A long time ago, back when this was still the Booman Tribune, we had a regular who was quite the ABBA fan. That person posted quite a few ABBA videos in the comments of some of these cafe/lounge diaries (as we called them then) for a while. I always hope that particular individual is still lurking here, and that if I post an ABBA tune, I can incite a little active participation.
If you grew up in the mid-to-late 1970s as a preteen/early teen, you couldn’t avoid ABBA if you turned on the radio, or if you got your parents to drop you off at a skating rink to meet up with someone or a group of friends. Admittedly they were not my favorite at the time, but I didn’t dislike their songs either. Their songs were easy to skate to, and they made for pleasant listening. ABBA’s members were enormously talented, and knew how to craft these remarkable pop gems that hinted at some darker psychological undercurrents. That bit is something I’d only appreciate a bit later after some college level psych courses. And let’s face it – they’ve so far stood the test of time. New generations continue to find their music. They’re firmly embedded in pop culture (Community‘s season 2 Halloween episode comes to mind), and their songs have spawned a series of musicals. They even got back together and started recording again a couple years ago (although don’t count on any live tours).
Cheers!
