For the first time in three decades, ABBA performed together. The four members of the Swedish pop group, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad sang “Me and I” at a private party in honor of Ulvaeus and Andersson’s 50-year friendship. Andersson told Expressen , a Swedish newspaper: “It’s been a great night.”
This is a big deal; ABBA have barely performed together once since their breakup in 1982, getting together only once in 1986 on Swedish television.
ABBA is the best pop band of all time. You can argue otherwise, but I won’t budge. There are more popular bands, hell people probably know more Backstreet Boys songs. Still, ABBA (not Abba, that’s the Hebrew word for dad) created more explosive hits in their 14-year career than most musicians could even dream of.
The second CD I ever got (the first was Baha Men, woof woof) was the soundtrack to the Broadway musical, Mamma Mia! I was 8 and listened to it on repeat over and over, memorizing every line on the tracks, even the interludes with the play’s dialogue. I didn’t even know that these were all covers; I just loved the catchy tunes.
As I grew older, I had to put away the Swedish pop to fit in. Everyone else was listening to their American Idiot CDs on their first generation IPods, so I tried to get with the times. When I found my dad’s ABBA’s Greatest Hits CD in high school, I fell in love with these songs all over again. “The Winner Takes It All” became my anthem, blasting it on my headphones whenever I had a moment of crisis. The first time I went to a karaoke bar, I thought it was a smart idea to drunkenly scream “Money, Money” to a room full of people I had met that night.
Liking ABBA as a full grown male isn’t easy. When I told my editor how excited I was about this reunion he said: “how did you react when the doctor diagnosed you with virginity?” It’s a frilly pop group with songs about being too young to dance at a club and wanting a rich man to buy you things. Still, I can’t help but love every song I hear. When “Waterloo” comes on the radio, I have to stop whatever it is I’m doing and just break loose. I don’t care who’s watching, I got ABBA in my soul.
Andersson said that in 2000 the band was offered $1 billion to tour and they turned it down. Lyngstad told RTE : “no amount of money would change our minds. Maybe we sometimes say it would be good to do a song together again, just a recording and nothing else.”
Still, even with enough evidence to the contrary, I hold on to hope for an ABBA reunion. I would go anywhere in the world, just to see two old Swedish couples belt out Disco hits from the 1970s. I don’t care how stupid it sounds; I’m a proud ABBA fan and just want one chance to see my idols before it’s no longer possible.
I’ll never get to see the Grateful Dead, at least let me get ABBA.
