a-ha: any fans?
 

One of my favourite bands ever, and probably the first actual "pop" band that I at first grudgingly admitted I liked, then later got totally into their music and loved them. Such a pity they called it a day. Feel free to post your favourite a-ha songs in their memory: here are some of mine...

My favourite a-ha album by a mile is "Analogue", and it has so many good tracks, but I particularly like these two:
A fine blue line

The summers of our youth

Ah hell, I have to include Halfway through the tour!


Then there's "Lifelines", with the brilliant title track

so many other good tracks, but let's move on to "Minor earth, major sky", from which I choose (though it's a hard choice) Velvet. Dodgy video (NSFW); great song.

A great weakness of mine, absolutely love the first three albums and also dig the American rock posturing of albums 4 and 5. Don't go mad on the newer stuff though.

I remember seeing the "Velvet" video before...singing corpses are hard to forget! :) ...but I'm realizing I haven't heard many of A-ha's songs, and this will be a good opportunity for me to do so.

The only A-ha song that I can remember off the top of my head is "Take on Me," of course, which I liked since I first heard it on the radio back in the '80s, although I don't think I saw the video until a couple years ago.

My favorite moment in the music begins with the line, "Oh the things that you say," just after 2:30, up through "You're all the things I've got to remember," because it sounds so plaintive with yearning. In case someone hasn't heard that song, here it is:


A-Ha - Take On Me (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - YouTube

Everybody knows that song, its the song that made them famous and also gave them a bad reputation.

It doesn't seem like anybody wants to speak about the band, just post videos of them;)

I have not heard too much of their music from the last decade (being in the US, its not even promoted much let alone released), but East of the Sun... and Memorial Beach have a place in my collection. #4 was a $1 cut-out find (cassette, now long gone due to over-play) bought during the Winter, about two years after it's release, and it was perfect with my drive home. With #5, I first bought the casingle to Dark Is the Night, then the album, not thinking that I was possibly the only one within at least a 50-100 Miles' distance from anyone else who bought it (it was Grunge Time, and in The Midwest...you know what that means).

The Blood That Moves the Body was the song that sold me on a ha as someone to listen to, although Stay on These Roads was VERY hit and miss. Thankfully, that dollar plus tax I spent on #4 was well spent.

I had to get my memories right, making sure that they are on the money.

I think that they are seriously a very under-rated band, and it's seriously hard to convince people around me about this, as all that many remember is "Take On Me," and not even "The Sun Always Shines on TV" (damn it...and it was the better of their two US Top 40 hits). The moodiness of Memorial Beach caught my ears right, and I do feel that it should be checked out by anyone interested.

A-Ha may be the most popular Norwegian pop act ever so of course I know them quite well. I was quite fond of Memorial Beach when that came out (I was a kid then basically so it's a while ago), but haven't really been an active fan since then. Still, their hits are a nostalgic and slightly guilty pleasure.

Of their old hits, I think this is the one I enjoy the most.




I find it hard to not think of Morten Harket as a bit douchey in a pretentious sort of way, but the guy can definitely sing. ;)

Sure, they were always a lot more popular here in the UK than they were in the USA. Their debut is a pop classic with songs like "Train of Thought" "Living a Boys Adventure Tale" and "Here I stand and Face the Rain". Their second album was just so moody and cool for its time. Their third I loved a lot as well Stay on These Roads, especially the songs "There's Never a Forever Thing" "Out of the Blue Comes Green". East of the Sun.... and Memorial Beach were the band breaking out from pop and into American based rock and I thought they did it very well.

Pal Waaktaar was a superb songwriter and Morten Harkett was born to sing. His voice was great on any type of song with a fantastic range as well. He was always at his best on the slower tracks as well.

That's why I said "someone"...as in only one person! :p: I suspect some people haven't heard "Take on Me," though. It's pretty old.

So what was this bad reputation that you say the song gave the band, and who had the negative views of A-ha? The fact that "Take on Me" made them famous suggests many people liked it at the time.

I prefer "Take on Me" to the more mellow songs by them that I've heard. For example, I was a little disappointed by the slow ballad sound of many of the songs in this thread because I'd expected and hoped for more fast-paced, dynamic pieces similar to "Take on Me." I'll have to listen to more, because I don't know their music well enough yet to tell how their style changed over time or from song to song.

EDIT: I just listened to "The Sun Always Shines on TV" because I didn't know if I'd heard it before, and I found out that I do recognize it. I definitely prefer "Take on Me."

Vegangelica (I used to think your name was VENGangelica --- pictured some sort of avenging angel!) if you want to read more about a-ha and hear some of their best music you should check out the profile I did on them last year in my journal http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...ml#post1128140 ---pretty in-depth, and worth a read, if I say so myself! :pssst:

I think what US means is that "Take on me", despite the fact that it's a great pop song, is sort of more towards the lower end of what they went on to achieve musically, but like many bands they got pigeonholed as being "that band who wrote that song", and people probably consider them one or two-hit wonders, despite the fact that some of their other songs did well. As he says, they did move away from pop later and into a gritter, more dark area, swapping pop for rock, and the fact that most people's image of a-ha is that one song restricts them in many people's minds. It's a phenomenon I like to call "The Albatross syndrome", and which I'll be exploring in depth soon in my journal (plug, plug!)

As for faster, heavier songs, try these:

Hole in one and spot on. When the average Joe here thinks of a-ha he usually thinks of "Take on Me" "Cry Wolf" and "Touchy" which were poppy singles aimed at people buying commercial pop, especially teenage girls. He won't realize that the band had a very different side to them as well.

i wasn't really that much of a fan until I got a boxset of their first 5 albums

then it was ......... not bad

then I got "Analogue" it was whoa mama

massive fan now

Thank you, Trollheart, for the music suggestions, the description of A-ha's reputation as only a pop group even though they evolved into more, and the information that you cover A-ha's music (and soon the "Albatross syndrome") in your journal. I'll look! :)

(VENGangelica...an avenging angel! I like it. I'd noticed your unique spelling in the past and appreciated your attempt to spell my "name," even if you used an extra letter. "Just don't call me late for dinner!" ;))

Heh heh...since I was a teenage girl when I first heard and liked "Take on Me" and I didn't realize that the band had a very different side to them, I'd say you have described me well: the average Joe(anne?).

They have some nice songs, it's a pity they will always be remembered as one hit wonder...

In the UK they're not!

I'm certain that it's only in The US where they are painted as that two hit wonder (Yes, "The Sun Always Shines..." did make the Top 20), and I'm sure that Canada had a few more hits.

A lot of areas around the world caught up with a-ha up to and including the Headlines and Deadlines comp (essential for a Part One history), although even that and it's single, the original mix of "Move to Memphis," did only OK outside of Norway. England and Germany were places outside of their homeland that were pretty up to date with them through the years. Other areas had the occasional comeback ("Summer Moved On" and "Forever Not Yours" being the main ones in my opinion).

The saddest thing was that I don't think that a-ha were even given another chance in The States after Memorial Beach, forcing the few Stateside fans left to search the import bins for whatever they can find except for the odd collection.

This should detail some of the story for those interested...

A-ha discography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

wasn't "The Living Daylights" a hit in the US as well, because it was a Bond theme?

Sadly, it was not. It only "Bubbled Under" as they say. #113 was the BB peak, Still, In Canada, it did peep in the Top 40 at #35.

The last US Top 100 appearance was for "Cry Wolf," with a very good video to promote it with. With that single, I saw it on CBC's Good Rockin' Tonight, which makes me think that it did a little better in Canada.

Well, I've only listened to their debut album and I have to say that the singer is very good (good enough to make me overlook their cheesy keyboard playing and that's saying something :laughing:)

Which album of theirs should I check out next?


PS, For anyone interested, there is a very good, unsigned progressive rock band called Gazpacho, also from Norway. Their singer sounds a lot like Morten Harket and the band had been compared to A-ha in general (though I think they're more Radiohead-ish tbh.)

Sorry I'm still new here so I can't post a link to Youtube but check out the song "Chequered Light Buildings" to see what I'm talking about. :)

I'd go for "Scoundrel days", then "Analogue", two of their best in my opinion.

As for Gazpacho, love them! Have you got the new album (soon to be reviewed in my journal)? I loved "Missa Atropos", and have the rest of their discog to get through, but I'll be giving "The march of ghosts" a spin first!
But unsigned? Aren't they with KScope now? :confused:

Oops you're right they're on Kscope. My bad. :)

Anyway, I listened to everything except the last two albums ("Missa Atropos" and "The March of Ghosts") and I think you might wanna listen to their first two albums only after listening to the other stuff. The first two are great but aren't quite as polished as the other ones IMHO.

I'll definitely need to check out the last two albums though, should be awesome :D