The ABBA logo

This month marks the 35th anniversary of the introduction of the famous ABBA logotype (or logo).

The logo was the inspiration of designer Rune Söderqvist. He was a friend of photographer Ola Lager, who had taken the photos for the covers of ABBA’s Waterloo (1974) and ABBA (1975) albums. Söderqvist suggested to Lager that ABBA needed a proper logo, that what they had been using “looked awful”. Lager mentioned this to ABBA and manager Stig Anderson, who asked Söderqvist to submit his ideas for consideration.

Söderqvist’s design was Swedish style personified. Using the font News Graphic Bold, the idea was simple: to reverse the first B, so that the two Bs faced the As, representing the two couples in ABBA. It also matched the symmetry of the word ABBA.

Compared to logos of other bands in the 1970s (see Bee Gees, Carpenters, Chicago, etc) Söderqvist’s logo was clean and streamlined. Some critics say that it looks cold and industrial. But it is extremely effective and instantly recognisable. Apparently Benny was the only member of ABBA to show any particular interest when Söderqvist first presented the logo.

Söderqvist thus became the art designer for all of ABBA’s subsequent record sleeves, starting with the Polar version of the first Greatest Hits album, released in November 1975. Curiously the text on the back cover was the non-bold version of News Gothic, which hints that his logo design dates from the same period.

The logo first appeared on the ‘Dancing Queen’ single, released in August 1976, and all subsequent official ABBA record releases and merchandise. In 2008 music website Spinner.com listed the ABBA logo as number 13 in a list of the 25 best band logos.

Over the years the logo has been bastardised, with a plethora of other fonts used on merchandise and record covers, perhaps most galling on the original CD of ABBA Gold and signage for the ABBAWORLD touring exhibition. But the logo has endured and today can be seen on all official CD releases and merchandise authorised by Polar Music.

ABBA vinyl reissues

ABBA fans are confused and concerned today after listings for vinyl versions of ABBA’s 8 albums appeared in the webstore on the official ABBA website, for release on August 1st. The listings on the website show the covers and tracklistings of the 2001 CD reissues, except for 1975′s ABBA album which erroneously shows the tracklisting for ABBA – The Album.

Meanwhile, a newsletter from Bengans.se announcing the LP reissues includes an image that shows three of the albums with the old, unpopular Polydor CD covers. The ad declares the albums to be “as originally prepared by ABBA” and “mirror[ing] the original Swedish releases”.

It appears that Bengans, the company that runs the webstore on the ABBA site, has jumped the gun on the announcement of these vinyl reissues, but has copied the covers and tracklists from previous CD listings, not realising they will be different. The listings on Bengans’ own website are identical to those on the ABBA site, right down to format and even the order the albums are listed.

Expect an announcement soon on the ABBA site that these eight reissues will be the same as the LPs included in last year’s The Vinyl Collection box set. In fact the individual albums were seen for sale in Bengans’ store in Drottninggaten, central Stockholm’s popular shopping street, several weeks ago.