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Take On Me

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"Take On Me"
Song

"Take on Me" is a song by the Norwegian band a-ha. The song is a track from a-ha's first album, Hunting High and Low, released in 1985. The music video for the song was first broadcast in 1985 on local Boston music video station V-66, and then subsequently on MTV. The innovative video was an amalgamation of rotoscope-style animation and live-action. The video was inspired by the animated film Commuter created by Michael Patterson, and the movie Altered States.

An extended mix of this song appears on the Japan-only 45 R.P.M. Club EP. The music video of another a-ha song, "The Sun Always Shines on T.V.", forms a sequel of sorts.

Video summary

The video can be watched at youtube.

The video, directed by Steve Barron, uses heavy rotoscoping. It begins as a blonde young woman (played by actress Bunty Bailey[1]) is in a London cafe, reading a comic book about competitive motorcycle racing.

File:TakeOnMe.jpg
Bunty Bailey and Morten Harket in the "Take on Me" music video.

The winner of the race, played by Morten Harket, the band's lead vocalist, winks at the girl; she raises her eyebrows. He then reaches his black and white cartoon hand through the comic book, pulling the girl into his animated world with his band in tow. Through a creative effect they both view each other through a comic frame which shows them (and the band members) alternately in live action and animation.

The waitress, coming back for the bill and finding the girl missing, believes she has left without paying, and angrily crumples up the comic book and throws it into the wastepaper basket. As this happens, two of Harket's competitors in the race come back for revenge. One, wielding a monkey wrench, smashes the comic frame. Harket punches one of the thugs, and retreats with the girl into a maze created by the crumpled paper. Harket tears a hole so the girl can escape as he faces the two thugs. The entire coffee shop peers over the counter at the heavily ink-stained girl lying next to the wastepaper basket. The startled girl grabs the crumpled comic book and runs out of the coffee shop to her room, where she tries to smooth out the creases.

One of the panels shows Harket lying unconscious, and she begins to cry. Harket then wakes up and starts hitting against the edges of a comic frame. Suddenly, he appears in the girl's room, and throws himself back and forth within a doorframe as he flashes between animated and live action. Eventually, he becomes the latter, and the girl and Harket embrace each other.

Cover images

Awards and accomplishments

The single reached number-one in 36 countries and is one of the world's best-selling singles of all time with 8-9 million copies sold, hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. It also hit number two in the UK and number one in a-ha's native Norway. At the MTV Video Music Awards on September 5, 1986, the video won six awards.[2]

In 2006 the song was ranked at number 24 on VH1's "Greatest Songs of the 1980s".[3]


Certifications

  • UK: Gold (500,000)
  • USA: Platinum (1,500,000)
  • Germany: Gold (500,000)
  • France: Gold (500,000)
  • Spain: Platinum (100,000)
  • Norway: 4x Platinum (200,000)
  • Italy: Gold (500,000)


The song was the second best-selling single of 1985.


Covers

"Take On Me"
Song

The following artists have covered the song

Trivia

File:Familyguytakeonme.JPG
Family Guy parody of the music video
  • The music video was parodied in the Family Guy episode "Breaking Out Is Hard to Do", in which Chris Griffin is pulled into Morten Harket's comic world through a milk shelf during a trip to the supermarket. After dancing to the song for a short time and getting chased by the monkey wrench-wielding henchmen, Chris falls out of the milk shelf through a shelf of eggs and when Lois asks, "Where have you been?", he replies, "I don't know!!!"
  • Chris Kattan sings along to this song in Corky Romano.
  • The song, and a variation of the music video, was featured in one of the first American arcade releases of the Korean dance simulation game Pump it Up, covered by the house band BanYa.
  • In the South Park episode "Asspen", the song can be heard in the background when the boys and their parents arrive in Aspen. It is also sung by Mr. Slave in the closing credits.
  • The song is featured in The Simpsons episode "Future-Drama". It can be heard at Bart and Lisa's future prom. This is possibly a reference to the film Grosse Pointe Blank, in which "Take on Me" is also played at the prom.
  • In a recent Weebl and Bob episode, Weebl sings a parody of the song ("Bake Me Three").[4]
  • Kanye West is known to do a small dancing bit to "Take on Me" during his live performances. video
  • The webtoon Bonus Stage has an episode titled "Revenge of the Pathetic", in which Evil returns with his latest scheme, "THE HAT LASER!" When he is about to battle Phil and Joel, he says "Fine! Take me on! I'll be gone! In a day or two!" (Reference to the song's lyrics)
  • The music video was also parodied as the intro to the Danish television show Zulu awards 2005, where Morten Harket and Magne Furuholmen are sitting and watching it in a hotel, obviously swearing at the lack of competence, while they get provided for by the show's host, comedian and actor Jan Elhøj, in which he got dragged into the music video and make his entree for the show while breaking out in the end of the music video.
  • The video game Hotel Dusk: Room 215 has been often jokingly compared to the music video based on its similar visual style.
  • The London-based band Amateur Transplants parodied the song as "Me on take" on their first album, Fitness to Practice.
  • Is played as Debi and Martin are at their high school reunion in the 1997 movie Grosse Pointe Blank
  • The very first version of "Take on Me" was called "The Juicyfruit Song", and was recorded during a rehearsal in 1981 by Bridges.
  • In 1985 in Mexico the opening notes of "Take on Me" were used like a jingle for a TV campaign announcing stockings "Frescannon"
  • Bunty Bailey was the name of the actress who played the girl reading the comic book in the video "Take on Me". She also dated Morten Harket for a brief period of time.
  • The computer generated effects in the video were created by London based Framestore CFC
  • "Take on Me" Featured as a song track in the 2004 PlayStation 2 game SingStar, using a-ha's video.
  • The racing driver wielding the monkey wrench bears a very strong resemblance to Formula 1 legend Juan-Manuel Fangio.
  • Duke University pep band often plays this during basketball games.
  • The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for naming each episode after an 80's hit song, named an episode after this song. The episode was inspired by the popular 80s' movie The Breakfast Club.
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single (a-ha version)
October 19 1985 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK number one single (A1 version)
September 3 2000 - September 10 2000 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ MySpace page for actress Bunty Bailey (the female lead in the "Take on Me" music video)
  2. ^ http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/artists/a-ha.htm
  3. ^ http://www.vh1.com/press/press_releases/2006_release/100greatestsongs80s_10302006.jhtml
  4. ^ Weebl and Bob parody
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