Super Trouper (song)

"Super Trouper" was a hit single for Swedish pop group ABBA, and was the title track from their 1980 studio album Super Trouper, written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The song, with lead vocals by Anni-Frid Lyngstad, was the last to be written and recorded for this album and it replaced the track "Put On Your White Sombrero". The working title of this song was "Blinka Lilla Stjärna". "Super Trouper" is included on the Gold: Greatest Hits compilation, as well as in the Mamma Mia! musical.

The name "Super Trouper" referred to the spotlights used in stadium concerts.

Music video

In October 1980, the music video for "Super Trouper" used the largest number of artists that ABBA ever used in a music video. The spotlight featured throughout the music video is, in fact, a CCT Silhouette follow spot, as opposed to a real Super Trouper. The city of Glasgow mentioned in the lyric was suggested by Howard Huntridge who worked with their then-UK publishers Bocu Music. The music video was directed by Lasse Hallström. Parts of the music video were later reused in the Happy New Year video.

Super Trouper

Super Trouper may refer to:

See also

Super Trouper (album)

Super Trouper is the seventh studio album by Swedish pop group ABBA, first released in 1980. It features the No.1 singles "The Winner Takes It All" and "Super Trouper". The album became the biggest-selling of 1980 in the UK.

Overview

Led by the international hit "The Winner Takes It All", Super Trouper was the group's sixth chart-topping album in the UK. It was also the best-selling album in Britain for 1980. Super Trouper was first released on CD in 1983 by Atlantic Records, again in the 1980s by Polar International, and in the 1990s by Polydor in the USA. The album has been reissued in digitally remastered form four times; first in 1997, then in 2001, again in 2005 as part of the The Complete Studio Recordings box set and as a Deluxe Edition (containing a bonus DVD) in 2011. The previous year's divorce between Björn and Agnetha was explored in "The Winner Takes It All", and the members' lives in Stockholm high society circles coloured the lyrics for "On and On and On". Other well-known songs on the album include the hit single title track "Super Trouper", as well as the electro-dance of "Lay All Your Love on Me".

Super Trouper (spotlight)

Super Trouper is the registered trademark of a series of follow spotlights manufactured by Ballantyne Strong of Omaha, Nebraska (aka Strong Entertainment Lighting, formerly Strong Electric Corporation of Toledo, Ohio). They provided the inspiration for the hit ABBA song of the same name.

The lights were first manufactured in 1956. Initially, the Super Trouper utilized a high-intensity carbon arc lamp, which produced an almost snow white spot that set the performer apart from ambient stage lighting. In the 1980s and as carbon arc lamps fell into decreasing use, the spotlight began to employ a high-intensity xenon lamp as its light source.

Because of the Super Trouper's brilliant light field, many performers specify it in their technical riders. A large segment of U.S. entertainment venues, including proscenium theaters and arenas, continue to utilize Strong Super Troupers as their primary follow spotlights and it remains the "standard" that all other spotlights are generally judged against.