Viva, March 1980: The two ABBA-women: “We would like to quit, but we can’t”

Agnetha and Frida being interviewed in between recording sessions for the Gracias Por La Musica album. The ladies talk about the pressure that comes along with being a part of ABBA. The article appeared in Dutch women’s magazine Viva in March 1980.
A lunch with ABBA-singers Anni-Frid and Agnetha, that’s the world scoop that Viva’s staff member John McFarlane had in Stockholm, much to his own astonishment. For several years, the two singers have not appeared at press conferences, let alone considered an interview. Sharp-minded due to made-up stories or drastically distorted statements, the ABBA-management decided that only Björn and Benny would appear facing the press army from now on. Even in America, that had to be conquered urgently by the Swedish foursome, the singers stayed away.
And now this lunch, together with a couple of technicians and an Argentine team of interpreters, called in for assistance with a Spanish album.
Anni-Frid: “Enjoy your lunch, we’ve heard that you are trustworthy. We’re sick and tired of all those made-up stories. Recently, I’ve even approached a Swedish editorial staff to ask them to finally stop harassing Agnetha with her divorce. We’re fed up with it all, we’re in need of peace and quiet, especially in a difficult time like this. Apart from that, I’ve had enough myself of stupid questions like ‘how do you apply your make-up, why do you have this haircut’, as if the exterior is the only thing that matters. They forget to see me as a woman who tries her utmost best on stage and who tries exactly to forget about all the private problems then. Let them ask us questions about the music and judge us on these qualities. We are not a machine, but four ordinary people who have got ahead by working very hard and in the meantime are bringing joy to other people.”

Up till now, they’ve always kept silent. Anni-Frid and Agnetha, the two ABBA-women, have always left the publicity to ‘the boys’. Viva still got the opportunity to have a conversation with them. That conversation didn’t pass off that hopeful for the numerous fans of the Swedish foursome. Because ABBA is starting to get tired of it. “The moments that I’m fed up with it are getting more frequent,” Anni-Frid says.

Just an ordinary working day in Stockholm. Outside, it’s cold and snow is being cleared. Inside, the atmosphere is getting to a boiling point. There, behind the sound-proof glass of the Polar Music recording studio, ABBA’s singers Anni-Frid and Agnetha are trying to record the audiotape of a Spanish album. This simply means: singing out of tune? Stop. Again. Wrong pronunciation? Stop. Again. Not starting simultaneously? Stop. Again. So there’s a lot of sighing, moaning and cursing going on. The humiliation of two world stars? For a moment they apparently sense it like that. Then they refuse to go on until all unwanted spectators have been removed. Behind the mixing console, the remaining technician Michael Tretow smiles: “Isn’t it wonderful to work with perfectionists like that.” But Anni-Frid later confesses: “Those are the moments that I get fed up with it. And to be honest, they’re getting more frequent...”

Is the end of the ABBA-era in sight? Isn’t it clear that these four Swedish artists will collapse under the burden of world fame as well? During the lunch, Anni-Frid’s often smiling face tightens at these questions. “Do you want an honest answer? The question is whether we will be able to quit. I think all four of us are still enjoying what we’re doing, but we do find it more and more difficult to be ABBA. We’ve been in the music business for fifteen years now. As ABBA, we’ve been on top for six years. And every time, we have to live up to that. Gradually, we have to watch out that we don’t start repeating ourselves. But it’s very difficult to get new ideas time and time again. We have to keep on developing and we can only do that when we have a clear aim. Well, that’s our problem. We’re not that youthful, glittery bunch, that we were six years ago anymore. Meanwhile, we’ve been through a lot. As women, we’ve matured, developed and especially got older as well. We look at life in a different way and then it becomes less fun to be ABBA. Because we actually have to switch off ourselves for that. Because we are the ‘property’ of so many millions.”
Agnetha mingles in the conversation: “Just think about Benny and Björn. They know that we are slaving away here, and they’d like to help out, but not without a reason they’re far away on Barbados. What they call relaxing, but actually thinking and talking about new ideas every second. Those two have to see to it that we don’t run dry. The existence of the group depends on their creativity. That responsibility for our repertoire never and nowhere leaves them alone. And we just have to wait and see whether there actually will be something new or we will see the well run dry tomorrow. There’s a tremendous pressure upon the both of them.”
Subsequently, manager Stig Anderson underlines just how heavy that pressure is with a couple of statistics. Chain-smoking, he mentions: “Last year, we had a turnover of seventy million. That means a profit of thirty million Dutch guilders. We are still growing, mainly because we’ve invested successfully as well. They’re saying that ABBA is Sweden’s second biggest export product, but we also own Europe’s third largest art gallery, a bicycle factory and recently we’ve bought a company that rents offices and buildings. Then I haven’t even mentioned our own company, the ‘ABBA factory’ slash music publishing company. Then it’s not so weird that we keep our gold records tucked away in the basement. That’s yesterday’s news. It’s all about tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow.”

Agnetha: “For the time being, we will have to carry the consequences of the profession that we have chosen. That sense of responsibility keeps us going. The public doesn’t always realize that. They see us as four glamorous characters on stage: slick music, beautiful voices, sexy show. Many people think that we’re off in some kind of fairytale world afterwards until the next time. They forget about the travelling, the hours spent in the studio on recordings, rehearsing, getting to bed at three o’clock at night and getting up at seven, packing and unpacking of suitcases, being away from home for weeks. That’s just plain hard work. Of course we make enormous sums of money, but we’re living under an enormous pressure as well. Just like any other human being, I have these moments that I’m tired of it all. Then there are concerts where I feel I haven’t given myself completely and I blame myself for that. Then the others can talk all they want, but I can’t be convinced. At these times I’m so disappointed in myself that it makes me depressed. It always ends in terrible crying fits. At these moments I think: now it’s over, I won’t do it any longer.”
Anni-Frid: “The tours are the worst part, we’ve come to realize that again recently. Precisely on a tour like that, we have that pressure of the enormous responsibility. Because we’re ABBA, everything has to be perfect. It takes an enormous effort, mentally and physically. It’s easier to digest for men than it is for women. Just consider our periods on a tour like that. I think that’s the worst thing that can happen to me, because no matter what, I have to get up on stage, smiling and hip throwing. The pace that you’re living in is frightening. You’re completely charged and don’t get a chance to unwind. We hardly ever take the time for a quiet little drink afterwards. And in the back of your head you’re obviously concerned about what’s happening at home as well, the fear that something might happen to the children, no matter how well our houses are protected by alarm systems. Conclusion: after such a tour we’re completely exhausted and there are times when we say out loud: guys, shall we call it a day...?”
Hastily, she adds: “This doesn’t have anything to do with internal tensions. Of course, they occur, but they get solved very quickly as well. It’s much too time-consuming and costly for us to spend our time arguing. Perhaps we are just too professional for that, no matter what the press is writing about us.”

Disturbed internal relationships might eventually lead to the end. In advance, we had agreed with the twosome that we wouldn’t talk about the private matter of the failed marriage between Björn and Agnetha. But Graham Jackson, the group’s dance teacher, had told us beforehand: “Lately, Agnetha just isn’t doing that well, I don’t know if she will hang in there for much longer. Ever since the divorce, she doesn’t feel like it very much anymore. For a while, she has been very depressed. It’s taking me a lot of effort to get her self-confidence, that has taken a severe blow, back to the old level.”
When asked specifically about this, Anni-Frid seems much more optimistic: “Agnetha and I have been far too independent from a very young age to not be able to cope with difficult times. We also find a lot of support with each other. Of course, we’re both dependent of the people that we work with, but we would be able to manage as women on our own. Since her divorce, Agnetha lives alone with her children. Obviously, she doesn’t have to worry about a thing financially speaking. But that strong sense of responsibility that she has for us as a group, is playing a part in her private life as well. She is very strong, a true survivor. She will definitely not sit down in despair. As a matter of fact, that goes for all four of us, otherwise ABBA would have stopped existing a long time ago.”
When Agnetha hears these last words, she confesses: “I’ve always wanted to be a veterinarian. I’m crazy about animals. It’s now probably too late, although...?”

The ABBA-laboratory
The distinct ABBA-sound originates from Michael B. Tretow’s ‘laboratory of sound’. He explains: “It was in 1970. While tuning a twelve-chorded guitar, I came up with the idea to copy that heavy, full sound of such a guitar on an old piano. It offered a majestic sound. I made a couple of recordings and continued ‘over-dubbing’ the piano, until I had the sound of fifty pianos at the same time. With Benny and Björn, we started experimenting with other instruments. Even today, the two boys come into the studio alone to record the backing track. Very often, Agnetha and Anni-Frid enter the studio without having any clue what Björn and Benny have produced. That’s due to the fact that we go into the studio immediately to experiment, when they suddenly come up with an idea. When a song has been put together, the girls come in to record the vocals after listening to it a couple of times. It may seem disorderly for such a professional group, but it works perfectly.”

Hitkrant, June 1979: Honey, Honey album review

ABBA’s first album Ring Ring was finally made available in Holland in 1979, albeit with different artwork, title and running order. Also, I Saw It In The Mirror and the Swedish version of Ring Ring had been replaced with She’s My Kind Of Girl and Honey, Honey. The album even got a fairly good review in Dutch magazine Hitkrant, but unsurprisingly it failed to reach the Dutch charts. In the eighties, a CD-version of the album was available for a short period of time.
Like generally is known, this is actually ABBA’s primal album ‘Ring Ring’, re-released under the title ‘Honey, Honey’. For that matter, ‘Ring Ring’ is included here as well, just like ‘Honey, Honey’ itself and more of these old familiar songs that should prick up any ABBA-fan’s ears.
Therefore, a feast of recognition and a good opportunity to sit down and listen how the ABBA-sound has evolved through the years. That is to say, for the better: while this album is still showing a rather hesitant start of a world group, the comparison with (for instance) ‘Voulez-Vous’ is quite considerably in favour of the latter. Still, ‘Honey, Honey’ is an absolute must for the ABBA-fan. Finally!

Pop Foto, February 1983: Agnetha was being seduced by the producer of Dallas

An article from Dutch Pop Foto magazine about Agnetha’s activities outside the ABBA-frame: the Swedish movie Raskenstam in which she played a leading part and her soon to be released first international solo album. The ABBA-poster included here comes from the same magazine.
She’s very good at singing. There’s no doubt about that. But Agnetha wants more. Acting, for example. Therefore, she didn’t hesitate for a second when the producer of Dallas offered her a fantastic part.

There’s no harm in trying everything in life. And even though you have numerous hits credited to your name, and you are really world-famous, even then it’s never too late to try something completely different. ABBA’s Agnetha thinks exactly the same about that and accepted a part in a Swedish movie.
“In the beginning, it wasn’t particularly easy,” the blonde singer explains candidly. “To be good at acting, you have to be able to enter into your part. And coincidentally, the character that I’m playing isn’t like me at all. In the movie, I am Lisa, the sweet and innocent daughter of a poor fisherman. The story is set in the forties. In that time, a notorious womanizer was living in Sweden, named Raskenstam. This Casanova has seduced at least 120 women. Inconceivable, isn’t it?” Agnetha bursts into a laugh, before she continues. “Gunnar Hellström, a well-known Swedish director and actor, thought this story was so remarkable that he’d love to make a movie about it. Gunnar has become very famous as the producer of Dallas. He’s playing the part of Raskenstam himself and he is my co-actor. As one of the many women, I’m seduced by him as well. So there’s no lack of romantic scenes.” Agnetha winks naughtily.
“Because the entire movie is being made in the style of the forties, I’m dressed in a terribly outdated way! When I saw myself in the mirror, I couldn’t stop laughing for ten minutes. No, it doesn’t look good on me at all! But oh well, you get used to everything and in the end I didn’t even change my clothes anymore when I had to run an errand in between. It really was a magnificent experience,” she says enthusiastically. “I’m very curious whether the movie will be a success, and whether I will be a accepted as a movie star. But my fans won’t have to worry that I’ll say goodbye to music,” she continues reassuringly. “At the moment, I’m very busy with an album that will most probably be released this spring. Michael Chapman is producing the record. He is very good, because he recorded several hits with Smokie, The Sweet and Suzi Quatro. As you can see, I’m not resting on my laurels. And I’m definitely not planning to do that in the time coming. Michael sees me as a challenge. He wants to do his job equally well as Phil Collins, who produced Anni-Frid’s album so masterfully. So he won’t be lacking in dedication, and where I’m concerned, well, I’m not in the studio for the first time either. No, I am really very confident about it all. It’s going to be splendid!”

Hitkrant, January 1981: Ilona interviews ABBA

A report from Hitkrant magazine about a Dutch television special that was put together at the end of 1980. Staff-member of the Dutch fanclub, Ilona van Hilst, was invited to travel to Stockholm to interview Björn. The taping of the interview took place on December 19, 1980 at the Polar office and the special was broadcast on Dutch TV on Monday January 12, 1981.
It was quite a shock for staff member of the ABBA-fanclub Ilona van Hilst when she heard that she, together with an AVRO camera crew, director Theo Ordeman and someone from ABBA’s record company, could go to Stockholm for an interview with none other than Björn Ulvaeus. Last Monday, you have been able to watch that special about ABBA on AVRO television.
Ilona wrote us that her nerves were almost worn to shreds, but everything turned out fine in the end. Björn was extremely cooperative, told nothing about his marriage (more about that elsewhere in this magazine) but did tell about a possible solo career for Agnetha, ABBA’s move to France (now it’s France?) and more interesting stuff like that. An unforgettable experience for Ilona, especially when she met Agnetha as well, who asked her to give her regards to all ABBA-fans in Holland. So herewith.

Transcript of the interview

Hello! Happy new year, by the way.
Björn: “Thank you! The same to you.”
Well, first of all. I want to congratulate you with the new album. I think it’s fantastic! And, also I think it’s the best you’ve ever done. Do you think the same way like me?
Björn: “Exactly. I feel it’s the best one so far. But the next one is going to be even better.”
Do you think so?
Björn: “I hope so.”
You’ve called your album ‘Super Trouper’. Can you explain to me, what is a Super Trouper?
Björn: “A Super Trouper is one of the huge spotlights that we use on every tour. It’s very, very big and it can pick out from a long distance. It can, you know, pick out just a face. And, as you may have noticed on the sleeve, on the album sleeve there’s a spotlight coming from above. And so we called it ‘Super Trouper’.”
Could you tell me something about ‘The Piper’?
Björn: “’The Piper’, the inspiration for the lyric on ‘The Piper’ comes from a very good book that I read. It’s an American book, it’s called The Stand, by the same author as The Shining, which has been filmed. So, that’s where it comes from.”
Because I thought, you said: ‘he gave them a dream, he seduced everybody in the land, the fear was a weapon in his hand’, I thought of dictatorship.
Björn: “Yes, you’re right.”
And ‘Happy New Year’, what can you tell about that?
Björn: “It’s about people having negative thoughts. All people nowadays, especially at this moment, they think that the future is going to be very, very bad. So what we need now is to look at the future in a positive way. That’s exactly what we need and that’s what the song is about.”
The death of John Lennon, do you regard this as a great loss in pop history?
Björn: “Oh yes, and as a great personal loss as well because John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the two reasons that Benny and I started writing in the first place. In that time, ’63-’64, the groups didn’t write their own music. It was like there was this composer, this songwriter giving a song to the artist. And they changed the whole thing. Suddenly, groups like the one I was in and the one Benny was in, they felt that: why, let’s try and do the same thing. And that’s what we did. So it was a great loss for a lot of people. And what’s happened after John Lennon’s death, I mean so many people mourning and all that, shows what a big importance he had on the history of pop music.”
On the album, you’ve recorded a live version called ‘The Way Old Friends Do’. Why did you do that?
Björn: “As you may know, we had it as an ending of the show the last tour. And we thought it had such, you know, good atmosphere that it would be a perfect ending for the album as well. And the song is really about what we feel among the four of us.”
Frida is now studying the French language. Does she simply think it’s a nice language or are you planning to leave Sweden and settle in France?
Björn: “No, I think it’s because she likes the language so much. She has a couple of friends who speak French fluently and I guess they were an inspiration as well.”
Well, it is said that you want to go on tour in China. Is that true?
Björn: “That’s just a rumour. We never talked about it even.”
Are you going on tour again?
Björn: “This is something you never know. I mean, every, it seems like every two years we feel the urge to see the fans face to face again. And, well, it’s only been a year now since the last tour. If you come back in a year and ask me the same question I might say yes, but right now I don’t know.”
Then I come to the question, do you come to Holland soon?
Björn: “Same answer, I don’t know. But of course we feel Holland is actually one of the countries outside Sweden where ABBA first became popular. So we feel kind of related to Holland, it’s always been like a second home country to us.”
That’s nice.
Björn: “Well, it’s true. I think that Holland was among the first countries we went to do television outside Sweden as well. So, I hope that we’ll be able to come to Holland soon, at least for a vacation or just a couple of days.”

The following part was not included in the broadcast. After the taping, Ilona asked Björn if he had time to chat a little more. This part was printed in a Dutch fan magazine in 1981. While being at the Polar office, Ilona coincidentally ran into Agnetha as well (see the picture included here).
Björn, you know that I’m from the Dutch ABBA-fanclub. Do you have anything against fanclubs?
Björn: “Oh no! Absolutely not. I think they’re doing a great job and that’s why we want to cooperate as much as we can. But we always have the condition that they’re able to support themselves. So we can’t back them financially.”
As you know, in England there’s a monthly magazine, called ABBA Magazine. Now a Dutch translation has appeared in Holland. We’re a bit scared that it’s going to cost us some members; could you help us out a little more?
Björn: “You know what? Let’s make a deal that I will call you every now and then whenever there’s important news to be announced? You’ll have to contact Görel later on and explain the situation and tell her what I’ve just promised you. She will see to it that we will contact you every now and then.”
How kind that you’re willing to do that for us. You have a Swedish fanclub as well. Could you tell me a little more about that?
Björn: “Oh yes! Our fanclub is very big, because we admit fans from all over Scandinavia. Just don’t ask me how many members we have, because we’ve lost count. In the beginning, every new member received a number, but at a certain point it got out of hand. We have lots of merchandise for sale for the members. When you go downstairs later on, you should take a look at the things we’re selling. Maybe you could use some of it for your fanclub in Holland.”
Before I forget... would you be willing to write something down for the fans in Holland?
Björn: “Sure! Can I draw myself?”
Naturally, go ahead!
Björn: “I’m going to draw him really ugly.”
Oh yes, I can see that. How do I make our readers clear that you have drawn this yourself?
Björn: “Well, they’ll just have to take your word for it and by the way, no one can draw me like I do myself. I wish I’d be able to come to Holland for a vacation. I really love Holland. Apart from that, the people are very nice over there.”
Görel Hanser has informed me that Agnetha has recorded a Christmas album with Linda. How is that coming along?
Björn: “That’s right, they’ve recorded that album, but unfortunately something went wrong with pressing the records, therefore it couldn’t be in the shops before Christmas. That’s why Agnetha decided to wait until Christmas 1981.”
Did she compose the songs herself?
Björn: “Oh no. They are all Swedish Christmas songs. The album is also completely sung in Swedish and therefore it will only be released in Sweden: ‘Nu Tändas Tusen Juleljus’ which means something like: ‘Now we’re lighting a thousand candles’”.
We’ve already discussed a live album. I really don’t understand why you won’t release an album like that. I’m convinced that it will sell very well.
Björn: “That’s not the point for us. We always want to release a good product and apart from that, there will be a lot of people saying that such a live album isn’t necessary because most songs are already on other ABBA-albums.”
But why are you making music? You’re doing it to make people happy. And every ABBA-fan would be happy with a live album.
Björn: “That’s not the only reason, we’re also doing it because we enjoy it ourselves. We would want to include something new... it’s difficult to make a decision about that. But we might do it at some point in the future, however I can’t promise anything. Maybe we will wait until the next tour.”

Ilona asks Björn to sign one of the pictures taken of ABBA at the BMW factories in Munich on October 27, 1979.
Björn: “Hey, where was this? Oh yes, now I remember. We were in Germany for a performance and BMW had invited us to come and take a look at the BMW factories. So we did. Afterwards, they asked us if we were willing to pose next to one of their BMW models. That’s how this picture came to be. So it was not a matter of us flying to Germany specifically for this visit.”
How nervous I was during the interview! What is your attitude towards interviews?
Björn: “Well, I can’t say that I really take an explicit dislike to them. It just comes with this business. It all isn’t that bad, as long as you’re not being interviewed every day. So we don’t do that, we rarely do interviews. We make a selection, that’s the only thing we can do. If we would say yes to all the invitations we receive, we would be in front of the cameras every day. We can’t let ourselves get into that!”
Björn, I don’t want to keep you from your work any longer. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me. See you in Holland, I hope.
Björn: “I hope so too. And thank you as well. Will you give our regards to our fans in Holland?”

Hitkrant, 1983: Wrap Your Arms Around Me album review

Agnetha’s first English-language solo album Wrap Your Arms Around Me reviewed in Dutch magazine Hitkrant. Included here is a promotional postcard from 1983.
Agnetha Fältskog/’Wrap Your Arms Around Me’/Polydor 813 242-1
The blonde ABBA-singer really let herself go completely on her first English-language solo album: free from ABBA, musically as well, although the closing track on its B-side, “Stand By My Side”, comes close.
Furthermore, very diverse music, obviously because of all those different songwriters.
Mike Chapman produced the album very accurately, although he did use his complete studio trickery, which resulted in a perfectly produced and executed album, with “Once Burned, Twice Shy”, “Can’t Shake Loose” and “Take Good Care Of Your Children” as my favourites.

Hitkrant, November 1983: Financial miscalculation was threatening ABBA

An article from Dutch magazine Hitkrant about ABBA’s financial mishap in 1983. The article gives the impression that Stig was still very much in control of ABBA’s activities. There's even talk of a new ABBA-album to be recorded out of the leftovers from the Chess sessions. In reality, the four members were going their own way. The poster included here comes from a 1981 Hitkrant magazine.
Is ABBA broke? Have the wrong financial investments that the newspapers couldn’t stop writing about the past few weeks sealed the group’s fate? There’s someone who has the answer to these questions and recently that someone stopped over in Holland for reasons unknown: the ‘father of ABBA’, super-manager Stig Anderson. We had an exclusive interview with him, in which Stig revealed what’s going on with ABBA. Indeed, gigantic financial setbacks, but for the time being Agnetha, Frida, Björn and Benny are still making a very decent living.

Let’s take a moment to explain how the gigantic ABBA-enterprise is set up: the company that manages the finances and works with the capital by buying shares and investing money in all sorts of projects is called Polar Music Invest. That company has three subsidiaries: Badhus, that deals in real estate, Infina, that engages in the territory of stocks and bonds and Kuben, that has the manufacturing of bicycles by subsidiary Monark as its main activity. And Kuben fell flat.

The bicycles weren’t sufficient and last year Kuben started to get more and more in debt by speculating on the oil market with borrowed money. As it turned out, it has brought Kuben on the verge of bankruptcy; the trading company Aritmos is willing to cover for the loss of 40 million Dutch guilders, but then they will have to get control over the company as well.
ABBA has 53 percent of the shares and will have to sell due to this oil fiasco. “Indeed, it has cost us a lot of money,” Stig Anderson explains, “but not to the point that we would go bankrupt. However, it’s true that at a certain point we didn’t know anymore what to do with all those millions pouring in from record sales and publishing rights; just for fun we started investing in all kinds of things. Soon, Frida and Agnetha weren’t very interested in that anymore, they didn’t understand it that well either. That’s when they sold their shares, which left Benny, Björn and me with 24 percent of the Kuben shares. Well, they are now worth about half as much.”

ABBA’s capital is estimated at 200 million Dutch guilders and that gigantic amount is caught up in all kinds of businesses. “We own supermarkets, financing companies, recording studios and several music publishing companies. Polar Music Invest is now completely separated from Polar Music International and in that last company it’s all about music. If ABBA would break up today, millions would still be pouring in from the publishing rights for the next fifty years,” Stig Anderson states.
But Aritmos is now willing to make up for Kuben’s loss, but in return they want to get hold of shares in Polar Music: ABBA would have to give up 21 percent of Polar Music. And it remains to be seen if it will all work out: there are so many different interests involved that it seems like an indissoluble knot.

“But ABBA is definitely not dead,” Stig says. “We couldn’t go on for a while; last year I had to take precautions to keep the group together. Benny and Björn finally wanted to write a musical; that would take them two years and I have given them that time. Meanwhile, I’ve put Frida and Agnetha on their solo projects and as you know: with success. Agnetha is going to do a promotional tour around the world and next month Frida will get into the studio again with Phil Collins for her next solo album.”
“Benny and Björn are almost finished with the musical and there are a lot of songs left, that could be extremely well-suited for ABBA; an album will be compiled from those songs. So there’s definitely more ABBA-music to be heard! The musical will have its premiere at Broadway, but ABBA will not appear in it, because a successful musical is on stage for ten years and do you see ABBA performing on Broadway for ten years?”
So there are major financial setbacks, but still enough plans. And as long as Benny, Björn, Agnetha and Frida occupy themselves with their music, it all seems to be serene!

Hitkrant, October 1984: “Tim Rice saved us from unemployment”

This article appeared in Dutch magazine Hitkrant in October 1984, shortly before the Chess album was released. Later that month the musical would be introduced through five live concerts in big European cities, starting in London on October 27.
“The future of ABBA is indeed very unsure,” Benny Andersson confesses. “One thing is indisputable though: nothing and no one can separate me from Björn. Especially since we’ve found the ideal lyricist for a genuine rock-musical.” The male half of ABBA reveals its big plans.

Just like Frida, Björn and Benny are hesitant to speak their minds about ABBA’s future as well. “Nothing is certain,” the bearded pianist smiles. “I think all four of us would love to work together again, but it’s practically an impossible task to get the four of us together in the studio at the same time in the near future. We are all extremely busy with our own projects. For the time being, there are no ABBA-recordings or concerts planned until the end of 1985, but the fact that Agnetha has started her own production company doesn’t mean that the group is now permanently a thing of the past.”
It’s clear why we haven’t heard anything from the Swedish foursome for more than two years already.
“When we had just completed the recordings for the “Visitors” album, we met Tim Rice rather by coincidence,” Björn explains. “His Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita have always been our favourite musicals, together with West Side Story. That’s why we felt extremely flattered when he suggested that we’d compose the music for his brand new project. On top of that, we were a little tired of the ABBA-formula. You might say that Tim has saved us from unemployment.”
Tim, Björn and Benny worked on Chess for two years without interruption. “The musical is the story about a couple of chess players,” Tim Rice explains. “Except for being an entrenched cricket fanatic, I’m a passionate chess player as well. I’m a very mediocre player myself, but when the American Fischer and the Russian Spasski clashed with each other for the world championship in 1972, I came under the spell of that game in such a way that I decided then and there that at some point in the future I would write a musical with a sportsmanlike East-West confrontation as its subject.”

Chess has become an extremely expensive project. “The recording alone has cost about 400.000 dollars,” Benny says, “and we don’t even dare to think about what it will cost to let the stage play travel around the world in one year’s time. That’s why we’re very happy that the Swedish automobile giant Saab has come to our aid to finance the try-outs that will take place in five big European cities at the end of this month. Chess was tied to the promotional campaign regarding the latest Saab automobile. I can assure you that there wouldn’t have been any talk of a collaboration if a new combat plane had been on the stocks.”
The musical is yet another example of Björn and Benny’s craftsmanship. “We complement each other perfectly,” Björn says. “Benny is the dreamer, the creative spirit who is occupied with his music continuously. I’m far more down to earth. Still, I want to get rid of that ‘clever businessman’ reputation. With the lyrics of most ABBA-songs I think I have proved that I’m a true artist as well. Benny and I still get along extremely well and with Chess we hope we can prove that we have more to offer than nice three-minute pop songs. I think we will succeed at that with performers such as Elaine Paige, Murray Head and the well-known English top actor Dennis Quilley. Obviously it’s unsure whether Chess will be just as successful as the ABBA-records, but Benny and I won’t lose a night’s sleep over that.”