High Hair and High Notes.....

I’ll post my review of A-Ha in the next day or so, but thought before that point I should give a little background – and a trip once again down memory lane.....

The year, 1985....at this point, 80’s music had settled into a something of a rhythm. Though always dangerous to pin down timelines too precisely...”post punk” had kick started “new wave” which had gradually interwoven with “new romantic” along with it’s big hair and bigger shoulder pads. All of these changes carried on, with me essentially cherry picking the best of brightest of every genre whilst never ignoring the mainstays of prog rock and heavy metal that formed the backdrop to all my other tastes.

The importance of 1985, musically, for me, I don’t think can possibly overstated. I’ll devote a lot more time to it in a further blog entry – but if I just mention that this year gave us Prefab Sprout’s “Steve McQueen” (or “Two Wheels Good” for our American readers!), Scritti Politti’s “Cupid and Psyche 85”, Tears for Fears “Songs from the Big Chair”, Pet Shop Boys’ “Please” and, rather worthy of a special note are Kate Bush releasing “The Hounds Of Love” and Marillion hitting the big time with “Misplaced Childhood”. To cap it all – this was, of course, the year of Live Aid!

At this point my two best friends Bill and Steve were, by far and away the biggest outside influences on my music taste. Bill shared my passion for most bands involving leather / denim / long guitar or keyboard solos / intricate time changes and miniature models of Stonehenge being slowly lowered to the stage!!!! Steve – possibly the biggest Beatles fan on the planet constantly pushing me to think outside the box and stop letting my distaste for everything trendy or fashionable get in the way of listening to a good pop tune.

Into this mix comes a tune with possibly the most memorable synthesiser riff in history (fans of “Jump” please step aside, no amount of posturing, pouting and hair spray can conceal the fact that you have been well and truly beaten into 2nd place).

“Saturday Superstore” in their regular round-up of the week’s new video releases introduce a song from new Norwegian synth-pop trio A-Ha called “Take on Me”. To call the video “eye catching” would be like describing Freddie Mercury as “a bit camp” – it’s got a story with actual drama and tension, huge energy in it’s visual style, an animation technique unlike anything I’d seen in my life and pretty good looking “leading lady” – what more could you want!




The song really did have a lot going on, a simple (but speedy) 4/4 synth drum background is powered along by a synth / bass line which in the space of just a couple of bars seems to push the song along in a barrelling gain in momentum. The synth (surely a Yamaha DX7 – everything else was that year!) pounds out that instantly memorable line before Morten Harket’s vocals kick in. More than two octaves of soaring, amazing vocal (and that’s not including the “In a day or two” falsetto) – the drums even back off a little to give the chorus vocal more space to fly – building the drama and expectation every time it comes round. People have accused many of “pop perfection” – Prefab Sprout, Scritti Politti, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles – but this really is up there.

I’ve met a lot of people who like a lot of different music and, so far, I have never met anyone who does not like this tune (though I’m sure writing this will bring plenty out of the woodwork). My first mobile phone had this for it’s ring-tone, and since that point every successive phone has had the same (the quality has got a lot better though!) and far from annoying the people who hear it in public, it never fails to raise a smile of recognition, occasional foot tapping and the odd positive comment.

Steve was the first to buy the debut album, “Hunting High and Low” and unlike many pop albums of the era, it really is an album with not a single moment of padding. Along with well known hits like “The Sun Always Shines On TV” album tracks such as “Living a Boys Adventure Tale” and “The Blue Sky” could have been hits in their own right and certainly never let interest wane. Often overlooked (even by fans) are the wonderful vocal harmonies – easily compared to the Everly Brothers.

But A-Ha had a problem – they were three good looking guys, who first came to attention with a string of hits accompanied by visually striking videos, and they had a fist single that was such a worldwide smash, it would likely never be equalled. Right through to 1993 – A-Ha would release albums that each contained great songs and hits most of us would instantly recognise, yet the “one hit wonder” tag would not be shaken off.

So, like so many others A-Ha were labelled a “pretty boy” band and consigned to the “where are they now” file. Worse still, for people who pay more attention to the music than the looks, many people failed to hear what A-Ha REALLY had to offer. For many years as the “Blue Nile” or “Prefab Sprout” were trotted out as examples of serious 80’s pop perfection yet only in recent years have bands such as Coldplay, Keane, U2, the Oasis lads and Robbie Williams all stuck their head above the parapet and claimed A-Ha as an influence.

It’s not hard to see why – the songs are carefully crafted thoughtful and distinctive.




I’ve often been quizzed about my “band loyalty” – and never more than in relation to A-Ha. To me, staying loyal to a band who continue to produce high quality music is not hard. I think I “pick up” on fashions, rather than follow them – allowing me to leave behind the chaff of the era and keep my carefully sifted bags of wheat!

And now +/- a handful of remaining dates A-Ha are done, moving on to new things. From what I could tell they never really seemed to enjoy each other’s company THAT much outside of the realm of the work they did together and I’m rather happy to say they wisely chose the release of perhaps their best ever album (and biggest commercial success for a while) as the point to call it quits. It’s genuinely the first time a band I felt were very much “my thing”, who I’ve followed from the start, have split up.




I’ll talk about a lot of bands here, but please – look up A-Ha on i-tunes (other monopolistic digital music providers are available) and buy an album or two (not just “Take on Me”) – you won’t regret it.

A-Ha – ending on a high note!!!!