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The names Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus may not ring a bell with most of us; put their initials together and you get ABBA and now we are talking. From ageing poppers (it’s not rock music, whatever the die-hard fans say) to teeny boppers, from retro junkies to music newbies, ABBA has a diverse fan following that spans countries, generations and cultures.

The Australians, it is well known, have a deep and abiding relationship with the band. The film Muriel’s Wedding caught the spirit perfectly; it was about young and lonely girl in a small and dull town who spends her time listening to ABBA songs and dreams about a husband who will take her away from her provincial existence. Muriel’s Wedding was a monster hit and the Australian virus spread all over the world — soon enough the forgotten songs of the 1970s band were back on the charts.

This created a groundswell that culminated in a musical, Mamma Mia which used the group’s songs and wove them into a story about a woman and her daughter and three men, any of whom could be her father. That again was a smash hit and last week, the film version of the musical was released. It has a stellar star cast — Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth among them. The film was premiered in Stockholm, where it all began and for the first time in 22 years the four group members, who had gone their own way, came together on one stage. Just the kind of moment that demands an ABBA song, in short.

By now I am sure there are readers who are preparing to give up and move on, because diehard rockers, young and decrepit would not want to be seen within miles of an ABBA record. Kitschy, bubble-gum, cloying are just some of the phrases used by critics of the group. They find the lyrics simple and full of cheap emotion and the music bouncy and forgettable. One critic called it the cheap white wine of its generation.

Then there are the clothes. Though the 1970s were full of fashion excesses which are deeply embarassing (flares! sideburns!), ABBA’s sartorial sense was in a different league of awfulness. Tight, figure-hugging Spandex and platform shoes were seriously cringe-inducing and added to the whole campy persona, as they danced around each other and belted out Knowing Me, Knowing You (aha). Remember, all this was happening around the time when rock stars were biting off bats’ heads and smashing their guitars on the stage. In a world where teenagers were looking for rebellion, ABBA were way too homely and the kind of music that your parents (shudder) would not mind.

Naturally, it was seriously uncool to like ABBA. It was much better to bury onself in the angst of Dark Side of the Moon and do some pretend rebelling with We Don’t Need No Education. A dead Morrison was far more compelling than these frighteningly cheerful Swedes; no one who wanted to have some street cred would own up to having heard ABBA, much less possess their LPs. Fernando was out, Hendrix was in, so in.
But guess what? The musical Mamma Mia and the re-release of their music has exposed many myths. Today’s dads and moms are flocking to see the show and are dancing away in the aisles. Upright pillars of society, corporate chieftains, movers and shakers, serious people all, start literally moving and shaking the moment the band strikes up Dancing Queen.

So were they all lying when they used to say that they would never listen to ABBA? Or is it that the nostalgia subliminally rises to the surface whenever they hear a song from the past? A little of both. ABBA’s songs were very much in the air — it was dificult to avoid them. And even the most troubled soul, looking for life-affirming answers in Stairway to Heaven, needed some soothing after all. Now, with the years of teenage rebelliousness long gone, there is a yearning for comfort food for the soul; what better than the non-threatening and cheery songs of ABBA? They have a song for all moods and emotions-rumination (I have a Dream), yearning and loss (Winner Takes It All, Fernando), clever wit (Money, Money, Money) and dancing (countless.) They transport you to a time when you too had dreams which may not all have been fulfilled. Life since then may have taken some unexpected turns, but nobody can take ABBA away from you.

Email: sidharth01@dnaindia.net