A-ha's "Take On Me" Turns 40 – And It Still Sounds Like Something New

 

Norwegian band A-ha's iconic megahit "Take On Me" turns 40 this year, and it still sounds as great as when I first heard it. Well, I really didn't really first "hear" it because I saw the music video on MTV the first time I experienced the song. 

The band A-ha

Directed by Steve Barron, the video is iconic – it has over two billion views as of today on YouTube –to say the least. Mixing a pop-synth sound with catchy lyrics, the song is pleasurable to hear. It is the video, however, that made it a huge success.

The story is really rather simple and as old as time – boy meets girl; boy loses girl, and then boy gets her back in the end. But it is really not that simple since the narrative takes place in two dimensions. Boy happens to inhabit comic pages, while girl lives in the real world.

Despite being innovative, stylish, and slick as can be, the love story at the heart of the video is what captures one's attention. The girl (Bunty Bailey) and the boy (the band's lead singer (Morten Harket) are very attractive and appealing.  

In the comic world, our hero wins a motorcycle race and celebrates with champagne. The loser of the race – appropriately Number 13 – is disgruntled after his loss. We shift to the real world where our heroine is in a café reading the comic book and having a cup of coffee. When our hero extends his hand out of the book to her, she hesitates briefly but then takes his hand and is drawn into the comic world, where Number 13 is unfortunately seeking revenge. 

Image made possible by rotoscoping.

Seeing live images within the pencil-sketch comic pages was achieved by using a process called rotoscoping. This is animation that is achieved by tracing over the live action footage. It also brought the lightsabers to life in Star Wars films. 

The video has appealing leads, a conflict that needs to be resolved, and questionable futures for our hero and heroine. I won't spoil the fun here in case you're not one of the over two billion people who have already viewed it.

So, happy 40th anniversary to A-ha and Steve Barron. The video won six awards at the 1986 MTV Music Awards including Best New Artist and Viewers Choice. When you watch it you will understand why.