Forty Years Of Pop And The ABBA Tribute Phenomenon

In the top five most successful recording artists of all time and Members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, ABBA has inspired aspiring musicians and listeners alike. Songs like “Dancing Queen” and “Mamma Mia” are so well known they are stock terms in most households. The band has achieved forty years of recognition with children of the 2000s knowing and recognizing ABBA’s pop hits as quickly as children of the 70s. In this environment, the ABBA tribute bands that now tour, find good amounts of success playing for crowds that long to relive the golden age of ABBA from the 1970s.

ABBASESSION is among the newest tribute bands to cover the original group’s music. Through a rigorous process of selection, this ABBA tribute is founded on four core members with vocal ranges strikingly similar to the official lineup of Anni-Frid, Bjorn, Benny, and Agnetha. Not only has ABBASESSION composed of members with vocal exactness, but they will also perform as a duo of just Anna-Frid and Agnetha, while Benny and Bjorn's parts are taken with a backing track.  This makes the act more affordable, and also allows them to perform on smaller stages. In addition, the tribute dresses in the garb of the time when ABBA was at its peak.

The genuine pop quartet performed their last show in 1983, and some ten years of silence followed. The individuals of the group continued to write and perform solo music, but never again as a whole band. Then theatre and Broadway revived ABBA in the 90s and by the middle of the decade, it was as if they had never broken apart. A host of tributes burst onto the scene, many well received from audiences wanting to relive the great pop experiences they had once enjoyed.

There are now over one hundred ABBA tribute bands performing the songs of the original pop quartet, many that have unique flavors or interpretations of the music. Most of the bands like ABBACAPELLA and Abbadream make strong efforts to relive tradition. Other spinoffs have taken more liberties with the songs.

ABBA Choir for example, has taken the original music and spun it to fit a large choir concert environment. While their songs are almost new in feel, the broad burst of vocal harmonies enables many people to hear the music in all new ways. Other bands like Willkommen bei den Dancing Queens have translated the lyrics of the pop quartet’s English hits into foreign languages in this case: German. While the first lineup did eventually record a Spanish language version of pop-compellation, best hits, only tributes have made the music available in a host of new languages.

ABBA tribute bands are composed of individuals who were inspired by and loved the music to which they pay tribute. Crowds of fans are willing and happy to enjoy a temporary suspension of disbelief and fully engage in the lyrics and rhythm to relive the greatest concerts of the 1970s. ABBA Gold is among the most well known tribute bands, but hosts of others have followed as well, some even writing and performing their own renditions of the first songs.