On Wednesday 30th January The ABC will have a special on Abba titled Abba Bang a Boomerang. It reveal The inside story behind Australia's obsession with the Swedish 70's supergroup ABBA. The special will screen at 8.30 pm.

I belive 1 in 2 Aussies own an Abba Album.

Yes...very excited about this. I was interviewed for this special over 2 years ago would you believe ! I also provided the footage you'll see in it from the Don Lane show in 1976 (which channel 9 claim they don't have in their archives...and weren't interested when I offered a copy to them...but that's another story). This special has been a long time in the making.

From what I've heard from people who have seen it, it's very interesting, professional and respectful...can't wait :)

Molly is interviewed and of course Countdown is acknowledged for the huge role it played in launching ABBA to an internatinoal audience...a fact that should not be downplayed.

There's a tiny sneak peak at it here...

http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2013/01/abba-bang-a-boomerang-sneak-peek.html

and here's the ABC promo for it:

http://youtu.be/y1BQw2OiA5E

I noted the special and looks good for sure. If ABBA re-formed their Australian tour would sell out in seconds!

Will definitely watch this. I was a fan of 3 groups in the mid-late 70's - ABBA, The Beatles and Skyhooks.

I have a heap of ABBA footage which includes many of their specials.

Well done Luke on your input.

Imagine all the suburban bogans at the tour doing the dance moves to the videos in bad Dress Up Shop Wigs, hehehehe... ooooops

Exactly Jason...it would be hideous. All the bogans would turn up at the concert, dressed in pathetic faux-'70s clothing and hideous wigs, and ABBA would walk onto the stage looking like their 65+ selves, appropriately dressed without the costumes or the dance moves...and that's exactly why it will never happen. Bjorn has said many times that one of the reasons they will never re-form is because of the expectation that they would, and could create the ABBA that existed 35 years ago...which is of course impossible. As much as I miss them, I have enormous respect for their integrity in wanting to leave the past the past...and letting the memories live on as they are.

Speaking of ABBA, this Fast Forward parody from the 90's someone has uploaded to youtube really makes me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxVJomXagwc

I thought I was goign to be KILLED for that comment I made about Bogans, hehehehehehehehe

It's a shame that Australia's obsession with ABBA pretty much finished as the 70's wrapped up. I'm a big fan of their 80's material and their final album 'The Visitors' is a standout.

The reality is, the bubble burst for ABBA in Australia the minute they got back on the plane and left after the tour in March of 1977. Words are inadequate to describe how full-on and utterly ridiculous the ABBA explosion was from late '75 until March '77. It was absolutely out of control for that time and, not surprisingly, the general population had had enough by the tme the tour was finished.

For that (almost) two year period you couldn't escape them. They were EVERYWHERE you turned. TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, even your local Coles and milk bar was selling ABBA this, that and anything else you could imagine...it was ridiculous.

When they left after the tour, the population of Australia sighed a collective "thank **** that's over". From that point on they were very much out of favour and became a "dirty word". They continued to have chart success of course, but it was nothing compared to what had gone on before.

They were heady days to be an ABBA fan in Australia that's for sure and I wish their success hadn't been so ridiculously intense for that short period...but more like what it was in Europe and the U.K. where they had a more sensible and relative degree of success which was sustained for almost 10 years.

There was a period in which Abba was absolutely everywhere in Australia - from 1975 with the clip for "Mamma Mia" being shown on Countdown through to early 1977 when the tour concluded. Their popularity here can never be underestimated. Good to see a special being made about those heady days.

Yes, for a time they were a bit "out of favour" and record sales declined in their latter years - but dont worry - if they were ever silly enough to reform and do any concert again here it would still sell out in seconds.

I always remember the peak during 1976 when "Fernando" was released - the record shops and RCA records could not keep up with demand for the 45 - it was sold out everywhere - which cost it a chance at being No. 1 first week in the charts - it only achieved that in the second week. RCA did not make the same mistake next time round - "Money Money Money" was No. 1 first week in the charts - at the time this sort of thing was totally unheard of - this was in the days one had to sell a decent quantity of records just to make the charts let alone No. 1. Their greatest record "Knowing Me Knowing You" did not top the charts here like it did in the UK so our Abba fans here did not quite get it right with that one.

Funnily enough, I can't stand 'Fernando'. My fave song of theirs is 'Under Attack' & 'When All Is Said And Done'.

Abba were woeful, I never liked them in the 70s, nor the resurgence in the early 90s either.

Enjoy..

. I jumped on the ABBA train in late 1994 when ABBA Gold was back in the charts again. I like most of their songs and their story, but wouldn't say I'm a fan.

Fernando suffers from being such a HUGE hit - something like 15 weeks at #1. It's a nice song but far from my favourite. ABBA have many much better songs - my faves>

Knowing Me Knowing You
Dancing Queen
Money Money Money
Take A Chance On Me
The Winner Takes It All
Honey Honey

It's not an understatement to say that ABBA were musical geniuses - well the guys at least.

It's all about Frida thanks!

I have NEVER been a HUGE Abba fan but I adore a few of their tracks.

Am I THE only one who ADORES 'One Of Us'???

I DIE FOR IT *+*

For me it was all about Agnetha..



Need I say anymore

"One Of Us" is beautiful...and their last really big (single) hit. They made a big, big mistake releasing "Head Over Heels" as the follow-up single in the U.K. though, and putting "The Visitors" on the b-side...so stupid. "One Of Us" was a smash in the U.K. The follow-up should have been "The Visitors" with a dark, haunting film-clip to accompany it. The audience would have done a double-take and it would have launched ABBA as relevant and evolving into the '80s. Instead, the next single was something that sounded like a b-side from the Arrival era...stupid. But they were all so unhappy and disinterested by that stage anyway. I have mixed feelings about The Visitors as an album, it's such a disjointed piece of work. There are moments of sheer brilliance on it of course, but it reflects where they were as a group...dysfunctional and all over the place. Pulling in different directions. They were the sountrack to my life and I love them (or rather the entity they created) very much...and yes Jason, Frida was THE star !

Is there a video for "The Visitors"? I think what really let them down was the bad videos in the 80's. The video for "One of Us" is really dated and looks like it's done on a very low budget. The video for "Head Over Heels" is bad, but they came back with a great video (and song) for "Under Attack". Simple, but looked very arty.

On "The Visitors" DVD, they did an interview on a UK breakfast show, promoting their 'Greatest Hits' album. They looked very happy together and confirmed that they were not breaking up. (They even sang a song). The whole 'Chess' project kept them apart for a few years and the girls were enjoying solo performing and by 1985 they thought too much time had passed to get back together and create more magic.

No, they never made one and never once performed it, either live or on TV.



Agree...and they just look miserable, yet it was an enormous hit for them...their last hit single.



At least in the video for Head Over Heels they look like they're having some fun...I don't actually mind it. I also like the video for Under Attack, but I think the song is dreadful and an awful way to end such an illustrious career as it was their last single.



Yes, agree. They spent a good amount of time away from each other between "The Visitors" and working on "ABBA - The Singles". Frida had recorded her first English solo album and enjoyed moderate international success with it, Agnetha had started planning her first English solo album. Benny and Bjorn went off and started new families. They re-grouped and recorded 6 new songs, which were intended to be on the next ABBA album (their ninth)...but this project became "ABBA -The Singles" instead...a celebration of their 10th Anniversary. Four of the new songs were released...Under Attack & The Day Before You Came on "The Singles" (also released as 7" singles) and "You Owe Me One" & Cassandra" as b-sides. I believe they were re-energised and enthusiastic at this stage. Extensive promotional work for "The Singles" in the U.K. and Europe. There was even talk of another tour which was to be recorded and released as a Live album...it was an exciting and optimistic time for ABBA fans and we thought it was all about to kick up into another gear again. "The Singles" was another number 1 album for them in the U.K. and Europe, but no one was interested in the new material. Both "Under Attack" and magnificant "The Day Before You Came" failed miserably in the charts. Around this time Benny & Bjorn were approached to do "Chess". Bjorn has said that if the public had embraced the new material at the time...they would have continued and recorded at least one more album, but they felt that "ABBA" had lost its relevance in the music scene at the time...and so it all ended. For the next couple of years though Agnetha & Frida both kept saying that ABBA was "taking a break" and that they would like to record another album, but sadly it was not to be.

The video for "The Day Before You Came" is really beautiful and would have cost a fortune to make...but the song was way to complex and should never have been a single (even though I think it's a masterpiece).

One of the two songs that weren't released...called "Just Like That" should have been released as a single instead. It was (is) a beautiful pop song and would have been a big hit for them. It remains unreleased to this day...but a full, completed studio recording of it is sitting there in the vaults. Benny and Bjorn refuse to release it...ba$tards !

The Day Before You Came is one of the best tracks ABBA ever did. There was a great 8min+ extended re-mix on YouTube once but it's not there anymore.

Is this the one you mean Guru Bob ? It's amazing...

http://youtu.be/rJAxPeXGHcU

No, that is good but it was another mix by someone else. It was called The Day Before You Came (Rainy Day Mix), unfortunately I can't remember who had it uploaded. It was the most stunning mix I had ever heard. I put it on constant rotation one day while I was doing something on the computer. I haven't seen it for about a year or more now, I hope it returns one day. The clip was also flawlessly merged with the original clip and their German TV appearance. As an ABBA fan I can highly recommend you try and track down a copy of that, you won't regret it.

That was a great little show that summed up ABBA in Australia. Loved the various grabs of footage used.

It also summed up the way that I had followed them. When the New Wave and New Romantic movements came along I followed those through the early and mid 80's and dropped ABBA because you just couldn't admit to liking them. Fortunately that has gone full circle and I am too old to care what anyone thinks anymore. They were amongst the greatest ever.

Well done on your starring role Luke.

A very fine show for sure....I've always been an ABBA fan although as Guru mentioned there was a time during the 80's when saying you were was VERY uncool.....but everything goes around again and all is good now.

Now I know this potential episode is long gone.....but does anyone know if ABBA ever hosted Countdown? One would assume they would have done it during their 1977 tour. I'm certain Countdown would have done an ABBA special for sure - be interesting to know.

Missed this as I've been away but will catch up on iview.

A very fine show for sure....I've always been an ABBA fan although as Guru mentioned there was a time during the 80's when saying you were was VERY uncool.....but everything goes around again and all is good now.

For sure ! Wasn't a fan at the height of "Abbamania" because yes, it was considered so uncool and nerdy to admit to liking them - at the time they were strictly the domain of screaming tweenies and little kids, as well as generally middle aged men drooling over Agnetha,(esp her bum),and Frida.

I absolutely loathed Fernando at the time as it was played to death and spent months and months at Number 1 on the Countdown Top 10. Each week we would cross our fingers that it had finally been bumped off by something else and then groan in derision when we found it was STILL Number 1.

During the mid 80s , in a sudden burst of unexplained nostalgia, I picked up one of their greatest hits album for $3.00 from the bargain bin at Brashes and it quickly became one of my fave, most played records.

Listening to this, I realised just how many good songs they had and what truly beautiful voices the girls had -absolutely every song on it is good.
Shortly after this they enjoyed a big revival in popularity and seemed like everyone was a big ABBA fan almost overnight.

My very favourite songs would have to be:
SOS- A lovely, wisful song and Agnetha looked so sad and anguished here but still stunning
The Name of the Game
The Winner Takes it All
Knowing Me Knowing You
Summer Night City
Gimme Gimme Gimme
and of course, Money Money Money

Well...2 minutes does not a starring role make, but I'm glad I was able to contribute something of value.

Personally, I think this is the most heartfelt ABBA documentary that has ever been made. The ABC and all invloved did an outstanding job with this. It captured the mood, the hysteria, the mania, the emotion, the era, the backlash...everything. The archive footage was jaw dropping (although there was only one thing in it that I hadn't seen before, which was Frida talking to Greg Evans on the Town Hall balcony. I had no idea that existed and my jaw hit the ground).

I could have done without the last 10 minutes with all the tribute band stuff, Priscilla drag queens and bogans in stupid wigs and embarrassing faux '70s clothing...but it is part of the story now for better or worse, and fortunately, the content up to that point kept it in its place I guess.

It rated VERY well, won its timeslot right across Australia with over a million viewers. The ABC are very happy and it's being repeated tonight at 21:20 on ABC1.

The Abc is repeating the special tonight feb 1st 9.30 pm. According to the tv guide in The Daily Telegraph.

Thanks guys - look forward to watching tonight.

Yeah, the last 10 minutes I didn't care for. I have never seen 'Mamma Mia' the musical or the film. I'll leave that part alone. I just like 80's ABBA! Interesting to read that 'Super Trouper' was the biggest selling album in the UK in its year.

Absolutely loved this.
Interesting to see lots of well known faces, including Kerry O'Brien as a young journo and of course Molly.
Interesting also to learn that poor old Countdown was excluded from accessing Abba due to Channel 9 and Grundy hogging them for their exclusive special...ironic and unfair considering Molly and Countdown really broke them here in Australia.

Lol at poor old JPY missing out on Number 1 on the Countdown Top 10 charts due to Fernando being there for 13 weeks - at least he kept his sense of humour about it -loved the footage of him glumfaced on the blonde wig.

I LOVED this special last night!

I also can NOT believe that ABBA were only allowed to feature on CH9 and NOT on any other network!

Very S H I T seeing Countdown broke ABBA in this country. It S U X!

It was a very enjoyable special.

Like Jason, it does suck that ABBA couldn't be on CountDown. I didn't think much of Daryl Sommers 70's version of Bandstand. It was made to compete with CountDown, but it was a very poor attempt.

@ Christina (or anyone),

Curious to know, what was the JPY song that was kept off the No.1 spot?

@ Michael. Fernando!

In addition to Bandstand and The Don Lane Show, ABBA appeared on Celebrity Squares. All four of them sat in the one square. This was the same show where Bert Newton asked a male contestant "Your wife, what does he think about all this?" many years before the gay marriage debates.

It's a shame they didn't show the moment when JPY was super-imposed over the Fernando clip and casting an evil spell over it.

The Australian ABBA Channel 9 Special Is the on the ABBA Deluxe Edition CD/DVD that is out at the moment.

Hoin, I'm interested in your detail about this, can I ask what your source is for this information ? I'm very aware of ABBA's appearance on Celebrity Squares, but 9 claims they have wiped the entire series and the ABBA episodes are long destroyed All that exists (as far as I know) are a couple of photo's that were printed in TV Week.

Do you have access to these episodes ? Please feel free to reply privately if prefer. Would really appreciate a response at your convenience. Email link below this post. Thanks

Not 100% sure, Michael, but I think it was either I Hate the Music or I Wanna Do it with You....probably the former.

It's a shame they didn't show the moment when JPY was super-imposed over the Fernando clip and casting an evil spell over it.

Yeah, that was a classic, brett...had forgotten all about that bit.

A shame they didn't show it. Being from the mid seventies, guess it doesn't exist anymore due to most of the Countdowns from that era being wiped.

Although I was too young & naive to realise it at the time looking back it was extremely rude that a money-making entrepeneur and the typically greedy commercial TV networks (Read Channel 9) hogged all the Australian TV rights to Abba and totally excluded Countdown from everything!!

PARDON ME but if it wasnt for "Countdown" this group would not have received any exposure here - they were ENTIRELY responsible for the success that came about.

Anyway, the tactic worked as the Channel 9 Abba (Bandstand) Special was one of the highest rating shows in Australia of all time. Not that Channel 9 would care now, it was of course only about making money and nothing else. Little has changed with TV today by the look of it. The only real justice was that Channel 9's attempt at the revival of "Bandstand" with Daryl Somers as host was relatively short-lived - it was just a pale imitation of the UK's "Top Of The Pops" - blatantly pinching all the ideas from the mother of all music shows, and did not last long wheras "Countdown" went from strength to strength.

Not sure who said Channel 9 did not have a copy of the Abba special - they have always had it, although I think the 2" master may have been wiped and it was kept on lesser quality formats. Information has always been a bit sketchy but Luke will know more on that matter. The Don Lane show footage as Luke mentioned was wiped although a large number of shows survive (mainly the later years though) so I remain unconvinced. I dont know about Celebrity Squares, but it would be doubtful Channel 9 would have kept this at all - if anything turns up it will be on domestic videotape format. A large number of the Daryl Somers "Bandstands" also survive - the studio performances in the show are actually quite good - check out AC/DC "Long Way to The Top" which is terrific, and I also have a couple of versions of Mark Holdens "I Wanna Make You My Lady" complete with carnations and screaming girls!!.

The Swedish version of the Australian Abba Special (which has extra filmed bits to the Australian version but omits the guest performer Lucky Starr)is available on the DVD extras for the "Abba" album and came out late last year - well worth a buy!!

I have still yet to see the ABC special but I will catch up with it soon I hope - well done Luke on your role!!

I like Blancmange's version of ABBA'a 'The Day Before You Came'. I like the way the music clip includes Agnetha.

Absolutely...I was hoping they would ask Molly how he felt about that but they didn't...or they did and he didn't want to talk about it. Molly was so openly grateful when a big star or group appeared on Countdown, he always thanked them. My guess is he was gutted about this, but he also knew that ABBA themselves were bound by the contract. It's also worth mentioning that at the time the negotiations begun for Grundy to bring them to Australia they were NOT world famous. In fact, they were thought of as nothing more than a one-hit-wonder Eurovision group in the U.K. & the U.S. No one else was interested in them and they were not a big success at all...nor were they rich and wealthy. They were not in any position to dictate terms of their promo visit to Australia. Grundy & Nine financed the whole thing in conjunction with SVT in Sweden...which is why there's also a Swedish version called "ABBA Down Under" as opposed to "The Best Of ABBA". They were astounded that anyone on the other side of the world was interested enough in them to fly them so far and film a TV special. It's worth remembering though that ABBA always gave Molly unrestricted access to them from the beginning to the end...they knew how important a role he and Countdown had played.



Well...not entirely responsible, but Countdown was absolutely the catalyst that took them from being a little known pop group in Scandinavia to the global phenomenon they became. But "Sound Unlimited" was playing their film clips as well. I remember an interview that Molly did on 60 Minutes in the late '80s where this very thing was discussed and Molly said, in his usually humble way, that ABBA would have broken through whether Countdown played them or not. He said their stuff was just too good for it not to have happened...but Countdown certainly was the "springboard".



Yes they have, but they sold the rights to it a long time ago, which is why it's never been repeated. Some media company in the U.K. owns the rights to it now. Nine wanted to re-screen it back in the '90s when that huge second wave of ABBA happened here, but the new owners of it wanted a ludicrous amount of money for it, so they dumped it and instead kept making dreadful home made TV specials which turned out to be more of a p!ss-take than anything...awful.



Yes but fortunately and incredibly someone had actually purchased a copy of it on vhs from Nine BEFORE it was wiped. This vhs tape turned up on ebay of all places about 10 years ago, which is when I purchased it and saved it from disappearing for all time again. I've made it available to anyone who wants it...it's not mine, it belongs to our history and our memories. I offered a copy of it to channel 9 but they literally said they weren't interested...I couldn't believe it. It was my copy that you saw in the new ABC doco and I'm glad they used it, even though it was just a little bit, I'm glad it has now been seen en-masse and it's another example of how amazing the story was.



Nine insist it's been wiped, which is why I am so interested to hear back from Hoin about (your) comments regarding it. The thing that makes me cry though is that Nine were repeating it every day during the very early '80s. I didn't have a VCR at that stage but I keep hoping that someone did who would have recognised how precious it was and recorded it...I live in hope. It was on during the day when I was at school and I never saw it. Interestingly there are some photo's taken from the TV screen that have emerged over the past 10 years or so but all of my enquiries have met a dead end.







I couldn't believe it when I heard that it was going to get a DVD release. I thought it would and could never happen because Nine sold the rights to it to that company in the U.K. who want a million dollars per second of it or something...but fortunately SVT didn't sell their rights to it, which is how Universal were able to get the Swedish version out on DVD...very lucky with that...even if it doesn't include the studio performance of "Tropical Loveland" and "Lucky Starr"



It is in my opinion the most honest and heartfelt documentary about ABBA that has ever been made...it is exceptional (and I am difficult to please with this sort of stuff I must admit). It was the concept of and produced by a genuine ABBA fan who I've known (as an acquaintance only) for many years...hence my (very small) involvement. When Matti first asked me, initially I said no. I've been talking about them for 20 years now since the whole "revival", and I hate seeing myself on TV. I just didn't think I could add anything to it that other people could say anyway. Matti persisted and said I was the only person they could find who was actually at the Town Hall, who has one of the carnations that Frida threw into the crowd, who is in ABBA-The Movie etc. He talked me round. But I'm really glad I was able to contribute something of value to it

I Hate The Music reached #2 in 1976 so that would be the one. Looking at his chart hits I was surprised to see JPY had two #1 singles in South Afica. IHTM and Yesterday's Hero.

The first ABBA doco I remember seeing and always reflect on was the one Ch.7 did in late 1994 hosted by Michael Horrocks (Saturday Morning Live) and Melissa George. I guess it was the first time I learnt about this group and its revival. I remember them taking the P I S S a bit and dressing in 70's gear.

Abbaluke - you being a hardcore ABBA fan, I'm interested to know what you think of Erasures 'Take A Chance On Me' and Madonna's 'Hung Up'?

Guess that was some consolation for Fernando keeping him out of the No. 1 spot over here then.

I remember the episodes of Celebrity Squares with ABBA when they first went to air in 1976. In one of the episodes Don Lane and Bert Newton were also guests and in the opening sequence a male contestant told host Jimmy Hannan that he was interested in Don Lane. This became a running gag throughout the show, although ABBA didn't respond to any of it and stayed on message. After a commercial break Jimmy Hannan said that the contestant was "happily married - for now" and Bert Newton said "Your wife, what does he think of all this?".

I don't like to tell you this, but I recorded several episodes of Celebrity Squares - including all the ABBA episodes - when it was repeated during the day in the early 1980s when we had our first VCR. In the mid 1980s I lost my job and had two years at uni then went on the dole. A severe lack of money during those years meant I had to start reusing tapes and unfortunately the Celebrity Squares tapes were recorded over.

Heartbreaking but thanks for your honesty...and for your recollections of these episodes, which I've never seen. I still live in hope that someday they will emerge. I hope that like you, someone else had the presence of mind to realise that they were very special and recorded them when they were being repeated...and that they're sitting in a box somewhere waiting to be re-discovered so we can all enjoy them

I'm not a huge fan of either Madonna or Erasure to be honest. I think they've both had moments of sheer brilliance and moments I couldn't care less about. But the Erasure ABBAESQUE e.p. was fantastical in every way. I don't actually like it very much, it's just a bit too electronic for my liking (I grew up on a diet of sweeping strings and lush production :) but in terms of taking the songs, reinventing them, the timing, the fun they had with them (without taking the p!ss), the video for Take A Chance On Me and knowing how much they loved ABBA, it was brilliant and it played a big part of the extraordinary second wave of popularity that ABBA had in the '90s. So it's a big thumbs up from me

"Hung Up" would be nothing if it wasn't for the "Gimme Gimme Gimme" sample, but I do like it. I love the fact that Madonna spoke of ABBA with such reverence (rare for her to speak about anyone with reverence) and I also love the fact that it inspired her to put forward a beautiful album, a real return to form. She said that Confessions was an homage to ABBA and Euro-pop, and it's a masterpiece. I also love the fact that Benny and Bjorn thought so highly of her that they allowed her to use the sample (when they have only ever allowed one other with The Fugees). The marriage of Madonna and ABBA was just one of those rare situations where the planets aligned