You know you've arrived in society when the marketing analysts are targeting your age group. Fading into the sunset are those Cadillac commercials belting out Led Zeppelin. Now they're hitting us - US! - with ads featuring songs from Kansas, Electric Light Orchestra, and Earth, Wind, and Fire. Makes me want to switch on TVLand and watch Happy Days or One Day at a Time (yeah - I had a crush on Valerie Bertinelli - and she's still pretty cute even if she is my age). Hey, who knows? Those denture cream commercials featuring the music of Barry Manilow may be just a few years away!
Today I came across this article about the latest - and perhaps last - compilation album released by the phenomenally popular Swedish quartet, ABBA. Former band member Bjorn Ulvaeus told Reuters on Monday that "ABBA had no intention of following in the footsteps of other famous bands that have regrouped in recent years." Bummer.
ABBA was there during my formative years as a gawky, geeky teenager. I guess that would explain a lot. You either loved or you hated them. And I loved them! I still do! I still have 45's with some of their songs and a bunch of cassette tapes (for you kids out there, that's how we used to listen to music - there was no such thing as an iPod or mp3). Heck, I even have a CD of their greatest hits.
It's no surprise that ABBA didn't get back together. I'm sure it was awkward enough when the female members of the band divorced the male members of the band. But their music continues to live on. I've even heard glimmers of the "ABBA sound" in some contemporary Christian music - and those naturally are some of my favorites.
Currently the two male members of ABBA, Bjorn Ulveaus and Benny Andersson, are attempting to get their show Kristina onto Broadway. "It is very difficult to go from something so Swedish to America, but on the other hand it's a subject that everyone knows and especially in America -- about emigrants and immigrants," Ulvaeus said.
But given their continued popularity, I don't think it would be all that difficult to get something Swedish into America. IKEA, anyone?
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