The Dark, Creepy side of ABBA

The Dark, Creepy side of ABBA: Starting from their very first album, ABBA was recording songs which opened a door onto a darker side than one might be familiar with from their hits. The first of these is Ring, Ring's track Another Town, Another Train, wherein a lover is left while still asleep with only a note to explain the departure of their now-long-gone beau. But that's nothing compared to what was to come across their career...

ABBA's next album, Waterloo, had the track Suzy-Hang-Around, full of childhood younger-child bullying and ineffective parental intervention.



Hey, Hey Helen, from ABBA's next release, the eponymous ABBA, outlined the life of a divorced woman with children and questioned whether her choices were wise.



Arrival includes the track Tiger, which warns of the dangers of urban life and predators which may lurk in the shadows.



Perhaps their best known dark song comes from The Album. I'm A Marionette, part of the mini-musical Girl With The Golden Hair (previously), is a bleak depiction of a singer being used by the industry and the audience for their own selfish gains.



Their next album, Voulez Vous, has two contenders for this list: The King Has Lost His Crown, about a pickup artist who has lost his touch, and Does Your Mother Know, an upbeat ditty about jailbait in a disco club.



The Piper comes from Super Trooper. It's a song about being entranced by magickal music and losing one's will to the player.



Saving the best for last, ABBA's final album The Visitors featured the sort-of title track The Visitors (Crackin' Up), a song about paranoia perhaps in the face of an oppressive government or perhaps just fear of The Other.



After all that darkness, let's change gears with the darkly humorous Two For The Price Of One, also from their final album.