Pop music in England had lost its way by the mid 1970s, the Beatles had split up and suddenly the swinging sixties seemed like a distant memory.
We were in the doldrums... ok there was David Bowie and T Rex ... but , without the Beatles there was a huge vacuum on the pop music scene...
..... then suddenly....... from across the North Sea.... Abba appeared on the air waves.
Their music was fresh and new, like a spring morning on the Norweigan Fijords, ..... (only they were from Sweden ! )
I saw them on TV ..... the lovely Agnetha with her long , blonde hair..... singing so sweetly..... she was like a Swedish goddess from the halls of Valhalla.
It seemed almost as if there was some secret conspiracy .... a conspiracy to allow Sweden and Abba take over pop music.
It was all so open, so brazen..... like Agnetha herself..... blonde and glamorous .....sexy and seductive....flaunting herself before the TV cameras.
It was fate accompli... Abba just swept in and took over ,
............they were the hottest pop group on the scene !
Lady Agnetha Story ( in four parts )
go here.......
http://rapidshare.com/files/148938647/lady_AGNETHA_IN__FOUR_PARTS__BLOG.zipit's an Open Office file
if it won t open for youget the free software
go here
http://download.openoffice.org/
Obviously England could nt take all this lying down ... the Swedish long-boats were crossing the North Sea and making an assault on our pop supremacy !
Eventually, after much soul searching we counter attacked with the lovely Sandra and Brotherhood of Man
OK, Bro of Man music was n't as brilliant and electrifying as Abba music , but at least we were showing those upstart Swedes that they were n't going to have it all their own way in the poptastic UK.
Bro of Man went on to have massive success in the UK and also built up a good following in Germany and the continent, but I must admit, they never reached the sublime heights of Abba.
Yet in all fairness, how could they hope to compete with Benny, Bjorn who.... by the mid 70s had matured to become the most dynamic songwriters on the planet.
Despite such formidable opposition from those Swedish Upstarts, Brotherhood of Man still achieved a lot in the 70s and 80s ...... they even won Eurovision with ' Save your Kisses for me ' in the year 1976.
With that stunning win they proved that that they could equal Abba's achievements in the famous Eurovision pop competition.
At least they had a go and , during those hectic years of the 70s and early 80s.
They tried their best to counter 'Abbamania ' that was sweeping the world like a virus, not least in Australia , England's overseas colony.
And the lovely Sandra was showing Agnetha that she was not the only glamorous, blonde babe on the music scene.
Sandra and Bro of Man were also proving that they could make the 2 girl and 2 guy formula work and be successful.
OK, Bro of Man did nt end up mega rich like Abba, nor feted around the world.
They don't have walls full of platinum and gold discs.. the don t have shelves groaning with gold statuetes...
...
( and there certainly ain't any Bro of Man tribute bands out there ....... )
But at least they outlived Abba, they stayed together , performing throughout the 80s and 90s and even down to the present day .
In 2008 they are touring the British seaside resorts as part of a huge variety show with the likes of Paul Daniels ,Canon and Ball and Frank Carson on the bill... a great show playing to packed houses.
Yes , well done Bro of Man, you stayed the course......you survived .... while those Abba primadonnas split up and went their separate ways !
In the words of the Bro of Man song........ ..... "Together we are beautiful ....... really beautiful....."
Bro of Man video
... "Together We Are Beautiful.".
go here .........
http://rapidshare.com/files/148362093/TOGETHER_BEAUTIFUL_BLOG.AVI
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