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July 26

BAAB

Three of the pictures of the exhibits at ABBA: The Museum show representations of band members standing in a row with the women in the middle and the men at the edges. Going by the members' names, this spells out BAAB instead of ABBA. Was this a conscious decision by the band? Are there any pictures of them where they stand in the more "logical" order? JIP | Talk 01:35, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I strongly suspect in a less PC era, they were arranged that way because the women were more "photogenic" (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). From looking at other photos, the majority have them performing with the women in the middle and the men, often in darker and/or less conspicuous costumes, to either side. Clarityfiend (talk) 11:49, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Their album covers too. Clarityfiend (talk) 11:52, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Next most popular are the alternating genders, but I can't find a single ABBA arrangement with the men in the middle. Clarityfiend (talk) 11:56, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Spoke too soon. There's a few.[1][2] Clarityfiend (talk) 11:59, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I found this: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/whats-behind-abbas-staying-power-180969709/ --Khajidha (talk) 21:59, 27 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

[Edit Conflict] There are probably pictures of the four of them standing in all 24 possible permutations, but since their initials reduce to two (A and B), the number of possible "anagrams" is only 6. Western cultural norms in social situations (it seems to me) would tend to place the males (both Bs) on the outside, and on stage it seems (to me) more artistically balanced to place the two singers (both As) centrally; both these factors favour "BAAB". {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.197.27.141 (talk) 12:06, 26 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]