"Thank you for the music!" :-)
What impact did ABBA make? They're a cultural icon, in many more countries than their own. Not only did they write their own material and play their own instruments, but they produced their own albums, and maintained control over their musical direction. There aren't many groups who do that even today. Now you're comparing them to Snoop Doggy Dogg, or however you spell that monstrosity?! Rappers (I will not call any of them "rap artists!") are notorious for speaking their obnoxious and offensive lyrics, and they appear to be proud of it. ABBA, on the other hand, wrote and performed music that one could escape into, without being drawn into a frightening world of violence, and hate. ABBA's music has been featured in some really worthwhile movies, not the least of which is my favorite movie of all time -- Muriel's Wedding. Their music is, dare I say it?, "wholesome." And darned if their voices didn't just happen to blend really, really well! (They did blend well. Beautifully, even!)
I attended college (for my first two degrees; one being music, of course) on a full-tuition vocal/keyboard scholarship. (An academic scholarship picked up everything that was left -- room and board, books, even a bi-monthly check!) Not counting singing, I have been involved in music since I was seven years old, when I started taking piano lessons. When I reached the 5th grade (the grade when band started for all of us in Galva, Illinois -- sister city to Gavle, Sweden), I joined and took up bassoon. The band director tried to talk me into playing something like clarinet first and then taking up bassoon, but I declined. I wanted to play the bassoon. Period. Later, I learned oboe as well. Then I tackled mallet instruments, and just kept going. . . .
During my college years, and after, I was a professional singer and musician here in Nashville. I married a fellow musician, Randy Mason (for those who know guitar, yes -- Brent Mason's brother). Randy played drums for Jimmy C Newman on the Opry at the time, but is playing drums and guitar with Merle Haggard now. Brent -- well, he plays guitar for anyone who is lucky enough to get him on a session! (CMA Instrumentalist of the Year more than once, and considered a "guitar god" by many. He's darn good, but "guitar god?!" If anyone is one, it would be Brent, though.)
Randy and I divorced, and I met and married Keith Palmer -- a highly successful songwriter, demo singer, and in-demand background singer at the time. (I sang on demos as well.) Eventually, he signed to Sony/EPIC as a recording artist, and the two singles that were released from his first CD (which had Brent Mason on guitar, of course!) were in the Top Ten. Keith and I wrote songs together at times, and one of our collaborations was recorded by "Babs" Mandrell, but it was only an album cut. On a lousy album. Produced by Tom Collins, who owned the publishing house that Keith was signed with as a writer. (You get the picture! *G*) Oh well. . . . One of Keith's last cuts (while he was still alive) was, For My Broken Heart, which "Reeber" recorded, and made her title cut on that album. It was #1 with a bullet on Billboard, and you can't do much better than that. As I mentioned previously, Keith has since died; he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and he died in 1996.
None of this makes me an expert, and I don't claim to be one, but I know a little about music, and I am proud to be of Swedish descent. All their "flaws" notwithstanding, I like ABBA. I also like George Benson, Chick Corea, Tower of Power, Mannheim Steamroller, The Moody Blues, The Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd, George Winston, Geoff Moore and the Distance, Al Jarreau, Delbert McClinton, Dr. John, Wynton Marsalis, Billie Holliday, Diane Schuur, Manhattan Transfer, Cato Sanden (Norway's country music star from Oslo, whom I'd never heard of until I met him and his bandleader, Rune Hauge) and countless symphony orchestras, with my favorite orchestral piece being The Moldau, written by Austria's Smetana. (I'm just getting started here, but you know where I'm headed?!)
That being said, I don't consider myself any kind of music "expert," but I know what I appreciate! I still like to listen to my favorites from when I was back in high school -- RUSH, Supertramp, Heart, Toto, Boston, Kansas, and ABBA! (And many, many more! *G*)
In short, the Swedish people are not the Swedish government, and ABBA isn't the worst thing that ever happened to the world. Sweden is a peaceful little country, they never bother anybody, and their internal conflicts are minimal. Plus, they are responsible for me being here, and I am grateful for that, personally!
;-}