chuckd21

I love The Living Daylights.

Numanoid

Sure have. Like I said, I'm an a-ha completist. I'm very much into Morten and Magne's solo stuff. As for Pal's other group Savoy, I like them (the first album is classic) but never got into them as much as the others. The least a-ha sounding of the three, which is odd considering Pal is a-ha's main songwriter. I think he purposefully tries to be more "alternative" with Savoy and it's too far afield for my tastes. Also, the fact that he is hugely pussy-whipped by his wife (even naming the group after her as well as hyphenating her name to the end of his) is off-putting to me.

run1

Big fan, but not really heartbroken they are calling it quits. At least they did it on a high with their latest album (a solid effort which gave them quite a bit of success) and not after some half-assed effort.
I bought myself a ticket for their "last" consert december 4th next year. Shoulf be a real party.
And if we are lucky we might get a deluxe version of "hunting high and low" next year since it's the 25-year anniversary for it. Warner would be fools if they didn't do something like that with the added publicity a "farewell-tour" will generate

mndtrp

Horseshit.

Dan1boy

Not horseshit, absolutely true....(in most cases)

statcat

lots of early demos from the Hunting High and Low & Scoundrel Days period (and before that) were leaked on the internet I've heard. I don't know where someone got ahold of those. There's about 80 of them.

From what I understand the special edition HHAL wasn't happening and with the demos being out there I think that might be the nail in the coffin?

Numanoid

^ Here's a page on a-ha's site about the 2004 release of some of those demos and you can listen to samples:

http://www.a-ha.com/music/discograph...4-da592821f2ac

Giles

please come to DC. please, please, please

calhoun07

Wait...bands can still record together and not have an American top 40 hit? No wai!

Just about all of my favorite music never hit the top 40. I think it's miserable that so many people only listen to what gets radio airplay.

dvduser6

Ditto. As I've gotten older, I view radio as very Pavlovian. If a song is played enough times, people will grow accustomed to it and like it. I recall an artist stating something along those lines once. If you played a Bach or Mozart piece enough times, I think it would also become a Top 40 hit. Not to say that's a bad thing, but it is just the nature of the medium.

bigjim25

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statcat

^ typical take on me joke and plead ignorance they even still existed as I was expecting

Giles

how very very true.

nothingfails

I am sick of Americans (I am American too fyi) who keep up the "I didn't know they were still together" bs. If all you've ever heard of theirs is Take On Me, it's your loss and I feel sorry for you. I've read this news on like five boards and the general consensus is that amongst US posters. Too many people are ignorant to music that doesn't appear on the charts... I love "Take On Me" but they have at least 15 other songs that are just as good.

nothingfails

is it horseshit? You see it on this very board... a-ha's last two albums are just as good as their 80's stuff (and yes, they did a lot more in the 80's than "Take On Me". You could make a decent Greatest Hits album alone just from tracks off their first three albums) but so many Americans are too arrogant to check it out if they've never heard it on radio... so it's better to just dismiss them as a forgotten one hit wonder when on a worldwide basis, it's far from the truth.

WMAangel

Yeah, but that's not exactly specific to A-Ha though.....there are a bunch of artists who are huge overseas who maybe only had one hit in the states....

Tarantino

They made more than just that one song?

Obviously this is just to piss nothingfails off...

nothingfails

well I wasn't the only one defending them. I just was lurking on another board and saw a poster who loves Barry Manilow and Captain And Tennille laughing at the idea they are still making music, as if those artists are better.

a-ha are up there with Depeche Mode, Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys for best act to come out of the new wave era IMO, and any fan of 1980's pop music is missing out if they haven't checked them out deeper.

statcat

The thing that caught me about them was that a lot of their themes were very dark- suicide, murder, etc., but they were perceived as a teeny band because of their image. I won't deny they did things they probably regret now (like Touchy! etc) and were controlled to a certain extent but they're so much more than Take on Me. None of my friends or anyone I know ever seems to understand that. That's why I love their 90s period so much. It's when they did what they wanted without worrying and Paul's guitar was actually plugged in. They had their comeback since 2000 but it just didn't feel the same to me. Seeing Morten fidgeting with his earpiece and having to read lyrics is just sort of hokey to me. They had spots of brilliance again but to me a-ha sort of split up in 1994 for good in a way to begin with.

mndtrp

What would be my excuse, then? I haven't listened to the radio in 5-6 years, yet continue to buy and listen to music constantly. Have you ever considered that some people just simply aren't interested in certain bands, and therefore don't keep up on any sort of output? Do you know of every release by every band in every corner of the world?

You claim this to be an "American" thing. Do all non-American's know whether or not every band in America is still releasing new albums?

It's amazing how you can call American's arrogant because some of us haven't kept up with a-ha over the past two decades. Your post reeks of arrogance itself.

nothingfails

well, a-ha haven't released an album in the US since 1993. Their entire 2000's output is only available via import. So yes, it's an American thing, their latest album just went top 5 in the UK a couple months ago. In Europe they are seen as a band that survived the 80's and breaking up is a big deal, it's only in America where a-ha hasn't had a chart hit in over 20 years where people are making fun of them being a forgotten obscure 80's act... because they aren't that in Europe. But Americans think that if it's not on our radar it doesn't matter, and that what's popular here is the only thing that's popular.

mndtrp

You're basing how an entire country acts towards music off of one artist who hasn't even released music in that country? Who's arrogant, again?

By your standards, if any non-American doesn't know of an American band's release, that non-American is now arrogant. Are you up to speed on all of the J-Pop artists? Are European's aware of all releases from some popular Brazilian artists? I can't even keep up with the releases from artists in my own city, let alone the rest of the world.

I also didn't notice anyone making fun of a-ha, just making a comment. I don't see why you are so condescending towards people who don't keep up with what you deem to be the cat's tits in music.

Aphex Twin

I would just like to say that a lot of this perception about "Take On Me" on the band is just a testament to how good of a song it is. "Take On Me" is probably a top 5 best pop song of the 80s. Off the top of my head:

1. Billie Jean
2. Don't Stop Believing
3. Take On Me
4. Living on a Prayer
5. When Doves Cry

atlantamoi

Totally agree with this. I had no clue these guys were together so seeing that they are breaking up means squat to me. I devour music with very little of it from the mainstream. And a big chunk of that is going back to the 80's. I never really was blown away by A-ha's early catalog and had no reason to really pay attention. I'm not suggesting they released bad music the past 15 years because I don't know. I do know this... some of my favorite bands from the 80's have released less than stellar recordings over the years.

Numanoid

You certainly seem interested enough to keep posting in an a-ha thread.