Songoftheday 5/25/14 - Talking away I don't know what I'm to say, I'll say it anyway today isn't my day to find you...

a-ha - "Take On Me"
from the album Hunting High and Low (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15

Today's Song of the Day is by the Norwegian new wave trio a-ha, who came together in Oslo in the early 80s when leader singer Morten Hacket met keyboard player Magne Furuholmen and guitarist Paul Waaktaar. They released their debut album in 1985, and the first single from the set, "Take On Me", original sported a by-the-number performance video, but when MTV got a hold of their second visualization, which had the band and a lady immersed in an animated action clip directed by Steve Barron ("Billie Jean", "Money For Nothing") that was truly innovative and captivating, the channel made it their star attraction. Alan Tarney's vivid production added to the danceability of the track...

"Take On Me" became the trio's first top-40 hit in America, climbing to #1 in October of 1985, while scaling to #4 on the adult-contemporary (or "Easy-listening") radio chart in Billboard magazine. Internationally, the single topped the chart in all of Scandanavia as well as Germany and Austria, and went to #2 in Britain. In their native country, they topped the singles chart in their second try - they originally went to #3 with the song long before the iconic video was released.

The video would go on to dominate the MTV Music Video awards, grabbing six trophies including special effects and new artist (though losing to the director's own "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits for video of the year).

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Here's the original version of "Take On Me" produced by Tony Mansfield...

Here's a-ha at the Grammys in 1986, where they were nominated for Best New Artist...

In 1999, the ska-rock band Reel Big Fish recorded a cover of "Take On Me" for the movie BASEketball from the makers of South Park,

A year later, the boy-band A1, who hail from both England and Norway, released a version of the song that did what a-ha's couldn't - it topped the British singles chart (as well as Norway's)....