Top Ten series (BJÖRN)

Location: Dressing room of the Prince Edward Theatre, London, UK

Broadcast: April 2000, UK

Release status: Unreleased

Shown in: UK

Additional information

Björn was interviewed and spoke about a range of topics which then found themselves in various countdown programmes sometimes broadcast several years later in the UK.

Here's the ones we know about:

  1. Top Ten - Eurovision
    A review of Swedens' entries in the Eurovision Song Contest, with emphasis on ABBA: showing clips from ABBA's Melodifestival and Brighton performances. 
    Other Swedish entries and winners were also shown.
    Björn: “We had decided I think to, you know, to try to do something with what then wasn't ABBA but Bjorn, Benny, Frida and Agnetha. People were constantly referring to us - and they had to refer to us as something - and to say Bjorn, Benny, Frida and Agnetha every time you refer to a group like that was impossible. Then we had a competition I remember in a Swedish evening paper. Well what should they be called? And something like 80% said ABBA. There is a fish cannery in Sweden called "ABBA" which is - well, the biggest one really. All the herrings we get from there and we had to ask them and, "Yes", they said, “It's fine as long as you don't dabble in fish!.  We travelled out there and we had the whole country behind us - all the hopes of the country on our shoulders. We travelled out there and we had the whole country behind us - all the hopes of the country on our shoulders.  I didn't dare think that this could win and I certainly never did when we were. There there were contenders - difficult one. Benny thought it was the most exciting thing in his life! You know to watch those 12 points, 12 points, come in and then realising I think there were three countries left, or four or something and I was already heading up. And I remember it went through my mind, “This means overnight, this means something spectacular. The whole world is suddenly open for us.”
     
  2. The Ultimate Pop Star
    Broadcast: 20 February 2005
    Other people included (along with Björn: ABBA musicians Ulf Andersson & Mats Ronander, Phil Colins, Pet Shop Boys, Carl Magnus Palm)
    Björn: “We were stigmatised afterwards. And as a group too. I mean, we were. Although we took that chance because that was the only way to reach outside our home country. But we were stigmatised after - it took a long time to get over that.”

     
  3. Britain's favourite number ones
    Broadcast: 21 February 2005
    Other people included (along with Björn: Katie Boyle and Status Quo)
    Presumably Waterloo and/or Dancing Queen were included in the countdown
     

The videos from Top Ten - Eurovision and The Ultimate Pop Star may have been blocked in some territories.

 

Thanks to Patrick Smith and Jozsef

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