First off, the real reward for a band is how many fans it has and how it is regarded by them. ABBA has a world-wide fan base that still buys four million records a year. That speaks volumes about the appeal and catchiness of their music (and is independent of whether one likes their style of music or not).

Re the induction into the Hall of Fame question, everyone's got their own theory about what is important for a band to qualify. Of them, influence has to be one of the most important. So what legacies did ABBA leave? Creation of the video, breathing life into euro-disco and taking beautiful music to its absolute zenith (in our lifetimes I'll bet anyway). To me, ABBA are the only pop band whose songs you could use the world magnificent to describe (eg, Dancing Queen and The Winner Takes It All). While the Beatles, say, had their pop masterpieces (basically a static frame that is filled with a perfect song), ABBA were unique in being able to dispense with that template and basically create their own frame (high, low, middling or wide-ranging) for their songs. Their mastery of vertical dynamic ranging in their music and singing is unique and, alone, a legacy that warrants their induction.

My theory is that ABBA aren't in the HoF because they were so good they are impossible to properly categorise. In other words, no one's figured out an induction speech yet that actually does the band justice!

Posted by RobP on Saturday, 06/1/2013 @ 01:32am

...
But they are in!

Posted by GFW on Saturday, 06/1/2013 @ 03:32am

Reflecting that it was 40 years ago tonight that ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. After toiling in relative Scandinavian obscurity for over three years, within weeks of Eurovision they had the #1 hit in the UK and almost all of Europe and a top ten hit in the US and much of the rest of the globe.

When ABBA was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, some American rock purists were dismayed but the HoF was quick to note that it was the votes of other musicians that put ABBA there. Other artists -- like Bono, Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello, Peter Cetera, Madonna, Chris de Burgh and many others -- have long known what self-styled critics have overlooked: that the music Ulvaeus and Andersson wrote, arranged and produced with such care is absolutely timeless. In the words of the former Rolling Stone writer Tom Moon, ABBA's performances were "models of impeccable craft".

Even if Benny, Bjorn, Frida and Agnetha are not together tonight, I hope wherever they are they raise a toast to a truly unique and monumental achievement, one that was advanced in so many ways by Waterloo's win at Eurovision 40 years ago.

Posted by rfj120 on Sunday, 04/6/2014 @ 20:18pm

From the Boston Globe, April 3, 2014: Abba’s groundbreaking pop still soars

Abba purists (and you know who you are) will argue that the beginnings of the band can be traced back to the 1970 Swedish hit “Hej Gamle Man!” It was the first time that Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad recorded together in a studio. The record was a moderate success in the Swedish charts.

I prefer to think that Abba as we know it began on April 6, 1974, when the band appeared at the Eurovision Song Contest and began its satin-paved path to world domination. On the 40th anniversary of the Eurovision win, the quartet’s achievements are almost too staggering to list. Abba has sold over 380 million albums and singles worldwide. “Mamma Mia!,”a jukebox musical featuring the songs of Abba, has grossed more than $2 billion since its West End debut in 1999, and a 2008 film adaptation made millions more. Last year, Abba: The Museum, opened in Stockholm. There are omnipresent rumors of an Abba reunion. A hopeful fan base silently prays that perhaps their heroes may perform together once more.

But back to that April night in 1974. Fältskog and Lyngstad smiled brightly as they sang the bubblegum delight “Waterloo.” Track down the video on YouTube and, as cornball as it sounds, these women were radiant. Everyone in the band was in love, and the neo-wall-of-sound that Andersson and Ulvaeus crafted created an unavoidable avalanche of happiness. It’s no wonder that competitor Olivia Newton-John didn’t stand a chance.

Here is the disconnect that many experience with Abba. The four didn’t just produce hits such as “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “Take a Chance on Me,” and “Lay All Your Love on Me,” they changed the pop music landscape forever. Go ahead and roll your eyes. Once you get past the clothes — and that’s a lot to get past — the members of Abba were pioneers. They slipped on their platform boots and smashed walls that previously prevented international bands from achieving world success.

Previous to Abba, there were few non-native English-speaking acts that regularly charted outside of their countries. But Abba’s manager Stig Anderson had his sights on America and England, and the band switched its musical language from Swedish to English. Would there have been an Ace of Base or a Robyn without Abba?

Last year, the Atlantic published the story “Why is Sweden so good at pop music?” in honor of Ace of Base’s 20th anniversary. The piece, by Nolan Feeney, points out that in May 2012, half of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100 were written or produced by Swedes. Currently, Sweden is the third largest music exporter of music, behind the US and the UK.

But the answer to “Why is Sweden so good at pop music?” has little to do with Ace of Base and everything to do with Andersson and Ulvaeus’s meticulous talents for writing perfect melodies. The two labored over songs in the studio while experimenting with technique (they once recorded a guitar riff in a swimming pool). They let the women take the spotlight, and grinned in the background on their “American Bandstand” appearances. Perhaps they were smiling because they were earning enough krona to buy their own island?

Today, Swedish super-producers such as Max Martin, who has written 17 Billboard number one singles, can thank Abba for writing a guidebook on how to produce the perfect pop confection.

You can also thank Abba for pioneering the music video. There were music videos in one form or another prior to Abba — most notably films in the Scopitone jukeboxes of the 1960s. With a global fan base, Abba was unable to continually tour the world and write and record new music. The answer was promotional films shot by director Lasse Hallstrom (who later directed “The Cider House Rules” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”) that could be shown everywhere. The video for “Waterloo” features a series of quick zoom shots on each member of the band (later seen in every 1980s video on MTV). The video is so iconic that portions were later re-created in the film “Muriel’s Wedding.” Erasure’s video for its cover of Abba’s “Take a Chance on Me” was almost a shot-for-shot re-creation of the original.

“We were very lucky,” Ulvaeus said in a 1994 interview. “Because of his work we had major success in far-off places were we couldn’t go but could send the videos.”

This week’s 40th anniversary includes the reissue of the “Waterloo” album, along with parties at Abba: The Museum, an ABBAversary at the Brighton Dome (where the band won Eurovision), and a party at London’s Tate Modern museum. “Waterloo” was a watershed moment in pop history. It’s time to set aside those images of sparkly harem pants and elephantine bell bottoms and give Abba another well-deserved listen.

Further Abba listening:

The cover versions

Erasure, “Take a Chance on Me”

The Czars, “Angel Eyes”

Nashville Train, “Waterloo”

Information Society, “Lay All Your Love on Me”

The Wondermints , “Knowing Me, Knowing You”

Salma & Sabina, “Pehli Pehli Preet (Super Trouper)”

Laura Branigan, “The Winner Takes It All”

by Christopher Muther

Posted by ns_kid on Sunday, 04/6/2014 @ 20:26pm

Your forgetting the A*Teens (A 4 piece Euro-Teen pop act from Sweden) covers... They later branched out to become an ABBA influenced act themselves instead of an ABBA cover band...

Posted by Michael on Tuesday, 05/13/2014 @ 18:29pm

I don't understand... Why ABBA and not Joy Division, Jane's Addiction, The Cure, Sonic Youth, Pixies, etc.

Posted by BulmaPunkRocker on Sunday, 07/6/2014 @ 21:57pm

http://www.itv.com/goodmorningbritain/entertainment/breaking-news-abba-are-getting-back-together

Breaking news: Abba are getting back together

Posted by Roy on Thursday, 10/27/2016 @ 04:06am

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/abba-plan-previously-unimagined-virtual-reality-experience-w446845

ABBA Plan 'Previously Unimagined' Virtual Reality Experience
"We're inspired by the limitless possibilities of what the future holds and are loving being a part of creating something new," Benny Andersson says

Posted by Roy on Thursday, 10/27/2016 @ 04:08am

Roy, sorta sounds like they might use holograms, like they did with Tupac.

Posted by Paul in KY on Thursday, 10/27/2016 @ 08:01am

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/abba-record-first-new-songs-together-in-35-years-w519624

ABBA Record First New Songs Together in 35 Years

"I Still Have Faith in You" to premiere as part of Swedish pop group's upcoming "avatar tour project"

Posted by Roy on Sunday, 04/29/2018 @ 11:26am

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xGfytD36Uw

Abba Reunion! Band Set To Release First New Music In 35 Years

Posted by Roy on Sunday, 04/29/2018 @ 11:32am

Whoever thought it was a good idea to put them in should be fired.

Posted by Michael on Sunday, 11/4/2018 @ 14:15pm

QUEEN > ABBA > CHIC > WHAM!

Posted by Roy on Wednesday, 01/9/2019 @ 09:30am

Ben,

Unfortunately, you had forgotten about ABBA. I think that ABBA had been inducted for four huge reasons: resurgence of an interest in their works, gargantuan worldwide record sales, the release and success of the cult films, "The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert" and "Muriel's Wedding," the success of the stage musical of "Mamma Mia," in addition to the success of the motion picture release of "Mamma Mia" with Meryl Streep. Of course having their numerous friends and supporters in the industry did not hurt either. ABBA had been one of my favorite artists during the early 1980's and had several great recordings from 1974 to 1982. In my honest opinion, many of ABBA's greatest songs came from "Arrival" (1976), "ABBA: The Album" (1977), "Voulez-Vous" (1979), "Super Trouper" (1980) and "The Visitors" (1981).

Well, what do you think?

Posted by Enigmaticus on Tuesday, 12/31/2019 @ 11:01am

The moment you've been waiting for! https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/abba-release-five-songs-avatar-235111747.html

Posted by Joe on Thursday, 07/23/2020 @ 14:30pm

ABBA Reunite for First Time in 40 Years, Announce New Album and Digital Concert
Swedish pop group finally releases singles "I Still Have Faith In You" and "Don't Shut Me Down"
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/abba-reunion-voyage-album-digital-concert-1219815/

Posted by Roy on Friday, 09/3/2021 @ 13:57pm

A pop band, but an excellent pop band all the same. It's not an easy craft, to pump out so many memorable melodies and turn each one into a hit. It's quite right that they were inducted.

Posted by Stephen on Monday, 09/20/2021 @ 14:33pm

General Colin Powell had interesting, and eclectic, taste in music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVJ-9fmw2NQ

Posted by Joe S. on Sunday, 11/7/2021 @ 03:39am

GREAT ABBA IN THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME THERE MOST DESERVING SONGS TO BE EDUCATED ARE SOS TAKE A CHANCE ON ME DANCING QUEEN THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL LAY ALL YOUR LOVE ON ME THE NAME OF THE GAME

Posted by Thomas Detomaso on Friday, 03/17/2023 @ 18:29pm

Rest in Peace Roger Ward (ABBA's drummer), 1949-2024.

Posted by Joe S. on Sunday, 09/22/2024 @ 17:49pm