ABBA Info, July 1985: Agnetha’s record talk

During Agnetha’s visit to Belgium, the Dutch Associaton of Record Retailers had an interview with her about the retail business and the records.

“It’s pretty obvious why things went wrong with the four of us,” Agnetha says. “You know, for years we were together twenty four hours a day, we worked like madmen and during our two month long holiday, we retreated to one of Sweden’s islands where we owned a grandiose mansion. The boys worked on new songs there and rehearsed them with us.”
At the question which music she prefers, she replies: “There is so much. I love big bands like Quincy Jones, Nelson Riddle and so on. Then I admire Frank Sinatra’s timing, Andy Williams’ voice, Sammy Davis jr.’s performance. I also started to like more pop music, like Michael Jackson, Prince and Dire Straits. It’s all good. In Europe, my fellow-countryman Svend Amussen is still one of my favourites. I just loved to listen to him when I was a little girl. I think James Last, whom I got to know pretty well, is a wonderful man. And his orchestra consists of excellent musicians and I think the arrangements and the performances are very good.”
When we ask Agnetha about her private life, she says that all the magazines are already writing and gossiping about that. “Ask it my mother,” was her evasive answer.
About the record retail industry: “I know that you are writing for a trade journal, so you won’t hear anything negative from me. No, but if you really want to know. We had a wonderful success with ‘Waterloo’. They had problems pressing sufficient records. The retailers couldn’t wait to get their hands on them. The releases after that we’re received wonderfully as well. We could only be more than satisfied, both with our record company Polydor as well as with the retailers. I do know that retailers gave us a lot of confidence, even before the record was released. They placed large advance orders before they had even heard anything. That gave all four of us an enormous satisfaction, it’s just as good as getting applause. Even now that Frida and I are making solo records, the retailers are still behind us and that’s important. The retail industry is the concluding piece to the consumers. You can bet that I realise that very well. Give my best to everyone in Holland. In conclusion I want to say this: Holland as a whole has always been great for us and I really mean that from the bottom from my heart.”