If you're going to be a one-hit wonder in the States, you can't do much better than a-ha. The Norwegian band's "Take on Me" hit No. 1 in 1985, and the video, in which a woman is pulled into the pages of a comic book, routinely is listed among the top 10 music videos.
The trio would never top the success of the iconic MTV smash.
"Everything we did or will ever do will be compared to that," says Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, the band's guitarist and composer of many of its songs. Lead singer Morten Harket has called Waaktaar-Savoy "the driving force behind a-ha."
After touring and recording off and on for the past 25 years, a-ha has decided to call it quits, the three musicians turning their attention to other projects. A Riviera concert Thursday will mark both the second and last time a-ha will have played in Chicago, the first being a sold-out show in 1986.
The farewell tour features a selection of songs from all of a-ha's nine albums, a few of which were never released in the United States. By American standards, the band is a one-hit wonder. Rather than be limited by the success of "Take on Me," Waaktaar-Savoy, 48, prefers to use the song as the band's calling card.
"I think of it like it's a guy wearing a sandwich billboard trying to hustle you in to hear the rest of what we have to offer," he says.
"Take on Me" has been played about 3 million times on U.S. radio stations -- not too shabby for a song that initially lacked a chorus.
"I remember one recording executive telling me if you have falsetto in a song, the song is usually a hit," Waaktaar-Savoy says. "So I wrote a chorus that gave Morten the chance to show off his falsetto."
The local nostalgia band '80s Enough doesn't dare leave it off any set list. "People absolutely expect it," says lead guitarist Kurt Bonomo, who says the song is a sure bet for a gig this Saturday at the Friends Night Club in LaPorte, Ind. "Our female lead singer, Dee Dee, sings it, though. It's really high."
If you're going to be a one-hit wonder in the States, you can't do much better than a-ha. The Norwegian band's "Take on Me" hit No. 1 in 1985, and the video, in which a woman is pulled into the pages of a comic book, routinely is listed among the top 10 music videos.
The trio would never top the success of the iconic MTV smash.
"Everything we did or will ever do will be compared to that," says Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, the band's guitarist and composer of many of its songs. Lead singer Morten Harket has called Waaktaar-Savoy "the driving force behind a-ha."
After touring and recording off and on for the past 25 years, a-ha has decided to call it quits, the three musicians turning their attention to other projects. A Riviera concert Thursday will mark both the second and last time a-ha will have played in Chicago, the first being a sold-out show in 1986.
The farewell tour features a selection of songs from all of a-ha's nine albums, a few of which were never released in the United States. By American standards, the band is a one-hit wonder. Rather than be limited by the success of "Take on Me," Waaktaar-Savoy, 48, prefers to use the song as the band's calling card.
"I think of it like it's a guy wearing a sandwich billboard trying to hustle you in to hear the rest of what we have to offer," he says.
"Take on Me" has been played about 3 million times on U.S. radio stations -- not too shabby for a song that initially lacked a chorus.
"I remember one recording executive telling me if you have falsetto in a song, the song is usually a hit," Waaktaar-Savoy says. "So I wrote a chorus that gave Morten the chance to show off his falsetto."
The local nostalgia band '80s Enough doesn't dare leave it off any set list. "People absolutely expect it," says lead guitarist Kurt Bonomo, who says the song is a sure bet for a gig this Saturday at the Friends Night Club in LaPorte, Ind. "Our female lead singer, Dee Dee, sings it, though. It's really high."
L'actualité de A-ha et carrière solo : 
