A-ha

[Gerontophile]

As has been established - although Take On Me certainly sold more copies.

But, didn't "The Sun" sell more copies in the USA? And it therefore would change HP's pov?

(From knowing that it was not a one-hit wonder? I dont mind being wrong, but I took offence at HP's remarks earlier.)

[Hot Pepsi]

I couldn't find a more recent one but there's an article from 2011 where they come out on top, with the top 10 in full being:

1 A-ha
2 Dexy's
3 Norman Greenbaum
4 Big Country
5 Soft Cell
6 The Knack
7 Blind Melon
8 Chumbawamba
9 ? and the Mysterians
10 The Vapors

So make of that what you will.

Yeah, that's the list I saw.

I think "Take on Me" reached #1 whereas "The Sun Always Shines On TV" hit number 20 and nothing else got in the main top 40, even the Bond theme (which says far more about the popularity of the franchise in that era than A-Ha or that song).

So, even if they count as a "two hit" wonder, there's a pretty big gap between the success of those two singles in such a short time, especially considering the worldwide popularity of the band.

[Jah Womble]

As has been established - although Take On Me certainly sold more copies.

[Gerontophile]

Rolling Stone’s recent ranking of OHW put A-Ha at #1 while acknowledging that they were huge in Europe.

It’s not nonsense to call a band a OHW in that context. In fact, it’s more interesting than the true OHWs who disappear because they only have one good idea and/or the band splits up.

Because it raises the potentially interesting question of why did they hit so big once in the US but only once, given that they kept on making excellent records? Why did they, or their label, give up? Or what changed in the public taste so quickly?

My recollection is that MTV tried to make “The Sun Always Shines On TV” a hit and wiki said it reached 20 in the US, so I think that should count as a hit.

But I think they ran into a real unfair anti-synth, anti-Euro backlash around 85-86 in the US which was, not coincidentally, when Live Aid happened. That was, as we’ve discussed, the revenge of the boring corporate rock dinosaurs. There was a whole bullshit story about how A-ha had never played live which is partly why they did in their second video, IIRC.

There was a definite group of people like John Mellencamp who railed against synthesizers interviews. And that’s also when hair bands really took over.

"The Sun Always Shines on TV" was number 1 in the UK. "Take on Me" wasn't.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I couldn't find a more recent one but there's an article from 2011 where they come out on top, with the top 10 in full being:

1 A-ha
2 Dexy's
3 Norman Greenbaum
4 Big Country
5 Soft Cell
6 The Knack
7 Blind Melon
8 Chumbawamba
9 ? and the Mysterians
10 The Vapors

So make of that what you will.

[Jah Womble]

My recollection is that MTV tried to make “The Sun Always Shines On TV” a hit and wiki said it reached 20 in the US, so I think that should count as a hit.

There you go, that's another reason why I'm calling it a 'nonsense'. That record went silver in the US and was also a Top Five dance hit.

You can't really be a one-hit-wonder if you've had another major hit, so perhaps rags like Rolling Stone need to devise another snappy expression to describe artists that are 'largely known for one song'? (Which isn't the same thing.)

[3 Colours Red]

But I think they ran into a real unfair anti-synth, anti-Euro backlash around 85-86 in the US which was, not coincidentally, when Live Aid happened.

Something similar-ish happened in the UK as well - there was a shift away from the earnest synthpop influenced by what little was left of new wave and New Romanticism towards stadium rock.

[3 Colours Red]

I thought Bill Withers held that record?

Eighteen seconds.

[Hot Pepsi]

Rolling Stone’s recent ranking of OHW put A-Ha at #1 while acknowledging that they were huge in Europe.

It’s not nonsense to call a band a OHW in that context. In fact, it’s more interesting than the true OHWs who disappear because they only have one good idea and/or the band splits up.

Because it raises the potentially interesting question of why did they hit so big once in the US but only once, given that they kept on making excellent records? Why did they, or their label, give up? Or what changed in the public taste so quickly?

My recollection is that MTV tried to make “The Sun Always Shines On TV” a hit and wiki said it reached 20 in the US, so I think that should count as a hit.

But I think they ran into a real unfair anti-synth, anti-Euro backlash around 85-86 in the US which was, not coincidentally, when Live Aid happened. That was, as we’ve discussed, the revenge of the boring corporate rock dinosaurs. There was a whole bullshit story about how A-ha had never played live which is partly why they did in their second video, IIRC.

There was a definite group of people like John Mellencamp who railed against synthesizers interviews. And that’s also when hair bands really took over.

[Jah Womble]

I thought Bill Withers held that record?

Of course, the only true one hit wonder is to have a number one single and nothing, absolutely nothing, else in the singles chart. A-Ha are merely the most egregious example of a band that some people erroneously describe as a OHW.

To illustrate just how far from being a ‘one-hit-wonder’ A-ha were, their first hit went to #2 and was still on the UK chart when its follow-up went to #1.

But compilers of such nonsense usually live in a US-centric bubble. Dexys - who had two UK chart-toppers - are also described thus.

[3 Colours Red]

A decent singer should be able to manage ten seconds. Even more impressive is that it's not a low note he's hitting - the higher a note, the harder it is to sustain without unintentionally warbling.

[Greenlander]

That boy can sing and apparently Morten holds the record for the longest note held in a top 40 song. It's in Summer Moved On and lasts 20.2 seconds which doesn't sound a lot but in the world of vocals obviously is.

[loosehandlebars]

diggedy derek, it was the Savoy Cafe on the corner of Wandsworth Rd & Pensbury Place SW 8.They were a friendly lot, a great place for a pre-work hangover reviver. It's changed owners now but apparently still attracts women of a certain age hoping to be invited into a magic comic book.

[Gerontophile]

We must've done a One-hit-wonder thread...

Oh yes.

And it was/is one of the finest things ever to be available for others.

[Gangster Octopus]

We must've done a One-hit-wonder thread...

[diggedy derek]

Of course, the only true one hit wonder is to have a number one single and nothing, absolutely nothing, else in the singles chart. A-Ha are merely the most egregious example of a band that some people erroneously describe as a OHW.

C'mon Loose, you've got to tell us what the cafe was.

[DPDPDPDP]

Regarding the one hit wonder description, a quick google search came up with the following

“a-ha celebrated their 20th anniversary with the release of a new singles collection. 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. The new singles album includes some of the highlights from a-ha's last 20 years.”

[DPDPDPDP]

I had a mate at school who fashioned himself after the tits out of Bros. All the denim, dyed blonde hair and everything. He was fighting the girls off every Friday at the football club disco. When he walked in it was like the dance scene in Saturday Night Fever. I met him in a pub in my home town a few years ago, and he now looks like Johnny Vegas. Happy though.

So is he still fighting off the girls with the Johnny Vegas look?

[DPDPDPDP]

The MTV unplugged they did is brilliant. A great example of still owning the song in an entirely different way.

Totally agree with this. Some of their original songs were decent pop songs, but the stripped down versions are fantastic and also highlight what a tremendous vocalist Morten Harket is.

[Gerontophile]

The video to "Take On Me" still looks fantastic, and I find it hard to get to the end of it without almost tearing up. It's just brilliantly done. It's one of a fairly select bunch of old music videos to have accrued over a billion views on YouTube.

I wrote a thesis on that. I ripped most of it from Smash Hits. Apparently, I am now a doctor.' Not even joking.

[loosehandlebars]

It seemed to be a bit of a stretch when the greasy spoon just across from work told us that they would be closed for lunch because a video was being filmed there. It wasn't until Take On Me & their rather individual coffee maker turned up on Max Headroom & Top of the Pops that we believed them.

[3 Colours Red]

that’d have been a bit presumptuous of them.

Especially considering that Take On Me had already been released as a single twice before (albeit the first time with a different production and video) and flopped. No guarantees that it would have been third time lucky.

[Jah Womble]

I did used to wonder if "The Sun Only Shines on TV" was written specifically about the airplay the Take on Me video got on MTV, compared to, well, everything else they did. I wonder if Dire Straits are similarly remembered as 'one-hit wonders' over there for "Money for Nothing", for similar reasons?

Given that Take On Me was their first hit - and TSASOTV their second - that’d have been a bit presumptuous of them.

(Dire Straits had a few other hits on the Billboard chart.)

[Hot Pepsi]

Yeah, the idea of a “one hit wonder” may be a leftover from the days when singles were the primary pop music product. The Big Bopper, for example, was a true one hit wonder in that respect.

It’s always going to be country specific and Billboard has lots of subcharts beyond the main top 40 so the definition of what counts as “charting” will vary.

I think that, in the US, A-Ha was a two hit wonder. Maybe three. YouTube, Spotify, etc have made their full output more accessible over here so a lot more people are aware of it. Same with Dexy’s and Soft Cell and a few others.

But Dire Straits weren’t like that. They had multiple popular videos on MTV, as I recall. I don’t know if anything other than Brothers in Arms did well on the chart, but they were definitely “around” for a while.

[Snake Plissken]

There was some kind of late night live gig broadcast on BBC2 a few years, that thing where they got a band into a studio, audience of 250 and let them go. The Mrs and I switched it on because there was absolutely sod all else on the other channels and went from "I suppose this will do" to "holy crap, these guys are amazing".