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We have a saying in the Real Estate industry, ‘you’re only as good as your last sale’, and over the years, I’ve learned that this saying is quite true. I’m sure the same can be applied to the majority of businesses the world over, especially the music industry.

We all know that music artists strive to achieve better than what they did before and in cases where they don’t, their days are numbered. This is not only the case of one hit wonders but many established performers who’ve enjoyed considerable success over a period of time. Times change, people move on and their tastes change and what was awesome for them today might not necessarily be the same tomorrow. Some artists will carry on and try and re-capture what they once had and some will merely fade away gracefully.

When ABBA were together, they always said when the fun went out of what they were doing, they would cease being ABBA. At the time and during their recording career together, this was not a pleasant thought to have to look forward to one day and to me, it was not one that I ever wanted to happen, I wanted their fun to continue and for ABBA to continue. But, it did not.

I’ve always found it funny that the fun for ABBA ran out when their singles were not hits anymore, and today it feels like a decision Björn and Benny made after their relatively unsuccessful 1982 output of singles. Somehow, the UK always pops up in my mind, which as we all know Björn and Benny regarded as pop hit territory, if you made it to the top of the UK charts, you were successful, which is something I think Stig Anderson passed down to them.

ABBA’s last few singles were hits in quite a few places and maybe they might not have made the coveted UK number slot and despite both ‘The Visitors’ and ‘The Singles’ albums doing so, this obviously did not mean much to either Björn and Benny at the time.

There has been quite a lot of debate on the ABBAMAIL mailing list these last few weeks about ABBA’s choice of last few singles and what would have been the correct way for them to bow out on. Unfortunately, and maybe I'm being biased here, I think the manner in which they did it was quite befitting. As I've written it before, ABBA in the early ‘80’s were not the ABBA from the early ‘70’s. Their personal and professional lives had changed over the 10 years. I’ve always had the feeling, and it’s also been brought up for discussion on the ABBAMAIL mailing list, that Björn and Benny, who had already been discussing ‘Chess’ with Tim Rice, kept their better material back from ABBA in order to focus on their future.

I mean, let’s face it, they did not really have anything further to benefit from being with Agnetha and Frida, their personal status together had changed and why continue doing something with your ex-spouse? The flip side of the coin works in Agnetha and Frida’s favour. How long can one carry on singing songs about past loves and heartbreak written by your ex-husband with you in mind? This is what these two woman had to portray, heartbreak and this was not what the public were used to with ABBA. The days of happy pop-ditty’s were long gone.

I have always loved the 1981/1982 ABBA output, I’ve always enjoyed those songs. When you take into consideration what they recorded in 1982, the best choices they had for possible single choices were the ones that they actually issue. Many people have said that ‘The Day Before You Came’ was the wrong choice for a single and why I don’t know. The song in itself was not out of place for the synthesizer driven era that the music world was entering into, it was just not what the public expected from ABBA, that’s all. There is no difference between ‘The Day Before You Came’ or any other melancholy ABBA songs, it was just recorded in a different manner.

On the same vein, I recall seeing an interview where ‘The Day Before You Came’ was referred to as being ahead of it’s time. But was it? I don’t think so. ABBA tried to move with and adapt to the changing times and it just did not work for the public, although I must admit the accompanying video did not help much. ABBA should definitely have stuck with Lasse Hallstrom for both of their last video’s. I don’t think there was much wrong with ‘Under Attack’ either, and yes, in Björn’s words, if it was released a year earlier it would more than likely have made number 1, especially in the UK. This song somehow fitted into late 1981 as opposed to late 1982 and early 1983.

Many times it has been written and said that ABBA’s popularity started to wane in 1981 after the phenomenal success of ‘Super Trouper’, but did it really? ‘The Visitors’ took the top spot in the UK for 5 weeks as well as many other places. There were only 3 songs on ‘The Visitors’ that had any possible single potential, ‘One Of Us’, ‘When All Is Said And Done’ and ‘Head Over Heels’.

I doubt very much that ‘When All Is Said And Done’ could have set the pop charts alight and been a swansong for ABBA. It was too reminiscent of ‘The Winner Takes It All’ and somehow there was something lacking. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful song and a great recording, but it was recorded far too soon after Frida and Benny’s separation and Frida’s voice carried that over which was not the Frida we were used to.

‘One Of Us’ was the best seller off ‘The Visitors’, the record company ears around the world weren’t wrong there. The next best follow-up had to be ‘Head Over Heels’. ABBA had once again captured the sad market, garnered the affections from the ever-sympathetic public and this poppy song was what they needed, why it stalled the way it did especially in the UK, I’ll never understand, the rest of the world simply followed suit. Even the video made for it was quite appropriate.

I think Benny and Björn made a wise decision discarding ABBA’s ‘Just Like That’. There was no way that was going to work, who on earth was going to be interested in a song about a guy walking into a house as smug as a cat? ‘You Owe Me One’ and ‘I Am The City’, great tracks, but definitely no hit potential there and definitely only meant to be ‘B’-sides or album tracks.

I don’t think ABBA’s last few singles were anything other than classic ABBA masterpieces and they may not have set the charts alight.

Unfortunately Benny and Björn had their attentions elsewhere, as Björn said in the ‘Mamma Mia, how can I resist you?’ book, everyone was sick and tired of this group having number 1 after number 1 after number 1. It seems like they were too, the desire for bigger and better than last time where ABBA were concerned were the furthest things on their minds and bigger hits than last time just did not seem to feature any longer!

Neil