ABBA, the voices behind the soundtrack of Mamma Mia, has a rich and creative history. In June of 1966, Björn Ulvaeus met future bandmate, Benny Andersson. Both men had had previous experience in the Swedish music industry. After a couple of weeks, the two had composed a song together and began a career that would set records worldwide. It was in spring of 1969 that ABBA gained two more members and became the band that it is known as today. Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, both solo singers, became acquainted with Ulvaeus and Andersson and decided to join the band. Ulvaeus and Fältskog married in July 1971, and in October 1978, Andersson and Lyngstad married, as well.
On April 6, 1974, ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with their hit song, "Waterloo." It was during this time that they decided on the name "ABBA," an acronym of all of the band members' first names. After gaining fame throughout Europe and making a name for themselves in America, ABBA produced its second world-famous song, "SOS." By 1976, ABBA had become a household name around the world and went on to create some of the most well-known songs of all time.
The creative process is one in which the recording studio was viewed as a laboratory. The process began with Benny and Björn collaborating with an acoustic guitar and a piano in an effort to write the songs. This first step in the process was often extensive, as hundreds of lines of melody were created and discarded. After the melodies were set, the songs would enter the studio for lyrics to be created and combined with. Something notable about the working (unfinished) lyrics and titles of the songs is the fact that most of the songs were firstly titled with a phrase from the lyrics. One example of this is the song, "The Winner Takes It All," which was previously titled, "The Story Of My Life."
During the recoding process, an instrumental backing track would be paired with the lyrics and melody to create the song. At this point, it was possible for a song to become a waltz, disco, tango, or rocker. In order to maintain a neutral stance, Ulvaeus would separate himself from the other bandmates and take on the role of a producer. The final lyrics for the songs would only be solidified once the instrumental backing was selected and completed. ABBA noted that the most important part of the groups' sound were the voices of Fältskog and Lyngstad. Both women were very active in the recording process and chose how they thought they could best contribute to the sound of the songs.
Sources:
https://abbasite.com/story/
https://abbasite.com/articles/in-focus-in-the-studio-how-the-abba-songs-were-born/
The first note I want to make is I am surprised that there is no mention of Dancing Queen!!! That song is a classic so I was surprised it wasn't mentioned. Other than that discrepancy, I never realized that they viewed the studio like a laboratory. I also enjoyed learning about how they create the melody and the instrumental background before they created the lyrics.
ReplyDeleteI love the band ABBA and I use to listen to their music all the time back in high school. I think that its amazing seeing how relevant and predominate their music is today, when its been around for so long. Also it was very interesting hearing about how their music came to be in the studio!
ReplyDeleteI love ABBA so much! I think that their sound is very unique and I love how much it varies across their different songs and albums. It was very interesting to learn about their recording process. The way they all take on their own roles I think is very beneficial to their process. Also having worked together for so long and being two sets of married couples would foster an environment where they are able to bounce ideas off of each other without judgment. I think they all perfectly balance each other out.
ReplyDeleteABBA has so many iconic songs, and I think a big part of why they are so well known is that their songs have very catchy melodies. It makes a lot of sense that they've developed so many melodies, most of which were never released. To me, the band feels very carefree, so to read that they view the studio as a laboratory was surprising. Great article!
ReplyDeleteI have been listening to ABBA since I was a little girl, and Mamma Mia was one of my favorite movies growing up. It is interesting to see how the band used the geneplore model to write their songs, when they wrote their melodies they employed divergent thinking, and then were able to whittle them down to the melodies they used in one of their many famous songs. Thank you for the post.
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