During my recent trip to Sydney, I was dragged to the obscure Powerhouse Museum for the ABBA World exhibition. Like, right after I got off the 9-hour flight from Hong Kong, one hour shuttle trip to the airport, and dumping my bags at the hotel reception.
You would think I am a big ABBA fan. Well, technically I am a fan of their songs. I loved how their hits spanning some 35 years were made into the spectacularly entertaining musical Mamma Mia! But of the group, I was shamefully under-informed.
Here are a few things I didn’t know of ABBA.
That ABBA actually came from Sweden.
That the four singers in ABBA has funny sounding names – Bjõrn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog. Of the four, I can only pronounce Benny’s.
That they are actually couples! Divorced, but still!
That they are still alive! They should have a reunion concert!
That I am very, very attracted to the ABBA costumes. Bell bottoms, flaring pants, sequins… the more bling, the better!
That I couldn’t do Dancing Queen for nuts, even on live stage. You could performed on a stage with ABBA at one of the interactive exhibition, dancing in an ABBA video, recording a sing-a-long with ABBA and photographing yourself on an ABBA album cover.
I am no buff for the history of pop, but even I could see ABBA is stuff made of legends. The proof? In immortal words of Madonna:
“Standing still when you hear ABBA is impossible”
So the next time you see me jiggling my bits when Mamma Mia! is playing, don’t judge me!
Avril long wanted a job at abba the museum at powerhouse museum in Sydney