Felicity Long
Although many have tried to dissuade me from this theory, I hold to the belief that most people secretly love ABBA, regardless of whether they will admit it in public.
How else to explain the enduring popularity of this Swedish pop group that hasn't recorded a new song in decades?
And thanks to the Broadway hit and subsequent movie "Mamma Mia," not to mention its recent induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, ABBA has found new generations of fans and stoked the flames of older enthusiasts.
To test this theory, I recently visited ABBAWorld London at Earls Court, a temporary, interactive exhibition that generated a lot of buzz when it opened a few months ago.
The exhibition, which required timed tickets to keep the flow of traffic moving, offers visitors 25 rooms full of eye-popping video and audio displays, memorabilia, musical instruments and wild costumes on life-size dummies.
There is a series of very tough electronic quizzes about the group as well as TV interviews and music videos, light-up dance floors and a final exhibition that has visitors singing on stage with life-size holographs of the singing quartet.
Interestingly, some of my fellow journalists who had rolled their eyes at the thought of paying homage to ABBA were the most enthusiastic participants in this last activity (and suddenly, miraculously knew all the words to the songs).
I caught the London exhibit just before it closed; next stop on a planned world tour is Melbourne, Australia (opening June 12). The original goal was to have the exhibition become a permanent museum in Sweden, and while it is unclear if this plan will materialize, we hope it does.
Popular movies and songs have a long history of encouraging tourism, from the Lord of the Rings film trilogy for New Zealand to Elvis Presley for Memphis. And, perhaps most apt of all, look at the attention "The Beatles Story" exhibition has generated for Liverpool.
For details on ABBAWorld, visit www.abbaworld.com.