It’s fall 1992. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and other Seattle bands have made grunge a mainstream obsession. Before the end of the year, Dr. Dre‘s The Chronic would do the same for rap, and the soundtrack to The Bodyguard would make massive mainstream inroads for decidedly civilized R&B. Yet the most surprising and longest lasting success of the era hails from a quartet of Swedes who’d broken up a decade earlier. Released without fanfare in the United States and seemingly out of sync with every other ’90s trend, ABBA’s greatest hits album would eventually sell over 28 million copies worldwide and rank among the 30 best-selling albums of all time.

Gold: Greatest Hits means many things to different people. To many rock fans who grew up in the ’70s and early ’80s, it is a reminder of what they perceived as overly slick and cheesy about the era’s AM radio hits. To their children, it’s boomer music they actually like. To gay men and the women who love them, unintentional queer anthems like “Dancing Queen” and “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” are guaranteed party starters as sure as “We Are Family” and “YMCA.” And to tweens… read more »