After a LOOOONNG layoff, it's back (or I'm back, or somebody's back. I'm easily confused these days). Wanted to do a series of "Two-Hit Wonders", or possibly "Three-Hit Wonders" to remind us that while yes, the artist may have had a Big Hit, they had more than one of them. Like today's entry.
Back in the early '80s, pop music was undergoing a radical transformation. The creation of MTV added a new element to traditional rock/pop/soul/disco music. Now you could "see" a song as well as listen to it. Bands with lower-quality music could "make it" based more on their visual presentation than the music.
The first band that comes to mind from MTV's early days was Duran Duran, but it's grossly unfair to label them as a "one-hit" or even "three-hit" wonder. Instead, I'm talking about a great song coupled with a earth-moving video that made an obscure Norwegian band world-famous. You remember it, don't you?
The scene that begins at 1:35 (a freeze frame is above) is perhaps the most dramatic, goosebump-raising visual in MTV's history. And a-ha, the band in question, is often mentioned as a "one-hit wonder" because of the hugeness of "Take On Me". But let's not do that. Let's explore the band's discography a bit further for 2 other "hits".
First up is the sequel to "Take On Me":
"The Sun Always Shines On TV" is a fabulous tune that won two MTV Video Awards (when there was all manner of breakthrough videos due to the newness of the medium). What I love about this video is that it begins where "Take On Me" ended--with the actress/love interest from the first video--and then told its own story.
But that's not where a-ha's streak ended. A sign that an artist has "made it" is being selected to create a song for a James Bond movie. And just not any Bond movie--it was The Living Daylights, where we were introduced to the new actor, Timothy Dalton (my favorite Bond, by the way). The song has a melancholy feel to it, but enough of the Bond ethos due in no small part to John Barry, who did many of the Bond scores from the '60s.
a-ha remained a force in Europe for a long time, and are back on the road in 2018 with an acoustic show. Wonder if their lead vocalist still has those stratospheric high notes...
More later.
Pete
