They're appreciated now, they weren't back then (in the US). I would listen to American top 40 back in the day and it would upset me when their songs didn't climb higher. I just loved them, but I felt I was the only one that did in my school. Some made fun of me. Look at them now. They are still relevant while most 70's groups have faded into oblivion. I was a shy, confused, often lonely child and their music was a refuge for me. As I now know they were for many others, too. Thank you Abba from America!! Right, they did deserve better.
Don't mind it that much.They were huge almost everywhere in the rest of the musicverse.Being 2nd best selling band only to the Beatles is a huge labour for a band that didn't do as well the USA market.Abba was my perfumed comfort and refugee too...
People forget, or just don't know, just how 'unpopular' ABBA were here in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world. I'm old, I remember and have written it on Bobby's Brother's channel. I'm glad things are different today, but I'm still bitter about it. Can't you tell? lol Thank you for posting this video.
If you think about it, it only looks bad compared to their popularity in the rest of the world. They had a few top 10 hits and several more top 20 hits in the US, which is more than a decent career for any artist not of ABBA’s stature. Lots of hugely influential artists never had a number one - they did. But yeah, it is a bit weird, considering they are about as revered in the US these days as they are everywhere else. I would guess their licensing US label may have done a less than stellar job promoting them at the time.
@@hackapump Yes they had quite a few hits there.Even 'I DO,I DO"' faired far better than in the UK.But the majority of USA rock press/stations were prejudiced against them if not poisonous at the time.ABBA were simply convicted for being POP music,which was honest for them but not ok for the critics who were rock oriented. Also i agree that Atlantic records didn't excactly do their best for them.
@@christianoazzuro6711 I think you’re right. Let’s not forget the ”death to disco” craze either. Although I personally think it’s unfair to place ABBA in the disco category, after making only half a disco album, I think in the US they were widely considered disco for the most part, partly because of the crazy outfits perhaps. I do think a lot of people at the time, not just in the US, missed how earnest ABBA were about their brand of pop - there was never a hint of calculation behind it. They just tried to make the best pop music they possibly could, which is why it still holds up so incredibly well.
Eagle just wasn’t released as a single in both countries. The B-side, Thank You For The Music was also popular in 1978 in the UK, but Stig Anderson most probably put a stop to this. They missed a trick in both countries
I know it was released in the USA as well as Heaven Help My Heart, Pity The Child and The Arbiter, but none of those just didn’t chart. Perhaps all the focus just went to One Night In Bangkok
It was a time when the european pop music wasnt understand there, they just were keen of rock and heavy music, also black funcky music but the pop was a nono in the states at that time, really incredible that abba was number one all over the world , from the whole europe to canada, south america, south african, australia, etc
Actually, ABBA did pretty well on the US charts, although it paled in comparison to the rest of the world, and the reason is simple. One, Americans preferred their own artists like the Eagles, KC and the sunshine band, and solo artist like John Denver. If Americans did want foreign artists, it would be British artists like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, or Elton John. Sweden was a very exotic country, and not really well understood. Also, the group did not tour the United States until 1979, which was a huge mistake. Americans went to a lot of concerts and that was a way a group could grow in popularity by touring and going to radio stations and promoting their music. ABBA wouldn’t play the game until 1979 and that hurt their record sales here.
I think that’s one of the reasons why ABBA didn’t have so many hits. Like Chiquitita was released almost year after UNICEF was held and Gimme Gimme Gimme wasn’t released until March 1980, months after the 1979 tour had finished. Atlantic had slipped up big time there.
