The sunshine boys and girls are making hay
By Heather Chapman - The Daily Telegraph 23 April 1976
“Can you hear the drums Fernando? I remember long ago …”
The music goes around and around carrying thousands of Australians
of all ages into a love affair with four handsome young Swedes who call
themselves ABBA.
And the almost hysterical devotion of Australians to ABBA seems to
still be a mostly Australian phenomenon.
Mr Keith Cronau, national promotions manager for RCA, says he does
not think ABBA are as big in
Certainly, we have led the way in the English-speaking world, and
both the
“Rock me, give me that kiss now…”
The happy sound of Anni-Frid, Björn, Benny and Agnetha has set
Australians singing and registers tinkling all over the country – and is fast
sweeping the young Swedes into the millionaire class.
Inflation and unemployment are forgotten temporarily as adults and
children alike hum the melodic songs of ABBA.
The Swedes’ voices are warm
and inviting and they have something for everyone.
“I like the blonde one… I like the dark-haired one… I like Benny,
he’s cuddly. I like Björn, he’s sort of cheeky…”
Musically they span a gap. The Beatles never crossed quite
convincingly – they have bridged the generation gap in pop music.
When Australian parents hear their children playing ABBA records
they’re likely to shout out’ “Turn that up,” not “turn that off.”
When channel 9 twice showed a special of ABBA during their March
visit here it gained phenomenal ratings each time.
You can hardly turn your radio to a commercial station without
hearing an ABBA song.
The call for ABBA records is so great that RCA have had to get help
to press them.
Two other Australian record companies and a
And the demand is little short of sensational.
In some Top 40 charts this week, ABBA had four singles in the top
five and as many as six single records – more than enough to beat The Beatles.
Mr Cronau says Fernando,
the top single on most charts throughout Australia, is earning a new gold record
each week and the company has lost count of just how many gold records the song
has collected.
And Fernando was released
only in March, shooting up the charts within a couple of weeks.
Extraordinary things happen with ABBA records on the charts.
Mamma Mia, which has been listed for
24 weeks, suddenly this week, started to climb back up again.
And a few weeks ago I Do, I
Do, I Do, I Do, I Do which was still high in the charts after a year,
suddenly started selling strongly again, pushed along by its B side,
Rock Me.
Rock Me
was one of the songs performed by ABBA in its TV special, and from that moment
it took off.
What is the extraordinary appeal of the handsome Swedes?
Mr Cronau says it is melody.
“Every song they write is melodic,” he says. “They’ve hit at a time
when melody is wanted by everyone from teenagers to mums and dads.”
It’s likely, also, that the wholesome - as well as handsome –
appearance of the four helps.
Men find the two girls delightful and Australian girls like Benny
and Björn.
To adults it’s a pleasure to be able to enjoy watching a group their
youngsters like, a group without unpleasant gimmicks like pop star, Alice
Cooper’s killing chickens.
With ABBA, adults can feel reassured because their young are
watching two nice clean cut heterosexual couples.
ABBA has been popular in Europe
since they won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with their song,
The group began its sweet popularity here a year ago after a
national TV pop show presented a film of ABBA singing
Mamma Mia.
The demand for the record was so great that RCA asked
Because of this success, ABBA’s recording company in Sweden decided
to release it as a single in the
ABBA’s songs are written by Björn and Benny (some songs lyrics are
written by their manager, Stig Anderson) and people who suggest to the two men
that most of their success comes from their compositions, they modestly say they
consider the girls’ performances are the main reason they are so popular.
