ABBA expert to address band's music, story during MSSU Nordic semester

• By Emily Younker [email protected]

October 4, 2018

Members of the Swedish pop group pose together in London, where they will be attending the premiere of their first movie "ABBA - The Movie," Feb. 16, 1978. From left: Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus.AP Photo

The four singers of Swedish pop group Abba pose for a foto 1977. They are from left to right: Benny Anderson, Annifrid (known as Frida) Lyngstad, Agnetha (known as Anna) Faltskog, and Bjorn Ulvaeus. (AP Photo)

ABBA fans, mark your calendars.

The world's leading expert on the Swedish pop band that dominated the music scene in the late 1970s and enjoyed newfound fame in the U.S. in the '90s and beyond will offer a series of lectures and gatherings later this month as part of the Nordic-themed semester at Missouri Southern State University.

Carl Magnus Palm, biographer and author of several books of the group, is a consultant for Polar Music whenever ABBA's music is rereleased, and he also is a contributor to ABBA: The Museum in Stockholm. His lectures are:

• "It Came from Rural Sweden: Folk Music Influences on the Music of ABBA" at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, in Corley Auditorium at Webster Hall. The lecture will focus on how rock and pop music from the U.S. and Great Britain influenced "distinctly European" groups like ABBA, setting them apart from other musical acts of the time.

• "ABBA: How They Conquered the World" at 11 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, also in Corley Auditorium. This lecture will explore the story of ABBA, a group that achieved fame like no other from the Nordic region had yet accomplished, and how its members broke down the barriers that had stopped so many others from success.

• "Made in Sweden: How Sweden Became the World's Third Largest Music Nation" at 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, in Cornell Auditorium in Plaster Hall. This lecture will focus on Swedish songwriters, including those beyond well-known melodies like "How Great Thou Art," as well as Max Martin, a Swedish songwriter who trails only John Lennon and Paul McCartney in the number of U.S. No. 1 hits he's produced.

Admission is free and open to the public.

“We couldn’t have a Nordic semester without having a couple of programs on ABBA," said Chad Stebbins, director of the Institute of

International Studies at MSSU. "Even though they were popular 40 years ago, many of our students say they are one of their favorite groups. It probably has something to do with the 'Mamma Mia' resurgence. ABBA is one of Sweden’s most important exports to the world, along with Ikea, Volvo, H&M and Björn Borg."

In a telephone interview earlier this week from Sweden, Palm said he hopes audiences at his lectures will learn more about ABBA as individuals.

"They know the songs, but don't know so much about their story and how hard they worked to make it," he said.

Palm, 53, grew up a Beatles fan, and it was his love for the Fab Four that launched his career into the world of ABBA. In the late '80s, he was enthralled by a book called "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions." Just a few years later, during the beginning of ABBA's '90s revival, he decided he wanted to try his hand at a similar project.

"I thought of ABBA," he said. "I thought they're great, and nothing like that had been written about them. I thought, 'OK, that's a challenge for me.' I started doing research and I approached the ABBA members; they were quite happy to let me interview them, and they opened all sorts of doors.

"I wrote this book about ABBA's music. I never thought that would be my career, and it turned out the ABBA revival kept going on and there was a need for someone like me who was interested in keeping track of what they did. It sort of turned into a career, and 25 years later, this is still what I'm doing."

'Strong' music These days, Palm is the go-to guy for all things ABBA. He has written a major biography of ABBA and does freelance work for the band's record company and official museum in Stockholm. He also gives lectures, including the upcoming appearance at Missouri Southern's Nordic semester.

When he talks about ABBA's music, the same themes keep emerging: that of strong melodies. He believes those tunes, the ones that get stuck in people's head for days after having heard an ABBA song on the radio, are the reason the band enjoyed such success and set them apart from other pop or rock acts of the time and since.

"If you listen to modern popular music, it's not so much about strong tunes. It's about little fragments of tunes and rhythms and the image, choreography and dancing, which is fine," he said. "But I think it's a human need for strong melodies, and ABBA certainly has those."

Palm said ABBA may have a lasting legacy in pop music today, but it wasn't always easy for the band. In the 1970s, no one outside of Scandinavia cared about Swedish music, and it was in large part due to ABBA's manager, whom Palm described as "dynamic" and "hot-tempered," that the group was able to break into other countries in a way that no other Swedish groups had been able to do.

Even then, it took some work to get to the top. ABBA's first single in the U.S. peaked somewhere around No. 114 on the charts, Palm said, but that didn't deter the band — it just made the members work harder.

"When they started, it was an impossible dream to become international stars, but they never gave up," he said. "For them, (a low-charting single) was not a failure — it was the first sign they were on to something."

Palm isn't surprised that ABBA's music and legacy has endured for decades.

"I think they are similar to the Beatles in that their music makes people happy," he said. "It's very energetic music, and it just transports you to a place where you feel good about life, really, and that's very rare and very attractive.

"ABBA is music for everyone," he continued. "I think it's a very inviting music. It doesn't matter what you look like or how old or young you are — come in here and we'll have fun together."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

If you go ABBA expert Carl Magnus Palm will host a casual get-together for fans of the band at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, at Woody's Wood-Fire Pizza, 1831 W. Seventh St. in Joplin. Space is limited; reservations are required by emailing [email protected].

Band history ABBA — an acronym of the first names of band members Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog — burst onto the music scene with its 1974 win at the Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo.” The song reached No. 1 on European music charts and entered the top 10 of the U.S. charts, a notable feat because the American charts typically had no direct influence from the Eurovision contest. The group became immensely popular over the next few years, churning out hits such as "Dancing Queen," "Mamma Mia," "Fernando" and "Take a Chance on Me." ABBA's superstardom blossomed in Australia and Great Britain, while 1977's "Dancing Queen" was the sole hit that reached the No. 1 chart spot in the U.S.

ABBA split in 1982. But by the 1990s, something else was happening: a major revival of ABBA music. Other musicians began to cover ABBA, and high-profile movies used the band's songs on their soundtracks, giving the group even more attention. The 1992 release of a compilation CD, "ABBA Gold," has sold more than 31 million copies.

The band remains popular even today. A 2008 film version of "Mamma Mia!" — based on the stage musical of the same name

and incorporating ABBA songs — starred Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan; it was hugely successful, grossing $615 million worldwide. A film sequel, "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again," was released earlier this year, prompting music icon Cher, who had a cameo in the film, to release a new album solely of ABBA covers.

The band even announced this year that it was recording its first new songs in 35 years. The first of those, “I Still Have Faith In You,” is due to be performed by the group’s holograms in a December TV special broadcast by the BBC and NBC.