Gen X Journey

Oh. My. God. Have you heard the news? Abba World launches today in London.

I’m so excited that’s it’s all I can do to stop myself from jumping on a plane and flying to Heathrow, just so I can be among the first IN THE WORLD to see the exhibition.

We Gen Xers own ABBA. The boomers had Elvis and the Beatles. We had ABBA. We grew up on Waterloo, Mamma Mia and Fernando.

Ahh Fernando, a song that was number one on the Countdown for so many weeks that they started substituting predictor hits because everyone was so bored. But not me. I waited patiently every Sunday afternoon to find out what number one was, was always surprised it was Fernando and then mighty pissed off when they started playing lame-arse songs such as that never ending Bohemian Rhapsody (and while we’re on that subject who knew Freddy Mercury was gay? I was so innocent) instead of the great classic.

Do you remember when Fernando haters started mucking around with the lyrics substituting

there was something in my hair that night all flaky and white it’s dandruff

for the lyrical, perfect

there was something in the air that night the stars were bright Fernando

Which ABBA girl did you prefer? Me, I was Agnetha all the way–all long blonde hair and legs. I never could see what she saw in Bjorn, but if she liked him then so did I. One of my most memorable Christmases was when Santa brought me the ABBA year book AND the ABBA Arrival tape.

Do you remember that memorable dance move on TV when Agnetha and Frida ripped their long skirts off in the middle of (was it?) Mamma Mia revealing matching mini skirts that kept the classy pink/blue cat motif intact. In hindsight it was pretty lame, but for a 12 year old girl from Rockhampton it was very, very daring. Yeah, I know it doesn’t rate compared to what’s on Rage today, but this was the 70’s.

But I digress, back to ABBA World and what to do. Well if I ever get there I plan on heading right over to the mix challenge room where I’ll brilliantly recreate the ABBA sound. Then I’m going to show off and ace the ABBA quiz and probably win a copy of ABBA Gold. And then after that I’ll race to the holographic room where I can jump up on stage, sing with ABBA and rip my skirt off. Then I will likely be escorted from the premises.

If anyone knows the name of the song where the skirt ripping occurred could you let me know. I’ve got to work on my moves.

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