Take on Me: A-Ha made the themesong of the 80's?
"Take on Me" may very well be the most popular song of the 80's overall but very few people remember the rest of the tracks and that album and well, there were some good ones in there. But let's focus on the only song that people remember that A-Ha made.... for now.
Just like anyone else that was alive in 1986, "Take on me" was a major part of that year. Things were changing a lot musically at the time: Glam rock was in full swing and Guns 'N Roses was just a few years away from releasing their "Appetite for Destruction" album which would change rock music very quickly and then fizzle out with the surprise introduction of Nirvana.
However, for 1986, A-Ha was king. They won like all the awards at the only recently invented MTV awards and that used to be an important thing. Since MTV doesn't really feature music videos anymore, i would be surprised if anyone places any importance on their nomination there anymore, but there was a time....
It wasn't just the catch song, but the video was unlike anything that had ever been done before. The artwork mixed with live action was pretty incredible for its time. Nowadays I would imagine we look at this and think (correctly) that Pixar would bang this project out in an afternoon. In 1985 each frame had to be drawn individually and then mixed in with live action. I can't find any real statistics, but you can imagine that there was hundreds of takes to end up with the finished product seeing as how all the "cartoony" stuff was literally drawn with pencils and then had to be placed on to actual physical film to complete the video. There was no photoshop or graphic design software like we have today in 1986 and it was an incredibly arduous process according to Michael Patterson - the artist behind the legendary video.
I think these days we take a lot of these things for granted because a group of students at random-ass university can bang out something far more advanced than this video for a group project using todays's computers. Consider this though: each and every frame of "Take on Me" had to be hand drawn over the course of 4 months, more than 3000 images... in my mind that makes it pretty dern special.
Take on Me was not an immediate hit on its own, it had actually be released twice before and the version that we hear now accompanied by the video is actually the 3rd try. It didn't even top the charts in A-Ha's native Norway on the first 2 tries. However, like they say... "3rd time's a charm!" and along with the video, "Take on me" swept the U.K., USA, and the world in 1986.
A-Ha actually has something like a dozen more albums after this one and you should have a look at them, but since I blog all the time, I will likely introduce you to them one-by-one (ok, not all of them, some are crap.)
This is my #2 favorite song in the world. I bought A-ha album on vinyl and started my collection shortly after.
this music is my youth! I feel nostalgic when I listen to this song.
I loved you but with this if it's true, I want to marry you. The person who does not like the music of the 80's is wrong with his head and even more if he does not like A-Ha. I'm sure that everyone in the world has listened to it even once Take On Me, I was born in the late 90s but my music is from the 80s, you should make a classic post from the 80s, my top 2 would be
1 Baltimora - Tarzan Boy
2 Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want To Have Fun
This music has that something you want to hear it every 5 seconds
Tarzan Boy! I had forgotten about that one! Thanks for the reminder!
You're welcome, greetings
I’m thinking in my head the top 80’s videos that stick out we’re definitely A-Ha’s Take On Me, but also Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Madonna’s Like A Prayer, and Duran Duran’s Hungry Like A Wolf. They just Steem to stick out in my thoughts. Pop-up video!! Never missed an episode… Yeah right… I wish.
This type of music reminds me of my dad when he was younger than we cleaned the house listening to those cacniones of the 80s. That old memory. Thanks for posting this content greetings
Whoah. Aha's Take on Me is one of my favorite 80's songs 💖. I first heard this song when I was a gradeschooler, when my father played a cassette tape on the radio.
They made even more great hits like "The sun always shines on TV" or "Lifelines". I'm sure you heard them but you dont know they are authors :)
"Take On Me" was actually one of the songs I liked least on the album (not that I didn't like it, I just liked other songs better) - it was too produced and had a different structure than my favorite songs: "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." and "Hunting High and Low."
Great post, thanks!
I agree with you. I normally skip it if it comes on. My original intention was to write about the other songs on the album rather than "take on me" because there are so many good songs on there that never really got listened to. Sun Always shines on TV had a video but the song never really saw much success, same with Hunting High and Low.
Ha. Yes, a classic and historical music video!
Thanks for the post.
So I after reading through your post, I watched the video, I was so "Taking On" just like the title of the song. I opted to watch again, and again and again!
I love the concept of the video and like you mention back in the 80s all those art done must been done singly. hmmm kudos to the airtist
I love the narative of the video.
Am heading to watch the video again...... smiles