The Story Of ABBA's Breakthrough - "Waterloo" | History
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- Опубліковано 8 чер 2024
- ABBA’s breakthrough with "Waterloo" wasn’t just an unusual victory at the Eurovision Song Contest. Already then, it received an outstanding, tremendous reception above and beyond Eurovision. This weekend, we’re celebrating 50 years. In this video, we explore the creation of "Waterloo". The story of this important musical piece couldn’t be more eclectic and exciting. So many components came together. The stars were aligned for pop music history.
0:00 Intro
0:49 Songwriting & Origin
1:34 Stig Anderson
2:36 Melodramatic Incident
3:15 Recording "Waterloo"
4:31 Mixing Sessions
5:14 Eurovision & Beyond
6:27 Legacy
7:27 Alternate Versions
8:41 Outro
---
Written, narrated, recorded & edited by Bobby’s Brother.
Music by Europaweite Aussichten: • Europaweite Aussichten...
Bobby's Brother on Instagram: / bobbysbrother72
#abba #waterloo #voyage
When I first heard the intro of "Waterloo" on my cheap transistor radio in 1974, it was like the initial jolt you feel when on an amusement park ride. The ride has been a joyous thrill ever since. And I'm not planning on ever getting off that ride.
50 years. In some ways it does not seem that long ago, I still remember watching the contest that night and the commotion at the end and long wait for the winner to return to the stage. We thought it was something to do with the song using backing tape to sing to, kind of a not live performance. The full on sound was so different to the rest of the contestants. It was only later I found out what happened. It will be about 49 years since I became a fan because after the contest I forgot about them, it was only after buying Greatest Hits thinking it was a folk group I realised it was that Eurovision group. Waterloo was not a song that stood out on that album, it was Honey Honey that got me hooked. After that I collected all the albums as they were released and Mum liked them too so ABBA could be played louder in the house. Now Waterloo is a song that takes me back to happier times and ABBA has been my favourite, and only group I have collected every album from.
This was the song that started at all for me back in 1974 when I was not even seven years old. I was always excited when WNBC in New York City would play this song. I didn’t know anything about the group of what they looked like so I called a radio station with my parents permission and they said that they were from Sweden and that’s all they knew because the single wasn’t a picture sleeve so I could see what they looked like. Forward one year to 1975 when they appeared on American bandstand with Dick Clark and that was it. I was hooked for life.
My love for ABBA began with Waterloo at the Premier of the Eurovision. Today I feel this song would win again. It's timeless. The beautiful four people in the band won the hearts of so many too. The sound, the vision was magic. 👏👏❤️❤️🎶🎵
When I saw Abba at the Eurovision Song Contest, I instantly became a fan of them and I still are. Not much later I heared that "Ring Ring" was performed by the same band (with an other name), I really loved that song back in 1973.
I agree "Waterloo" was shown more than an Eurovision Song Contest song. I remember this Eurovision Song Contest was one of the first ABBA videos I have seen. When I was 8 my parent turned on the Eurovision performance and I really enjoyed the song and ABBA's true vibe. I also assumed that Agnetha and Frida were the only group members until they showed who was performing for the concert. Now I am 14 and ABBA is my favourite music legends!
DIFFERENT always different,difference is the ambrosia of life.ABBA never followed the crowd ,their music their style their own unique genres always different and it this that endears them to all their fans and indeed the world ,their music is their eternal legacy forevermore and WATERLOO was their genisis the big bang that started their universe of beautiful creative music that grows and expands throughout the generations ,with love and dedication by all who admire and love them and are immersed in their mystical beauty and aura.
Cor Blimey... I was born in December 1974 so if my mathS are even a little bit correct, I think that I may have been a very fresh egg at the time ABBA won in Brighton!
beautiful video my dear friend
is the well-deserved tribute and homage to a spectacular song and an extraordinary group in a historic performance
In my time, back in 1974, I was finishing high school
It took a while for the records and new music to arrive in Buenos Aires, they arrived from North America before Europe.
and ABBA took a long time to get here, ABBA with Waterloo and Eurovision went almost unnoticed in South America
but years later I can see and recognize this ABBA performance with Waterloo at Eurovision as the most important musical act in the 70s
In my opinion, at the same level as the historic performance of The Beatles in front to the Royal Family in 1963.
and if I may make the comparison, "Waterloo" has the same magic and joy and sweeping rhythm as "She Loves You" by The Beatles
"Waterloo" is a musical masterpiece under three minutes
Someone said that ABBA put all its colossal arsenal in that short time, and for that it deserves enormous respect.
The fantastic race of Agnetha and Frida towards the stage platform and their fabulous harmonies will remain for posterity.
ABBA made history for Eurovision, for Sweden, for pop music and for Themselves
and Waterloo is not only the best song in the entire history of Eurovision, is on the Podium of the best ABBA songs
The song that started my love affair with Abba.. My school friend and myself both loved it on release & have loved and followed Abba for the last 50 years. We had the opportunity of seeing Abba Voyage last May & still can’t believe standing in that front row of the dance section, we were watching Abba, it felt that real. Can’t wait to see what’s ahead with ABBA’s 50 year anniversary, thank you again BB for a great video…
"My! My!... " it was the brilliant beginning of such beautiful ABBA musical magic! A song that has definitely stood the test of time ~ to be exact: 5 decades! ❤
Thanks Bobby's B.
My comment will probably not be viewed as positive but I was not blown away by this song when I heard it on the radio it was the follow-up single honey honey after hearing that song I waned t to buy everything Abba had put out. Over the years Waterloo has grown on me but it wasn't until honey got me to be a fan and I've never looked back❤😊
🎉 Retro greetings from coastal Mississippi. Happy 50 anniversary ABBA. The greatest group ever. Been listening for 50 years❤😂
Morjen aus Deutschland! Ich war noch 10 Jahre alt, als ich dieses Lied von ABBA das erste Mal hörte und schließlich, selbst in Mitteldeutschland ( DDR), auch im Fernsehen sehen durfte und ich war Feuer und Flamme, bis heute. Das hat noch nie eine Band so geschafft und vor allem alle Altersgruppen und das bis heute, fasziniert! So etwas gibt es nicht mehr und deshalb kann ich nur immer wieder sagen: " Thank you for the Music"! 50 Jahre ABBA und sie haben ihren Glanz noch immer nicht verloren. Trotz und gerade wegen ihrer " hohen Jugend", sind sie alle noch reifer, reiz- und würdevoller als früher. Einen großen Dank auch nochmal von mir, an allen Mitwirkenden im Hintergrund, die teilweise Jahrzehnte im Hintergrund agierten und sehr zum Erfolg der Band beigetragen haben.
Alles Liebe und Gute weiterhin für Alle, verbunden mit viel Gesundheit, Schaffenskraft, so wie Liebe , Herz, Freude, Leidenschaft bei ihrer Tätigkeit. Sie haben es geschafft, ihr Talent, ihre Berufung , ihre Aufgabe, in diesem Leben für sich und für uns zu leben und zu teilen. Vielen lieben Dank dafür! Alles Gute ABBA❤
ABBA excited today !....also learned that VOYAGE is coming to Las Vegas !
This was the start for me as a fan. I remember watching it on TV and thinking they will win the contest. Thanks BB for yet another great video. PS don't forget it's Agnetha's
birthday tomorrow. Just joking because I know you will not forget!
50 years of magic..❤
“Waterloo” 🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪 An impressive hard work behind and beyond, definitely. I’m so glad that one of those celebrated copies ended up on my shelf beside the book. Thanks BB for all the details.
Quand j'ai vu ABBA à la télévision en 1974 au Concours de l'Eurovision , j'ai su qu'ils allaient gagner et je suis devenue une fan et aujourd'hui à 64 ans je le suis toujours . Merci Bobby pour votre excellent travail sur les performances ABBA . J'attends avec impatience le jour du 50 anniversaire de Waterloo . J'attends avec impatience de suivre cet événement sur youtube
Awesome video about Waterloo! A truly unforgettable song from a truly unforgettable group! Happy 50 years of Waterloo, to all of us. :)
Thanks, John! Have a nice weekend.
I remember watching the ESC that year aged 10 and my Dad saying 'that's the winner' about a minute into the song, the only memory I have of him taking any interest in the contest. Sadly the UK jury gave it no points even though it would soon be No 1 in the charts here. I didn't hear much about Abba after that until SOS came on the radio a year or so later and Mum was dispatched to the record shop to buy the 'Greatest Hits' album, after which there was no going back. So many happy memories of the excitement as each new album and single was released and these wonderful videos give me an insight I didn't have before.
Thank you Bobby for this precious information about the ABBA band with the amazing song Waterloo ❤
The Beginning of a musical legacy that will live on for years & years ✨ ❤🎉🎉
Excellent as usual Bobby! I just love that picture of the 4 of them at the end. Absolute CLASSIC. Maybe the last one we will see of them just having fun together.
This reunion photo will be a pictured reminder of the joy and comfort they once gave us in this life after we won't have them with us anymore.A Freezed moment,loving,emotional,precious.I'm always grateful to what they did for me.
One of the most energetic, powerful songs of all time. Thanks for your informative review, BB.
The last photo in this video is just heart warming, awesome video thank you
GREAT JOB!!!!
Beautifully narrated and put together. I was 6 yrs old on Eurovision night and in bed. My dad came up to the room and said Sweden won with a terrible song and the band wore ridiculous outfits😆 Ironacally my dad came to love Abba and listened regularly to their music on his tape recorder. I told him they would become the biggest band in the world but he didnt believe me and always laughed. I always think of him when i see the performance of Waterloo 6th April
Oh, thank you for the wonderful memories. And for your lovely words!
This was my favorite video this year!
Wonderful insights, and what a wonderful week it will be! Happy anniversary to us all!
❤from Singapore
I've just watched it, what great quality television. They really chose the best song, such fun and great singers and musicians. Like being transported back to 1974. To see their manager Stig come on stage first. Abba, great. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ⭐A star for Stig.
wow,that was such a fine clip of yours B'sb!A good filled up dish!
Muito feliz ,pelo ABBA ... Amo todos de ❤❤❤❤
I've loved Waterloo but didn't buy any Abba music until I heard SOS.My first Abba single.The rest as they say is history!
Great video content. I live in Brighton and on Saturday, the actual 50th anniversary of their big win, there is a flash mob planned of “Waterloo” , outside the theatre where they won Eurovision . Will try to get there to see it. Happening at 1pm U.K. time.
Helow Bobby! Profunda emoción al tener la oportunidad de celebrar estos maravillosos 50 años. Y particularmente en este día, 5 de abril, en que se celebra el cumpleaños de nuestra amada Agnetha. Excelente tu informe. Gracias infinitas! Felicidades para ABBA y particularmente para Agnetha ❤. Clau Vivian
Still got the original 7" single inherited from my Grandma. Great content Bobby's Brother !
Please let me take the time to congratulate you on surpassing 25k subscribers to your channel, Bobby's Brother. You wanted to get there before April 6th, and I sit here on the morning of April 6th and you have 25.4k, and almost 10k views of this video alone. Thank you so much for all your videos: I love the passion you have for ABBA, and I learn so much in each and every video. Here's to the next 25k, BB. ❤
Thank you so much for the congratulations. The goal was reached one week before, which was really, really nice. Just a number. Usually I don’t “ask” for it, but sometimes it itches you when you’re close to a round number. And having so many people being genuinely interested blows my mind. Thanks for the kind words, I’m always looking forward to your messages. Have a good weekend!
@@bobbysbrother137 Fantastic. Thanks so much for your reply. And the best thing is that over the next few years, we have more 50th anniversaries to celebrate, for each and every one of the amazing albums ABBA made after this. Thanks for helping deepen my appreciation of this group that means so much to me. Hej då för nu.
@@bobbysbrother137 I was also keeping an eye on this too.He gladly overpassed the target!.And btw i've been watching the GGG clip in utube.About 2 weeks ago it had around 445 m views.Today it's over 450m!5 m views more and 2nd most viewed Abba video after DQ.
PS, you made it to 25.3k subscribers
I cannot believe it is 50 years. I was nine at the time living in North Yorkshire. We didn't have a telephone and every Sunday evening I would walk with my mum to a phone box on 'the green' and call my gran. It was a phone box where you pressed either or an A or a B button to make it work. Who remembers that? I remember complaining to my gran that Waterloo was too noisy! Despite that, I bought the single and mum would play it very loud, dancing in her clogs! lol. (she was cool, she did yoga and everything even at that time). And the house was on the top of a hill which allowed us to play music very loudly.
My mum is still alive, but she has dementia nowadays. But the music stays there, and the other day I mentioned it was 50 years since Abba won Eurovision and I reminded her of Waterloo, and she started to sing it. The next few days, I will do nothing, but just enjoy the moment, and travel from France to London for the evening performance of Voyage on Saturday. Then I will go and see my mum and put Waterloo on the music system in the retirement home she now lives in.
Never been a huge fan of the song although it's obviously deserving of its status as the best Eurovision winner, ever. I never saw their performance at the time. I didn't know of it, actually. I discovered ABBA around the time of Fernando, from what i recall. I actually prefer Ring Ring to Waterloo which might be an unpoular choice. Even so, Waterloo is still an iconic song, full of energy and is irresistible in its way. It blows any cobwebs away! I just have songs i love way more, like The Visitors.
50 years ago?
I remember this day April 3 1974.
Super outbreak.
The most violent outbreak of tornadoes in USA history. The Xenia tornado missed me by about 10 miles. April 1974 was great for ABBA but devastating for the central USA.
Thank you for this amazing video❤❤❤ Waterloo is History❤❤❤ I will be at the Mamma Mia show in Madrid on 6th April 9 pm. Time to celebrate❤❤❤
The great beggining of fame
my my !!
Lovely fascinating video
🇸🇪 ᗅᗺᗷᗅ 🇸🇪
Waterloo
6 april 1974 also
Hooked on a Feeling
I was 8 years old when we watched that contest at my neighbor's (they had a color tv). And I remember my mother saying "This band rocks!", long before the votes begun.
Don't know if that was a fact but a fellow fan told me he read a story by someone who said there was a taxi (?) driver in Brighton or smth that night who transfered the 4 some to their course.Wasn't cleared out if it was before or after the ESC but Abba did an accapella version of the victorious song within his car.Didn't they used a limo?
On BBC News today 05/04/2024 they interviewed the taxi driver He said he picked them up after they won They did sing in the taxi as he drove them.
@@cedarcam Oooh!THank you very much for letting me know and for confirming my info and clearing it out!So it was after the victory!Lucky man he wouldn't know he had met with a piece of history and 4 future legends that people would still talk about them 5 decades later since then.That's so nice to hear i'm looking forward to watch this!
@@alexioverdo5225 I was going to reply to you before I saw this, I had also heard the story, got a surprise when I saw it on BBC. There was a longer report on lunch time news than in the evening so hope you can find it. Also The One Show had a piece on ABBA the same evening. Brighton are having a party bus driving round and a plaque was unveiled on The Dome theatre. Hope you can see both of these reports.
@@cedarcam !🤩!
Qua da noi In Italia per molti anni abbiamo seguito le canzoni più famose solo da pochi mesi ho scoperto tutti I capolavori che hanno creato siamo rimasti completamente innamorati della loro musica e dal loro essere così genuini e semplici❤
Tomorrow is Agnetha's 74th birthday. BB got its 25,000 subscriptions on the 50th anniversary of ABBA's victory at Eurovision. It's a pity that ABBA didn't get 5 million subscribers on UA-cam, it was close to 5 million for the 50th anniversary.
Even so, almost 5m is fine.And i'm sure the number will grow even more.BTW Madonna has 6,9plus and Beatles 8,2m.Comparitively that's great for a kinda 'non-active" band amongst an active queen of pop and the worldwide top legacy Brits. Wish Abba the best.They deserve it.
Back when the song contest was about songs.
I confidently predicted that they'd win , they had that ora about them ❤❤❤.
TНANKS A LOT TO AВВА FOR CREATION.
I wasn't born yet in 1974 but yesterday I was celebrating 50 years of Waterloo with the cast of Mamma Mia in Amsterdam🎉🎉🎉
Oh yess 🎉tomorrow😊
❤
Gary has big ABBA news! On BBC radio 2 tomorrow.
Vernon Kay
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of Waterloo winning Eurovision, Gary has huge ABBA news, plus he'll play a Top Of The Pops Performance from them that's not been heard for 50 years!
I havev the first issue of the single which was released by mistake with an earlier take
💛💙💙💛and I just read today that we have the Finnish to thank for all their Eurovision 74 votes 💋
Happy Birthday Agnetha ❤ xX
After winning Eurovision, for a while it hindered ABBA rather than helping them as they were seen internationally as one hit wonders as a number of acts that won Eurovision were. Once they were getting their songs played on a tv show called Countdown in around 1975 which was broadcast on Australian television only then did other countries start taking notice. Rest is history.
I liked wizard music but I was frightened of Roy wood because of his appearance i used to hide behind the sofa when he appeared on top of the pops
ABBA were not the first Swedish artists to sing in English in the ESC. Ingvar Wixell sang in English way back in 1965 and The Nova (Claes af Geijerstam and Göran Fristorp) sang in English in the 1973 contest.
Thank you. Because this is a major mistake, I decided to subsequently have it cut out of the video, to avoid spreading false information.
@@bobbysbrother137 When Ingvar Wixell sang in English in 1965 there was no rule that stated that you had to sing in your own language, but everyone had taken it for granted that you should do that. The next year such a rule was instigated. That rule was removed in 1973, but was put back a few years later.
@bobbysbrother137 Hej! I was wondering if you will be reuploading the Waterloo castle tour video! I really liked that video. Was very relaxing. I'd would love to watch it again.
UA-cam is bonkers tonight with many of our creators…I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I hope it will be back.
@@bobbysbrother137 That's a relief! I was worried you were struck by copyright, or perhaps someone requested you to remove the video. As long as it's safe and your hard work can pay off :)
@@alexanderhdmi7704 The marvelous nostalgic video is back again btw.I hope for good this time.
First finally
Aww?!I damn missed by you..LOL!
Cheers @nigeladams!😊
When was the first ᗅᗺᗷᗅ with the letter B backwards?
1976
yes 1976 'ARRIVAL" era.
Waterloo deserved to win. Just a high energy song and very apt for it's time
Hasta manana is a good song but I don't think they would have won with it if it had been their entry
Hasta Mañana would've sounded too much like the other entries that night. Waterloo stuck out! 🙂
If it hadn't been for stig abba may not have won the Eurovision. He put them on the map with all the promotions he did with the record companies. You don't forget Waterloo when you hear it and the striking costumes
Happy Birthday to Agnetha today
Btw what has happened to the 'Waterloo" castle video you just uploaded?!Has disappeared out of the blue!
UA-cam is bonkers tonight with many of our creators…I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I hope it will be back.
@@bobbysbrother137 We'll be here with you again don't worry!
They received 0 points from the British judges (who placed them last). Luckily the other countries pushed them forward.
Nevermind the 'judges".Rest of the Brits gave them the solid big 12 points they deserved, ever after.They knew better.
🤩💖🌹🌹🌹🪄🎉✨🌈🌻
Waterloo the worst song , I don't like It all. 😮 The best song of Abba is "the visitors" ❤❤❤❤