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Re: Abba again



It still continues:

<< I don't seem to recall hearing anything about their solo
 albums that came out sporadically through the 80s or any solo tours which
 all these Abba lovers would surely have gone to.  It wasn't until the
 recent 70s revival that their popularity increased again and Abba Gold was
 released.= >>

Not quite so.  The band was still selling tons of records well into the
1980's all over the world as different countries kept putting out Abba
records - mainly hits packages.

There were a couple solo hits actually - even in this country.  They did not
tour as solo artists at all.  Also, the comparison does not wash about Abba
fans going to solo tours of members.  I recall a solo Entwistle tour in 1974
(I believe) that was cancelled where I lived at the time (Atlanta) because he
had only sold 400 tickets to the same 4000 seat hall the Who sold out in 2
hours in 1970 and 30 minutes in 1971.  I have yet to hear of a solo tour -
other than McCartney - that even comes close to selling the tickets that the
band as a whole sold for tours.  The bottom line is - far more people want to
see the band than want to see the solo artist.  This is one primary reason
that the vast majority of solo careers die - no one cares!

This holds true for much of the body of the Who's solo works as well.  They
never came close to selling the amount of tickets and records the Who did -
there's not even a rational comparison here.

As for Abba - it was the greatest cross section of fans at a concert that I
have ever seen in the over 700 concerts I have attended.  They cut way across
the age barriers, musical type barriers (I  have Abba collectors on my list
that also collect Motley Crue - while another collects Scorpions - go figure)
and other barriers far more than ANY band I have ever seen before or since.
 The Who - sorry to say - have always had a very vocal hardcore minority of
fans when compared to the Beatles, the Stones, Led Zeppelin or Abba!  The
Who's audience has always been much more selective and never was that broad
based.

I still hold to the fact that if Abba announced a reunion tour - it would be
the biggest world wide event prior to the Second Coming.  You can cite the
hits on the Billy Idol site all you want - but there's far more people in the
world than in the U.S. and, as stated previously, Abba were the biggest band
in the world for about 10 years.  It may not matter much here - it would in
Europe, Japan, Australia, Russia and many other places as well.

In closing, I have been in the record business since 1971 in many capacities.
 I have never seen anything remotely like what Abba has done as a band - it
still amazes me to this day.  That has nothing to do with the fact that I
happen to like them either - you can't argue with solid evidence like sales
figures though - then and now.  As I said, I still sell tons of Abba and
related stuff to this day with my business - probably more than the Who stuff
by the way.

Greg Biggs

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From: mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman)