I was a production assistant on this video (the animation side of things). The animation effect was called Rotoscope which was invented/developed by Colossal Pictures/USFX in San Francisco. We did a ton of stuff for MTV as well as FX for movies like “The Right Stuff”, “Top Gun” and “The Running Man”. Also back then we did a multi-episode show called “Aeon Flux” done in an animae art style for MTV’s Liquid Television. All of MTV’s original “bumpers” (when they first went on the air) were done by us. Seeing your reaction had me grinning from ear to ear. Excellent vid!
That means the blaster bolts and things like the emperor's lightning and the Ghostbusters proton pack effect were done the same way. They all have to be matched up to real life counterparts frame by frame. In fact anytime you see effects like that pre cgi were done the that way. Tron for example, was mostly done that way instead of primitive cgi like most people believe. Only the vehicles and some of the backgrounds were actual cgi.
At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, the video for "Take On Me" won six awards-Best New Artist in a Video, Best Concept Video, Most Experimental Video, Best Direction in a Video, Best Special Effects in a Video, and Viewer's Choice-and was nominated for two others, Best Group Video and Video of the Year.
I think the video still holds up! I mean so many from the 80s really show their age (I love them but come on) but this video remains pretty darn amazing.
Released in 1985, this song won MTV's Video of The Year!.. It took something like 5 months to do this video, because all of the drawings that had to be done to depict movement of the couple in the video.. drawing and moving the images little by little, over and over again..
@@mymlan spelled right for germans to or most european languages especielly the germanic ones hahaha even japanese people could pronounce that correctly
I'm shocked you haven't seen this before. Have you seen Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer? If not it's another groundbreaking, iconic music video that you must see. It's in 4K as well.
You might be interested to know that the actual artistic pages from this video are on display at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Top floor. I saw them last year when I visited there, and it was the absolute highlight of my tour of the museum! I also want to say how thrilled I am that you are reviewing older music on your channel. Many people may love the music of today and the past 20 years, but I have to confess it doesn't impress me. Seeing you appreciate bands like Queen and music from the 80's is endlessly refreshing. I would encourage more people to explore years gone by for a treasure trove of powerful, creative, and individual music that fills, satisfies, and moves you completely. Thank you!
@@danielmannandersen2332 Wiki said some 16 weeks and about 3000 frames. That's a lot of drawing even when they keep things fairly simple. But it paid off, it's not just a catchy song but the video is a straight up classic.
Amazing how that song is like 3 mins long, but when I would watch it as a kid, it felt like an epic journey and it just made sense that they fell in love so quickly lol
Yesss. When I was young this was blowing my mind. Still one of the best I've ever listend to, beside Cat Stevens. When I watched the video first time on MTV, that made me cry.
It received 5-6 music awards by MTV for music video of the year 1986. There is about a 5-part video on TH-cam of how they made this and how many drawings it took. The lead singer still performs live and can still hit the high notes! The girl supposedly was his girlfriend at the time. She still looks great (they interviewed both of them together) and she kept the outfit. The group is Norwegian but all speak perfect English (there are three guys in the group, no girl). Fans still visit the cafe where this was filmed also! Probably is my favorite video of all time!
My dad had this recorded on a VHS tape and when I was 6 years old in 1990 my sister and i would dance to this song over and over again. To this day it's a standout awesome song / video
The name of the band came because when they were looking for a name, all the members have written down their name's options on a paper. When everybody was done, the lead singer took the paper and with excitement, before reading the possible options, said "ah-ha". At this moment, all the members agreed this was the perfect name for the band without looking for the names written down.
Actually Paul (Pål at that time, same pronunciation), the guitarist and main song writer had used the name A-ha as title of a song. When Morten, the lead singer saw it in Pauls notebook, he thought it would be a good name, and the others agreed. They were looking for a name/word/expression that was used in Norwegian and in other languages as well. As known A-ha is an expression used in recognition, and it has a positive vibe.
As an Austrian I was just wondering, if you ever listened to Falco - Rock me Amadeus - it was the only Number One hit in the US with a German text. He also was the first who adapted rap elemtents for the German language.
I remember when this video hit MTV it was such a game changer in concept and quality. People were floored by it. It had the same kind of wow factor on people like when Terminator 2 came out and they did the T1000 silver shape shifting effect. Plus it’s a great song and these guys had great hair.
Yeah, most of scenes of the T1000 when it was shot up and split, were wearable prosthetics. That's what made it so realistic, cause it was real physical peices. Cause the CGI just wasn't completely there at the time. And I think all the CGI in it was bad enough for you to notice it, like when the T1000 forms from the liquid state on the floorin the police station. I saw an in depth video on it a while back on TH-cam. You might be able to find it. Edit: Found it! Here's the link. =^D th-cam.com/video/MBShyOajLcg/w-d-xo.html
@Amy Dios Sorry but no they didn't. Star Droplet is referring to The Sun Always Shines On TV video, where the intro is a sequel to this video. Morten's character gets pulled back into the comic world, leaving the girl behind.
Α-ha were a norwegian trio, rivals to the Brits Duran Duran at the period. They got huge success in the 80s, especiallly with the album Hunting High and Low and were invited to meet the queen of England in 1985. The singer Morten Harket was famous for his stunning looks and his 5 octaves vocal range. He was a church choir boy and a blues singer before joining A-ha. His Musical Influences Include Johnny Cash And James Brown, Freddie Simon and Garfunkel. It was always said he has the face and the looks of an angel back then. "The sun always shines on tv", "hunting high and low" are some great atmospheric songs from their 1st album with intense vocals.
The director was Steve Barron, who also did Michael Jackson's Billie Jean and Dire Straits' Money for Nothing- which is a definite music video must see.
I was 15 when I saw this video and it blew me away.....that's why there are so many views. It was insane. When they run down the hall, the walls are wrinkled because the comic was scrunched and thrown out!
This video won the video of the year award that that year. It's also considered one of the top video's of all time. The guy's voice is literally off the charts.
Here’s some background information on the video itself, Jamel: A concept was devised by Steve Barron, based on a comic book he read as a young child featuring "guys racing against each other on motorbikes and sidecars". A girl reading a comic book in a greasy spoon cafe - played by Bunty Bailey of dance troupe Hot Gossip - is attracted to a sketched version of Harket before she finds herself sucked into the animated world. The pair are pursued by violent motorcyclists before the singer breaks out of the animation and the pair are finally reunited in the real world. The band and actors were shot on film before the tapes were handed to Mike Patterson who, over 16 weeks, sketched some 3,000 drawings over individual frames. "I knew that it was going to look good but I had no idea it was going to be in heavy rotation on MTV for a year," says Patterson, who worked on the video with wife Candace Reckinger.
And the wrench-wielding thug was played by Phillip Jackson, who will be a familiar face to fans of Robin of Sherwood (he played Abbot Hugo, the Sheriff of Nottingham's brother) and Poirot (he played Inspector Japp opposite David Suchet).
The scene at the end where the lead singer/protagonist is smashing himself against the walls in her apartment is an homage to the same scene in the 1980 horror film, Altered States.
Every girl wanted to be the girl in the video, myself included. Morten dragged her into the comic book, and after the studio work was done he didn't let go of her. She became his girl friend for a few months.
Video was made in 1985 by a Norwegian Band filmed in Norway most likely. Lead singer Morton Harkett was the same handsome dude in the video. Morton Harkett's voice was an awesome tenor who could hit those high notes. A-- HA recorded a lot of hits in the 1980's that were chart busters in Europe but not the United States. His voice was underappreciated in the USA because he was just considered another pretty boy band unfortunately. The young lady wasn't part of the band except for the video.
This song takes me back to my childhood. I remember watching this on MTV in 1985. It was such an incredible song and video. The graphics where revolutionary at the time and captured my 10 year old imagination.
Do I EVER want to dance with you!!!!! I think it would be a BLAST!! It took a second before you were dancing in your chair!! I love that, do it myself...it's so great to see someone enjoying the music so much!! Thank you!!!
How about a word about Morten Harket's (lead singer) AMAZING Octave Range!!!!!! He holds the world record for holding the longest note in a song, singing LIVE. The song "Summer Moved On", Harket held the note for 20.2 seconds.
Living a Boy's Adventure Tale, Here I Stand and Face the Rain, and Train of Thought were my favorites besides Take on Me. I'm 49 now and I still listen to these songs from time to time.
Absolutely! A-ha is still recording. They had a farewell tour in 2010, I went to see them in Chicago for that. However, they couldn't stay apart. They are currently touring again. They are coming to Los Angels in September of this year, 2020. Luckily, my sister and I were able to get tickets before they sold out.
Fun fact: Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton) says he got the idea for the dance after watching Courtney Cox (of Friends fame) do it on another classic 80's video for Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark".
My 22 year old daughter and I were just talking about this video tonight. I wasn't really able to get across how completely new and cutting edge this video was when it came out. Unlike many 80's videos, this has held up quite well over the decades!! Keep up the good work!!
Yes! When this came out it was definitely a must dance to song. Oh and the guys in Ah Ha were hot! This was ground breaking animation and action effects, they did win awards. This was 1985.
The entire album is amazing - Hunting High & Low, Train of Thought, Living a Boy's Adventure Tale.. really beautiful songs. I loved A-ha in the 80's and I had 3 of their albums.
This is the most creative and choreographed music video of editing I have ever seen. It is one of my favorite songs from my teenage years of the 1980s. I was 16 in 1985 and always waiting for MTV to air it. MTV was made for awesome music of this extroardinary decade.
A-HA... always considered a one hit wonder because of this song, but the reality is they had a lot of great songs, one even a James Bond theme, but all anyone remembers is this one.
Jamal, this song is from 1985 (I was a freshman in college) and the animation in this video was groundbreaking at the time, so you are correct about the advanced computer graphics and the "Breakfast Club" type of vibe. I love the '80's. 😉
1984. The video features the band in a live-action pencil-sketch sequence. The video won six awards and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
Cherry McGregor Take On Me" is a song by Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha, first released in 1984. The original version was produced by Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff. A new version was produced by Alan Tarney for the group's debut studio album Hunting High and Low (1985)
vic zart I know who they are.yes it’s 1984 , my apologies i was in my 20 s when it came out,but not sure why you need to give me the wickapedia notes too 😂
Jamel aka Jamal: Watch Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Don't Come Around Here No More." It's a trippy video that I still remember as a kid in the 80s.
Truth, especially tributing a rock legend that’s no longer with us. All of his stuff is good but the Alice in Wonderland video was cool. Great Wide Open is pretty awesome as well with Johnny Depp in his younger years.
This video actually first aired on WVJV-TV aka V-66, a Boston music video station that was over the air broadcast, while MTV was only on cable at the time. I was the art director for V-66 Boston Rock Video in 1985. These guys actually came into the station in Boston and we had them do a live intro for us as we rolled the first airing of Take On Me in the United States. The band member who is the main character in this video ended up marrying the TV stations receptionist.
This video reminded me of the ending of a movie called “Altered States”. The star (William Hurt) was experimenting with drugs and was regressing genetically and in the end escaped from his altered state by slamming himself into the walls till he fell down and was freed. Good movie if you ever get a chance to see it.
The year was 1985. There are videos on TH-cam about how this video was made. It almost wasn't. the recording company just said make a run of the mill video but the director said, "Wait!! I have an idea. Just give me the time to do it!" Boy, he had an idea alright. I believe it took over 5 months to animate this video but the results changed everything. I was a senior in high school then and it's very cool to see younger generations dig this so much.
It's pronounced "ah-ha", as in "I just had an a-ha moment". I'm also always blown away by the graphics in this video. You nailed it - the people who made it were way ahead of their time.
Take On Me was recorded in 1984 and released in 1985, the Producers were John Ratcliff, and Alan Tarney, originally the song was going to be called "Lesson One " but that didn't work out so now it is called Take On Me and you can listen to the demo version of the song on Spotify, also there is a part two to "Take On Me" called "The Sun Always Shines On Tv." it's the part two to Take On Me, and also the band is Norwegian.
The title "Lesson One" was a working title, it was never meant to be the song's final name. The riff was written when the keyboard player, Magne/Mags was 15 years old, and in the beginning the song was named "The Juicy Fruit song", since they thought it sounded very commercial, reminding them of a Juicy Fruit commercial from that time.
As @Vandersrage mentioned, this video was done by Rotoscoping. Basically what happened was a pair of animators would have a projector in their house, and would project the raw footage from the music video onto a glass plate, and then they would, put a piece of paper over the glass (with cut out holes so some of the footage could be seen) and FRAME BY FRAME draw the drawn parts. Then, for each frame, they'd take a picture of the footage with the frame over it . . . then put that together as the new print. It was like animation stop motion. Crazy amount of work. I read that it took something like 6 months to complete.
Ah-ha. Saw them in concert. Mort....😍😍😍😍 This video won an award.. And I wanna say it was the first award handed out in this category.. Well, they created this illustrated type category because of this video.
OMG, I'm not the only one! I'm looking at that girl and thinking "now you're stuck with this pretty boy with no birth certificate or social security number and you're gonna have to be responsible for him for the rest of your life, child!"
The animation technique is called "rotoscoping", and it was almost 100 years old when this video was done. They film the actors, and then hand draw each frame to recreate the motion. When there's a mix of live-action and animation in the shot, they've literally just drawn part of the frame.
Song always has had a special place in my ❤. The video is phenomenal. Special effects are way ahead of it's time. "Music is love" ... Absolutely, Jamal! Keep 'em comin' ✌
GREAT song. Timeless. Look up "Catchy" in the dictionary, there's a play button for this song. The video is beyond classic too, still holds up and always will. The vocals, need we talk about that tone and range? Some songs are just perfect. Some videos are just "right'. This is both. To say, look at these kids, they're embryos! As fully formed song writers... gifted!
Every kid in the eighties knew this song and video. It was mind blowing for the times. Music videos were still new and this had never been done before. Awesome song, cool video. Incredible vocals. 1985. Oh the memories. If only I could go back.
I was a young teenager when this video came out and MTV was still a novelty. I remember being amazed by both the video and the song. Such great memories!
The part at the end where he's throwing himself against the wall to change it's from the movie Altered States about a guy who takes a lot of mushrooms and hallucinates
There's a follow up to this video and the story called "The Sun Always Shines On Tv". You should check it out. And the most beautiful A-ha song, in my humble opinion, and I'm pretty sure you'd love it, is "Hunting High and Low".
Take On Me was one of my most favorite videos, and still is. I was in my early 20's when it came out, and we all swooned over the lead singer lol. You're right Jamel, the work that went into that video was amazing!
I had to laugh when he said,"Oh this is cool!" I was like "You ain't seen nothing yet!" LOL! I remember when this video first came out and was all the talk. This was in the 80's back when the videos were as fun to look at as the songs were to hear.
![[Watch Party] APL 2024 ใครชนะเข้ารอบ Hydra 🆚 Flash Wolves Talon 🆚 GGLive](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BvuSgyLy4hA/mqdefault.jpg)
I was a production assistant on this video (the animation side of things). The animation effect was called Rotoscope which was invented/developed by Colossal Pictures/USFX in San Francisco. We did a ton of stuff for MTV as well as FX for movies like “The Right Stuff”, “Top Gun” and “The Running Man”. Also back then we did a multi-episode show called “Aeon Flux” done in an animae art style for MTV’s Liquid Television. All of MTV’s original “bumpers” (when they first went on the air) were done by us. Seeing your reaction had me grinning from ear to ear. Excellent vid!
That must have been so much fun working on! And also crazy to have your work shown on MTW for the world to see. :)
Rotoscoping was the effect used to create the lightsaber glow in the Star Wars movies, just to give a famous example. It's been around a long time.
That means the blaster bolts and things like the emperor's lightning and the Ghostbusters proton pack effect were done the same way. They all have to be matched up to real life counterparts frame by frame. In fact anytime you see effects like that pre cgi were done the that way. Tron for example, was mostly done that way instead of primitive cgi like most people believe. Only the vehicles and some of the backgrounds were actual cgi.
You should be proud. This is one of the best music videos of all time!
Other famous examples include most of the old Ralph Bakshi movies and Björk's "Hyperballad" video. Cool story, thanks for sharing!
This song pioneered the way for graphics and special effects. The 80's was such a great decade. I want my MTV.
I want my MTV the way it USED to be......
Not really... Rotoscope had been around for a while. Ralph Bakshi used it in just about every movie he ever made. It was around long before this song.
Hahaha I said “I want my MTV!” Haha. BTW Jamal: Aha is pronounced Ahh-ha.
For graphics sure, but with the mid 80' Music became really boring with good graphics. ;)
Deborah Peterson me too!!!
This was a total mind blown moment in the 80's... everyone was talking about it at school!
I'm 38 i had never seen the video or heard the song entirely, im amazed
And I still have it in my car in one of my playlists :)
Yup! ☺️ And we all had an instant crush on Morten Harket.
I was in college then but we were also talking about it then big time!
Still cool now
At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, the video for "Take On Me" won six awards-Best New Artist in a Video, Best Concept Video, Most Experimental Video, Best Direction in a Video, Best Special Effects in a Video, and Viewer's Choice-and was nominated for two others, Best Group Video and Video of the Year.
I remember when this came out and it was a big deal because no one ever made a video like that before
@John and pretty much what I just commented! LOL!
I think the video still holds up! I mean so many from the 80s really show their age (I love them but come on) but this video remains pretty darn amazing.
I was in art school when this came out. My girlfriend explained to me that it was rotoscoping. She had done similar work on the film "Heavy Metal".
Brothers in arms Dire Straits
Jose M .. Without a doubt.. & ..Live Grateful Dead
This video blows away at least 90% of all the music videos that came after it.
99.9%
One of the best ever made
Edited: Actually the whole thing is one of the best produced pieces in pop music
Oh hands down
True
It was cutting edge when it came out. Still holds up after all these years. Last I heard the singer was still hitting that note.
Released in 1985, this song won MTV's Video of The Year!.. It took something like 5 months to do this video, because all of the drawings that had to be done to depict movement of the couple in the video.. drawing and moving the images little by little, over and over again..
They won awards for it but not video of the year luv maybe a bit more research on the song 😌
@@zeroedzero5492 Of course MTV chose Money for Nothing when the video starts off with "I want my MTV" haha, but that was the 1986 awards show.
Winner of multiple awards worldwide and there's been nothing like it ever since IMO 👏👏👏
“Ah-Ha” like when you have an idea strike you.
Ay-ha had me dying.
Yeah, but Ken, he was right because “A-Ha” is pronounced exactly like he said! The band should have spelled it “Ah-Ha”!
Kitty Lady Well they're Norwegian. For us in Scandinavia it's spelled right. :)
I WAS ABOUT TO SAY THE SAME THING! hahaha 😂 THANK YOU NaTasha!
@@mymlan spelled right for germans to or most european languages especielly the germanic ones hahaha even japanese people could pronounce that correctly
I'm shocked you haven't seen this before. Have you seen Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer? If not it's another groundbreaking, iconic music video that you must see. It's in 4K as well.
If we're talking groundbreaking and iconic, we need to talk about Dire Straits "Money for Nothing"
The New Floyd this and sledgehammer are trippy. It’s most fun when altered...
I think Owner of a Lonely Heart would blow his mind.
All time music videos:
1. Sledgehammer
2. Thriller
3. Dire Straits' money for nothing
Another groundbreaking video but didn't age so well was Duran Duran "The Reflex". Still a great song
You might be interested to know that the actual artistic pages from this video are on display at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Top floor. I saw them last year when I visited there, and it was the absolute highlight of my tour of the museum!
I also want to say how thrilled I am that you are reviewing older music on your channel. Many people may love the music of today and the past 20 years, but I have to confess it doesn't impress me. Seeing you appreciate bands like Queen and music from the 80's is endlessly refreshing. I would encourage more people to explore years gone by for a treasure trove of powerful, creative, and individual music that fills, satisfies, and moves you completely. Thank you!
yeah, that RRHOF is a great place until you realize who is still not in it
As some people have said. THE GREATEST MUSIC VIDEO EVER, never surpassed and still looks good today over 30 years later❤️❤️😍😍🎧🎵🎼
Every one of those sketchy frames was rotoscoped by hand. Completely blows my mind how much work went into this!
The video took 5 months to make or more I think. The band made a documentary about the making of the song on their TH-cam channel recently
@@danielmannandersen2332 Wiki said some 16 weeks and about 3000 frames. That's a lot of drawing even when they keep things fairly simple. But it paid off, it's not just a catchy song but the video is a straight up classic.
Research Walt Disney’s “Snow White” how long that took.
Amazing how that song is like 3 mins long, but when I would watch it as a kid, it felt like an epic journey and it just made sense that they fell in love so quickly lol
1985.. one of the best music years in history.
Band name is pronounced Ah-ha, as in "Ah-ha, I have just found the world's coolest music video on TH-cam....."
Yesss. When I was young this was blowing my mind. Still one of the best I've ever listend to, beside Cat Stevens. When I watched the video first time on MTV, that made me cry.
The “Take on Me” Live Unplugged version is absolutely amazing. Morten’s voice is so beautiful in this acoustic setting 💗
I almost think the live version is better.
Beautiful right? XXX
The recent version, right? So gorgeous. The slowed down live version breaks my heart. :)
Belinda Hutchings... yes, that’s the one. It’s so beautiful, and his voice is still amazing ❤️
check out the 10cc acoustic version of " i'm not in love " . they did it a few years back .
It pronounced as it is written, "AAAAA" - "HA", like "A-ha, I've got it!"
Correct 👍🏻🙂
Like when you heard The Who songs you did Jamel.
Kelly D. Seeing them interviewed back in the day, they said it best......it’s the universal word for discovery. That always stuck with me.
The band was originally named Aha!, so pronounce it like that. They changed it to A-HA later because there was a band called Aha! already.
Ah-ha
It received 5-6 music awards by MTV for music video of the year 1986. There is about a 5-part video on TH-cam of how they made this and how many drawings it took. The lead singer still performs live and can still hit the high notes! The girl supposedly was his girlfriend at the time. She still looks great (they interviewed both of them together) and she kept the outfit. The group is Norwegian but all speak perfect English (there are three guys in the group, no girl). Fans still visit the cafe where this was filmed also! Probably is my favorite video of all time!
No it didn’t receive music video of the year they were only nominated for it but didn’t win it
I want to go back to the 80’s.....and stay there forever 😁
A-Ha is one of the most underrated bands, they have some many great songs. Natives of Norway.
They were hugely successful not underrated at all
@@ahlads exactly... they are legendry.. not under-rated.
Maybe in the States...they're one of the best selling artists of all time.
Under appreciated, not under rated
Donovan Well, they were appreciated back in the 80’s for sure. They did a Bond song. That was like the pinnacle of international success.
Remember this predated Pro Tools so he actually hit these notes
and he still can hit those notes
My dad had this recorded on a VHS tape and when I was 6 years old in 1990 my sister and i would dance to this song over and over again. To this day it's a standout awesome song / video
I was 6 years old in 1990 also! 🙂 I was just 1 year old in 1985 when "Take on me" came out and it's my favorite song of all times.
The name of the band came because when they were looking for a name, all the members have written down their name's options on a paper.
When everybody was done, the lead singer took the paper and with excitement, before reading the possible options, said "ah-ha".
At this moment, all the members agreed this was the perfect name for the band without looking for the names written down.
Actually Paul (Pål at that time, same pronunciation), the guitarist and main song writer had used the name A-ha as title of a song. When Morten, the lead singer saw it in Pauls notebook, he thought it would be a good name, and the others agreed. They were looking for a name/word/expression that was used in Norwegian and in other languages as well. As known A-ha is an expression used in recognition, and it has a positive vibe.
One of the greatest most creative music videos EVER.That's why over 1 billion served.
This video is still one of the best ever made.
The ending is based on the end of the movie Altered States.
The sequel video is sad though, the song The Sun Always Shines on TV...
Here’s the ending of Altered States. th-cam.com/video/wkPM4M6bnB4/w-d-xo.html
William Hurt's first movie.
Great movie.
Yes, Altered States is one of the freakiest movies ever. See it if you haven't! And I agree, this is my favorite music video.
As an Austrian I was just wondering, if you ever listened to Falco - Rock me Amadeus - it was the only Number One hit in the US with a German text. He also was the first who adapted rap elemtents for the German language.
Lorelei Lee Or Der kommisar.
@@mjrussell414 Absolutly! My favourite would be "Jeanny" - but that was very controversial!
Vienna Calling! Love that tune! He's someone who left us waaaaay too early.
Ein großer Musiker definitiv! Unerreicht meiner Meinung nach.
Yes! You need to do “Rock Me Amadeus!”
Saw them live in Oxford shortly after this came out. He hit that high note and we all screamed 😂
I remember when this video hit MTV it was such a game changer in concept and quality. People were floored by it. It had the same kind of wow factor on people like when Terminator 2 came out and they did the T1000 silver shape shifting effect. Plus it’s a great song and these guys had great hair.
Yes!
Yeah, most of scenes of the T1000 when it was shot up and split, were wearable prosthetics. That's what made it so realistic, cause it was real physical peices. Cause the CGI just wasn't completely there at the time. And I think all the CGI in it was bad enough for you to notice it, like when the T1000 forms from the liquid state on the floorin the police station. I saw an in depth video on it a while back on TH-cam. You might be able to find it.
Edit: Found it! Here's the link. =^D
th-cam.com/video/MBShyOajLcg/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for sharing, I always wonder what people thought when new game changers show up
in a way that makes it even more impressive, because it's "just" a music video and not a multi million movie production :)
Now you need to see the sequel "the sun always shine on tv"
Carson Clark read your comment and checked out the video. Really like the song. Video makes it seem like they didn’t get their happy ending 😢
Oooooohhhhh i'm just dig that a-ha song!!!
For a-ha is more than the song "Take On Me"
@@stardroplet9499 yes they did. At the end he broke through to her reality. 💖
@Amy Dios Sorry but no they didn't. Star Droplet is referring to The Sun Always Shines On TV video, where the intro is a sequel to this video. Morten's character gets pulled back into the comic world, leaving the girl behind.
@star Droplet Yeah it doesn't seem like they did. I was always hoping for a third part but the guys never did one.
I graduated from high school in 1985, and everyone was floored when this video came out.
Α-ha were a norwegian trio, rivals to the Brits Duran Duran at the period. They got huge success in the 80s, especiallly with the album Hunting High and Low and were invited to meet the queen of England in 1985. The singer Morten Harket was famous for his stunning looks and his 5 octaves vocal range. He was a church choir boy and a blues singer before joining A-ha. His Musical Influences Include Johnny Cash And James Brown, Freddie Simon and Garfunkel. It was always said he has the face and the looks of an angel back then. "The sun always shines on tv", "hunting high and low" are some great atmospheric songs from their 1st album with intense vocals.
The director was Steve Barron, who also did Michael Jackson's Billie Jean and Dire Straits' Money for Nothing- which is a definite music video must see.
Indeed, when it comes to the _Money For Nothing_ video, I gotta say "Look at that, look at that!"
AND he directed the first (and still best) live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in 1990
THE best done music video ever, period.
Thriller by Michael Jackson as well
it , truly was , one of the best . it created a new era of video making . cutting edge . still one of my favorite videos of all time .
I was 15 when I saw this video and it blew me away.....that's why there are so many views. It was insane. When they run down the hall, the walls are wrinkled because the comic was scrunched and thrown out!
This video won the video of the year award that that year. It's also considered one of the top video's of all time. The guy's voice is literally off the charts.
No it didn’t win video or the year ffs
@@zeroedzero5492 My apologies. I guess the excitement of watching this again got the better of me.
Here’s some background information on the video itself, Jamel: A concept was devised by Steve Barron, based on a comic book he read as a young child featuring "guys racing against each other on motorbikes and sidecars".
A girl reading a comic book in a greasy spoon cafe - played by Bunty Bailey of dance troupe Hot Gossip - is attracted to a sketched version of Harket before she finds herself sucked into the animated world.
The pair are pursued by violent motorcyclists before the singer breaks out of the animation and the pair are finally reunited in the real world.
The band and actors were shot on film before the tapes were handed to Mike Patterson who, over 16 weeks, sketched some 3,000 drawings over individual frames.
"I knew that it was going to look good but I had no idea it was going to be in heavy rotation on MTV for a year," says Patterson, who worked on the video with wife Candace Reckinger.
And the wrench-wielding thug was played by Phillip Jackson, who will be a familiar face to fans of Robin of Sherwood (he played Abbot Hugo, the Sheriff of Nottingham's brother) and Poirot (he played Inspector Japp opposite David Suchet).
@Michael Johnson There's also the mini-sequel to this video at the start of The Sun Always Shines On TV video.
The scene at the end where the lead singer/protagonist is smashing himself against the walls in her apartment is an homage to the same scene in the 1980 horror film, Altered States.
I love that movie, one of my favorites
It's just about a shot-for-shot quote.
William Hurt in the Ken Russell film - a classic
Horrible!
I'll have to check it out...Thankyou
Big shout out to the lovely Bunty Bailey. She conveyed so much, even in rotoscope, without speaking a word. Great acting job!
Every girl wanted to be the girl in the video, myself included. Morten dragged her into the comic book, and after the studio work was done he didn't let go of her. She became his girl friend for a few months.
Looks like a different girl in the followup video
Being over half Norwegian I take special interest in A-Ha, love this song and the video especially. They're a Norwegian band, from Norway
Y- You mean the Norwegian band isn't from Sweden?
@@NPC-nn4qe lmao 😂😂😂, I sure didn't say that right.
Fun fact: the technique is called rotoscoping and has been used since the late 19th century (yes, 19th!)
The song came out in 1985. The name of the group is pronounced " Ah Ha ".
George Brattole thanks mr obvious
@@ozzy2476 he posted that because Jamel said didn't know how to pronounce it, you dumb prick.
1984
@@MikeGradyPDX - I watched when a-ha performed this on tv for the first time, it was October '84.
Video was made in 1985 by a Norwegian Band filmed in Norway most likely.
Lead singer Morton Harkett was the same handsome dude in the video.
Morton Harkett's voice was an awesome tenor who could hit those high notes.
A-- HA recorded a lot of hits in the 1980's that were chart busters in Europe but not the United States.
His voice was underappreciated in the USA because he was just considered another pretty boy band unfortunately.
The young lady wasn't part of the band except for the video.
This song takes me back to my childhood. I remember watching this on MTV in 1985. It was such an incredible song and video. The graphics where revolutionary at the time and captured my 10 year old imagination.
Do I EVER want to dance with you!!!!! I think it would be a BLAST!!
It took a second before you were dancing in your chair!!
I love that, do it myself...it's so great to see someone enjoying the music so much!!
Thank you!!!
As soon as I heard you say you'd never seen the video, I immediately thought, "Oh, he's gonna love this!". I saw that Carlton, don't even deny it!
My 5yo girl loves this one. She’ll be running up as soon as she hears it. The acoustic live version featured in Deadpool 2 is legit.
Cap'n Jazz did it better.
"We're definitely naming our kid Cher!"
I love the acoustic version. 😸
Totally agree on the unplugged version
How about a word about Morten Harket's (lead singer) AMAZING Octave Range!!!!!!
He holds the world record for holding the longest note in a song, singing LIVE.
The song "Summer Moved On", Harket held the note for 20.2 seconds.
THEY STILL MAKE MUSIC. AND THE SINGER MORTEN HARKET HAS AN AMAISING VOICE
that high note, it defeats me
Look at A-HA's other tracks like the sun always shines on tv and hunting high and low.
I love Hunting High and Low, one of my faves from the 80's
And Cry Wolf
Living a Boy's Adventure Tale, Here I Stand and Face the Rain, and Train of Thought were my favorites besides Take on Me. I'm 49 now and I still listen to these songs from time to time.
Absolutely! A-ha is still recording. They had a farewell tour in 2010, I went to see them in Chicago for that. However, they couldn't stay apart. They are currently touring again. They are coming to Los Angels in September of this year, 2020. Luckily, my sister and I were able to get tickets before they sold out.
They even did a bond song living daylights when Timothy Dalton was Bond brilliant song.
This was achieved by an artist tracing over all the frames individually on paper with different shading on each frame.
rotoscoping
I wish they interviews those artist
It's called rotoscoping.
star Droplet here th-cam.com/video/CcxLyGKw48s/w-d-xo.html
jesus in the 80s how long did that take him and i dont suppose day lol i mean hours he probably got no sleep for weeks
I love how people have downvoted this reaction. "It's not the way that I would have reacted MYSELF.. I am angry!"
Awesome song it makes me want the 80's to come back around again. Wonderful decade to live through!
This flipped many minds back in the 80’s. The dance you were doing? Intensify it and you now understand where the Carlton dance came from!😂
This LOL ;)
Fun fact: Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton) says he got the idea for the dance after watching Courtney Cox (of Friends fame) do it on another classic 80's video for Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark".
My 22 year old daughter and I were just talking about this video tonight. I wasn't really able to get across how completely new and cutting edge this video was when it came out. Unlike many 80's videos, this has held up quite well over the decades!! Keep up the good work!!
The lead singer still hot as well after all these years
Yes. It was 1985. The creativity and production made THIS song such a Major Hit.
Yes! When this came out it was definitely a must dance to song. Oh and the guys in Ah Ha were hot! This was ground breaking animation and action effects, they did win awards. This was 1985.
The entire album is amazing - Hunting High & Low, Train of Thought, Living a Boy's Adventure Tale.. really beautiful songs. I loved A-ha in the 80's and I had 3 of their albums.
I loved them too ... slept with Morten photo under my pillow ... I couldn't afford an album but I taped them down off the radio 😊
i love scoundrel days even more
Agree 100% Maria!!!❤️❤️❤️
There's more albums then the 3.
theeggtimer tic tic You did what you had to do.
This is the most creative and choreographed music video of editing I have ever seen. It is one of my favorite songs from my teenage years of the 1980s. I was 16 in 1985 and always waiting for MTV to air it. MTV was made for awesome music of this extroardinary decade.
A-HA... always considered a one hit wonder because of this song, but the reality is they had a lot of great songs, one even a James Bond theme, but all anyone remembers is this one.
This song slash video was epic upon it's release. It still holds the gold medal. Kudos to the folks that created it. And of course the musicians!
The Sun Always Shines on TV is my favorite from them. You have to hear it!
Jamal, this song is from 1985 (I was a freshman in college) and the animation in this video was groundbreaking at the time, so you are correct about the advanced computer graphics and the "Breakfast Club" type of vibe. I love the '80's. 😉
1984 xxxx
Musically, the 80s was amazing. I used to stay up on Friday nights and watch Friday Night Videos on NBC then MTV. I miss those days so much.
'A-Ha! Caught you in the act!' You know, like an ah ha moment. :)
fun fact, this was the third time a-ha released this song. thanks to this video, it climbed charts around the world
1984. The video features the band in a live-action pencil-sketch sequence. The video won six awards and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
vic zart 1985 lol
Cherry McGregor Take On Me" is a song by Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha, first released in 1984. The original version was produced by Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff. A new version was produced by Alan Tarney for the group's debut studio album Hunting High and Low (1985)
vic zart I know who they are.yes it’s 1984 , my apologies i was in my 20 s when it came out,but not sure why you need to give me the wickapedia notes too 😂
Jamel aka Jamal: Watch Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Don't Come Around Here No More." It's a trippy video that I still remember as a kid in the 80s.
Yes I agree that would be another good one for him to do a reaction on
Truth, especially tributing a rock legend that’s no longer with us. All of his stuff is good but the Alice in Wonderland video was cool. Great Wide Open is pretty awesome as well with Johnny Depp in his younger years.
Another weird video is Genesis - Land of Confusion.
Dammit I was just about to say land of confusion too. That video gave me nightmares as a child.
Great video!
This video actually first aired on WVJV-TV aka V-66, a Boston music video station that was over the air broadcast, while MTV was only on cable at the time. I was the art director for V-66 Boston Rock Video in 1985. These guys actually came into the station in Boston and we had them do a live intro for us as we rolled the first airing of Take On Me in the United States. The band member who is the main character in this video ended up marrying the TV stations receptionist.
I remember seeing this when it first came out and being blown away. 🥰
And I'd totally forgotten about "Secret Admirer"!
The director was the same guy, Steve Barron, who did "Billy Jean" and "Karma Chameleon"
Oh, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the original movie not the remake.
Loved the "Billie Jean" video but thought "Karma Chameleon" and "Africa" were pretty lame. (Love the songs, not impressed by the videos.)
@@thesisypheanjournal1271
That's funny. I feel just the opposite, but there's no denying he made some of the most iconic videos of the 80's.
@@michellerhoades8774 THE ONLY ONE in my book
This video reminded me of the ending of a movie called “Altered States”. The star (William Hurt) was experimenting with drugs and was regressing genetically and in the end escaped from his altered state by slamming himself into the walls till he fell down and was freed. Good movie if you ever get a chance to see it.
The year was 1985. There are videos on TH-cam about how this video was made. It almost wasn't. the recording company just said make a run of the mill video but the director said, "Wait!! I have an idea. Just give me the time to do it!" Boy, he had an idea alright. I believe it took over 5 months to animate this video but the results changed everything. I was a senior in high school then and it's very cool to see younger generations dig this so much.
It's pronounced "ah-ha", as in "I just had an a-ha moment". I'm also always blown away by the graphics in this video. You nailed it - the people who made it were way ahead of their time.
Woow what a times bro. You need to see the part two when he returns to his world. The song it's. The sun always shine on TV
Take On Me was recorded in 1984 and released in 1985, the Producers were John Ratcliff, and Alan Tarney, originally the song was going to be called "Lesson One " but that didn't work out so now it is called Take On Me and you can listen to the demo version of the song on Spotify, also there is a part two to "Take On Me" called "The Sun Always Shines On Tv." it's the part two to Take On Me, and also the band is Norwegian.
The title "Lesson One" was a working title, it was never meant to be the song's final name. The riff was written when the keyboard player, Magne/Mags was 15 years old, and in the beginning the song was named "The Juicy Fruit song", since they thought it sounded very commercial, reminding them of a Juicy Fruit commercial from that time.
@@ahkkariq7406 that’s true 😊
As @Vandersrage mentioned, this video was done by Rotoscoping. Basically what happened was a pair of animators would have a projector in their house, and would project the raw footage from the music video onto a glass plate, and then they would, put a piece of paper over the glass (with cut out holes so some of the footage could be seen) and FRAME BY FRAME draw the drawn parts. Then, for each frame, they'd take a picture of the footage with the frame over it . . . then put that together as the new print. It was like animation stop motion. Crazy amount of work. I read that it took something like 6 months to complete.
Ah-ha. Saw them in concert. Mort....😍😍😍😍 This video won an award.. And I wanna say it was the first award handed out in this category.. Well, they created this illustrated type category because of this video.
SIMPLEY RED "If you don't know me by now"
OR
Elton John & George Michael - "Don't let the sun go down on me"
I'm such a practical person. Every time I see this, I can't help thinking, "Now, how is she going to get him a driver's license?"
OMG, I'm not the only one! I'm looking at that girl and thinking "now you're stuck with this pretty boy with no birth certificate or social security number and you're gonna have to be responsible for him for the rest of your life, child!"
😂Hilarious.
I am almost ashamed to say that when I first saw this back in 1985...I had the exact same thought. LOL
@@AngelaJoshi Great minds think alike, Angela!
The animation technique is called "rotoscoping", and it was almost 100 years old when this video was done. They film the actors, and then hand draw each frame to recreate the motion. When there's a mix of live-action and animation in the shot, they've literally just drawn part of the frame.
And 35 years later the song and video is still going strong. The video is better than most after 1985....
I had such a crush on that girl back in the day...
I had a crush on Annie Lennox & Jane Child NOT Julia Child LOL!
@@geriatricraver Dude Annie Lennox was so goddamn sexy !!! That kind of idgaf class... and when she broke that for the "I need a man" video. Gosh!
That's some vids Jamal should do btw, the "savage" videos.
She was cute
You can see her interviewed in the recent documentary on this song/video
Song always has had a special place in my ❤. The video is phenomenal. Special effects are way ahead of it's time.
"Music is love" ... Absolutely, Jamal! Keep 'em comin' ✌
I remember being blown away when this video came out on MTV. Absolutely fantastic!
This is the video that made MTV. Smashed the old 'band performance' format, and revolutionised the genre.
I was young when this came out and can still remember how amazing the graphics were. You should check out the Family Guy parody of this.
Lois: Chris, where have you been??
Chris: I DON’T KNOWWWW!
We secretly all wanted to be Chris in that episode.
GREAT song. Timeless. Look up "Catchy" in the dictionary, there's a play button for this song.
The video is beyond classic too, still holds up and always will.
The vocals, need we talk about that tone and range?
Some songs are just perfect. Some videos are just "right'. This is both.
To say, look at these kids, they're embryos! As fully formed song writers... gifted!
This video STILL holds up, love this song and the lead singer is soooooooooo cute!!!
Every kid in the eighties knew this song and video. It was mind blowing for the times. Music videos were still new and this had never been done before. Awesome song, cool video. Incredible vocals. 1985. Oh the memories. If only I could go back.
If you like this check out “Don’t Answer Me” by Alan Parsons Project..
iRobot would blow him away especially Breakdown
A classic, one of my favourite songs ever
The first album is not really cool. Especially song Raven
th-cam.com/video/x3mPwzKBA60/w-d-xo.html
That's a blast from the past... thanks for reminding me.
I'm downloading I Robot on Spotify right now! Great band and great era.
This is their most popular song, but I like "The Sun Always Shines on TV", and their brilliant cover of "Crying in the Rain" better.
Failed Bard I absolutely adore Hunting High and Low... love the video...🥰
I was a young teenager when this video came out and MTV was still a novelty. I remember being amazed by both the video and the song. Such great memories!
First video I ever saw on MTV. April, 1985. Blew my mind then, one of my favorite songs to this day.
The part at the end where he's throwing himself against the wall to change it's from the movie Altered States about a guy who takes a lot of mushrooms and hallucinates
I always thought it was peyote.
It was DMT.
There's a follow up to this video and the story called "The Sun Always Shines On Tv". You should check it out. And the most beautiful A-ha song, in my humble opinion, and I'm pretty sure you'd love it, is "Hunting High and Low".
Profe Gamer y Yuca Love that song too. I was just singing it to myself the other day.
Take On Me was one of my most favorite videos, and still is. I was in my early 20's when it came out, and we all swooned over the lead singer lol. You're right Jamel, the work that went into that video was amazing!
I don’t know what else I can do??? Jamal are you kidding me ! You have done a TON to help this outside world better!
The pronunciation of the group is “ah-ha”, an expression as if you got an I adra but, it’s spelled A-Ha. The song was released June 1, 1985.
That was the lead singer's actual girlfriend at the time too.
She was dating Billy Idol during the time as he talked about it on Letterman.
She became his girlfriend after this video, then his wife.
she was in a billy idol video too
I think she was in the outfield video too... I just wanna lose your love tonight.... Live this video and song btw
AerynSunX not his wife now though, as they met recently to celebrate the video. It’s on TH-cam somewhere, fascinating :)
One of my favorite music videos of all time. It never gets old.
I had to laugh when he said,"Oh this is cool!" I was like "You ain't seen nothing yet!" LOL! I remember when this video first came out and was all the talk. This was in the 80's back when the videos were as fun to look at as the songs were to hear.