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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2020 8:33:01 GMT
I was wondering how important ABBA's image, reputation and behaviour were/are to anyone. Would you still have loved the songs if they had been beer swilling, foul mouthed, untidy louts etc etc!!? I always cringed a little at the point in The Movie where the clean cut image is mentioned, (though, even back then as a teenager I liked that they were like that)! - but now I am (a lot) older, it seems to have become even more important to me!
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Post by richard on Feb 19, 2020 9:25:18 GMT
Very interesting point, alib. Since my main interest in ABBA is the music and Agnetha and Frida's singing, I don't think if they had had more disreputable characters would have changed that aspect for me.
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Post by chron on Feb 19, 2020 19:48:38 GMT
I always cringed a little at the point in The Movie where the clean cut image is mentioned, (though, even back then as a teenager I liked that they were like that)! - but now I am (a lot) older, it seems to have become even more important to me! Eye-of-the-beholder stuff from The Movie, that, and highly selective, being the opinions of clearly straight-laced oldies for the most part (I've yet to visit Australia to confirm this - although I have relatives living there, so it could be on the cards at some point - I've been led to believe that it has a more straight-laced and morally 'strict' population than the UK does, on the whole). I can't help having my doubts that ABBA were quite as goody-goody as Benny makes out in that press conference. By the time ABBA broke big, they would have been old enough and mature enough not to feel the need to publicly parade or 'leak' any decadent behaviour for shock value. |
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Post by Michal on Feb 19, 2020 20:19:10 GMT
I always cringed a little at the point in The Movie where the clean cut image is mentioned, (though, even back then as a teenager I liked that they were like that)! - but now I am (a lot) older, it seems to have become even more important to me! I can't help having my doubts that ABBA were quite as goody-goody as Benny makes out in that press conference. I'm quite sure I've read somewhere that during the tours some promoters were quite surprised to see ABBA's after-show parties (not as civilized as one would expect :-)). And it is no secret there was a lot of alcohol (Benny even admitted he was an alcoholic). But I think that's it. I believe no drugs or orgies were ever the case. However I think it wouldn't make a difference for me. |
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Post by josef on Feb 19, 2020 21:00:54 GMT
They all liked a tipple.
Also, isn't it true that Agnetha and/or Frida once joked that occasionally they would smell marijuana and jokingly said they'd take a deep breath before going on stage? Words to that effect. I hope someone can confirm this. It shows they had a great sense of humour and that if they ever encountered such substances they were adult about it. To me, I imagine that there MUST have been someone around them indulging, even if it was only a roadie or a rigger or whatever. No big deal.
Many years ago a friend of mine tried to say to me that ABBA's music was so amazing that they must have taken drugs to create it. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I insisted that although I didn't think the members were saints I very much doubt they'd ever go in for hardcore drugs. I still believe this.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2020 22:45:13 GMT
Thank you for your views guys, much appreciated. I think one of the many reasons I love abba is their dignity, the way they have respected each other and others they have worked with. I recall a quote saying that the crew on the 1979 tour thought that it was the best they had ever worked on due to the decent way they were treated.
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Post by angela on Feb 20, 2020 11:33:18 GMT
I always cringe in that part of ABBA the movie when that guy said they were clean cut it makes them sound like the osmonds.
I think it was good they liked Champagne and wine, don't know if it was true they had Champagne with their breakfast but it's fun to think they did.
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Post by chron on Feb 20, 2020 15:16:20 GMT
I think it was good they liked Champagne To quote something that Frida is allegedly said to have adapted from an old witticism (that Francis Bacon made popular) and was fond of saying: Champagne for my real friends, and The Winner Takes It All played on a twenty-four hour loop for my sham friends. |
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Post by josef on Feb 20, 2020 15:49:49 GMT
Nothing will convince me that Frida isn't drunk here. She's all over the place and her eyes are glazed. It's so obvious. Good for her, though. A few too many backstage and this is what happens. Just proves she's only human.
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Post by chron on Feb 20, 2020 16:10:31 GMT
I always cringe in that part of ABBA the movie when that guy said they were clean cut it makes them sound like the osmonds. That bit is a bit cringeworthy, but it has to be said that ABBA's public image was ostensibly not unlike that of the Osmonds', the difference being that ABBA didn't really make a virtue of their goody image, they just happened not to want to indulge in most of the usual rock world excesses (or didn't feel the need to trumpet the fact, if they were indulging), whereas the Osmonds posited themselves as poster-boys for traditional family values, or however you want to peg their position. By the way, the feedback words that the reporter in The Movie gets from passersby that I like best, in a so-useless-they're-entertaining way, are the ones delivered by the doorman at the Perth gig, I think it is: "They're a clean-cut group, with nice music and...a nice beat"! |
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Post by chron on Feb 20, 2020 16:17:04 GMT
Nothing will convince me that Frida isn't drunk here. She's all over the place and her eyes are glazed. Christ, she does come across as a bit 'unfocused' in that clip. Not only that, it looks as though Benny's haemorrhoids were playing up that day, to judge from the amount of time he spends playing the keybs standing up. |
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Post by josef on Feb 21, 2020 14:04:14 GMT
"They dress tidy". 😆
Skin-tight satin and spandex showing off all your bits and pieces, anyone?
ABBA were actually quite saucy .
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Post by Michal on Feb 21, 2020 19:47:09 GMT
ABBA were actually quite saucy . There was a TV show where the girls were forbidden to rip off the bottom part of their cat costumes as it was considered almost a striptease  But I can't remember which one… Anyway, I would never put on any of Björn's early-ABBA costumes But I guess they were just wearing what everybody did back then. Today I watched Queen's 1974 concert and Freddie wore a costume very similar to the one that Björn had during their 1975 tour.... And check out Brian's outfit. Nice one too :-) |
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Post by HOMETIME on Feb 21, 2020 21:09:03 GMT
I think they knew how to mix sauce and wholesomeness. For all the skintight clobber and fanny-pelmet miniskirts, they had a sweet-smiling head tilt that diffused the tension. The sounds they presented weren't aggressive either, so nobody was worried that the horses would be frightened. That said, my mother was appalled by their outfits in ABBA in Switzerland, calling them vulgar. This is the same woman who bought a Boney M album on which the naked band had only chains to cover their modesty and Bobby had a golden posing pouch, so maybe ABBA caught her on an off day.
Their image was interesting because, on the one hand, they all seemed so smilingly approachable. Yet there was a glamorous mystique that made them equally unreachable. Who knows what things might have been like if they'd had social media back in the day? Taylor Swift seems to have aimed for the same wholesome-yet-miniskirted melodic pop thing, coy about sharing opinions. And social media has been horrific for her.
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Post by angela on Feb 22, 2020 2:54:40 GMT
I think they have a good reputation, they never swore or carried on like so many other celebrities, even when in interviews people asked them questions that was personal they handled it with dignity and didn't get angry.
I saw an Interview on you tube Agnetha was asked who raided the mini bar in the hotel rooms she just laughed but wouldn't tell.
I like how they were respectful to each other even after all the issues they had.
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Post by josef on Feb 22, 2020 3:36:59 GMT
It all seems so innocent now and indeed it was. Björn is on record as saying Agnetha wasn't 'trying' to be sexy, she just was. In the same vein I recall Frida saying something along the lines of how they were considered sexy but that it wasn't something they consciously did- that unlike stars of today they weren't trying to make a 'thing' of it- and I totally agree. Agnetha and Frida didn't need to resort to exploiting their physical attributes- their talent was enough. Even so, there's no denying how stunning they were. As for the costumes in ABBA in Switzerland.....well, I thought they looked fantastic. Their figures really were amazing. Legs that went on forever, etc. I mean, seriously? They looked like that AND sang like angels! Truly gifted.
One thing I must point out (that is obvious to us hardcore fans) is how beautiful Frida was (is). I know Agnetha seemed to get the lion's share of attention and of course she was a stunning woman, but Frida (during ABBA's heyday) was very beautiful indeed if people bothered to truly look, you know?
Anyway, I digress.
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Post by gazman on Feb 22, 2020 8:47:58 GMT
Yes. I'm very upset that there are no stories about Frida trashing her hotel room, rolling joints and throwing television sets off the balcony from 8 floors up! ;-)
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Post by josef on Feb 22, 2020 11:28:45 GMT
She may not have thrown any television sets out of hotel windows but I'd bet a pound to a penny she might have raided the odd minibar.
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Post by gazman on Feb 22, 2020 11:40:16 GMT
Oh, I am sure. If I was a multi-millionaire pop star, no hotel room minibar would be left unused... :-)
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Post by josef on Feb 22, 2020 13:55:00 GMT
I seem to recall that Agnetha was known for being quite fiery? Obviously behind the scenes. In front of the camera and in interviews they were all the epitome of class and deportment.
I also seem to recall someone, perhaps one of the backing band, saying Agnetha and/or Frida were not averse to swearing like troopers? I may have got that wrong? Or perhaps it was Agnetha as a younger woman? Either way, I find that refreshing and not a criticism at all. Of course now we can see Agnetha is simply class and grace personified. To me, she always appears so composed, gentle, funny, sweet and natural with just a hint of shyness. An absolute star. That goes for her and Frida.
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Post by tyra71 on Feb 23, 2020 9:27:43 GMT
I have talked to someone who was a bit of a popstar in Norway, alongside Agnetha in Sweden, named Inger Lise Rypdal, and who was also signed to Polar. She gave out S.O.S. in norwegian, and told me about Agnethas partyloving and swearing alter ego. This is during the late 60s/early 70s. The girls both loved to party, and Agnetha wasn't the one who said goodnight before the party was over. And as Benny and Björn stated in an early interview, they loved to have a drink or two, and they also told the press that they could smoke a joint, but that is just something I've read in the press back in the days... Benny and Frida also got a lot of attention living together the scandinavian way. (Not married). In scandinavia that was not unusual in the 70s, nor today. But a lot of foreign press made a point of just that. They were all 4 human beings trying to take care of their personal life, as well as their professional life. Working, and enjoying life |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2020 21:06:03 GMT
Robert Plant stated on Swedish television some years ago that he and Jimmy Page went to live sex clubs in Stockholm together with Björn and Benny, back when Led Zeppelin recorded their last album in ABBA:s studio. "Spokespersons" have apparently denied it (they would, wouldn't they?) so I guess we have a 50/50 situation here of whether to believe it or not. Since it's something that might very well have happened in the seventies, I've decided that I believe it! www.contactmusic.com/led-zeppelin/news/plant-i-watched-live-sex-with-bjorn-and-benny |
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Post by chron on Oct 28, 2020 17:08:33 GMT
I have talked to someone who was a bit of a popstar in Norway, alongside Agnetha in Sweden, named Inger Lise Rypdal, and who was also signed to Polar. Wow! Terje's wife (ex-wife?)! That's a whole other can, but Terje Rypdal is a wonderful guitar player (plays a number of other instruments with great proficiency too) and composer. Affectingly expressive guitarist. His solo album After The Rain is one of my long-time faves, and I believe that Inger Lise does backing vox on at least one of the tracks. I'm sorry to have say I've never done the research that would've led me to discovering that she'd had an impressive pop career in her own right. |
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But I can't remember which one… Anyway, I would never put on any of Björn's early-ABBA costumes 
