Things exist as long as they are named and the success of ABBAwhich was formed in Stockholm back in 1972 and broke the ceiling of the industry with its participation in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, occurred, perhaps due to the inertia of the second over the first —fame dragged the imposition of a name when time to think about it ran out—, when the group decided to name itself as such. ABBA.
Four letters that could not have been because, as revealed Bjorn Ulvaeus to the podcast Rosebudwords echoed by the Daily Mailnot only was it far from being their first choice: they didn’t like it, they didn’t want to be called that. In fact, the legendary member of the band has confessed that, despite decades of experience, the choice still seems, simply and plainly, stupid. They were not going to be called that, but history, as so often happens, had other plans in store for the quartet.
It was the radio’s fault
“We had no choice in the matter. I thought it was a very stupid name. And it is”says Ulvaeus, whose idea explored other paths and opted for something more original and groundbreaking. “I thought we should have a cool name, like the Rolling Stones, or something like that,” he says, later revealing what the group’s intention was: “Northern Lights (‘Aurora Borealis’) was one of our ideas, but here we are with ABBA.”
The reason was the irreversible nature of popularity, the virtue of someone who makes a name without yet having it and that, in the case of the Swedes, came before, tired of everything, they decided to call from Glasgow. “As we were somewhat famous we made our first albums as Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid. The radio DJs got tired of saying that: ‘Agnetha, Benny, Bjorn and Anni-Frid’, as you can imagine.”, Explain. Only one click was missing: “And then they just abbreviated it to the initials ABBA.” Voi la.
They weren’t the only ones. “It’s also the name of a very famous herring factory in Sweden: marinated herring. We had to ask their permission to use the name and they told us: ‘As long as you don’t marinate herrings’”, confesses Ulvaeus. The rest is history, perhaps by being named; or named, perhaps because those four Swedes made history.
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