Make it a marathon with four ABBA specials (that’s one for each member!)
Fire up the fondue pot, fire up the Volvo and try to think of a third Swedish stereotype, because SBS is totally ABBA-fied at the minute. How many members are there in the band? Four. How many docos do we have about the band? FOUR. My, my… that’s a level of ABBA content Muriel Heslop described as “a bit much”. Waaaaait, fondue is Swiss, isn’t it? Honestly, that’s the sort of thing you’d expect the Special Broadcasting Service to get ri- oh wait, fondue’s also very ‘70s-coded. Joke saved! Righto, let’s move onto the useful part of this article – what these ABBA docos offer your eyeballs, earballs and :
‘ABBA in Concert’ features… ABBA in concert
If only they’d called this one ABBA in Concert at the Apogee of Their International Dominance in 1979 at London’s Wembley Arena Playing All Their Massive Hits And Also Some Behind-The-Scenes Footage From North America And Europe, this paragraph would’ve been unnecessary. But they didn’t, so we’ll explain set-up here. We get part of one song to get us in the mood (“Waterloo”, of course), then 15-odd minutes of on-the-road stuff like Agnetha’s thoughts on “ice-cream time”, the band eating breakfast together, some chat about songwriting and a bit of pre-show footage. Then we cut back to Wembley for some of the best concert videography the very-late 1970s had to offer, filmed across two nights with five cameras.
ABBA In Concert is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
‘ABBA Dabba Doo’ is a pretty great title, honestly
No notes on that name. It’s as flawless as the band’s catalogue. OK, this is a really cool time capsule, because ABBA Dabba Doo was made in 1976, and features individual interviews with Agnetha, Anna-Frid and the other two. To situate this in the march of time, 1976 was two years after their Eurovision win, and the same year they released Arrival, aka the one with the rad helicopter on it, aka the one with “Dancing Queen”, “Money, Money, Money”, “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and “Fernando” on it. Abba Dabba Doo is a Swedish production, which means it comes from a more localised, culturally embedded angle than later, international specials on the group (see below). Here, you’ll gain a real sense of who ABBA saw as their influences at the time, as well as some incredible insights into what was considered acceptable in terms of cutting-edge fashion in Sweden.
ABBA Dabba Doo is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
‘Rock Legends: ABBA’ will make you proud to be a hardcore fan
Look, even as a hardcore fan, you might want to argue the toss on whether ABBA’s catalogue constitutes rock, but it’s the name of the series so we won’t quibble. This instalment of Rock Legends, from 2015’s season three, has it all – filmclips; critics discussing the group’s style, flair and influence; and plenty of that sweet, sweet concert footage. If you’re planning to enter an ABBA-themed trivia night, this one’s invaluable for getting to grips with their remorseless rise from local act to national heroes to international juggernauts. Even if you’re not, this show offers some truly interesting insights into the four members’ backgrounds, as well as how they met and why they became the supergroup everyone on the planet can sing along to at after-work karaoke bar drinks.
Rock Legends: ABBA is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
So much more in ‘ABBA: 50 Years of Pop’
It’s honestly crazy to think it’s been half a century since this quartet came storming into the cultural consciousness, seizing the Eurovision throne with “Waterloo”. This doco goes deeper than Benny, Björn and the other two, exploring the musical secrets of Sweden and how this Scandinavian nation has managed to maintain an outsized role on the world’s charts. If you need to replace that ABBA-ean earworm that’s been stuck in your head since you started reading this, how about some Ace of Base or The Cardigans? “All that she wants… is to love me, love me…” No? Okay, fair enough. ABBA: 50 Years of Pop also covers Roxette, Robyn and other Swedish artists who’ve drawn inspiration from ABBA – obviously you don’t immediately think of Björn Ulvaeus when you hear “Hate To Say I Told You So” by The Hives, but ABBA’s influence also has also filtered into behind-the-scenes stuff like production, marketing and capturing that ineffable Swedish essence for a global market.
ABBA: 50 Years of Pop is streaming now at SBS On Demand.
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