Abba Kadabra
A little creative tax work sounds magical.
Howdy! Joey here, back for more Fun Fact Friyay. I’m not the Dancing Queen, but someone did once say I looked good wearing a paper crown.
Abba’s outrageous outfits were worn so the group could get a tax break.
The Mamma Mia musical features the work of the Swedish quartet Abba, and you probably loudly yelled, “HERE I GO AGAIN” if you saw it more than once (either onstage or onscreen). However, that musical didn’t really feature the group’s lavish outfits.
Abba: The Official Photo Book contains many pictures of their costuming, at least. It was released ten years ago to mark 40 years since the band won Eurovision with Waterloo. And if you read it today, it’ll be 50 years! Or, you can get another new book on Abba that just came out earlier this month. People love writing about those Swedes.
Anyway, in the first book, Björn Ulvaeus — one of the B’s in the band’s name — had a hot take on the group’s outfits. Here’s what he said:
"In my honest opinion, we looked like nuts in those years. Nobody can have been as badly dressed on stage as we were."
So why did you dress so erratically, Mr. Ulvaeus?! What would compel you to put on things you hated?
As is the case with virtually everything, it came down to money. Thanks to Sweden’s tax laws, the band realized they could save a little cash by wearing outrageous clothing.
In Sweden, you can write off clothes that are too impractical for everyday use, threads that could only be worn during a performance. And write off Abba did.
I don’t think we can accurately say how much money Abba actually saved, but Ulvaeus once got accused of not paying $7.9 million in taxes and successfully cleared his name.
Using a bit of logic (and perhaps a leap in said logic), we can estimate Abba saved between $0.01 and $7.9 million with their costume choices. And that ain’t nothin’.