1974 ABBA Hit Faced a Bizarre Ban Nearly Two Decades After Its Release

Few songs from the 1970s still get people talking quite like this ABBA hit.

"Waterloo" started as an upbeat fan favorite, went on to become one of the group's most recognizable early successes. However, the song faced an unexpected and bizarre ban nearly two decades after its release.

At the start of the Gulf War, the BBC banned 67 songs from being played on the radio in 1991. What made the list so striking was how many well-known and widely loved tracks from music history ended up included.

According to the Los Angeles Times, certain songs were believed to be in bad taste. The tunes were considered for how they could offend listeners, as fighting lingered in the Persian Gulf.

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"Waterloo" used the 1815 defeat at the Battle of Waterloo as a metaphor for romantic surrender. Since the song was about a historical war, the BBC insisted it not be played throughout the Gulf conflict.

The BBC ban included "Waterloo" and ABBA's "Under Attack." Also included in the list of 67 songs were "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles, "Atomic" by Blondie, "Love is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar, "Back in the USSR" by The Beatles, "Sailing" by Rod Stewart, "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, and "Give Peace a Chance" by John Lennon.

"Waterloo" won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, and subsequently propelled Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog, and Bjorn Ulvaeus to international stardom. The album it's featured on, ABBA Gold, surpassed 1,000 weeks on the UK charts, according to Official Charts in 2021.

In the U.S., "Waterloo" shot to the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1974. It remained at No. 6 and on the charts for 17 weeks in total. In the U.K., the song took the top spot in 1974, giving ABBA their first No. 1 hit.

In a 2022 interview for Apple Music 1's Deep Hidden Meaning Radio show, Ulvaeus credited "Waterloo" to The Beatles. "It's about four people wanting more than anything else to be a pop group and singing in the language of pop, which is English," he said.

"Our biggest inspiration was the Beatles. I think 'Waterloo' is in a tradition of pure pop and in the tradition of the fantastic music that was written around at the end of the '50s, beginning of the '60s, in the Brill Building and Carole King and [Gerry] Goffin, and then The Beatles."

While the decision to ban ABBA's "Waterloo" was temporary, it marked a strange footnote in the band's history. Today, it's remembered less for controversy and more for its lasting place in pop music.

Related: 1974 'Irresistible' Sultry Soft Rock Classic Became a Signature Mood-Setting Hit

This story was originally published by Parade on Jun 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.