There was a time when ABBA wasn’t cool.
Well, coolness is always relative, but as the anti disco sentiment of the 80s gave way to alternative rock in the 90s, ABBA fell out of musical favor. The Swedish act had its last US top 10 hit in 1980 with “The Winner Takes All” (featured in this musical), and by 1982 had split up. A new wave of popular music swept them from relevance for a decade.
Then, in 1992, British synth-pop band Erasure followed up its platinum-selling album “Chorus” with “ABBA-Esque,” covering four classic ABBA songs. That same year, ABBA released its greatest hits album, “ABBA Gold,” with Rolling Stone citing the album as part of “The DNA of post-Beatles pop.”
In 1994, ABBA songs featured prominently in two Australian films that broke big in America, “The Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert,” and “Muriel’s Wedding.” In addition to factoring into the ABBA revival, these films helped introduce Americans to Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Toni Collette.
The 90s closed out with the jukebox musical “Mamma Mia!” debuting on London’s West End, eventually making its way to Broadway. By 2008 the musical was made into a feature film starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, and Amanda Seyfried. It even got a sequel, “Mamma Mia!: Here We Go Again” in 2018.
Now, 50 years after forming, ABBA is bigger than ever and we’re performing their musical at Roosevelt. Let’s be honest, ABBA isn’t just cool again; they’ve always been cool. Even if we didn’t realize it for a decade or so. Does your mother know? Yes. Depending on your age, your grandmother probably did too.
P.S. This doesn't really fit into the fall and rise of ABBA narrative, but here's a bonus "Six Degrees of ABBA" fact: The 1993 film "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" was set in Iowa, and was written by West Des Moines native Peter Hedges. '"Gilbert Grape" was directed by Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom, who directed ABBA music videos such as "Waterloo," "Mamma Mia," and "Dancing Queen," as well as "ABBA: The Movie."
- Joe Lawler, assistant director, former music writer
