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What is it about ABBA’s music that seems to transcend generation after generation? It has been over 25 years since this Swedish group decided to separate. And yet, 25 years later, their music is still popular all over the world. So many of the groups in the ABBA era that were as popular (if not more) than ABBA have come and gone and are for the most part forgotten. Some have lingered on to this day, while ABBA has managed to stay popular even though they have not recorded a song together for 25 years. How do they manage to stay on top of the charts even though we never see them?

True, in this day and age we rarely hear about Björn, Benny, Frida and Agnetha in the mainstream media. Instead we are littered with daily dirt on Britney forgetting to wear underwear, Lindsay playing demolition derby, or Paris, well, being Paris. But in a few years time (if we’re lucky, a few months time) they will be forgotten. And yet, somehow, the music of ABBA will seemingly never be forgotten.

Arguably you can go to any dance party or club and if the people aren’t dancing, there is one song you can play that will get everybody on the floor, one which starts “Friday night and the lights are low…”. No other song can have that effect, except maybe “The Chicken Dance” or “Macarena”. Oh but I digress. Besides, does anybody actually know who wrote those two songs? But everybody knows who sang “Dancing Queen”.

Many people nowadays would not recognize the members of ABBA if they were staring at them in the face. The four members have rarely been seen together in the last 25 years. Bjorn and Benny make an appearance when there is a premiere of “that musical”. Friday and Agnetha are generally away from the general public. And yet, play an ABBA song on the radio and everybody knows who the singers are.

So what is the secret of ABBA? It seems that somehow, someway, ABBA’s music finds a way to gain new fans each generation. Those of us who were around back in the 70’s are of course diehard ABBA fans and for the most part always will be. In the early 80’s at the time of the group’s “break-up”, a collection of their greatest hits was produced, and then the children of the ABBA generation were exposed to their music. And then, a generation later, in the mid 90’s, “that musical” was produced, and even more fans were introduced to the sounds of ABBA.

So what does the future hold? Will the new generations be enraptured by ABBA as the past generations have? Will their music ever die? I don’t think so. Twenty, thirty, even 100 years from now, when the first notes of “Dancing Queen” are played, people will still jump out of their seats and start dancing. I’m not sure I can say the same thing about “The Chicken Dance”.

Jason Feng, Vancouver, Canada