1980

As the new decade dawned, ABBA were once again ready for work. Benny and Björn who were having a bit of a dry spell with their music returned to Florida and warm weather to overcome their creative slump.

Chiquitita had been a tremendous success in Spanish speaking territories and Agnetha and Frida were spending all the time necessary to redo some vocals for some of ABBA's best known songs. Benny and Bjorn returned from a successful trip in Florida to Polar Studios in time to remix the background music for a new release, an LP, Gracias Por La Musica.

In March, ABBA traveled to Japan for three weeks to perform in eleven concerts. The concerts were exactly the same line up as the 79 concert tour except ABBA sang I Have A Dream in Japanese, much to the delight of their audiences.

Back in Sweden, the group set forth to record a new LP, Super Trouper, which was released on October 31st, 1980. Earlier in July the hit single, The Winner Takes It All was released as the first single of the upcoming LP. A highly acclaimed video was released at the same time. Super Trouper proved to be the first ABBA LP that did not meet with any negative criticism.

In November, all members took a needed break. During this time Agnetha realized a much desired dream to do an album with her daughter Linda. The LP consisted of eighteen traditional Christmas carols and children's songs, in Swedish. Agnetha together with Michael B. Tretow produced the album.

ABBA had made numerous plans to do Christmas specials for television, but they were suddenly put on hold. A note had been delivered to Polar Music offices in Stockholm threatening the safety of ABBA and their children. A distraught Agnetha stated, ``Whoever's writing the notes said that if we went on tour, they'd hurt our children.'' After being advised by police to remain in Stockholm, ABBA regretfully cancelled all travel plans. Show Express, a German television program, sent a crew to Stockholm so that all members could stay safely in Sweden as the program was recorded.