Bjorn: Expect less extravagant shows in post-coronavirus world

 

 # News - Bjorn

English - Spanish

AUGUST 19, 2020

Expect less extravagant shows in post-coronavirus world, ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus says

Hanna Rantala

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Extravagant musical productions such as “Mamma Mia!” will need to be scaled down when they go again after the coronavirus lockdowns end, ABBA star and Swedish pop impresario Bjorn Ulvaeus says.

The 75-year old, who co-penned hits like “Waterloo” and “Dancing Queen” for ABBA with fellow member Benny Andersson and the band’s manager Stig Anderson, has spent a lot of his time watching movies and listening to books during the pandemic, which has shut theatres and cinemas across the world. He has also found a new love in kayaking.

But Ulvaeus is also working on ways to improve social distancing at theatres so that “Mamma Mia!” and “Mamma Mia! The Party” can open again soon.

“We’ve kept the cast staff and everyone on furlough,” he told Reuters in a Zoom interview from his island retreat in the Baltic off Stockholm.

“And we look forward to maybe opening in January, February, if we’re lucky. And meanwhile, we’re trying to create a social distancing environment in those places as much as we can.”

The pandemic lockdown has been a tough time for musicians and artists globally, and Ulvaeus said productions would look different when theatres finally open up again.

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“The big, big, luxurious musical productions are so expensive to run, so expensive to create and to produce that you need at least 80, 85 percent capacity,” he said.

“So if you’re down to, say, 60 or 50, that means that the productions have to be smaller.”

Ulvaeus is involved in all the “Mamma Mia!” productions in London, which include the original musical and “Mamma Mia! The Party”, and is trying to get a “Party” to open in Gothenburg, Sweden before the end of the year.

He also has a hand in the Super Trouper exhibition in London and the ABBA Museum in Stockholm.

Ulvaeus said his own schedule would also look different in future, with less travel and with more meetings that have to be held face-to-face taking place in Stockholm.

“Since I’m at the age when corona is especially dangerous, I will have people fly to me in Stockholm instead of vice-versa,” he said.

Reporting by Hanna Rantala; Editing by Angus MacSwan

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

https://uk.reuters.com

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Espectáculos serán menos extravagantes en mundo post-coronavirus; Bjorn Ulvaeus de ABBA

Por Hanna Rantala

19 de Agosto de 2020

ESTOCOLMO, 19 ago (Reuters) - Producciones musicales extravagantes como "Mamma Mia!" deberán ser simplificados cuando vuelvan a a los escenarios tras el levantamiento de los cierres por coronavirus, dijo la estrella de ABBA y empresario del pop Bjorn Ulvaeus.

El cantante sueco de 75 años, que coescribió éxitos como "Waterloo" y "Dancing Queen" para ABBA con su compañero de banda Benny Andersson y el manager Stig Anderson, ha pasado mucho tiempo viendo películas y escuchando libros durante la pandemia, que provocó el cierre de cines y teatros en todo el mundo. También encontró un nuevo amor en el kayak.

Pero Ulvaeus además está trabajando en formas de mejorar el distanciamiento social en los teatros para que "Mamma Mia!"y "Mamma Mia! The Party" puedan volver pronto.

"Hemos mantenido al elenco y al personal en licencia", contó a Reuters en una entrevista por Zoom desde su retiro en una isla del Báltico frente a Estocolmo.

"Esperamos volver tal vez en enero, febrero, si tenemos suerte. Y, mientras tanto, estamos tratando de crear un ambiente con distanciamiento social en esos lugares tanto como podamos", agregó.

La cuarentena por la pandemia ha sido dura para los músicos y artistas en todo el mundo y Ulvaeus afirma que las producciones se verán diferentes cuando los teatros finalmente puedan abrir.

"Las producciones musicales grandes son tan caras de ejecutar, tan caras de crear y de producir que necesitas al menos un 80, 85% de capacidad", explicó. "Así que si tienes menos de, digamos, 60 o 50, eso significa que las producciones deben ser más pequeñas".

Ulvaeus está involucrado en todas las producciones de "Mamma Mia!" en Londres, que incluyen el musical original y "Mamma Mia! The Party", y está tratando de estrenar una función de "Party" en Gotemburgo, Suecia, antes de fin de año.

También participa en la exhibición Super Trouper en Londres y en el Museo ABBA en Estocolmo.

(Reporte de Hanna Rantala; Editado en español por Lucila Sigal)

Faces of Europe

 

These faces, these stories, what a day! ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus, TV news presenter Anna Lindmarker, 96-year-old Walter Frankenstein, who survived the Holocaust in Berlin - These and many other fascinating people with the most varied of life stories appeared in front of the camera of photo artist Carsten Sander for the art project “Faces of Europe”. On his trip through the 27 EU member states, Carsten Sander visited us in Stockholm on Sunday and stopped his mobile photo studio in front of the Nordic Museum on Djurgården. On the occasion of the German EU Council Presidency, “Faces of Europe”, by means of 1000 portraits, aims to document European diversity and support integration and humanity. We are looking forward to seeing the result. Many thanks to everyone involved and the many Swedish faces of Europe

https://www.facebook.com/tyskaambassadenstockholm

Björn Ulvaeus opens the 2020 PRSAGM

►PRS member and President of cisacnews
Björn Ulvaeus opens the 2020 PRSAGM.
Ø
· 18 de agosto

# News
The PRS AGM was opened by legendary songwriter, PRS for Music member and recently appointed President of CISAC, Björn Ulvaeus, with a special keynote speech.

"The timing is perfect for PRS to take the decision to become more efficient, flexible and quicker on its feet, which I'm certain the new governance plan will achieve. Congratulations Andrea and the people you've worked with for doing a great job".

Björn Ulvaeus, songwriter and PRS for Music member

video: https://www.facebook.com/abbaregistro/videos/668247587115867
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Historic governance changes approved at PRS AGM 2020
First proposed major governance changes for PRS in 20 years approved by members at the virtual PRS Annual General Meeting

PRS logo on marque page
In a landmark moment for the Performing Right Society (PRS), the most significant governance changes for the organisation in 20 years were approved by members at the PRS 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday 18 August.

With over 1,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members engaged either on the day, or through the voting process, this year’s AGM set a record for the highest participation in PRS AGM history. Held virtually due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, it was also the first AGM to be led by Andrea C. Martin since joining the organisation as CEO in 2019, a year that saw record results achieved.

The product of an extensive review by independent experts based on best practice in company governance, the newly approved governance changes include:

PRS Board becoming a smaller ‘Members' Council’ with fewer Directors and focused on member engagement
Appointment of a new Writer President
A new electoral college system for Director appointments
Maximum terms of service for Board Directors
Streamlined decision-making through refocused committee reporting structures to give greater time to focus on strategic issues
The PRS for Music Executive Board, will become simply, the Board, with a renewed focus on strategic delivery and commercial operation, empowering PRS’ Executive Leadership Team to manage the business with full accountability to the Board.

Early on, I recognised that to create a new PRS, a new governance structure would be required. Change is never an easy thing to embrace but standing still in a world of now 19 trillion performances, and growing, across multi-territories and with fragmented rights is not an option. The new governance will make PRS more flexible, more fleet-of-foot in our decision-making process and more cost-effective. On behalf of everyone at PRS, we are excited by the challenges ahead and motivated by change.

Andrea C. Martin, CEO, PRS for Music
I am incredibly pleased to see that our proposed governance changes have been approved. These historic changes will allow us to deliver more engagement, efficiency and transparency for our members. Furthermore, we anticipate the approved changes will lead to more opportunities for members to join the Board and by association we hope for greater diversity on the Board in the future.

Nigel Elderton, Chairman, PRS for Music
It is hoped that a key outcome of the new governance structure is better engagement for candidacy which will lead to improved diversity on the Board.

Any reflection on the year to date must include Black Lives Matter, and the long overdue global debate about social inequality and injustice.

I am completely committed to positive change within PRS and the whole music industry, but first and foremost we must educate ourselves. Personally, I know I have learned a lot in the last few weeks in my discussions with employees. We will accelerate measures to ensure diversity of our membership is reflected in the make-up of the management and Board. We have already started to take action.

Andrea C. Martin, CEO, PRS for Music


In her first keynote speech as PRS for Music CEO, Andrea C. Martin spoke of company-wide initiatives created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic including the PRS Emergency Relief Fund and PRS Presents LCKDWN, a re-invigorated corporate culture and greater focus around key strategic goals, the positive progress of joint ventures PPL PRS and ICE, PRS for Music’s place within the UK music landscape and the crucial need of the new governance structure, and continued evolution to better support its members.

Further speeches were delivered by Chairman Nigel Elderton, who set out the importance of new governance, the difficulties of the last six months and how the wider music industry can recover. Chief Financial Officer, Steve Powell, provided a financial overview of PRS for Music’s record 2019, in revenues and distributions, alongside the estimated impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The PRS AGM was opened by legendary songwriter, PRS for Music member and recently appointed President of CISAC, Björn Ulvaeus, with a special keynote speech.

The timing is perfect for PRS to take the decision to become more efficient, flexible and quicker on its feet, which I'm certain the new governance plan will achieve. Congratulations Andrea and the people you've worked with for doing a great job.

Björn Ulvaeus, songwriter and PRS for Music member
About PRS for Music
PRS for Music represents the rights of songwriters, composers and music publishers in the UK and around the world. As a membership organisation it works to ensure that creators are paid whenever their musical compositions and songs are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed and played in public. In 2019, 18.8 trillion performances of music were reported to PRS for Music with £810.8m collected on behalf of its members, making it one of the world’s leading music collective management organisations.

PRS for Music’s public performance licensing is carried out on PRS for Music’s behalf by PPL PRS Ltd, the joint venture between PPL and PRS for Music.
prsformusic.com

Flashback 1982: Abba CD Is World’s First

Aug 18, 2020

# Notes
Flashback 1982: Abba CD Is World’s First
Hace 38 años se lanzó el primer Compact Disk (CD)
Fue el 17 de agosto (1982) cuando Royal Philips Electronics fabrica el primer disco compacto (CD) de la historia

Lunes, Agosto 17, 2020 | Foto / YouTube / ABC Science
A lo largo de la historia hemos visto cómo el mundo se ha ido transformando y los inventos que han revolucionado la música, como lo fue el CD.
Fue el 17 de agosto (1982) cuando Royal Philips Electronics fabrica el primer disco compacto (CD) de la historia.
El primer CD fabricado en la planta de Philips fue "The Visitors" de ABBA y fue lanzado en noviembre de 1982.
Fue en la fábrica de Philips donde se fabricó el primer CD del mundo, la cual se encontraba en Langenhagen, a las afueras de Hannover, Alemania y pertenecía a Polygram (la compañía de grabación, que Philips poseía en ese momento).
En ese momento, se introdujeron los CD´s en el mercado en noviembre de 1982, con un catálogo de 150 títulos aproximadamente.
Los primeros CDs y reproductor de CD (incluyendo CD100 Philips) se lanzan en Japón en noviembre, seguido de una introducción en el mercado de Estados Unidos y Europa en marzo de 1983.
Y el éxito del producto fue innegable, ya que Philips junto a Sony fabricaron más de 200 mil millones de CDs en los siguientes 25 años.
La calidad del CD marcó el inicio de la transición de la tecnología analógica a la música digital, además se convirtió en un catalizador para la innovación en el entretenimiento digital, ayudando a preparar el terreno para el lanzamiento del DVD y la introducción actual de medios ópticos Blu-ray.

https://www.e-consulta.com/…/hace-38-anos-se-lanzo-el-prime…
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Flashback 1982: Abba CD Is World’s First
SV Staff | Aug 18, 2016
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Say what you will about Abba but the ‘70s pop band is able to lay claim a small but significant piece of tech history. The Swedish group’s final studio album The Visitors was the world’s first commercially produced CD when it rolled off the production line 34 years ago this week at the Philips/Polygram-owned CD manufacturing plant in Langenhagen, Germany.
The disc was one of 50 discs produced in October 1982 to support the launch of the Compact Disc, the original digital music format from Sony and Philips that would go on to replace the vinyl LP (which is currently enjoying a nice resurgence). By the time the CD went on sale in Japan in November of that year, about 150 titles—mostly classical—had been produced. The format was introduced in the U.S. and Europe in March of 1983.

https://www.soundandvision.com/…/flashback-1982-abba-cd-wor…’s-first
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Manufactured By – Polygram, Hanover, West Germany
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Polar Music International AB
Copyright (c) – Polar Music International AB
Recorded At – Polar Studios
Mixed At – Polar Studios
Notas
The first Abba CDs ever produced were never designed for public consumption. Indeed, they predate the release of the first CDs to the general public. The story of Abba on CD began in the technical laboratories of PolyGram in West Germany.

In the run-up to the official launch of the CD format in March 1983, PolyGram produced a number of different prototype discs of differing musical genres to test their manufacturing processes and eventually promote the new format among the press.

The chosen pop CD prototype was The Visitors, seemingly chosen because it had been mostly digitally recorded and it was the then latest record by PolyGram’s best-selling European artist, Abba.

In all, there were three different prototypes of The Visitors produced, each with different characteristics. Only one of these versions is known to be playable – the other two only appear to have been preserved encased in plastic in commemorative pieces presented to PolyGram staff to celebrate the launch of the new format.

All three versions have identical disc faces, which feature a different textual layout to the publicly released version. The most notable of these is that the catalogue number is printed as 8000 112 on the prototypes but appears as 800 011-2 on the released version.

ABBA - The Visitors (Prototype 1)
The first version can be identified from its data side, which features no matrix number etched on the inner hub and strange grooves throughout the disc unlike any subsequent CDs. It is highly unlikely to have been playable.

ABBA - The Visitors (Prototype 2)
The second version may have been playable but it is doubtful whether it played The Visitors. The data side’s matrix number is 400 029-2, which corresponds with the early classical release, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra’s version of Tchaikovsky’s Symphonie Nr. 6. As a result, it seems likely that this ‘dummy’ version was produced for marketing purposes.

ABBA - The Visitors (Prototype 3)
The third version was definitely playable and was sent out to the press with pre-production CD players for review purposes. Among these reviewers were Bjorn, Benny and Abba’s manager Stig Anderson, who were presented with copies (and a CD player) by PolyGram in August 1982. While the third version was essentially the finished product, it wasn’t the one that made it into the shops in 1983.

ABBA - The Visitors (Commercial Release)
For a start, the text print on the CD had been changed to exclude track running times so that there was more space for producing and publishing credits. The digits in the title’s catalogue number had also been reshuffled to follow the familiar pattern adopted by all PolyGram CD releases until the late 1990s.

In addition, it is possible that the actual mastering on the disc was also changed – early reviewers of the disc had observed that tape hiss was audible during the segue between Slipping Through My Fingers, which was recorded on analogue equipment, and Like An Angel Passing Through My Room, which had been recorded digitally. This hiss isn’t evident on the commercially released version of the album.

https://www.discogs.com/ABBA-The-Visitors/release/8771945

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On 17 August 1982, Royal Philips Electronics manufactured the worlds first compact disc at a Philips factory in Langenhagen, just outside of Hanover, Germany.

The invention of the CD brought in a technological revolution in the music industry as CDs marked the beginning of the shift from analog to digital music technology. The CD became a catalyst for further innovation in digital entertainment, helping pave the way for the launch of DVD and subsequent digital media.

The Philips factory in Germany, where the worlds first CD was pressed, belonged to Polygram the recording company owned by Philips at the time. The first CD to be manufactured at the plant was The Visitors by ABBA. By the time CDs were introduced on the market in November 1982, a catalog of around 150 titles mainly classical music had been produced. The first CDs and CD players including Philips CD100 were introduced in Japan in November, followed by a US and European market introduction in March of 1983.

Philips and Sony partnered to develop the CD. As early as 1979, Philips and Sony set up a joint task force of engineers to design the new digital audio disc. Many decisions were made in the year to follow, such as the disc diameter. The original target storage capacity for a CD was one hour of audio content, and a disc diameter of 115 mm was sufficient for this. However, both parties extended the capacity to 74 minutes to accommodate a complete performance of Beethovens 9th Symphony.

In June 1980, the new standard was proposed by Philips and Sony as the Red Book,containing all the technical specification for all CD and CD-Rom standards.

Piet Kramer, who at the time was a member of the optical group at Philips that made a significant contribution to the CD technology, commented on Philips and Sonys collaborative work: When Philips teamed up with Sony to develop the CD, our first target was to win over the world for the CD. We did this by collaborating openly to agree on a new standard. For Philips, this open innovation was a new approach and it paid off. In the late 70s and early 80s, we never imagined that one day the computing and entertainment industries would also opt for the digital CD for storing the growing volume of data for computer programs and movies.

As music industry sales of CDs started to take off in 1983, more than 1,000 different titles were on the market. In 1985, one of the most famous bands in the world, Dire Straits, adopted the CD. The infamous album Brothers in Arms,one of the first fully-digital recordings (DDD) to be brought to market, went on to become the top selling CD at the time and the third greatest selling CD of the decade. The joint collaboration with Philips entailed Philips and Dire Straits jointly promoting the sound quality of the CD to consumers. Brothers in Arms became the first album to sell more than one million copies in this new format, marking the success of the CD as the emerging format of choice for music quality.

The Compact Disc, is the forefather of todays extensive family of optical discs for a wide range of applications such as CD-Rom, CD-R and CD-RW, DVD, DVD R, DVD RW and beyond. Philips estimates that during the past 25 years, since the first CD was pressed at the Philips factory near Hanover, Germany, more than 200 billion CDs have been sold worldwide.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=7304

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https://www.facebook.com/abbaregistro/posts/1221830868165395

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Can Nine please remaster ABBA special next?

Today I found this article from .July 25th, 2020, Here the journalist wrote about the documentary The Best of ABBA.. . "Filmed at TCNN9 as a Bandstand special and introduced by Daryl Somers, this drew higher ratings than the 1969 moon landing".
And in the midle of the note... You can read: ABBA have just confirmed they will release 5 new songs in 2021 (Nine has rights to upcoming TV special) plus an ABBA-tar hologram tour....
It is the second time that I read about these agreements

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Can Nine please remaster ABBA special next?
July 25th, 2020 By David Knox
News, Video,

After a recent Beatles remastered concert, I’m going to suggest Nine dig into its vaults for the 1976 special The Best of ABBA.

Filmed at TCNN9 as a Bandstand special and introduced by Daryl Somers, this drew higher ratings than the 1969 moon landing.
Produced at the time by Grundy, it also featured an appearance by country singer Lucky Starr. It was repackaged as ABBA in Australia with a barbecue and cruise on the Hawkesbury River, a visit to Taronga Zoo and throwing boomerangs (to Bang-a-Boomerang of course).
ABBA have just confirmed they will release 5 new songs in 2021 (Nine has rights to upcoming TV special) plus an ABBA-tar hologram tour.Introduction to the show by host Daryl Somers
Mamma Mia
Introduction by Björn; Frida, Agnetha and Benny introduce themselves
Hasta Mañana
Ring Ring
Introduction by Frida
Tropical Loveland
Introduction by Agnetha
Waterloo
I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do
Introduction by Agnetha and Frida
Rock Me
song by guest Lucky Starr
Interview with Lucky Starr, Björn and Benny
song by Lucky Starr
Honey, Honey
Introduction by Frida
Fernando
So Long
Introduction by Benny
SOS
So Long
closing credits, medley of clips from special: Mamma Mia; Ring Ring; Waterloo; I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do; Honey, Honey; Rock Me; Fernando; SOS

https://tvtonight.com.au

Björn talked about the agreement between WIPO and MRAF to Collaborate in Favor of Creators

Björn talked about the agreement between WIPO and MRAF to Collaborate in Favor of Creators -






WIPO and Music Rights Awareness Foundation to Collaborate in Favor of Creators
Geneva/Orebro, August 10, 2020

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Music Rights Awareness Foundation (MRAF) have joined forces to support creators around the world in ensuring they are recognized and fairly remunerated for their work by increasing knowledge and awareness of their intellectual property (IP) rights.

Video: Mr. Gurry and Mr. Ulvaeus highlight the significance of the new agreement.
An agreement signed by WIPO Director General Francis Gurry and MRAF Co-Founders Björn Ulvaeus, Niclas Molinder and Max Martin, establishes a Consortium that will initiate activities to raise awareness of IP rights for creators around the world. The Charter PDF, Charter of WIPO for Creators for the WIPO for Creators consortium sets the conditions of participation by interested parties, which is open to both members and sponsors from the public or private sectors.

“This agreement is of critical importance to creators as it unites the expertise of two organizations with very specific mandates in helping creators the world over to monetize their creations,” Mr. Gurry said. “The current COVID-19 crisis has reinforced the importance of the creative industries in society and the need to ensure that creators are justly remunerated for their work – this can only happen through an effective copyright system that provides both the incentives and the rewards for the creative process in an increasingly global and interconnected digital content marketplace.”

ABBA star Björn Ulvaeus welcomed the agreement with WIPO noting “I am grateful and proud that WIPO is supporting this endeavor and that we will work together to raise awareness and increase knowledge of intellectual property rights for creators worldwide through education and support programs. We are delighted that under our partnership with WIPO, we now have a forum for realizing this vision together with all interested and willing partners from the public and private sector.”

Songwriter and producer Niclas Molinder who is also Chair of the MRAF welcomed the collaboration with WIPO and the public-private sector partnership in the form of a consortium, noting “This new collaboration is an important step forward in improving the situation of creators. The purpose of "WIPO for Creators” is to educate and raise awareness about fundamental IP rights so that creators the world over can be properly compensated and credited when their work is used. I am really looking forward to working with WIPO on achieving this common goal.”

This initiative is particularly significant as the creative content marketplace has become increasingly complex and data-driven. It therefore becomes more important for creators to understand the crucial role of data management in order to effectively exercise their intellectual property rights.
www.wipo.int/pressroom


https://www.facebook.com/abbaregistro/posts/1215851815429967

The classic Sex Pistols song inspired by ABBA’s pop smash ‘SOS’

 Notes- articles

Jack Whatley·August 7, 2020

The classic Sex Pistols song inspired by ABBA’s pop smash ‘SOS’

t may seem a bit odd to hear the two bands ABBA and the Sex Pistols in the same breath but their connection is stronger than you think. Original bassist, and one-time principal songwriter of the Pistols, Glen Matlock, was a huge fan of the pop royalty.

He was such a fan, in fact, that he lifted a bass line straight from one of ABBA’s most recognisable songs, ‘SOS’ and placed it in one of the Sex Pistols ultimate punk anthems. It’s a little known fact that may make your punk friend want to pull out his safety pins.

‘Pretty Vacant’ may well be one of punk’s finest anthems but the song’s classic riff is taken straight from ABBA’s chest of pop smashes. Matlock is said to have been a fan of the band from Sweden who, at the time, were one of the biggest pop artists around, churning out chart-topping hits and generally operating as the antithesis of punk—before punk was even punk.

Revisiting the song’s origination with Rolling Stone, Matlock reflected on how the track came about and while it was inspired by the ABBA riff, the song’s original conception was influenced by the States. “Malcolm McLaren had been going back and forth to the States to be involved in the rag trade and buy old Fifties clothes because he had a Teddy Boy shop, and I knew he ran into Sylvain Sylvain from the New York Dolls and went backstage,” he said.

“Malcolm came back with fliers for the shows and he brought back setlists, but none of these bands had made records at that stage,” recalled Matlock of the influence the New York set had on him and the rest of the Pistols.

“One said ‘Blank Generation’, and that got me thinking about how there was nothing going on in London,” the bassist continues. “There was a real air of despondency and desperation, so I came out with the idea of ‘Pretty Vacant.'”

As you might imagine the large majority of the song was already composed before Matlock heard the ABBA song in question, but it did add a flourish to the song which it desperately needed. “I had the set of chord changes and the lyric but I was short of a riff,” recalls Matlock.

“I knew it needed a melodic thing, and I heard something on a record by a band called ABBA and it inspired the riff I needed, and I said, ‘Guys, I’ve got it.'” The riff he heard was taken from the band’s song ‘SOS’, which featured on ABBA’s musical film Mamma Mia with Pierce Brosnan and Meryl Streep providing the vocals in that performance. Not quite the punk image you’d expect and far away from Johnny Rotten’s razor vocal.

It’s likely not something Matlock is ever too happy to talk about in great depth but he has on occasion shown his love for the band, sometimes trying to incriminate his bandmates too. “I always got quite a bit of stick for liking ABBA,” Matlock told The Mouth, “but I think as pop songwriters they’re fantastic. I mean, if you listen to the drums on ‘Waterloo’ it could be Paul [Cook] playing it… I think perhaps he’d picked up a bit, subconsciously, on that.”

However odd it may be to think of one of punk’s most well-known songs being inspired by the ultimate anti-punks ABBA, it did at least provide Sex Pistols bassist, Matlock, an unusual pen pal for a while, the musician recalled in RS, “I mentioned the ABBA influence in an interview once and the bass player from ABBA somehow got my address and started sending me Christmas cards for about 10 years.”

Listen to both of the songs below and see if you can hear the resemblance.

Pretty Vacant https://youtu.be/R6GDdKrQ8EI

SOS https://youtu.be/cvChjHcABPA

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/sex-pistols-song-inspired.../

My life: Bjorn Ulvaeus

My life: Bjorn Ulvaeus






Magazines / Post Magazine
One of the two men who put the Bs into Abba talks to Tom Cassidy about the Swedish pop sensation and the secrets of the Mamma Mia! stage show's success.
TOM CASSIDY
Published: 9:15am, 21 Sep, 2014

TAKE A CHANCE ON ME We (Benny Andersson and Ulvaeus) started off as friends. We had the same interest, writing songs, so we started doing that, but the friendship was the most important thing. As the years went by, we became almost like brothers. We always wanted to write that wonderful, great melody and if we could do that better together, then so be it. When a song became a hit, that was just lucky. Out of 12 songs on an album, not every one was hit material but a few were and we were just lucky that people had the same taste as we did.
THE WINNERS TAKE IT ALL After we'd won (the Eurovision Song Contest) with Waterloo in 1974, we had not only artistic freedom but financial freedom and there was no one breathing down our necks any more. The record company would say, "You have to be ready by this or that time," and we didn't say, "F*** you," but we said, "No, it's ready when it's ready." The creative side of it was on our terms completely.
THEY HAD A DREAM We stuck to an idea and a dream that we had. We found that we could be the people who were writing really good pop songs. In the same way as The Beatles, we wanted every album to be a step forward in our development and I think we achieved that. And then when we felt finally that we didn't have as much fun in the studio anymore, that there was something missing, we said, "OK, let's do nothing for a while." And that's what we did. I thought we'd hear the occasional (Abba) song, but more or less we'd be forgotten. This is the most fantastic thing of all, that you and I are speaking here today.
THE SONGS WE'RE SINGING I rarely put on an Abba CD. When I turn on the radio and something (we wrote) is played, I listen. That's mostly how I hear (Abba's music). With a few exceptions, from the beginning, it sounds surprisingly fresh. I think that's because we were such perfectionists in the studio - the final mix is the best we could achieve at that time with the equipment we had. In the 70s, recording studios had such better equipment than in the 60s and that's why 60s records sound the way they do. From the 70s onwards they could be from any decade.
THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC Music is universal. You can strike a chord with someone in the deepest jungle in Africa. Having written something way up north, in Sweden, you can still strike a chord anywhere in the world if the music speaks to you. And I think the sound of the two girls (Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog) together, the voices have a kind of exuberant, uplifting quality and it speaks to the whole world.
FEELING LIKE A NUMBER ONE (The paparazzi are) much, much worse today. It's an incredible difference. They more or less let us be. We were, as two couples, not really interesting - we had more trouble with (the media) after the divorce. I was a bachelor for one week - I got straight into a relationship, which has lasted to this day, so I was boring - but Agnetha was very interesting to the press.
KNOWING ME KNOWING YOU I like the space (in Sweden). We only have 9.5 million people in the whole country; in Stockholm there's only about 900,000. It's manageable. You're not queuing wherever you go. It's the most beautiful capital city in the world. It's surrounded by water and it's got everything I need. Stockholm is buzzing with creativity. Technology is at the forefront. Spotify is from Sweden, Skype is from Sweden, so there's a lot of that going on. These days, producers and songwriters from Sweden have incredible success around the world. We are per capita the No2 music exporting nation in the world, even above the UK. People say Abba started it all.
MASTERS OF THE SCENE In the 80s, television producer Judy Craymer said she would like to produce a special hour based on Abba songs with a new story. I said, "Yes, if you can find someone who can write a script that I can say yes to." There were several scripts but nothing was good. We started discussing if maybe we could do one of those family shows that the Brits have over Christmas. When Judy introduced ( Mamma Mia! scriptwriter) Catherine Johnson to me, the idea came of a fully fledged musical. I said, "You cannot change the lyrics but you can choose any of the songs that are from the catalogue." You don't have to use just the hits. A lot of the songs have hidden stories within them. Catherine said that is why Mamma Mia! works so well, because she could take those little stories, put them in another situation and it still would work. There have been so many jukebox musicals after Mamma Mia! and they have failed miserably. I told Catherine, "Never forget that the story is more important than the songs." And that was the ground rule: first story then song. A lot of people have tried to do it the other way round and it shows.
NOTHING PROMISED, NO REGRETS We all have responsibility for our own lives - we decide what to make of them and there's no one else who does that for us. We can't label anyone but ourselves. We want to live in secular societies where anyone can believe in anything they want, but lawmaking must be neutral and the state must be neutral.
IF I HAD TO DO THE SAME AGAIN You never stop wanting to express yourself; to create things. I started in this business when I was 18 and since then I've always tried to create new things, and I think it's in my blood. I will die with my boots on, I'm sure.
Tom Cassidy
Mamma Mia! runs from Wednesday to November 2 at Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Tickets are available at
hkticketing.com
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Bjorn Ulvaeus