I was thinking about how much I missed concerts (it's been exactly a year since I've been to one) and I wondered what band from the 80s is still on my Concert Bucket List. I decided it has to be A-Ha! They had one of the most fun songs of the decade, other tunes from their debut album Hunting High And Low are totally solid, and Morten Harkett (the lead singer) was ridiculously attractive! Here are 5 things I'll bet you didn't know about A-Ha!
1. The band chose to record its debut album in the studio of John Ratcliff because it had a Space Invaders machine
2. The song "Take On Me" was originally titled "Lesson One"
3. The video for "Take On Me" is only the 5th video of the 20th Century to reach 1 Billion views on YouTube. The first 4 were "November Rain" & "Sweet Child O' Mine" from Guns N' Roses, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.
4. In November 2012, all three bandmates were appointed Knights of the 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav for their contribution to Norwegian music.
5. The band holds a Guinness World Record for biggest rock concert attendance - At the Rock in Rio II festival in January 1991, A-ha shocked the international entertainment press by drawing an audience of 198,000 at Maracanã stadium for their top-billed evening concert.
Until the day we can finally get back to attending live concerts (hopefully soon!) enjoy this live, acoustic version of "Take On Me". It's hauntingly terrific!
Did you know these things about the band, A-Ha??




