Never mind a clever opening, after 40 years, ABBA released two new songs this week, ahead of a new album in November, met with loose-limbed joy, and haven’t we needed some of that?

Despite their many hits, ABBA were never considered cool—they were even actively considered uncool. Their music was too maximalist, its pleasures plentiful, well-crafted, easy and somehow sincere–not a quality considered edgy. Disdained by cultural gatekeeping gents types, it’s not surprising that ABBA were loved by many to whom society showed no love—the gay men, plump, assertive women, the odd kids, as the film Muriel’s Wedding showed so tenderly. To be who you are when the world says you don’t belong, to love what arbiters of taste, yaniki ageing bad boys, disdain—require something. Maybe courage, maybe love. Sometimes they’re the same.