Yet nearly four decades on, a-ha no longer need to plead to be taken seriously. I think the second album ( Scoundrel Days) – lauded as it has been over the years as one of the seminal albums – set a different tone than our American record company was expecting.”
“It was an odd song for a single with the 6/4 and the 4/4 (time signatures), and the quiet section and the rocky section, but we just felt it was important to show the breadth of our creativity at that point. We made creative decisions and Manhattan Skyline was one we insisted should be a single – we had the power at that point to influence the choice of the record company. Talking to the New European ahead of the new album’s release, Furuholmen ponders: “I think were looking for a Take On Me part two, to be honest, but we’d moved on by then – for better or worse. Unreasonable desire to be taken more seriously as a band made that limelight fleeting in the States. A lengthy spell in NorthĪmerica in 1986 appeared to cement their popularity there, but the not Particular saw a-ha in far less nuanced terms.
Let ourselves be photographed in the most humiliating setting.”Īs had happened earlier to ABBA, while parts of Europe feted them for smuggling Scandinavian angst into the pop charts, the UK and USA in No matter how cheesy we thought it was, we turned up. We were very naïve about what we had to protect, what was unique about us.”įuruholmen added: “We just went with the flow and it’s nobody else’s fault that we became a teen band. Remained in a way that none of us could identify with at all. They did any impressions (“no”) and to name their favourite possessions (“I don’t really know… maybe my camera”).Īs Harket admits in a-ha: The Movie, released last year: “We ended up wrapped in packaging. On YouTube, where the Take On Me video has racked up 1.5 billion views, you can watch them squirming on Saturday Superstore, being asked if But just as Boy George quickly went from Vivienne Westwood-clad outsider style icon to guest star on The A-Team, a-ha soonįound themselves locked in a regular flow of uncomfortable-looking photoshoots for teen magazines and popular music publications like Smash Heep and found themselves rubbing up against the heroes of the New
Take on me unplugged full#
For a-ha, breaking through in the golden age of MTV with their chart-topping hit (and iconic video) ‘Take On Me’, the MTV Unplugged gig will see them come full circle, as well as providing the audience with an opportunity to rediscover their material with fresh ears.It was perplexing for a group that had arrived in London in the early 1980s touting heavyweight influences like the Velvet Underground and Uriah
MTV’s ground-breaking concept “MTV Unplugged” was first aired in 1989, and has since spawned historical performances by Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Jay-Z, Adele, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, The Cure and many more. The food court in remote Norwegian island Giske was given a makeover to host the 300-strong audience. It was the first time the band had performed in an acoustic setting.
Take on me unplugged series#
Scandinavian pop legends a-ha have announced details of a special new album, a-ha MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice, which will be released through UMe as a 2CD on 3 November and in 3LP form on 10 November.Īs part of the renowned concert series MTV Unplugged, a-ha (with guests) recently performed two exclusive acoustic concerts, filmed and taped in front of a small audience.
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