Abba’s genius was never to write a happy love song

Memories. Good days. Bad days. In 1992, U2 mounted their Zoo TV tour. U2 being U2, the gigs were over-earnest affairs, their showbiz razzmatazz never emulsifying with their agitprop posturing. But disbelief was colloidally suspended the night the show hit Stockholm – and U2 were joined on stage by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulväeus for a cover of ‘Dancing Queen’. In truth, that evening’s take on one of Abba’s meisterwerke was a lumpen affair. Bono had to drop his voice an octave for what ought to be the song’s soaring refrain. And while Björn looked happy enough strumming a few chords on an acoustic guitar, Benny, at a keyboard the size of a slipper, was patently flummoxed at how little of the song’s harmonic majesty could be retained when a beat combo is laying waste to your melodic line. Bono is a hard man to agree with even when he is right, but when he bowed to Benny and Björn and told them ‘we are not worthy’, he was spot on.

Then again, says Giles Smith, in 1992 Abba themselves weren’t all that worthy. Ten years on from their break-up, their stock was low. Polygram, which had recently acquired their back catalogue, hadn’t a clue what to do with it. A little market research revealed that while people wouldn’t mind hearing Abba’s hits again, they wouldn’t want photos of the group on the album’s sleeve.

Glance through the picture section of Smith’s My My! Abba Through the Ages and you’ll be reminded why. Though what you might call the A side of Abba were as pulchritudinous as pop ever got, the group was still a mess: Benny’s beard; Björn’s barnet – not to mention his bell-bottom dungarees; and what Smith artfully calls the ‘peek-a-boo onesie’ once sported by Agnetha (blonde, soprano).