EDITORIAL > IN THE YEAR 2025
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In the year 2025 | 1 February 2014
Imagine it's 2025. Are we still fan then? Are the four ABBA's alive yet? Is there is still a fan club? Here you find a look into 2014 to 2025. I saw it in my crystal ball. The ABBA Museum has, of course, closed its doors years ago. After the initial success, the visitors stayed away. Eventually the museum lasted just under four years. A bankruptcy proved inevitable in 2017. Rare items such as gold records and original stage costumes were sold by auction to the remaining fans in 2018. I took the chance and bought a gold disc from 1976. It was my final big ABBA purchase. In 2018 one of the ABBA members died. Against all odds the ever healthy living Björn was the first ABBA to pass away. I still remember the shock that went through the music world. The funeral was broadcast live on Swedish tv. Virtually all who had worked with Björn were there. Including the three remaining ABBA members who came to show their respect. ABBA became trendy again immediately afterwards. Agnetha, Benny and Frida decided to go into the studio together to finalize a number of unfinished ABBA recordings. Just like the three remaining Beatles had done in the 1990s. A hit, but also loads of criticism followed the release of ABBA Anthology in 2019. It turned out to be the last commercial revival of the group. Even the release of a collection of demos and outtakes in 2021 didn't help. That box set was only bought by hard core fans: commercially it was a failure and it never charted. There was no new music from Sweden. Frida hadn't recorded anything decent in twenty years and Agnetha's A turned out to be her last album. Benny was the only one who still made music until he decided to retire in 2021. From then on he would only play the piano at home. The death of Frida in 2022 was a new shock to the fans. Their eternal hope at a concert of the remaining ABBA's was finally gone. ABBA was over and out. When the musical Mamma Mia! stopped in 2023, the group of fans became smaller and smaller. The fan club closed on 6 april 2024. No money came in and the cost simply was too high. Universal declined their request for financial support, so after thirty seven years the fan club was gone. And me? I think it's pretty much OK this way. In 2022 I stopped collecting. My children managed to sell my collection to a loyal ABBA fan from Lelystad. Now, in 2025, I have exactly hundred ABBA items left and it feels good. No band has the eternal life. But it's memories that remain. |
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