’70s Rock Style Make You Shudder? Blame Swedish Tax Laws.

Ever wonder just what in hell inspired ’70s pop
stars to adopt the transvestite trailer trash from Planet 10 (not
that there’s anything wrong with that) look when they went on
stage? Part of the blame lies, of course, with the interplanetary
cloud of LSD through which the Earth drifted during those years
(few people know that “Space Oddity” is
derived from actual NASA transcripts. Maybe). But now it can be
revealed that at least some of the blame for the ’70s pop look can
be placed on…Swedish tax laws. That’s the word from Abba member,
Björn Ulvaeus.

Reports
The Guardian:

According to Abba: The Official Photo Book, published to mark 40
years since they won Eurovision with Waterloo, the band’s style was
influenced in part by laws that allowed the cost of outfits to be
deducted against tax – so long as the costumes were so outrageous
they could not possibly be worn on the street.

Ulvaeus is quoted remarking, “In my honest opinion we looked
like nuts in those years. Nobody can have been as badly dressed on
stage as we were.”

As for why your dad wore bellbottoms and muttonchops…Some
mysteries are better left unexplored.

Since the 1970s, Sweden has moved in a more
market-oriented direction with
lower taxes. Swedes have even taken to
private health care. That’s a big change from the
state-dominated period that forced Ulvaeus into sequins. So modern
sartorial catastrophes wll have to be laid on somebody else’s
doorstep. Maybe France.

The video below is provided for information purposes only. Play
it at your own risk.