I can hardly believe that it's been 15 great years since this video changed my world forever! I've been following these guys ever since "Hunting High and Low" came out in 1985. In fact, I wore out my first HHL tape, and a second copy that I made from a friend.
I remember being absolutely captivated by the video, the album, and, of course since I was 12 at the time, all of the pictures in the teen magazines! After hearing "Living A Boy's Adventure Tale" I even took a summer band class attempting to learn the oboe.

We've all heard the story of how the first release of "Take On Me" failed miserably... Well, we can't deny that it happened, no matter how painful...

In 1984 a-ha was signed to Warner Bros. and "Take On Me" was released. Believe it or not, but only 300 copies of this single were sold. The second release of "Take On Me" flopped too, and the band was ready to split up.

But, in 1985, the new version of "Take On Me" was released, followed with the "breakthrough" video.
It reached #1 in 9 countries, including the USA, and #2 in the UK.




This data was "borrowed" from Cold As Stone.

Here are some great clips of various versions of "Take On Me":
Lesson One - a rare clip of a TOM demo (real audio).
Take On Me. (midi).
Clip of the extended version. (mp3)
Clip of the techno version. (mp3)
Clip of the acapella version by Morten. (mp3)
Clip of the version by Pearl. (mp3)
Clip of the version by Reel Big Fish. (mp3)

To download free players try these sites:
Music Match
mp3.com
winamp
Real Audio