The deep secret of Abba’s “music without nostalgia” and the time they met the Pistols

Abba’s biographer Jan Gradvall met and interviewed Abba many times and builds a fresh picture of their internal chemistry in his new book Melancholy Undercover. Highlights of this illuminating pod include … … how Sweden rejected their early hits for not being sufficiently “socialist”. …. the discomfiting early life of Anni-Frid Lyngstad. … what Max Martin and Denniz Pop thought made Abba’s music so durable.  … Strindberg, Bergman, the climate, the eight months of darkness and the role of melancholia in Swedish pop culture.  … the influence of the Human League on their later catalogue. … why manager Stig Anderson “became a burden”. … “Norway has Grieg, Finland has Sibelius, Sweden has Benny …” … the first band to write about divorce. … the Abba song with 57 chords and the only two samples Abba ever approved. … Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer and Ian Dury backstage at a 1979 London show. … when Sid Vicious ran into Abba at an airport on the Pistols’ 1977 Swedish tour.  … the role of the Lionesses football team, Kurt Cobain, Erasure, U2, Madonna and the Sydney gay community in the Abba revival.  … why the Abbatars are better than Abba.  … the myth of Agnetha as “the Greta Garbo of Pop”.  … and why The Day Before You Came is more than the Abba swansong. Order Melancholy Undercover here:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-ABBA-Melancholy-Undercover/dp/0571390986Find out more about how to help us to keep the conversation going: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.