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Many years ago in Oslo I went to a restaurant with a friend. We sat there for a few minutes before my friend nodded discretely in the direction of the table next to us and told me not to look straight away. I of course looked straight away without hesitation, and immediately recognised Morten Harket enjoying a huge plate of spaghetti... on his own. I've never since seen a man enjoy a large plate of spaghetti as much as Morten did that evening. Ever since, every time I hear an A-ha song I think of spaghetti.
An a-ha special! How nice! :) I used to work for Mags/Magne back in.. around 1994, programming his rack of Roland S760 samplers. And I've met Morten, Pål, and Magne many times back then. Even been to Mags' homeplace outside Oslo, and been to many a-ha live practice sessions in the 1990s (as a synth/MIDI/sampler techie) Really down-to-earth and nice people :)
@@bigmiket In Norway he was always sort of known to be he "difficult" one out of the group, but through friends who know him I've heard he's a perfectionist in music and therefore may come across as "difficult" from time to time. Otherwise a very friendly and great person.
2 billion views makes the former Kim's Cafe where they filmed it the most viewed cafe in the world. LOCATION: at 390 WANDSWORTH ROAD, LONDON. The tree in Sun always shines on TV was filmed at Udney Hall Gardens, London
OMG! the clip at the start of 'the sun always shines on tv' ! never seen that before, I went cold, emotional with goosebumps!. Hunting High and Low was my favourite song on that album.
@@RetroFett I'm very, very sure he knows that as it is just common knowledge-Massive hit and still plays on radio-Train of Thought was only last played on music channel on Freeview in UK last week!
Hey !!! Thanks so much for including my video in there !! wooo! so yeah turns out it was a scratch/warm up mix in the session itself. it makes me laugh because theres a section in the vocal take that he burps into the mic.
Loved this! Take on me has been on my repeat playlist ever since it debuted. I can't say this about too many tracks by various bands. Great retrospective, thanks so much.
American here. My wife and I (even before we met) loved A-Ha. Yes, "Take On Me" is the most known, but album wise, "Stay on These Roads" was a superior album in that time. "Touchy" is still one of my favorites. "Stay on These Roads" was also amazing. All the way to the "Ending on a High Note" DVD (never say never) and beyond into now, we have been fans. They were the backdrop to our dating. America as a whole is missing out on absolute gold if they stop with "Take on Me". Of course we taught our kids better lol.
Their music was also massively popular in South Africa. Looking back on Vinyl and Cassette, (even CD to a certain level) reminds you of how big a part of our lives, it was. Looking at it now, it seems very alien and part of another life. Thanx for sharing,
I grew up in Utah and I definitely loved Hunting High and Low. Take on Me was a huge part of our musical lives but I have to tell you The Sun Always Shines on TV made me want to make music. I thought the production was so exquisite listening to it on my WalkMan in the 80s in high school in America.
One of my favourite albums by anyone. 'Sun Always Shines on TV' was played on high-rotation on college radio in the States. I never listened to the mainstream radio at the time, so no idea there. The song 'Hunting High and Low' is one of my favourites, by anyone.
@@RinnRuannan Yes... I remember hearing it played only a few times on our local pop radio station, but mostly heard it on our university radio... in shows/dj slots that focused on uk/european imports and the punk/new wave scene. Fun days where the radio was my lifeline!
I used to engineer at Maison Rouge studios, and I got asked if I'd setup and record some piano for half -an-hour, so I popped into the studio next door and found A-ha, who wanted to record them playing "The Living Daylights" to John Barry for the first time... I stil have that somewhere...
This may be the greatest comment yet. Please do share and let's chat about how to bring it some greater awareness. And on a personal level I'd just love to hear it. That's one of my favourite songs and an underrated Bond theme. Thanks Graham! retrorecip.es/submit
You've got to thank Herbie Hancock, Thomas Dolby, Art of Noise and the Fairlight itself for the synth noise experimentation in the 80's and the unique synthpop we lovingly got.
Peter Gabriel owned the first Fairlight CMI in the UK, and was the first british musician to release an album featuring its sounds. Initially, he was assisted by Peter Vogel, one of the Fairlight’s designers. In the US Stevie Wonder was one of the first users of the original Fairlight CMI in 1979. Stevie's personal engineer LaMar Mitchell worked closely with Fairlight to develop their product.
I love watching these and appreciate all the hard work that goes into them. Like ABBA, some misguided cool kids can now look back and admit they appreciate the brilliance of these artists.
a-ha are great Artists and Morten Harket's Voice is a gem 💎: The sun always shines on tv, Hunting high and low, The living daylights (from James Bond), Train of thought, I've been losing you, Manhattan Skyline, Stay on these roads, Memorial Beach, Summer moved on, Butterfly Butterfly, Analogue,Lifelines, True north, I'm in,...love this band 🎶
The Sun Always Shines on TV is my favorite on that album! Always has been. But really the whole thing is great. I remember getting the record and being so surprised at how good every song was. Meanwhile so many other bands of the 80s had that one hit and the rest of the album was terrible, A-Ha was a masterpiece.
Great video! I’m a teenager and recently became rather obsessed with a-ha. It’s really cool to hear how the song evolved. There are actually quite a few a-ha songs that have their roots in Bridges tunes, in particular I like their version of ‘Soft Rains Of April’.
Back in the 90s I was working in Oslo building the new Posten Norge building. It was a real life Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. My brother and myself from Glasgow, Deano from London and Jesse from Australia. We used to drive up to Sweden to buy food in an old Chevy G20 we called the Venga bus. Anyway we broke down on our way home and a Range Rover stopped and asked if we needed help. It was Morton on his way to Oslo. He drove us to the gas station in his car then took us back. He was a diamond bloke. Really down to earth. We offered him money but he refused.
@@Co-nun-drum Oh wow what a story ❤️ We Fans always knew that Morten is an extraordinary artist, he has a big heart and a wonderful character. He not only looks good but also has a beautiful soul. Despite his fame, he has always remained down to earth, has been politically active and has campaigned for environmental protection since the 80s, etc. The other two band members are also people with strong characters and are very down to earth. By the way, some fans would die to meet Morten on the street 😅
Somewhere in the world, I'm sure there's a town called Horton. It's entirely possible they have a regular farmers' market there. I've always been wondering, whether "Morten Harket shops Horton Market" would make for a good headline in the local newspaper.
hats off to the one host for for being the only one in the room with enthusiasm and carrying this show. I subscribed today and cant wait to see what excites the other host! But really aha was one of my early bands i listened to. I love this whole era of people figuring out what to do with synthesizers. I never knew about these early demos and feel better knowing they exist.
This was really interesting and so good to see the evolution of the song. "Take On Me" is indeed the finest pop song ever. "The Sun Always Shines On TV" was also excellent, and the video was filmed in St Alban's Church, Teddington, which I know you'll be familiar with.
I remember hearing The Sun Always Shines On TV in the US back in the 80s but of course the only reason we are talking about Ah-a so many years later is because of Take On Me. It is damn near a perfect pop song and younger people have to remember that synthesizers were still relatively new at the time. Songs like this sounded so futuristic to me out on the farm in the rural Midwest. 👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾
I bought the Hunting High and Low album way back in '85. A great album. Morten's voice was something else. A really interesting show highlighting the beginnings of a very memorable song :)
Thanks for another great video! And.. just IMAGINE that being the first time you'd ever heard The Sun Always Shines on TV. I'd give just about anything for that experience again.
I've kind of been on the fringe of retro channels for years (LGR,8BG, techmoan) but only saw your videos a few days ago??? Catching up now, loving it. This one, simply brilliant. Thanks.
VERY cool! I LOVE Aha and they have aged like fine wine! Norway indeed! I grew up in America and I TOTALLY remember their other hit, "The Sun Always Shines on TV". Thank You for celebrating the 40th anniversary of this INCREDIBLE song! I still get my butt out there and dance to it when my local 80's cover band plays it. :)
The cafe in London where Take on Me was filmed is still in business and although it's since been refurbished the table Bunty sat at and some of the surrounding area has been retained. Also, check out their Summer Solstice album for great acoustic versions of Take on Me and The Sun always shines...
Excellent video.. A-ha is one of my all time favorite music groups 😊 My favorite version of Take on me is the MTV unplugged where you really hear what the lyrics are about! 😊
I had this album and the follow up and definitely didn't think of the band as a "one hit wonder" (I am from California). I actually preferred the second single from this album "The Sun Always Shines on TV" EDIT: Ahh (ha) I see you mentioned it. By the way Courtney Cox and George Michael never looked so dapper. New sub.
I have the Star Wars arcade machine and ROTJ board but in an upright, I could have bought a cockpit but didn't have room for it at the time. I bought it in 1995 for £220, they cost a fortune now! I remember this coming out, the video was on every music and kids show going, the country went mad for it, my band even used to throw the synth verse in to our own songs just for comedic value. I have never heard of a band making so many demos, especially considering they already had a recording deal.
Wonderful song, we loved it when it came out!!! and I loved listening to it while programming on my Commodore 64 in basic!!! What wonderful memories!!! and what an incredible time!!! Thank you!!!!
The sound of my youth. Absolutely timeless. I still follow the band today, at the ripe old age of 50. Great video, there's a couple of here I've not heard before, very cool!
I never knew there so many versions of that hit song,ah ha take on me , amazing video & great job in doing the research on 80s hit & the story behind it , I find it fascinating ❤
This was fascinating history I have never heard before. I loved this! And I agree Lady Fractic's ignorance of A-Ha's second greatest hit is unacceptable. Instead of divorce though, see if you could interest her in a clockwork orange style viewing (it helps to keep the eyelids open I'm told - don't forget the eyedrops) to The Sun Always Shines on TV video until she can sing the whole song by heart like she ought to be able to. I'm going to ask my wife now if she is familiar with it.
Thanks for such a deep dive into this iconic 80s track. Still remember the first time I saw the video on MTV, was mesmerized by the animation style over live action, not to mention the unique sound of this track, that still sounds great in 2024! My little kids now love it after it was featured in the Despicable Me 3 movie😂
Thank you so much for this! I've been a fan of a-ha since the video exploded on MTV and up to True North and hopefully beyond. Your nostalgia for the song and for those early days reminds me of mine as well. Many many thanks!!!
Great walkthrough! I remember seeing their first appearance with Take On Me on Norwegian TV as a teenager. Went to the record store, listened to the single, which was the first single version then, and thought "nah, I'll pass this one". A collector's item now, one of my regrets in life. The final version went on to become a main part of the soundtrack of my teens in Norway. Norway went from being irrelevant in global pop culture to having one of the World's biggest bands overnight, perfectly timed with my teens. It's hard to imagine now how huge they were here, with an endless string of hits. My favourite track is Hunting High And Low, hands down.
Excellent video! I been on 3-4 A-ha concerts, the last one just a couple of years ago, and I have most of their CD's, but this early history information was all new to me.
This is a true 80's classic that brings back memories. I was nine years old when it came out, and around that time I was a bit obsessed with an old tape recorder that used to be my late Auntie's, so my hobby for a while was recording everything, theme tunes off great TV shows like 'V' or Knight Rider, and also my own voice while attempting to sings songs I liked, including this hit. I think I may still have an old tape somewhere of me singing it, probably pretty badly, and mumbling the words in parts where I didn't know them.....oh happy days 😀 Thanks for a cracking nostalgic video reminding me of days gone by :)
This room!! 😍😍😍 This chanel!! 😍😍😍 Memories of my childhood immediately come to life! Hearing AHA, wow this really moves me! Literally jumping up and down while cooking diner hahaha! 💃🏻 🪩 Such an awesome video!! 😍
A-Ha is more of an albums band than a singles band. their albums are great. Hunting High & Low is one of the best albums ever produced. every track is good, not a single dud.
Thanks for this! New to your channel but not a-ha. I've followed them since Hunting High and Low. Sad that they never got the attention they deserve in the States.
Peri (@ Ladyfractic too!), you guys never cease to amaze me with your creativity and diversity of interest here. This couldn't have been further from my radar right now, but I LOVE it and am SO glad you brought this to my Retro Sunday!!!
Wonderful video and history lesson! a-ha's "Take on Me" with the first of a TRILOGY, followed (as you noted) by "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and then immediately transitioning into the finale, "Train of Thought" (Train of Thought picks up on the final frame of The Sun Always Shines on TV, and returns to the sketchbook animation style).
6:16 I would guess if it was released only two years earlier, the drums and synths would have sounded like this (in the Eurythmics and Human League, erm.. league 😅). The version after is pretty cool, and like the drier version after that. The first version is quite New Wave/Beatles almost! Great video, thanks, I'm subscribed 😊
I have always loved the band and their song from The Living Daylights of the same name is one of the top Bond theme songs IMO. I know they have had a hard time over the years but unlike The Police, they stuck it out (and broke up) and reformed (sounds like a Python skit). I've said I must delve into their whole albums previously, and now, maybe it's time to start collecting. Over the past two years I have revisited Talking Heads and have really learned to love the enigmatic style of David Byrne and to watch him evolve as a person over time is fascinating. So, now it's time to jump into A-ha! Great work, guys!
Thanks for the deep dive, and for sacrificing your ad revenue for this one. Oh, yeah, and for the puns. Had a little chuckle at "fixing the lipstick", too. Cheers! 🤘
Ive heard all these demos years ago and they are very interesting as I bought Hunting High and Low in 1985 when I was a kid. The finished product is really well polished. Some songs from that era that never made it on the LP are good.
Ive heard The Juicy Friut song. Most of it was already there but Morten Harket was the one that took it one step further and Alan Tarney for finally making it a hit.
I think most of what I can hear of the riff sounds to me like the Juno, but it has what might roughly be called a "metallic" character that comes from either or both of the Yamaha DX7 / PPG Wave. But I can get that it would have the DX7 as said above.
It's a Juno 60 lead line, dx7 on bass and some other bell sounds and a waldorf ppg wave doing an arpeggiation in the verses. There's also the string part which could be the J60 or ppg.
instant thumbs up love A-ha and love that song I was Listening to "Take on Me" yesterday, they had many great songs. wow that 20 mins flew by like warp speed
Thank you for this special music episode, I didn't know the history of the song. It's one of my favorite, but the 80s has so many great songs. Yes The Sun Always Shines on TV was played on MTV, VH1 and Ted Turner's CMC Cable Music Channel. I was a radio DJ for WLPJ in New Port Richey Florida where I played Take on me August 1984. The station music director called and scolded me. It wasn't on the charts yet and not in the stations rotation. November 1984 it became a Christian station. It was fun while it lasted, I went by the name Dale Davidson, Gerry the Gentle Giant was the music director's DJ name.
Great video, love to hear those demo tunes. All the A-ha songs in your video where popular here on the Dutch radio stations. My father used to have "Stay on These Roads" album back in the day, a very good album if you ask me.
Back in the day, I bought the seven inch single of Hunting High and Low. The B-side was a demo version of The Blue Sky. When I eventually got a CD player, I got the album and somehow ended up spending a lot of time comparing the final album version to the demo... I've just done that again right now. The demo lyrics mentions stuff about not having enough cigarettes whereas the album version doesn't. They both have corny joke; "I used to be confused, but now I just don't know." Glad they kept that bit...
Thank you for this behind the scenes/history of both one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded and of A-Ha themselves. I still love this song today just as much as I did when I first heard it back in 1985 as a 19 year old. I also have the album, one of the very first CDs I ever bought.
Brilliant Chris! I did know that the song was only a hit on its re-rerelease but didn't at all know about the other history for one of my all-time favourite songs (I've been an A-Ha fan since then - especially the Scoundrel Days album). One of the demos - had a brilliant Juno60 chorus base line which would have been great to have kept in the final version I think.
@1:50 - Lady Fractic says she hasn't heard DNA before. I recommend she checks out "DNA" by A Flock of Seagulls, a song from their 1982 debut album. The song is brilliant, the album is brilliant, and it's just perfect for the 80s loving Retro Recipes channel!
Thanks for the Retro-spective on one of my favourite songs growing up. Sadly, CBC's Video Hits forgot about these guys pretty quickly after Sun Always Shines... came out, [which is a great song in it's own right] which played into the "one hit wonder" misnomer, and I never heard that song again until rediscovering it many years later. Diving back in, I'd heard the "rooster" version before, but I didn't realize that the synth riff went back even further. Thanks for the trip eh.
In the 2021 Aha movie (documentary) there is a moment shared between Magne and Morten after their first meeting. They were somehow forced to walk together and started talking about their families. Magne's biological father died in a plane crash, the very same crash that Morten witnessed through his window. ''So there was like...A strong sense of destiny the first time we met.''...They also lived below the poverty line before they got a deal but never stopped trying, and it just makes you wonder... if at any point they gave up out of hunger, fatigue, despair - there would be no Aha.. How many times have we given up?
A-Ha a one-hit wonder!‽‽ I'm in the US, and I remember them lasting more than just "Take On Me" - maybe it was just that Take On Me was just *SO* iconic that people forgot about the rest of their works?
The video for Take On Me should be a Masterclass on how to produce music videos! WAY ahead of its time for a music video, and way before CGI was popular! This is my favorite visual for ALL music videos ever released.
I remember listening to "The sun always shines on TV" on muchmusic in Canada. Plus , my sister would play the tape all the time. She had big crush on lead singer lol
Thanks for watching our take on Take On Me! Did you know all RUclips revenue for this free video goes to A-ha & Warner Music? But feel free to support our work in return for ad-free early access & much more 👉 patreon.com/perifractic (7-day free trial) 🙏
Many years ago in Oslo I went to a restaurant with a friend. We sat there for a few minutes before my friend nodded discretely in the direction of the table next to us and told me not to look straight away. I of course looked straight away without hesitation, and immediately recognised Morten Harket enjoying a huge plate of spaghetti... on his own. I've never since seen a man enjoy a large plate of spaghetti as much as Morten did that evening. Ever since, every time I hear an A-ha song I think of spaghetti.
Haha! Did he only have spaghetti or did he also Take On Meatballs?
@@RetroRecipes I can't remember if he took on any protein, but he was gone in a carb or two.
@@RetroRecipes LOL! Maybe he did also "Take on Me"lone Gelato to finish.
@@christianfowler3267 he’s just like me…
@@RetroRecipes PuppyFractic would have had an "uuuggghhh" at that one, just sayin'
An a-ha special! How nice! :)
I used to work for Mags/Magne back in.. around 1994, programming his rack of Roland S760 samplers. And I've met Morten, Pål, and Magne many times back then. Even been to Mags' homeplace outside Oslo, and been to many a-ha live practice sessions in the 1990s (as a synth/MIDI/sampler techie) Really down-to-earth and nice people :)
That's amazing!
Some documentaries claim Magne had a bit of a difficult character. True? Not true?
@@bigmiket In Norway he was always sort of known to be he "difficult" one out of the group, but through friends who know him I've heard he's a perfectionist in music and therefore may come across as "difficult" from time to time. Otherwise a very friendly and great person.
@@bigmiket Do they? Definitely not true from my experience.
S760...Best damn filter.
Fantastic video over the making of this 80s classic! Thank you very much! Greetings from Brazil!
2 billion views makes the former Kim's Cafe where they filmed it the most viewed cafe in the world. LOCATION: at 390 WANDSWORTH ROAD, LONDON. The tree in Sun always shines on TV was filmed at Udney Hall Gardens, London
And now it's no longer a cafe, but the Turkish Chef Restaurant. "Turrr... kishhhh... Cheeeeef" 🎵
The sun always shines on tv is possibly their finest, closely followed by lifelines. Great to hear some early versions of take on me, thank you.
I'm from Norway and I did not know all of this...Thanks!
OMG! the clip at the start of 'the sun always shines on tv' ! never seen that before, I went cold, emotional with goosebumps!. Hunting High and Low was my favourite song on that album.
You should see the sequel to "The Sun Always Shines on TV", released as "Train of Thought." It picks up right where "Sun" ends.
I have seen the reprise before, I am sure they think it was a great idea, but ruins the mystique of "take on me".
@@RetroFett I'm very, very sure he knows that as it is just common knowledge-Massive hit and still plays on radio-Train of Thought was only last played on music channel on Freeview in UK last week!
Both Hunting High and Low album and Scoundrel Days album are fantastic!
Hey !!! Thanks so much for including my video in there !! wooo! so yeah turns out it was a scratch/warm up mix in the session itself. it makes me laugh because theres a section in the vocal take that he burps into the mic.
Thanks so much for making it! I hope to have a new A-ha never heard demo coming soon. Watch this space...
Loved this! Take on me has been on my repeat playlist ever since it debuted. I can't say this about too many tracks by various bands. Great retrospective, thanks so much.
American here. My wife and I (even before we met) loved A-Ha. Yes, "Take On Me" is the most known, but album wise, "Stay on These Roads" was a superior album in that time. "Touchy" is still one of my favorites. "Stay on These Roads" was also amazing. All the way to the "Ending on a High Note" DVD (never say never) and beyond into now, we have been fans. They were the backdrop to our dating. America as a whole is missing out on absolute gold if they stop with "Take on Me". Of course we taught our kids better lol.
Meee I'm touchy, touchy you...
Thanks for sharing the other versions and demos of 'Take on me'! always love hearing how a song came together!
Their music was also massively popular in South Africa. Looking back on Vinyl and Cassette, (even CD to a certain level) reminds you of how big a part of our lives, it was. Looking at it now, it seems very alien and part of another life. Thanx for sharing,
It is awesome that you can play this timeless song in your channel because you have us dedicated fans to support you through other means.
That is truly incredible!!
I grew up in Utah and I definitely loved Hunting High and Low. Take on Me was a huge part of our musical lives but I have to tell you The Sun Always Shines on TV made me want to make music. I thought the production was so exquisite listening to it on my WalkMan in the 80s in high school in America.
One of my favourite albums by anyone. 'Sun Always Shines on TV' was played on high-rotation on college radio in the States. I never listened to the mainstream radio at the time, so no idea there. The song 'Hunting High and Low' is one of my favourites, by anyone.
@@RinnRuannan Yes... I remember hearing it played only a few times on our local pop radio station, but mostly heard it on our university radio... in shows/dj slots that focused on uk/european imports and the punk/new wave scene. Fun days where the radio was my lifeline!
I used to engineer at Maison Rouge studios, and I got asked if I'd setup and record some piano for half -an-hour, so I popped into the studio next door and found A-ha, who wanted to record them playing "The Living Daylights" to John Barry for the first time... I stil have that somewhere...
@@cristouk please, please post it to RUclips!!
This may be the greatest comment yet. Please do share and let's chat about how to bring it some greater awareness. And on a personal level I'd just love to hear it. That's one of my favourite songs and an underrated Bond theme. Thanks Graham! retrorecip.es/submit
Wow, it's like a trip through multiple parallel universes where each one had its Take on me song. Wonderful
You've got to thank Herbie Hancock, Thomas Dolby, Art of Noise and the Fairlight itself for the synth noise experimentation in the 80's and the unique synthpop we lovingly got.
Peter Gabriel owned the first Fairlight CMI in the UK, and was the first british musician to release an album featuring its sounds. Initially, he was assisted by Peter Vogel, one of the Fairlight’s designers.
In the US Stevie Wonder was one of the first users of the original Fairlight CMI in 1979. Stevie's personal engineer LaMar Mitchell worked closely with Fairlight to develop their product.
I love watching these and appreciate all the hard work that goes into them. Like ABBA, some misguided cool kids can now look back and admit they appreciate the brilliance of these artists.
a-ha are great Artists and Morten Harket's Voice is a gem 💎:
The sun always shines on tv, Hunting high and low, The living daylights (from James Bond), Train of thought, I've been losing you, Manhattan Skyline, Stay on these roads, Memorial Beach, Summer moved on, Butterfly Butterfly, Analogue,Lifelines, True north, I'm in,...love this band 🎶
This type of videos always shines on RetroRecipes :)
...on your TV :)
The Sun Always Shines on TV is my fav song ever!
Ahhhh.. I forgot... the best song in the world (for me) the top one of the top one, is "The Sun always shines on tv" the best!! Thanks Perifractic!!!
Big A-ha fan and also a fan of Retro Recipes. Brilliant video
That was fascinating! Thanks so much for pilling it together. So well presented/edited
Oh thanks!
You are both so right on not knowing where one song will end nor how many versions it will take.
The Sun Always Shines on TV is my favorite on that album! Always has been. But really the whole thing is great. I remember getting the record and being so surprised at how good every song was. Meanwhile so many other bands of the 80s had that one hit and the rest of the album was terrible, A-Ha was a masterpiece.
Great video! I’m a teenager and recently became rather obsessed with a-ha. It’s really cool to hear how the song evolved. There are actually quite a few a-ha songs that have their roots in Bridges tunes, in particular I like their version of ‘Soft Rains Of April’.
Back in the 90s I was working in Oslo building the new Posten Norge building. It was a real life Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. My brother and myself from Glasgow, Deano from London and Jesse from Australia. We used to drive up to Sweden to buy food in an old Chevy G20 we called the Venga bus. Anyway we broke down on our way home and a Range Rover stopped and asked if we needed help. It was Morton on his way to Oslo. He drove us to the gas station in his car then took us back. He was a diamond bloke. Really down to earth. We offered him money but he refused.
Wow!
@@Co-nun-drum Oh wow what a story ❤️
We Fans always knew that Morten is an extraordinary artist, he has a big heart and a wonderful character. He not only looks good but also has a beautiful soul. Despite his fame, he has always remained down to earth, has been politically active and has campaigned for environmental protection since the 80s, etc. The other two band members are also people with strong characters and are very down to earth.
By the way, some fans would die to meet Morten on the street 😅
Great special episode!
Love Aha! Unbelievable they are consided a one hit wonder in the US. 😮
had no idea! great video, so dope to hear the actual demos! thanks for bringing it to life
Somewhere in the world, I'm sure there's a town called Horton. It's entirely possible they have a regular farmers' market there.
I've always been wondering, whether "Morten Harket shops Horton Market" would make for a good headline in the local newspaper.
You ask, I deliver instagram.com/hortonfarmersmarket/?hl=en
I knew it. Bloody. KNEW. IT.
@@RetroRecipes That's awesome! 😂
WOW. Cool. He has a very calm voice. And she is beautiful! Thanks
hats off to the one host for for being the only one in the room with enthusiasm and carrying this show. I subscribed today and cant wait to see what excites the other host! But really aha was one of my early bands i listened to. I love this whole era of people figuring out what to do with synthesizers. I never knew about these early demos and feel better knowing they exist.
This was really interesting and so good to see the evolution of the song. "Take On Me" is indeed the finest pop song ever. "The Sun Always Shines On TV" was also excellent, and the video was filmed in St Alban's Church, Teddington, which I know you'll be familiar with.
OMG I had no idea! Pretty sure I did a school nativity there once!
It's a shame what happened to Teddington studios
I remember hearing The Sun Always Shines On TV in the US back in the 80s but of course the only reason we are talking about Ah-a so many years later is because of Take On Me. It is damn near a perfect pop song and younger people have to remember that synthesizers were still relatively new at the time. Songs like this sounded so futuristic to me out on the farm in the rural Midwest. 👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾👾
I bought the Hunting High and Low album way back in '85. A great album. Morten's voice was something else. A really interesting show highlighting the beginnings of a very memorable song :)
Thanks for another great video!
And.. just IMAGINE that being the first time you'd ever heard The Sun Always Shines on TV.
I'd give just about anything for that experience again.
I've kind of been on the fringe of retro channels for years (LGR,8BG, techmoan) but only saw your videos a few days ago??? Catching up now, loving it. This one, simply brilliant. Thanks.
Welcome to the fun!
VERY cool! I LOVE Aha and they have aged like fine wine! Norway indeed! I grew up in America and I TOTALLY remember their other hit, "The Sun Always Shines on TV". Thank You for celebrating the 40th anniversary of this INCREDIBLE song! I still get my butt out there and dance to it when my local 80's cover band plays it. :)
Awesome stuff... Take On Me was such a classic ground breaking tune that listening to the early manifestations completely blows my mind.
The cafe in London where Take on Me was filmed is still in business and although it's since been refurbished the table Bunty sat at and some of the surrounding area has been retained. Also, check out their Summer Solstice album for great acoustic versions of Take on Me and The Sun always shines...
Excellent video.. A-ha is one of my all time favorite music groups 😊
My favorite version of Take on me is the MTV unplugged where you really hear what the lyrics are about! 😊
I had this album and the follow up and definitely didn't think of the band as a "one hit wonder" (I am from California). I actually preferred the second single from this album "The Sun Always Shines on TV" EDIT: Ahh (ha) I see you mentioned it. By the way Courtney Cox and George Michael never looked so dapper. New sub.
He and the girl did a cameo a few years ago at the same cafe. it was so cool!!
I loved this edition of the show and the amazing tapes and videos you dug up. Can't beat a bit of music history. Thank you!
I love how eclectic this channel is!
I have the Star Wars arcade machine and ROTJ board but in an upright, I could have bought a cockpit but didn't have room for it at the time.
I bought it in 1995 for £220, they cost a fortune now!
I remember this coming out, the video was on every music and kids show going, the country went mad for it, my band even used to throw the synth verse in to our own songs just for comedic value.
I have never heard of a band making so many demos, especially considering they already had a recording deal.
Wonderful song, we loved it when it came out!!! and I loved listening to it while programming on my Commodore 64 in basic!!! What wonderful memories!!! and what an incredible time!!! Thank you!!!!
I'm an American and I know The Sun Always Shines On TV. Then again I'm a HUGE a-ha fan and always have been.
The sound of my youth. Absolutely timeless. I still follow the band today, at the ripe old age of 50. Great video, there's a couple of here I've not heard before, very cool!
I never knew there so many versions of that hit song,ah ha take on me , amazing video & great job in doing the research on 80s hit & the story behind it , I find it fascinating ❤
This was fascinating history I have never heard before. I loved this! And I agree Lady Fractic's ignorance of A-Ha's second greatest hit is unacceptable. Instead of divorce though, see if you could interest her in a clockwork orange style viewing (it helps to keep the eyelids open I'm told - don't forget the eyedrops) to The Sun Always Shines on TV video until she can sing the whole song by heart like she ought to be able to. I'm going to ask my wife now if she is familiar with it.
Thanks for such a deep dive into this iconic 80s track. Still remember the first time I saw the video on MTV, was mesmerized by the animation style over live action, not to mention the unique sound of this track, that still sounds great in 2024! My little kids now love it after it was featured in the Despicable Me 3 movie😂
Thank you so much for this! I've been a fan of a-ha since the video exploded on MTV and up to True North and hopefully beyond. Your nostalgia for the song and for those early days reminds me of mine as well. Many many thanks!!!
Great walkthrough! I remember seeing their first appearance with Take On Me on Norwegian TV as a teenager. Went to the record store, listened to the single, which was the first single version then, and thought "nah, I'll pass this one". A collector's item now, one of my regrets in life. The final version went on to become a main part of the soundtrack of my teens in Norway. Norway went from being irrelevant in global pop culture to having one of the World's biggest bands overnight, perfectly timed with my teens. It's hard to imagine now how huge they were here, with an endless string of hits. My favourite track is Hunting High And Low, hands down.
Fun Fact : The London cafe in which the final video for the song was partially filmed is now a Turkish kebab shop. True story !
I know the song the sun always shines on TV and I am in America. I own the 45 in 1985. loved both songs!
Amazing how many years of R&D went into creating the greatest pop song of all time. But if paid off in the end.
Excellent video! I been on 3-4 A-ha concerts, the last one just a couple of years ago, and I have most of their CD's, but this early history information was all new to me.
A-ha this group stays in my childhood memories eternally.
This is a true 80's classic that brings back memories. I was nine years old when it came out, and around that time I was a bit obsessed with an old tape recorder that used to be my late Auntie's, so my hobby for a while was recording everything, theme tunes off great TV shows like 'V' or Knight Rider, and also my own voice while attempting to sings songs I liked, including this hit. I think I may still have an old tape somewhere of me singing it, probably pretty badly, and mumbling the words in parts where I didn't know them.....oh happy days 😀
Thanks for a cracking nostalgic video reminding me of days gone by :)
This room!! 😍😍😍
This chanel!! 😍😍😍
Memories of my childhood immediately come to life! Hearing AHA, wow this really moves me!
Literally jumping up and down while cooking diner hahaha! 💃🏻 🪩
Such an awesome video!! 😍
A-Ha is more of an albums band than a singles band. their albums are great. Hunting High & Low is one of the best albums ever produced. every track is good, not a single dud.
Thanks for this! New to your channel but not a-ha. I've followed them since Hunting High and Low. Sad that they never got the attention they deserve in the States.
Peri (@ Ladyfractic too!), you guys never cease to amaze me with your creativity and diversity of interest here. This couldn't have been further from my radar right now, but I LOVE it and am SO glad you brought this to my Retro Sunday!!!
Thanks so much for saying that mate! Glad you enjoyed this one. Much love to you and KITT(s)
Wonderful video and history lesson! a-ha's "Take on Me" with the first of a TRILOGY, followed (as you noted) by "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and then immediately transitioning into the finale, "Train of Thought" (Train of Thought picks up on the final frame of The Sun Always Shines on TV, and returns to the sketchbook animation style).
6:16 I would guess if it was released only two years earlier, the drums and synths would have sounded like this (in the Eurythmics and Human League, erm.. league 😅). The version after is pretty cool, and like the drier version after that. The first version is quite New Wave/Beatles almost! Great video, thanks, I'm subscribed 😊
Always a fascination of how big hits come to be. Great show, Chris. Oh, PCB stands for Pretty Couple Broadcasting. Doesn’t it? 😊
I have always loved the band and their song from The Living Daylights of the same name is one of the top Bond theme songs IMO. I know they have had a hard time over the years but unlike The Police, they stuck it out (and broke up) and reformed (sounds like a Python skit). I've said I must delve into their whole albums previously, and now, maybe it's time to start collecting. Over the past two years I have revisited Talking Heads and have really learned to love the enigmatic style of David Byrne and to watch him evolve as a person over time is fascinating. So, now it's time to jump into A-ha! Great work, guys!
Thank you! I recently repurchased the album on cassette :)
I saw a documentary on the making of the Take On Me video, and Bunty Bailey still owns the dress from the video.
Lady Fractic is looking 🔥🔥🔥 .
Lady Fractic never seems to look anything else.
Same as it ever was.
@@yohojones she's lovely indeed
I still would prefered it that her hair was long though.
BTW, Mr RR looks handsome too.
She looks a bit bored tbh 😂
Thanks for the deep dive, and for sacrificing your ad revenue for this one. Oh, yeah, and for the puns. Had a little chuckle at "fixing the lipstick", too. Cheers! 🤘
Ive heard all these demos years ago and they are very interesting as I bought Hunting High and Low in 1985 when I was a kid. The finished product is really well polished. Some songs from that era that never made it on the LP are good.
Ive heard The Juicy Friut song. Most of it was already there but Morten Harket was the one that took it one step further and Alan Tarney for finally making it a hit.
19:40 that look says it all XD what a great piece of audio archaeology, thank you
So it was a Juno 60 that did that riff. I had always thought it was the Yamaha DX7. It's a very clean sound for an old analogue.
It was both, a juno 60 and a DX7
The DX-7 does the bass line
I think most of what I can hear of the riff sounds to me like the Juno, but it has what might roughly be called a "metallic" character that comes from either or both of the Yamaha DX7 / PPG Wave. But I can get that it would have the DX7 as said above.
It's a Juno 60 lead line, dx7 on bass and some other bell sounds and a waldorf ppg wave doing an arpeggiation in the verses. There's also the string part which could be the J60 or ppg.
instant thumbs up love A-ha and love that song I was Listening to "Take on Me" yesterday, they had many great songs. wow that 20 mins flew by like warp speed
Thank you for this special music episode, I didn't know the history of the song. It's one of my favorite, but the 80s has so many great songs.
Yes The Sun Always Shines on TV was played on MTV, VH1 and Ted Turner's CMC Cable Music Channel.
I was a radio DJ for WLPJ in New Port Richey Florida where I played Take on me August 1984. The station music director called and scolded me. It wasn't on the charts yet and not in the stations rotation. November 1984 it became a Christian station.
It was fun while it lasted, I went by the name Dale Davidson, Gerry the Gentle Giant was the music director's DJ name.
Great video, love to hear those demo tunes.
All the A-ha songs in your video where popular here on the Dutch radio stations.
My father used to have "Stay on These Roads" album back in the day, a very good album if you ask me.
Back in the day, I bought the seven inch single of Hunting High and Low. The B-side was a demo version of The Blue Sky. When I eventually got a CD player, I got the album and somehow ended up spending a lot of time comparing the final album version to the demo... I've just done that again right now. The demo lyrics mentions stuff about not having enough cigarettes whereas the album version doesn't. They both have corny joke; "I used to be confused, but now I just don't know." Glad they kept that bit...
Thank you for this behind the scenes/history of both one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded and of A-Ha themselves. I still love this song today just as much as I did when I first heard it back in 1985 as a 19 year old. I also have the album, one of the very first CDs I ever bought.
Loved this episode. I'd not heard those early versions. I do want a copy of the chicken song.
My favourite of theirs was "The sun always shines on TV"
I always liked "The sun always shines on TV" much more than "Take on me"
Congrats on 250k my man and of course our lady!
Brilliant Chris! I did know that the song was only a hit on its re-rerelease but didn't at all know about the other history for one of my all-time favourite songs (I've been an A-Ha fan since then - especially the Scoundrel Days album). One of the demos - had a brilliant Juno60 chorus base line which would have been great to have kept in the final version I think.
Scoundrel Days is still an absolute favourite. There are some demos from that knocking about too I think. Glad you enjoyed this mate!
Best version of it was used on the trailer for ready player one. That was A M A Z I N G!
That Commodore monitor, 1084S, is golden!
This man, this channel, his dedication to the days of past is my hope for the future!
@1:50 - Lady Fractic says she hasn't heard DNA before. I recommend she checks out "DNA" by A Flock of Seagulls, a song from their 1982 debut album. The song is brilliant, the album is brilliant, and it's just perfect for the 80s loving Retro Recipes channel!
Thanks for the Retro-spective on one of my favourite songs growing up. Sadly, CBC's Video Hits forgot about these guys pretty quickly after Sun Always Shines... came out, [which is a great song in it's own right] which played into the "one hit wonder" misnomer, and I never heard that song again until rediscovering it many years later. Diving back in, I'd heard the "rooster" version before, but I didn't realize that the synth riff went back even further. Thanks for the trip eh.
I almost like those orchestral steps more. Wow. Thanks for sharing this. Makes me appreciate the song more.
Stumbled into your channel for the first time. Just couldn't stop watching. You're amazing!
Thank you
Thank you for your kind words! Means a lot 👍🕹
In the 2021 Aha movie (documentary) there is a moment shared between Magne and Morten after their first meeting. They were somehow forced to walk together and started talking about their families. Magne's biological father died in a plane crash, the very same crash that Morten witnessed through his window. ''So there was like...A strong sense of destiny the first time we met.''...They also lived below the poverty line before they got a deal but never stopped trying, and it just makes you wonder... if at any point they gave up out of hunger, fatigue, despair - there would be no Aha.. How many times have we given up?
Wow.
A-Ha a one-hit wonder!‽‽ I'm in the US, and I remember them lasting more than just "Take On Me" - maybe it was just that Take On Me was just *SO* iconic that people forgot about the rest of their works?
The video for Take On Me should be a Masterclass on how to produce music videos! WAY ahead of its time for a music video, and way before CGI was popular! This is my favorite visual for ALL music videos ever released.
I remember listening to "The sun always shines on TV" on muchmusic in Canada. Plus , my sister would play the tape all the time. She had big crush on lead singer lol