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When a-ha first dropped “Take On Me,” no one was exactly taking notice. The song flopped not once, but twice. Then, on the third try, thanks to a dash of Norwegian stubbornness and one of the most iconic music videos ever made, it became a global phenomenon.
Back in 1984, the band’s first version of “Take On Me” barely cracked local airwaves. A second release that same year didn’t do much better, but a-ha wasn’t ready to give up on the catchy song they knew had something special. They re-recorded it with producer Alan Tarney, gave it a brighter, more radio-friendly sound and then teamed up with director Steve Barron to make a video that would change MTV forever. It featured a blend of live action and hand-drawn animation that looked like something out of a comic book dream sequence.
When that version hit American TV in the summer of 1985, everything changed. Suddenly, the world couldn’t get enough of Morten Harket’s unmistakable voice and that now-famous keyboard riff. By October 1985, 40 years ago this month, “Take On Me” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, bumping Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” from the top spot.
The song went on to win six MTV Video Music Awards, make music-video history, and it firmly cemented a-ha’s place in pop culture. Not bad for a track that almost never saw the light of day.
Even decades later, “Take On Me” keeps inspiring new generations. Weezer even covered it on their 2019 Teal Album, released just months after their viral version of Toto’s “Africa.” But it’s the original a-ha video that still reigns supreme, with more than 2.2 billion YouTube views and a permanent place in pop-culture history. The song continues to pop up in movies, memes, and nostalgic playlists that instantly transport you back to the 1980s.
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As Harket later said in the 2021 documentary a-ha: The Movie, “It was just this feeling that the song had to work somehow. We believed in it completely.”
Turns out he was right. Four decades later, “Take On Me” remains proof that sometimes, the third time really is the charm.
