Pop history for Abba and Brighton

As the final strains of Waterloo echoed through The Dome, few realised they had just witnessed the birth of a global pop phenomenon.

AS years go, 1974 was not a particularly good one.

Not for president Nixon, who met his Watergate, Ronnie Biggs, who was arrested, or Lord Lucan, who went AWOL.

Not for England, where the World Cup was over before it started, the miners were on strike and flares were in fashion.

Not for humankind in general, with scientists discovering a bit of a hole in the ozone layer.

Some good things happened - The Godfather 2 was released, Ali won the Rumble in the Jungle and Monty Python was in full flow.

But in the first week of April that year things were indeed looking particularly unpromising as Terry Jacks topped the British charts with Seasons In The Sun - a cheesy pop crime destined to be committed again by Westlife almost 30 years later.

Then, from out of nowhere (okay, Sweden) there came two girls and two boys whose music was destined to change the face of wedding receptions for ever.

When the unknown Bjrn, Benny, Frida and Agnetha walked on stage at The Dome and launched into a three-minute tune comparing Napoleon's great defeat to a burgeoning love affair, not even Terry Wogan could have predicted they were making pop history.

Watched by a television audience of 500 million, Abba's rendition of Waterloo won over the Brighton crowd and the Continent's jury panels, beating the favourite, Olivia Newton-John, who shared fourth place with Luxembourg.

In 1974, in the days before the likes of Sonia, Samantha Janus and Jemini were allowed anywhere near it, Eurovision was a tradition that mattered.

For a few days in 1974 the eyes of the world were on Brighton.

The town was caught up in Eurovision fever from the moment the BBC hired The Dome from Brighton council for £1,000. The council's chief executive said the publicity was worth £1 million.

Local people got into the Euro-spirit, most notably when 14 postmen went on their rounds dressed in the uniforms of their European colleagues.

But in true Eurovision style, the run-up to the big night was mired in tantrums and controversy.

France pulled out just days before the contest out of respect for the death of President Pompidou.

Italian state television decided to delay broadcasting the contest for a week because its entry was entitled Si, meaning yes. The authorities thought this could be misinterpreted as an appeal to vote yes in a national referendum on the banning of abortion.

Britain should not even have been staging the 1974 contest. Luxembourg won it in 1973 for the second year running but could not afford to stage the event again.

Britain's entry was sung by Olivia Newton-John, who was brought up in Australia. She was the 7-2 favourite but her defeat led to criticism of Radio 1, which was accused of boycotting Long Live Love - described by The Argus as "bouncy, catchy, like most of Britain's previous entries" - and ruining her chances.

Newton-John, who was spotted taking her racing whippet, Luke, for walks along Brighton beach in the days leading up to the contest, told reporters she hadn't liked the song anyway and would have preferred a ballad.

Her song certainly didn't make much of an impression on Argus motoring correspondent Mike Bacon, who was in the audience at the Dome with his wife.

He said: "I don't even remember Olivia Newton-John being there. I hadn't heard Abba sing before but that night they were definitely the winners. They were a bit way out, with their outfits and their flares, and were certainly the most striking."

Waterloo was banned from BBC Radio Brighton because it was deemed too rock 'n' roll.

Abba overcame that and went on to become one of Sweden's most successful exports, notching up 25 hits in their 11 years together including nine number ones and eight number one albums.

The first, SOS, was followed by Mamma Mia, Fernando, I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do and their biggest single, the karaoke classic Dancing Queen.

Their lyrics charted their torrid personal lives - the blonde one (Agnetha) and the one without a beard (Bjrn) were married the year before Eurovision; the brunette (Frida) and the bearded one (Benny) married soon after.

By 1982 the band had imploded under the weight of their own marriage problems, which had provided inspiration for two of their greatest songs, The Winner Takes It All and Knowing Me, Knowing You.

For a decade fans were forced to hide their Abba albums at the back of their record cabinets. The Swedes had become synonymous with unfashionable cheesy disco pop.

Then in the early Nineties a combination of the film Muriel's Wedding, an Erasure tribute, short memories and too many years of Stock Aitken and Waterman brought about a revival in the band's fortunes.

Benny and Bjrn went on to conceive the West End musical Mamma Mia.

Agnetha, the blonde one, has recently announced the release of her own solo album.

Recalling the night they made history in Brighton, Bjrn said they had expected to come eighth or ninth.

He added: "But I thought, 'We've got to stand out' because our song was so different. We knew that from rehearsals.

"The ridiculous outfits were over the top. We were consciously outrageous...

"After the performance, Benny was actually watching while people were voting but I didn't have the nerve.

"Then he shouts, 'We've won!' and that was incredible.

"All of a sudden the world was at our feet."