Get ready from a blast from the past! Well… kinda.
ABBA’s Bjorn Ulvaeus has promised fans that ABBA is planning on releasing new music.
These new songs are the first recorded since Agnetha Faltskog, Annifrid Lyngstad Benny Andersson and Ulvaeus parted in 1981.
Unfortunately, the pandemic has halted ABBA releasing the songs, a TV special and Abbatar; a hologram – based live show.
Despite the setbacks, Ulvaeus is convinced it’s going to happen.
“It’s not a case anymore of it might happen. It will happen”, he told Newscorp.
He even joked that it’ll be COVID safe, with no live singing.
The show will be launched at a venue in London.
Australia will also get the chance to see Abbatar. However, no dates have been mentioned.
The band regularly discuss their ‘comeback’.
Two titles of new songs have come out in the past five years: I Still Have Faith In You and Don’t Shut Me Down.
Ulvaeus has refused to expose any more details about the new songs.
Next year will mark fifty years since the release of the single People Need Love.
However, the band has no desire to physically tour again.
The hits that have never got old
ABBA’s music has stood the test of time. Almost everyone has heard at least one of these hits:
Dancing Queen (1976)
Mamma Mia (1975)
SOS (1975)
Waterlook (1974)
Waterloo won them Eurovision in Brighton, UK. It also kickstarted their career globally, especially in Australia.
ABBA’s impact on pop music spans generations
You don’t have to be a child of the 1970’s to know who ABBA are. Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Yers have heard of ABBA.
I remember growing up listening to ABBA Gold. I also remember A*Teens covering Mamma Mia.
Then, there was the musical Mamma Mia. It became a hit movie in 2008, starring Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth.
The singing wasn’t the best. Key signatures were altered from the original. But the hits in the movie were recognisable.
Ten years, later, MammaMia: Here We Go Again came out. It featured some of ABBA’s lesser known songs such as Adante, Adante, I’ve Been Waiting For You and My Love, My Life.
ABBA turned metal
I kid you not.
In the early 2010’s, power/ symphonic metal band ReinXeed, (now Majestica) did a number of metal covers of Swedish pop songs, including ABBA’s.
Here are some of my favourites.
Take A Chance On Me
Does Your Mother Know
Rock Me
ReinXeed/ Majestica haven’t been the only metal band to have covered ABBA. Yngwie Malmsteen did a great cover of Gimme Gimme Gimme.
No one can deny ABBA’s impact on music. They’re a once – in – a – lifetime band. There will never be a band like them. They definitely did an amazing job.
Maybe not too long from now, even more generations will be exposed to their music. Even if it’s in hologram/ virtual form.
What is your favourite ABBA song? For metal fans, do you have a favourite metal ABBA cover? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
