ABBA – Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad – became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982. With all of their success, you would think we’d all know a lot about them, but when you think about it, they’re really one of the most secretive, kept to themselves, and quiet bands of all time.
Even when a decade after their breakup, very little was really known about them. Which is likely by the BBC cast John Peel in this 1993 retrospective documentary called A Is For Abba and added Ray Davies, Elvis Costello, Roy Wood, and Ian McCulloch for good measure. Add parody skits from Not the Nine O’Clock News and French and Saunders, and you’ve got this documentary as close to what we may know for a while.
