My My!

ABBA Through the Ages

Giles Smith

• Publisher: Gallery UK
• eBook ISBN:
  9781398529724
• Year: 2024

‘A lovely book – as bright, shiny and uplifting as an Abba hit’ Daily Mail

‘[A] witty and affectionate account . . . It’s not a stretch to say that, at its core, My My! is a book about time, death and the possibility of immortality’ Sunday Times

My My! The story of ABBA told through a selection of their greatest hits.

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of Waterloo (the song, not the battle) – a seminal moment in pop history which saw Swedish sensation ABBA burst on to the international music scene. How is it that half a century later this seventies Eurovision act is bigger than ever – reaching listeners of all ages and spinning off into musicals, museums and holograms? Giles Smith, writer and music fan, sets out to find out why.

My My! is a celebration of ABBA through the ages. It’s one fan’s way of saying: thank you for the music.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The History Book on the Shelf
• Chapter 2: Atkinson’s Folly
• Chapter 3: Numbers Game
• Chapter 4: Repeat Performance
• Chapter 5: Gaudy Pleasures
• Chapter 6: Puppet State
• Chapter 7: Preserved Fish Products and Bubblegum Cards
• Chapter 8: ‘Kill Me Afterwards’
• Chapter 9: Gorilla Outfits and Custard Pies
• Chapter 10: The Virtue of Virtual
• Chapter 11: Notes on Paper
• Chapter 12: Devon-Sent
• Chapter 13: Tape Dispenser
• Chapter 14: Though I Try
• Chapter 15: Skin in the Game
• Chapter 16: Living Forever
• Chapter 17: The Customer Journey
• Chapter 18: Opening-Night Ovations
• Chapter 19: Marimbas in, Cymbals Out
• Chapter 20: Always with the Music
• Chapter 21: ‘We’re Not Splitting the Atom’
• Chapter 22: A Walk in the Park
• Chapter 23: Compulsory Purchase Order
• Chapter 24: Character Error
• Chapter 25: Island Life
• Chapter 26: The Sincerest Form of Flattery
• Chapter 27: Blurred at the Edges
• Chapter 28: Fields of Gold
• Chapter 29: Thanks a Billion
• Chapter 30: Bad Altitude
• Chapter 31: Cut to the Chase
• Chapter 32: The Dodgy Shaker
• Chapter 33: The Soundtrack of Solitude
• Chapter 34: Marked Forever
• Chapter 35: Flying Cars and Focus Groups
• Chapter 36: An Absence of Irony
• Chapter 37: Cover Versions
• Chapter 38: Splinters of Ice
• Chapter 39: Uncrowded House
• Chapter 40: The Big Cheese
• Chapter 41: ‘Get with the Beat, Baggy’
• Chapter 42: Critical Mass
• Chapter 43: ‘Good? Swedish, Mate’
• Chapter 44: All Together Now
• Chapter 45: Slippery Slope
• Chapter 46: The Partisans’ Party
• Chapter 47: Ears of Cloth
• Chapter 48: Grief and Artificial Sunsets
• Chapter 49: Portrait of the Artists
• Chapter 50: Transmission Ends
• Photographs
• Acknowledgments
• A Note on Sources
• Image Credits
• Copyright