History Music / TheVisitors

''The Visitors'' is Music/{{ABBA}}'s eighth and penultimate studio album, released on November 30, 1981. It's notable for being the first popular music album to be pressed onto a UsefulNotes/CompactDisc with the intention of a commercial release on the format.[[note]]It wasn't the first CD outright though (that being a test pressing of a recording of Richard Strauss' ''An Alpine Symphony'') nor was it the first CD of any kind manufactured for commercial release (that being a recording of Music/FryderykChopin's piano waltzes). It wasn't the first CD released either, that being a batch of fifty albums from CBS-owned artists, with ''52nd Street'' by Music/BillyJoel frequently being considered ''the'' first CD to be released due to it being the earliest-indexed title in this batch.[[/note]]

-->''Pity Cassandra, that no one believed you''
-->''But then again you were lost from the start…''

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

--->Now there's a shadow falling over our faces
--->doubt forever in our hearts
--->And in a while we'll start to pick up the traces
--->we won't find the missing parts

--->Something unwanted has entered our existence
--->I think it's better to do it from a distance

** In "The Day Before You Came", the narrator says, "There's not, I think, a single episode of ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' that I didn't see." In the movie soundtrack this is changed to [[Series/HouseOfCardsUK House of Cards]].
** Then she reads some book that, at her best guess, was written by Marilyn French. In the movie soundtrack, this is changed to Creator/MargaretAtwood.

* AmbiguousEnding: "The Day Before You Came" says nothing about what happens when the "You" arrives. The gloomy music and dispassionate delivery may suggest that whoever or whatever the "you" is, its arrival didn't make the narrator's life any better. Enquiries to Benny and Bjorn on the subject merely elicit a ShrugOfGod.

-->''Dear Cassandra, that no one believed you''

** "The Day Before You Came" and its video sound and look very sinister, but the lyrics themselves (supposedly) describe a woman's mundane life before she met her lover, and implies that she now leads a more interesting life. That said, the song offers no description of what happens AFTER she meets him; anything could have happened afterwards really. We don't even have much clue of who 'you' is actually addressing… There's a theory she's actually meeting ''[[DeadAllAlong Death]]'' and that she's reflecting on her life on last time before moving on to the afterlife.

** The female protagonist of "The Day Before You Came" starts practically every description of her day with the phrase "I must have..." (For example, "I must have read the evening paper then" or "I must have lit my seventh cigarette at half past two"), indicating she ''thinks'' she did the event, but she's not quite sure. However, [[DeadAllAlong given some of the song's more dark interpretations]], this isn't surprising.

''The Visitors'' is Music/{{ABBA}}'s eighth album, released on November 30, 1981, notable for being the first popular music album to be pressed onto a UsefulNotes/CompactDisc with the intention of a commercial release on the format.[[note]]It wasn't the first CD outright though (that being a test pressing of a recording of Richard Strauss' ''An Alpine Symphony'') nor was it the first CD of any kind manufactured for commercial release (that being a recording of Music/FryderykChopin's piano waltzes). It wasn't the first CD released either, that being a batch of fifty albums from CBS-owned artists, with ''52nd Street'' by Music/BillyJoel frequently being considered ''the'' first CD to be released due to it being the earliest-indexed title in this batch.[[/note]]

Upon its release, it reached the top spot in quite a few European album charts, but its singles did not fare nearly as well, only topping the charts in four countries ("One of Us" hit #1 in Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands; "Head Over Heels" also topped the latter), shocking at the time compared to their previous releases. The band dissolved in 1983, and wouldn't reunite until 2016; until the announcement of ''Music/{{Voyage|2021}}'' in 2021, ''The Visitors'' spent decades holding the distinction of being ABBA's final album, though it will now definitively be the group's penultimate album, as Benny and Bjorn have stated in an interview that ''Voyage'' will be the definitive end of the group.

* SeriesFauxnale: For decades, ''The Visitors'' stood as ABBA's last album thanks to the band's dissolution in 1983; their reunion in 2016 and the creation of 2021's ''Voyage'' ultimately did away with that.

** Then she reads some book that, at her best guess, was written by Marilyn French. In the movie soundtrack this is changed to Creator/MargaretAtwood.

The year previous, the two couples (Benny and Frida, Bjorn and Agnetha) had divorced, putting strain on their musical partnership. Tired of working together, recording sessions were cold and distant. Frustration over having to use a 32-track digital recording rather than their old one lead to a delay, only making things worse. The tensions show themselves in the music. Indeed, it is their darkest and most serious work, filled with songs of failed relationships and paranoia, along with a heavy electronic influence. A gloom hangs over the album, reflected by the cover, where all four members are positioned at opposite sides of a dark room, all studiously ignoring each other.

Upon its release, it reached the top spot in quite a few European album charts, but it singles did not fair nearly as well, only topping the charts in four countries ("One of Us" hit #1 in Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands; "Head Over Heels" also topped the latter), shocking at the time compared to their previous releases. The band dissolved in 1983, and wouldn't reunite until 2016; until the announcement of ''Voyage'' in 2021, ''The Visitors'' spent decades holding the distinction of being ABBA's final album.

* WarIsHell: For civilians, and not just soldiers, in "Soldiers".

''The Visitors'' is Music/{{ABBA}}'s last album, released on November 30, 1981, notable for being the first popular music album to be pressed onto a UsefulNotes/CompactDisc with the intention of a commercial release on the format.[[note]]It wasn't the first CD outright though (that being a test pressing of a recording of Richard Strauss' ''An Alpine Symphony'') nor was it the first CD of any kind manufactured for commercial release (that being a recording of Music/FryderykChopin's piano waltzes). It wasn't the first CD released either, that being a batch of fifty albums from CBS-owned artists, with ''52nd Street'' by Music/BillyJoel frequently being considered ''the'' first CD to be released due to it being the earliest-indexed title in this batch.[[/note]]

Upon its release, it reached the top spot in quite a few European album charts, but it singles did not fair nearly as well, only topping the charts in four countries ("One of Us" hit #1 in Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands; "Head Over Heels" also topped the latter), shocking at the time compared to their previous releases. However, what it lacked in commercial success it made up for in critical response, being their most praised and most remembered album (alongside ''Music/{{Arrival|Album}}'') by critics.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Made of this.
** "The Visitors" is about being arrested and made a political prisoner.
** "Under Attack" could be someone being chased or someone being taken to a mental hospital – or someone who ''should'' be taken to a mental hospital.
** "Soldiers" is about a dictator's army.
--->'''Cause if the bugler starts to play, we, too, must dance''
** The "two" in "Two For the Price of One" are prostitutes. And in the end it is revealed that the prostitutes offering this bargain are [[spoiler: [[{{Squick}} mother and daughter]]]].

* ShoutOut: In "The Day Before You Came", the narrator says, "There's not, I think, a single episode of ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' that I didn't see."

Upon its release, it reached the top spot in quite a few European album charts, but it singles did not fair nearly as well, only topping the charts in four countries ("One of Us" hit #1 in Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands; "Head Over Heels" also topped the latter), shocking at the time compared to their previous releases. However, what it lacked in commercial success it made up for in critical response, being their most praised and most remembered album (alongside ''{{Music/Arrival}}'') by critics.

** ShoutOut: In "The Day Before You Came", the narrator says, "There's not, I think, a single episode of ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' that I didn't see."

''The Visitors'' is Music/{{ABBA}}'s last album, released on November 30, 1981.

** "Two For The Price Of One", a humorous ShaggyDogStory about mail-order brides, sits right in between "One of Us", a BreakupSong, and "Slipping Through My Fingers", a song about the narrator missing out her daughter's childhood.
** "Head Over Heels", the other humorous song in the album, is in between "The Visitors", a song about a political dissident fearing that they're about to be arrested by the SecretPolice, and "When All Is Said And Done", another BreakupSong.

* BreakUpSong: "When All is Said and Done" is a bittersweet one. The narrator is glad the relationship is over, but she's not unhappy she had it.

* CreatorCameo: In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL2_PZwKDPg "Head Over Heels" video]], Frida bumps into director Lasse Hallstrom(the guy in the puffy blue coat).

** "The Visitors" is about being arrested and made a political prisoner. "Under Attack" could be this or someone being taken to a mental hospital – or someone who ''should'' be taken to a mental hospital.

** "Two [prostitutes] For the Price of One"
*** And in the end it is revealed that the prostitutes offering this bargain are [[spoiler: [[{{Squick}} mother and daughter]]]].

** "The Day Before You Came" and its video sound and look very sinister, but the lyrics themselves (supposedly) describe a woman's mundane life before she met her lover, and implies that she now leads a more interesting life. That said, the song offers no description of what happens AFTER she meets him; anything could have happened afterwards really. We don't even have much clue of who 'you' is actually addressing…
*** There's a theory she's actually meeting ''[[DeadAllAlong Death]]'' and that she's reflecting on her life on last time before moving on to the afterlife.

* MoodWhiplash: "Two For The Price Of One", a humorous ShaggyDogStory about mail-order brides, sits right in the middle of an otherwise dark album full of songs about betrayal and paranoia.

** "The Visitors": The narrator is paranoid people are coming after her, [[UnreliableNarrator but maybe she's just insane]]. She even {{Lampshades}} this fact:
--> ''Now I hear them moving''\\

* SecretPolice: Who are probably ringing the doorbell in The Visitors, since none of her friends would be so stupidly impatient and she is apparently in hiding.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room" sounds a lot like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", but that's just because they used the same melody.
* ThisIsNoTimeToPanic: The song "The Visitors" is about a dissident having a panic attack when she believes the [[SecretPolice Secret Police]] are ringing her doorbell.

* UnreliableNarrator: The female protagonist of "The Day Before You Came" starts practically every description of her day with the phrase "I must have..." (For example, "I must have read the evening paper then" or "I must have lit my seventh cigarette at half past two"), indicating she ''thinks'' she did the event, but she's not quite sure. However, [[DeadAllAlong given some of the song's more dark interpretations]], this isn't surprising.

Upon its release, it reached the top spot in quite a few European album charts, but it singles did not fair nearly as well, with only one of them ("Head Over Heels") reaching #1 anywhere (New Zealand), shocking at the time compared to their previous releases. However, what it lacked in commercial success it made up for in critical response, being their most praised and most remembered album (besides ''{{Music/Arrival}}'') by critics.

* MoodWhiplash: "Two For The Price Of One", a comic song (bordering on ShaggyDogStory) in the midst of an otherwise dark album full of songs about betrayal and paranoia.

** "You Owe Me One" has incredibly silly, upbeat music, and yet features some of the darkest lyrics ever in the band's music, indicating a sign of being hopelessly doomed in a relationship. For instance, the first verse is: "Now there's a shadow falling over our faces, doubt forever in our hearts, And in a while we'll start to pick up the traces, we won't find the missing parts". Later on, they say "Something unwanted has entered our existence".

** "The Visitors": The narrator is paranoid people are coming after her, [[UnreliableNarrator but maybe she's just insane]]. This is even {{Lampshaded}} by the narrator:

''I feel I'm''\\
''Crackin' up''

The year previous, the two couples (Benny and Frida, Bjorn and Agnetha) had divorced, putting strain on their musical partnership. Tired of working together, recording sessions were cold and distant. Frustration over having to use a 32-track digital recording rather than their old one lead to a delay, only making things worse. The tensions show themselves in the music. Indeed, it is their darkest and most serious work, filled with songs of failed relationships and paranoia. A gloom hangs over the album, reflected by the cover, where all four members are positioned at opposite sides of a dark room, all studiously ignoring each other.

** "The Visitors": The narrator is paranoid people are coming after her, [[UnreliableNarrator but maybe she's just insane]].

** "You Owe Me One" has the narrator losing their mind frantically due to depression over a failing relationship, a fact captured by its upbeat as opposed to sad music for the lyrics. They hint that they'll have a breakdown if they don't go on holiday to the Bahamas to "get a break from their petty little dramas'.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "Like An Angel Passing Through My Room" sounds a lot like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", but that might be just because they used the same melody.

*** Another theory is that Agnetha is singing about Bjorn and the band, [[RealitySubtext both of which she's about to lose.]]

* SanitySlippageSong: "The Visitors". The narrator is paranoid people are coming after her, [[UnreliableNarrator but there's evidence that she's just insane]].
** "You Owe Me One" has the narrator losing their mind frantically due to depression over a failing relationship, a fact captured by its upbeat as opposed to sad music for the lyrics. They hint that they'll have a breakdown if they don't go on holiday to the Bahamas to "get a break from their petty little dramas'.

The year previous, the two couples (Benny and Frida, Bjorn and Agnetha) had divorced, putting strain on their musical partnership. Tired of working together, recording sessions were cold and distant. Frustration over having to use a 32-track digital recording rather than their old one lead to a delay, only making things worse. The tensions show themselves in the music. Indeed, it is their darkest and most serious work, filled with songs of failed relationships and paranoia. A gloom hangs over the album, reflected by the cover, where all four members are positioned at opposite sides of a dark room.