AS TOLD TO
TAMARA HINSON
PHOTO
GETTY
As ABBA The Museum opens in Stockholm this month, we caught
up with the singer/songwriter from Sweden’s most iconic pop band to
find out how he feels about all those memories on display
Björn Ulvaeus
I don’t have one favourite ABBA
song –
I have many. The same goes for
the museum. My favourite exhibit would
have to be the home-built double bass
from my first-ever group, but there are
many scenes in it that grab me both
emotionally and intellectually.
It’s easy to display
artefacts, but
much harder to tell a story so that
people are sucked in and want to go
from one chapter to the next. I really
enjoyed re-telling the story in this
new-to-me medium. I’ve taken a step
back and looked at us again from a
new perspective.
All the other members
of ABBA are
involved in this project and have given
their blessing. They have cleaned out
their closets of old costumes and
artefacts, and lent them to the museum.
We’re all still the best
of friends.
I see Benny a lot, since we still work
together from time to time. Agnetha and
I have children and grandchildren
together, so I see her at birthday parties
and such. Frida comes to Stockholm
[
from Switzerland, where she lives] now
and then, and says hello.
I’m proud to say
that most of my
costumes still fit. I don’t have a favourite
exactly, but if I had to choose it would
be something from the later years.
There’s a photo of me in a kind of
Superman outfit from early on and I cry
in pain every time I see it: bad taste
unsurpassed by any other pop star.
We were four extremely
ambitious
and professional people, and the group
was the perfect vehicle to create exactly
what we wanted to do at that time. The
best thing about ABBA was that we had
absolute artistic freedom and control.
Music is more accessible
today than
it has ever been. You don’t have to buy
plastic discs any more – you can stream
music online. But it is much harder to
make yourself heard as an artist. The
noise out there now is 10 times louder
than in the 1970s. You really have to
scream. Or write exceptional songs.
I only book holidays
in the winter and
then I want the sun more than anything
else. Why? Try a cold, windy, damp
November day in Stockholm and
you’ll know why! Wild horses couldn’t
drag me away from a summer in the
Stockholm archipelago though.
My top choice of holiday
would be a
boat trip in July from Stockholm to
Västervik, my little home town 300km
south of the capital.
My worst travel experience
was when Benny celebrated his 40th
on Petit St Vincent. To get to that little
island from Barbados, we had to fly in
a one-engine propeller thing, which
barely held together. It was piloted by
a man in headphones, who was clearly
digging his reggae a lot more than
handling the plane.
I never travel without
my credit
cards and my passport. No cash, I
don’t use that any more – it’s hopelessly
old-fashioned. Only burglars and
Mafiosos need cash.
ABBA The Museum opens 7 May,
abbathemuseum.com
There’s a photo of me
in a Superman outfit and
I cry every time I see it...
bad taste unsurpassed by
any other pop star
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