ManDay: Benny Andersson
There are few bands in the world more polarizing than ABBA. The mere mention of the band will have some people already skipping to read the next entry, while others' hearts will leap a bit about seeing the name of the Swedish pop tarts. I was a child of ABBA and one of my first true crushes was Benny Andersson. Even at a very young age, I was drawn to that beard and chest hair peeking out of his flashy outfits. And I spent enough time listening to their music as a kid that I still love it to this day.
Seeing Mamma Mia! last week brought a whole wash of memories back to me. The songs are all wedged in my memory and resurfaced within the first few notes. The movie is just as polarizing as ABBA themselves. Many have already slagged off the movie and even though it's far from cinematic genius, it's an incredible amount of fun. Most importantly, it gave me more of an emotional response than pretty much any other movie has all year, save maybe for the Joe Strummer doc, The Future is Unwritten which I talked about a while back. While the Strummer movie was more thought-provoking, Mamma Mia! was just about feeling good in the summertime. And seeing Andersson show up for a too-quick piano-pounding cameo was some delicious topping to this confectious slice of cinema.
And though he was kinda goofy looking earlier in life, Bjorn Ulvaeus has certainly ripened quite nicely over the years.
And finally, it's clips like this that make me continually thankful that YouTube exists!
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