a-ha "Take On Me" REACTION Video | we react to 80s music greatest hits with classic iconic a-ha song

[@tonyanapolitanopilcher25]

Greatest song of the 80's it will be popular with our grandkids and beyond.

[@descendantoffools9767]

The unplugged slow version he did many years later is amazing too.

[@ronjacobs1613]

Agree, really beautiful

[@richardgazinia5482]

I first heard that version in "Deadpool 2". It drove me crazy for about a half hour to realize it was a cover of this song. And you are absolutely right it is a gorgeous cover of the 2nd version of "Take on Me." If I see "Deadpool 2" on TNT, I'll watch it until I hear the song again.

[@EthanBSide]

@richardgazinia5482 it's not a cover. It's A HA acoustic

[@joedirt688]

This song would be a hit in any era. Great reaction ladies!

[@johndalley1288]

1.6 billion views makes this song/video one of the biggest songs from the 80's. It was ground breaking in its day. And with the catchy melody, a masterpiece for its time

[@jericoba]

I correct you when you are wrong, sure. The band has more reputation and accolade than just this song. And as probably more here has mentioned, A-ha were perhaps not _as_ known as Depeche Mode, or U2, or Tears for Fears, but they certainly have a repertoire of hits. They don't qualify for a one-hit wonder band. They are so much more.

[@kevinmoore2929]

The same can be said for Big Country!

[@gavinhall6040]

The lady in this video was on a UK show recently and she's still as beautiful.

[@nicholasmaude6906]

Therese "Bunty" Bailey.

[@Brian-om2hh]

A-Ha, probably the most successful band ever, from Norway.......

[@nicholasmaude6906]

Don't forget ABBA.

[@ianjones2187]

ABBA were swedish

[@The_Dudester]

Back in the day, when I sang in choir, I used to sing along with this song as a vocal warm up on the way to church. That ascending scale is insane, covering more than octave.

[@trickygoose2]

It was played on my niece's wedding recently. I realised that at 55 I cannot get anywhere near that high note.

[@stumpypetros2685]

Heh Heh Same here.. I was in my 20's and a BASS in my choir attempting to hit the high notes. I was OK after a few foul attempts at warmups (cats beware) The neighbour who was also a musician, suggested I try to practice in the forest close by instead of starting in the front lounge, but I said that would be cruelty to animals, so he had to put up with it.

[@JustaGuy2.0]

The greatest Norwegian band of all time, so many hits so many amazing songs. You need to react to "Take One Me", acoustic version, from MTV Unplugged, in 2007. Simple beautiful. And then you have tons of great songs: > Hunting High and Low (1985) > The Sun Always Shines On TV (1985) > Train of Thought (1985) > Manhattan Skyline (1986) > I've Been Losing You (1986) - the MTV Unplugged version, featuring Lissie is beautiful as well) > Stay On This Roads (1988) > Crying In The Rain (1990) > Summer Moved on (2000) - curious note, Morten has the record for the longest same-pitch note in a song, this song. > Lifelines (2002) > Between the Halo and the Horn (2022) > True North (2022) > I'm In (2022) > You Have What it Takes (2002) They have so many wonderful songs to react to...."Take On Me" is their most famous one, but that's just scratching the surface. You will love them all, i'm sure.

[@nenasadie]

Analogue was a hit too. Forget the year.

[@IMEveryTrueAmericanRU]

IDK the song is great on its own, but for me the video, the instant love story and the danger that ensues and the narrow escape of the girl and then the guy breaking through from another realm to find her and be with her ALWAYS gets a tear in my eyes!

[@davidwoolbright3675]

So much the same!!

[@BigWhiteGuitar]

These two seemed to miss the story in the video entirely. Their reaction was so shallow that I sort of feel sorry for them.

[@JackW467]

a-ha - "Stay On These Roads" (Official Video) 1988 is a beautiful song of theirs

[@candicelitrenta8890]

This video won a lot of awards. It was a breakthrough of it's time

[@kevinmoore2929]

The method of animation used here, black and white rotoscope, is actually fairly old.

[@davidpalahinjak8954]

The ultimate air keyboards song! 🔥

[@tarynkirchen5961]

I remember when I was a tiny Taryn thinking the song was cool, but the video was fascinating. Loving watching you react to this!

[@arthurrsaker8893]

A definitive classic it has stood the test of time, and still does. It's right up there with Bridge over troubled water, Good vibrations, God only knows, Bohemian rhapsody and Tambourine man, all iconic pieces which still speak to our hearts n souls as they echo down across the decades of our past, reviving long forgotten memories and re-awakening old emotions, the joy of love won, and the desolation of a love that is lost. We are surely blessed to be able to access all this wonderfully poetic music before it recedes into the oblivion of ages gone.

[@dennis12dec]

The band members are Norwegian led by Morten Harkett on lead vocals, Magne Furuholmen on keyboards and Pål Waaktar on guitar.

[@pauldavis6390]

They sang the theme song to the Bond Movie "The living Daylights"

[@malvanlondon8683]

This is one of the greatest songs EVER!!!

[@rokmin8550]

on Feb 17 2020 the video hit ONE BILLION VIEWS so congratulations to them. They had other recordings but nothing even close to this.

[@carlograziani9321]

That group, even today, is still in force giving concerts with its iconic singer Morten Harkes and his voice intact. Apart from that, they have released many albums after Hunting High and Low and yes, that song from Take on Me was a worldwide success, just like him. video.

[@Rickhorse1]

Just my memory from back then... this is the epitome of a song which became HUGELY popular because of the video...an MTV-made hit. They showed it seemingly every hour...lol. There were a few of those...another one was Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer". Both songs are good on their own...but the videos were played so often that EVERYONE got hooked on the songs. There were other example in the MTV age. Meat Loaf's "I'd do anything for Love" was another video that was on constantly. 🙂

[@adamparker9765]

Money for nothing by Dyer Straights would be the ultimate MTV made hit . That was just about on permanent loop , inter spaced with Duran Duran .

[@stumpypetros2685]

I was also about to mention Money for Nothing. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have the feeling that M4N was the first computer generated Music Video, (OR was it Def Leppards Let Get Rocked?) and A-HA was the first animated music video.

[@adamparker9765]

@@stumpypetros2685 you could be right there M4n could have been the first computer animated music video. Music videos should be made great again.

[@stumpypetros2685]

@@adamparker9765 Kids couldn't concentrate that long on a MV. :)

[@carlbaker7242]

Excellent vocals in sync with the music. Great choice Also let's not forget the handsome hero.

[@rolandratz1]

Hi Ladies - Morten Harket (the lead singer of the group) was considered the "most beautiful man in the music business" in the 80s. Is he - m. E - by the way today still - you can see that in KZbin at "Voice of Norway", there he sits namely in the jury. By the way, a-ha didn't have a "ONE-HIT-WONDER" with that song; they had several world-famous hits after that, like "The Sun Always Shines On TV" and "Hunting High And Low" and others. My memory: I had made a video for my oldest daughter, with the topten of the 80s, because she was born in 1982 and >Take On Me< was her favorite title. For unknown reasons, I overdubbed the video cassette - a-ha and other beautiful titles from that time, which were from "Die Neue Deutsch Welle", were gone. My daughter reproached me for years; I would have destroyed her most beautiful time. And at that time there was no KZbin, un afterwards to download the destroyed songs. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

[@GaryLBlakeley]

I remember this video from back when M-TV actually played music videos.

[@davidpalahinjak8954]

The Sun Always Shines On T.V. by A-Ha! 🔥

[@nadinehaney6590]

Ladies, if you want to experience a really fun HomeFree throwback, look up "Home Free the sing-off" and you should be able to find a Playlist of the 5 songs Home Free sang on the show when they won in 2013. You will love it!

[@reactingtoacting]

Check out "The Sun Always Shines On TV" by a-ha, the "sequel" to this video.

[@TheEnnisfan]

One of the great videos of the 80s. Groundbreaking for its time. Great track in any era.

[@stevedaulton9655]

Just so cool how they did the song along with Comic Strips and then went to real-life pics and back and forth - that was advanced tech for back in the good old 80s. I got a laugh when the waitress thinks she got stiffed and crumpled up the Comic Book and tossed it into the trash and later the Lady came back to everyone's astonishment! Of course, her man comes thru at the end - so romantic! What a fun ride in this video! Glad you took a look!

[@eatsmylifeYT]

The follow-up video (The Sun Always Shines on TV) was a bit sad, though.

[@stever7732]

For a country with such a small population Norway punches well above its weight in producing great music artists and bands. Just look at the current crop - Aurora, Angelina Jordan, Susanne Sundfør, Kalandra/Katrine Stenbekk, Wardruna etc.

[@butterflymama0838]

This video set the standard for more creative videos back then. This song just has it all! Thanks for that flashback ladies. That song was a "one hit wonder" in America, but in Norway (where they're from) they were HUGE! The same way that we have our classic talents like Prince, Michael Jackson, Beatles, Elvis, etc. Norway had A-ha.

[@tomgraham5536]

THis video was one of 2 break through animated music videos in 1985.... The other one was Money for Nothin by Dire Straights.... you all should check that one out next!!!!

[@top40researcher31]

The video used a pencil-sketch animation and live-action combination called rotoscoping, in which the live-action footage is traced using a frame-by-frame process to give the characters realistic movements. Approximately 3,000 frames were rotoscoped, which took 16 weeks to complete

[@cemode7394]

a-ha have several hits, they were never a one-hit band... and they still tour and release records

[@Bryan_Master_Blaster]

For me, this video was then - and still is - extremely well done. The graphics and effects are amazing.

[@ahkkariq7406]

The technique used is called rotoscoping. They first filmed on 35 mm, before drawing over the frames. It took two artists four months to complete the 3,000 drawings used in the video.

[@renehouse2015]

This is the THIRD version of this song from A-Ha. They knew this song was a hit but in the first two versions something was amiss. Finally, the right people got involved and violoa!... a song that's been viewed 1.6B times!... well, 1.6 Billion +1 times now.

[@alistairmcdougall8390]

Lots of hits , I've been losing you, cry wolf, Living Daylights which was a James Bond theme, Train of thought & plenty more, enjoy a bit of an aha journey ❤

[@tomtams8584]

they had follow up hit called the sun always shines on tv.

[@daveweaver7838]

The Sun Only Shines on TV was top number one single in Britain, just before this one. They've been big and made great albums for years.

[@Areyousayingidontknowmyname]

I did a quick Google search because apparently some people in the comments feel because it didn't happen in the US it didn't happen. Anyway How many No 1 hits did Aha have? Throughout their career, a-ha has officially released 32 singles. 13 of them became top ten singles in the UK, and 14 singles have been number one on the radio lists over the world. US they had 2 top 20s

[@philippevalois381]

80's : best decade!

[@michaelparsons5299]

Fantastic song and innovative video. Morten Harket is the lead singer and he has an increditible voice range. You would love "Summer Moved On." He holds a note for over 20 seconds which is actually listed in the Guiness Book of Records. No one hit wonders with the group. Check out "Hunting High & Low," "Stay On These Roads" and "The Sun Always Shines on TV" just to name a few. And finally, the band wrote the title song to the James Bond movide; "The Living Daylights." They are very talented 😊

[@oxfamshop]

Great favourite song of mine . Thank you for sharing

[@yannhollister9091]

A very hard working band, the early version of this song didn't work so they had to rework it and they definitely made it a worldwide smash. Epic song and the video was really ahead of its time, still a masterpiece to this day.

[@troyhegarty8889]

the song was called lesson one and failed to chart ,then renamed in 1984 take on me, it again failed to chart, then the third attempt in 1985 with the iconic music video clip which also was many months in the making became a number 1 hit for them, just proves a life lesson never give up keep on trying.

[@davidpalahinjak8954]

Brilliant Music Video! 🔥

[@magecraft2]

Over this side of the pond we had a number of other songs but never were never as big as I thought they would be!

[@RolandDeschain1]

This is still one of the greatest music videos ever. The chemistry between the two is amazing.

[@AMSanchez18]

Yeah they dated almost two years after the initial shy interaction, so sweet

[@photonspark]

a-ha was huge outside of the US, in Europe, South America, South Africa, Australia, NZ. Some other hits worth checking: Hunting high and low, Stay on these roads, The blood that moves the body, I've been losing you, The Living Daylights (James Bond theme) etc etc...

[@timwinter13]

A one hit wonder in the US. Huge in Europe and elsewhere. 9 top 10 hits in the UK alone. Worth checking out👍

[@Isleofskye]

Meant to say THREE THOUSAND Hand Drawings taking 2 people,5 months each long b4 computer imagery.

[@denisbryce8746]

A-Ha were from Norway & although they were a very successful Band throughout Europe, they only had minimal success out of Europe. The song reached No1 here in Australia. They were once listed in the Guinness Book of Records for having the biggest paying Rock Concert Attendance of 198,000 people at a Concert in Rio De Janeiro.

[@davidpalahinjak8954]

The voice of an angel! 🔥

[@alisonscott1469]

Hi thankyou for reacting to A-HA. I come from Scotland in the uk and I have been an A-HA fan for the past 37 years, since take on me came out in 1985 to present 2023. The are a criminally underrated and extremely underrated band from Oslo, Norway. They consist of 3 multi talented musicians who can play any instrument and write all their own music. They have released 11 albums. The latest one called true north was released in October 2022. They were only a one hit wonder in the states and are popular everywhere else in the world. The take on me video was made by a technique called rotescope where hand drawings are made over live action. The video has 14,000 hand drawings and took 6 months to make. A-HA have a huge back catalogue of amazing music so I hope you check out more and see what you’ve been missing out on for the past 37 years. A-HA’s music is constantly evolving so no two songs sound the same. A song that came later in their career called Summer Moved On got them in the guiness book of records for the longest note held during a live performance. I suggest you check that one out live at the Oslo Spektrum in 2010 for the best performance. A-HA’s lead singer Morten Harket has gone on to break his own record many times since then. I also suggest listening to hunting high and low and the living daylights live at the same concert as you will hear the audience sing the song back to the band which is amazing to hear. I’ve seen A-HA live many times and they sound amazing live. Take care 😘 ❤️🇳🇴❤️A-HA FOREVER❤️🇳🇴❤️ 🥇🥇🥇 🎸🎹🎤 🫠🥰

[@randyhanson9441]

Quite a popular song in the day. Evidently still so today, with this video showing 1.6 BILLION views. Lead singer was Morten Harket. A Norweigian band, never found much success in the US. Over a dozen top ten hits in the UK. A couple years ago he appeared on the UK version of The Masked Singer (dressed as a Viking(Norwegian). Sang a nice scaled back version of this song, with the judges being clueless. In his 60's, still a great singer, but not sure he/or many can quite hit those same notes of "in a day or "two".

[@alanbeaumont4848]

Also, that video wasn't made using computers; it's all cartooning on the original print.

[@jodytollefson7187]

Back in 1985 when this song first came out 10 year old me loved it and 47 year old me still loves this song.

[@laurat1720]

Ahhhhhhh Morten, Mags and Pal I loved them in 85 and I still love them. ❤🤘🏼This video was very innovative at the time and received awards one being the MTV video of the year. Yes it made A-HA a household name with teens and put Morgen, Mags and Pal on numerous teen magazines. It even made a comeback with Pitbull sampling it.

[@DrewG-wd8ql]

Morten still is active and in 2021 he was on the British version of "The Masked Singer" as a Viking. He actually sang "Take on Me" on the show.

[@abelardojeda]

After this album they release Scoundrel Days (1986) and it was a big hit (sold like 6 million copies). Look for “I’ve Been Losing You”, “Cry Wolf” and “Manhattan Skyline” songs. The last one was covered by Kings of Convenience, another interesting band from Norway.

[@zziicckk01]

Aha also had hits such as "Cry Wolf" and also "Living Daylights" - from the James Bond film by the same name/

[@dgpatter]

You might enjoy watching him sing this as a slow ballad. It was MTV Unplugged live event. It’s beautifully done, but it is almost more entertaining to watch ladies in their 40s (who were teens when this video came out) swooning in the audience. 😅

[@smg85051]

"Take On Me" has the distinction of being the 1st video on youtube to reach ONE BILLION VIEWS! No idea who's in 2nd place ... or 3rd. 👍🎙

[@donaldduck2139]

I seen a video of them performing this live in the last few years not that long ago...

[@NicoruAmarfi]

They had a few other songs here but they have tons of songs in europe and they are still popular over there and they just released a new album

[@eggy1962]

one more hit i did not see mentioned and my favourite.....Summer Moved On.... record held note in this one...

[@markwebster7435]

Fun fact the famous synth rift was written by the keyboard player when he was only 15 years old.

[@boowonder888]

AHA is a many hits wonder. Blue Skies, Stay On These Roads

[@supobostarman]

It was a great roller rink song back in the early 80s when I was in my early 20s! Incredible animation done just before the digital age came along!

[@davidwoolbright3675]

The other huge song for them is The Sun Always Shines On TV. Give it a listen!!

[@cheo6372]

I enjoyed your reaction to this song! A-ha had other songs such as The Sun Always Shine on TV and Stay On These Roads.

[@garytom1935]

1st video I seen on MTV that had drawings in it and live video together, awesome cool song yay 👍😎🤘🎤🎶

[@johnbernhardtsen3008]

By God I miss the 80s!almost 50 yrs old guy here, my 11 year old nephew cant sit still when this song gets played, for me its the Communards with Never Can say Goodbye!

[@nurhidayahabdullah1548]

Hello beautiful ladies, nice to see you both again. Thank you for talking us down the memory lane. I was only 16 years old when this song came out. Take care and hope many more videos to come.

[@edwardlondon6131]

I was working in TV and we did a lot of MTV , right from the beginning of the 80s

[@Aussiepappy66]

Great reaction ladies, this was a mega hit back in the day. I have another classic song that you will all love, especially when you hear the lead singer Tony sing it. Shame he is no longer with us. The song is Your Love by The Outfield. Have a great week.

[@adamc1966]

I remember when that song came out in March of 1986. I had no idea who it was but I bought the record shortly after hearing the song.

[@tiffanytosh1569]

A-ha is still performing to this day. They are really popular in Norway, where they are from.

[@ahkkariq7406]

They sell out full stadium concerts in many places other than Norway.

[@robynhurley5119]

This came out fall of 1985 my freshman year in college. Never will forget

[@StevesFunhouse]

Baby Gap, I also never know that line. I just thought he was saying, "da duh da duh tu" ... sort of a stylistic way of wailing in a happy way, referring to the line he sang before that. Glad you had the captions on 😊👍. I loved the reaction and it not only brought back fond memories, but you two always bring a smile to my face 🌹🌹.

[@adamc1966]

Looks like she is feeling better. Great song to react to 👍 I love new wave music 🥰

[@waynesbutler7834]

Really enjoyed your reaction to one of the most viewed music videos on the Tube , I thought it was cute that they kept cutting to the guy in plaid wearing glasses being its Morten Harket the lead singer of A HA ..

[@guitarman8462]

This band did an unplugged of this song and others . Also if you search KZbin , you can find many doing an acoustic cover.

[@lordofnumbers9317]

One Hit Wonder? No, that's not the case. Please watch A-ha - "The living daylights" (Soundtrack to a James Bond movie) or "The sun always shines on tv". Both are highly recommend. I also recommend Duran Duran - "Wild Boys", Simple Minds - "Belfast Child" or Rose Laurens - "Africa". And if you want real heavy 80's sound, please watch yazoo - "Don't go".

[@ordoveritas]

An amazing song from 80s and the video (even if your mum cant recall) blew most of us away.

[@davidpalahinjak8954]

80's Baby! 🔥

[@blacktronlego]

4:56 The 'Nice Cold Ice Cold Milk' is a memorable slogan from my childhood. I don't know who did the artwork, but the drawings really look like the real people.

[@ahkkariq7406]

The video was directed by Steve Barron. The main artist is Michael Patterson.

[@Annakarolaynne-mm8mv]

Aha was very successful here in Brazil in the 80s❤

[@boqndimitrov8693]

great band! and the clip still looks very good!

[@timmooney7528]

Rotoscope animation was done by rea projecting an image on a pane of glass frame by frame, and an artist would trace over it and create a frame on animation. At the time the process was pretty much the same since it was invented around 1915. Through modern software it can be recreated through a few filters in modern editing software.

[@quaresma9003]

Mr mister "broken wings" iconic song of 80's

[@davidpalahinjak8954]

Banger! 🔥

[@willieboy3011]

A ha, Generation 3 coming soon. Galad that ya'll did this. I had forgotten it. Song is like a dream lover.

[@renevw5812]

After so many years they had a MTV unplugged version. And it has a whole new layer of emotion.

[@randysheer7814]

The song and the video are iconic and awesome.

[@davidpalahinjak8954]

Lay 'em love 'em & leave 'em! 😃♥️XO💋

[@Stefan-]

This was apparently the second video for the same song and more elaborate, these days maaking av video like this is probably fairly simple with all the computer tech we now have but in 1985 the cartoon part of the video was all drawn by hand using the technique "Rotoscoping" which means that they trace actual film frames by hand with a pencil to make a cartoon counterpart of the actual footage. A-ha also did a Bond movie theme which is something not just any artist does. Really great video and song.

[@julieb.5860]

still sweet after all these years.

[@edwinpreston8159]

All time classic video and song!!

[@Spazzmatazzz]

C'mon mom! 1980's MTV wasn't THAT long ago!

[@nicholasmaude6906]

The reason why the cartoons were so good is that they used a technique called rotoscoping ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping ) which while effective is also very laborious to make.

[@stillaboveground2470]

Possibly the best music video ever. I miss the '80s.