The rollicking piano and saxophone number was a welcome distraction from soaring inflation, strikes, the oil embargo crisis and bombings carried out by the IRA. вЂњWaterlooвЂќ, released in Britain in May 1974 as the winning Eurovision entry, quickly reached the top of the singles chart. They were neither socially conscious, radically experimental musically (though they did apply innovative вЂњWall of SoundвЂќ production techniques) or, as a pair of then-committed couples, edgy as a band.Д«ut that dedication to universal themes and catchy tunes is also what makes them timeless, and a source of joy in anxious times. вЂњWhen you have all these forces working to make things better in society,вЂќ Mr Andersson said, вЂњit can be very provocative with a band that just runs around in platform boots and plays music.вЂќ That singular focus on making effervescent pop music makes ABBA easy to dismiss. At the same time, the band understood where that frustration came from. It was criticised as commercial, cloying and exploitative.Д¬arl Magnus Palm, the author of вЂњThe Real Story of ABBA: Bright Lights, Dark ShadowsвЂќ, says that the group itself was nonplussed about such critiques: political messages вЂњwere a waste of a good tuneвЂќ. Punk and rock challenged the status quo and espoused rebellion their pop music was concerned mostly with love and heartbreak.

When they rose to fame as a group in the early 1970s, in the shadow of the protests of 1968, left-wing commentators and musicians in Sweden took them to task for their apolitical lyrics and cheerful tunes. In pursuit of unforgettable melodies, BjГ¶rn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha FГ¤ltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad laboured over their songs in the studio, but those songs were never designed to do anything other than get the listenerвЂ™s toe tapping. Over the decades this has been described as both the bandвЂ™s biggest weakness and its greatest strength. The same is true for listening to ABBAвЂ™s music, which, while often dealing with sad subjects, has a euphoric, transporting quality to it. The films challenge the mind only to the point of wondering what tune the actors might launch into next. It is pure feel-good entertainment, as soothing as a Swedish massage. For two hours the viewer gets to trade in their own dreary life for melodrama, Hollywood celebrities and ABBA songs.

HarryвЂ™s getaway is analogous to the experience of watching the вЂњMamma Mia!вЂќ films, the second of which was released last week.

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