller video to UA video.) Wham!, Culture Club and Madonna. ABBA’s lack of appearances could be double edged as their TV specials were old hat. I stand by all of this for Frida and Agnetha’s solo careers too, watching them on dodgy tv shows (I’m sure I remember seeing Frida sing with a poster of Michael Jackson behind her.) older acts like Cher and Tina Turner were ok because they toured and promoted to the hilt, while Frida and Agnetha were so tired and jaded by then.

I was a bit vague regarding Frida and Somethings Going On, I think it speaks for itself with Frida selling more singles in 1982 than any of ABBA’s, however in the UK she was badly let down, someone with her success should have been on Top Of The Pops, and Agnetha too come to that. I know that the show only let you appear if your song was in the top 40, and was climbing significantly.
But it’s easy to look in hindsight. I’m just grateful it has all came full circle and they returned.

I am sure Agnetha was on TOTP in 1983 not to sing but to plug The Heat Is On which was very was very short screen time. I think Frida did the same thing in the late summer of 1982 to plug I Know There’s Something Going On. They should have played the whole song.

Perhaps the best songs Frida ever sang as a solo singer was well before ABBA - when she was only thirteen -  singing some of the great standard songs with the Evald Eks Orkester. (It wasn't really an orchestra, more of a small dance band combo). No doubt about the quality of those songs from great songwriters.

The reason One of Us was selected was that Polar’s licensee record companies in Europe favoured it over When All Is Said and Done. Though a US hit and a video already in the can, the licensees had a lukewarm reaction to it. Perhaps a bit too much washing of dirty linen in public? A different marriage and a different singer, but still same-old, same-old? Although One of Us wasn’t that far off, it won out. Perhaps the reason ABBA look so awful in that video is that they weren’t expecting to have to make it at all, at least not at that point.

Personally I think One of Us was the right choice. At the time of the album’s release, Head Over Heels was my favourite track on it, so seemed the natural choice for second single. I wasn’t fussed with WAISAD and was surprised to read in the ABBA Magazine that fans preferred it to Head Over Heels.

Alan, that might have bern the reason why WAISAD wasn't a single in Europe but some decisions are wrong! Both WAISAD and One Of Us are break up songs but WAISAD had a bit more of a spark about it. One of Us more Agnetha in self-pitying mode. They should have released it before The Visitors album. They missed out not releasing a track then.

As for the six 1982 songs, none of them were single material. I know a lot of fans like The Day Before You Came but it was more album track. Under Atrack would have been B side material at ABBA's peak.

I don't know what it is about 1982 but I loved the build up to the The Singles The first ten years. The two singles that came out and the TV interviews that went along with it all.

As a band, they had lost a bit of the magic. The songs weren’t quite as good. They had become jaded, both in sound and image. They were two divorced couples, looking more middle-aged with each passing video. And younger, fresher and more exciting bands were breaking through.

And then there was that interview with Noel Edmunds, with Benny embarrassing his ex-wife in front of the TV cameras.

All of this, just five years after Sydney when they smashed it out of park and the girls looked like goddesses.

In the Netherlands ABBA was still very popular and succesful at the time:
One Of Us: number one in both major Dutch charts (Top 40 and Single Top 100).
Head Over Heels: number four in Top 40 / number one in Single Top 100.
The Day Before You Came: number three in both charts.
Under Attack: number five in Top 40 / number 7 in Single Top 100.

At the time I wasn't that aware of what was going on in the charts internationally, the commercial decline. But I remember watching the broadcast of The Story Of ABBA on Dutch TV at the end of 1982 and I was quite taken aback by the way they talked about ABBA, as if it was already in the past (which in hindsight it was).
Especially Benny was very clear in his statements, saying he didn't feel there was anything left to achieve with ABBA and that he was keen to start with something new. But Frida also stated she and Agnetha had been working on their own separate projects (Something's Going On and Raskenstam).

Perhaps Benny and Frida's divorce was the last straw. Judging from the outside Agnetha and Bjorn's divorce seemed to be an amicable one, but Benny and Frida's less so. The atmosphere seemed strained after that and they looked much older, thus becoming less appealing to the young pop audience.