In a recent post I mentioned the Scandinavians taking over American pop music, and you might think I was coming up with something new. Well, hardly. First there was ABBA, the Swedes who ruled the airwaves for a while. And there was A-ha, the band of gorgeous Norwegian boys singing the catchy and bright pop song, Take On Me. Not only were they fun to look at, their video was pretty amazing for the time, with the combination of live action and animation, pretty new stuff in 1985. This lead to the song being number 1 in the charts throughout much of the world.
They followed that up with The Sun Always Shines On TV, which was slightly less successful, although it did top the charts in the US. A-ha were Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy. Well, that is a bit of a misstatement, as A-ha is still together, playing shows and releasing new material this year, via a CD entitles Foot of the Mountain. I know nothing about it, as the last time the band scored something in the Top 100 here was in 1986.
To catch up with A-ha and all they've been doing, go to their official website here. From some of the picture, they are still looking awfully good!
Love them - I recently got "the Sun Always Shines On TV" on 12". My sister loved this song. Also that debut album had some other great tracks such as Train of Thought and Manahattan Skyline (both were Top 40 in the UK)
ReplyDeleteSteveA, I have to agree, there is some great stuff they put out, and I can't figure out why they took off and then disappeared in the US market.
ReplyDeleteHi Howard - I think their music was too "inclusive" in that it was more European oriented and probably not pop enough for the US - I am just guessing!
ReplyDeleteSteveA, hard to say, but damn they were pretty and the sound so very poppy. I kinda wonder if they weren't just a bit ahead of their time.
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