ABBA - Ring, Ring (Video)

What this video is

Produced in June 1974 at SVT Studios in Stockholm, this promo clip sits at a pivotal juncture in ABBA's history: the title track of their March 1973 debut album had already given the group their first Swedish No. 1 and chart success across Scandinavia, Belgium, and the Netherlands, but ABBA had yet to achieve its global breakthrough. That would come just months later via 'Waterloo' at Eurovision 1974. The clip's…

Why it matters

As one of Lasse Hallström's first two ABBA promos, this clip represents the embryonic stage of a director–artist collaboration that would help define the music video as a global promotional medium throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Its stripped-back, performance-centred format is a direct…

The director

Lars Sven 'Lasse' Hallström (born 2 June 1946, Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish film director. He worked as a director, cameraman, and editor for Swedish television from the late 1960s before becoming ABBA's principal video director from 1974 to 1982. He also…