walking upstream…
a-ha
sourcesWikipedia · Washington Post (via Yahoo)
Formed in Oslo in 1982 by songwriters Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy with singer Morten Harket, a-ha turned meticulous studio synth-pop into something genuinely widescreen, wrapping Harket's soaring, multi-octave voice around Furuholmen and Waaktaar's moody, hook-laden songwriting. "Take On Me," propelled by a groundbreaking pencil-sketch animated video, became a global number one in 1985 and made Hunting High and Low an instant multi-platinum debut. Decades on, the trio's blend of arena-scale drama and new-wave synth texture still defines what Nordic pop exported to the world in the mid-1980s.
the sound in question
1985
Take On Mea-ha
walk the tributaries ↓
The Doors1960s · Psychedelic rock / Rock
Before a-ha existed, Magne Furuholmen and Paul Waaktaar played together in the Oslo band Bridges, built almost entirely in The Doors' image — Furuholmen took up a Ray Manzarek-style keyboard role and the band leaned into a baritone, organ-driven drama. Furuholmen has said bringing home a Doors record and playing it for Waaktaar "became a huge influence on our direction," and that cinematic intensity never fully left a-ha's sound even after it turned to synth-pop.
listen: upstream & here
1967
Light My FireThe Doors
1985
Hunting High and Lowa-ha
listen forCue up The Doors' "Light My Fire" and then a-ha's "Hunting High and Low" — both build around a slow-burning, almost liturgical intensity, with Manzarek's swirling keys answered decades later by Furuholmen's own dramatic synth washes underneath Harket's soaring delivery.
David Bowie1970s · Art rock / Glam rock
Paul Waaktaar-Savoy has said the pre-a-ha songwriting partnership was "really heavy into Deep Purple, Bowie as well, and super into Hendrix" — and it's Bowie's art-pop reinvention, his willingness to make a synthesizer sound like high drama, that maps most directly onto a-ha's own pivot from hard-rock-loving kids to synth-pop stylists.
listen: upstream & here
1980
Ashes to AshesDavid Bowie
1985
Take On Mea-ha
listen forPut Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" next to a-ha's "Take On Me" — both hang a deceptively melancholy, minor-key melody on bright, percolating synthesizer hooks, treating the synth-pop single as a vehicle for real pathos rather than just a production gimmick.
Uriah Heep1970s · Hard rock / Progressive rock / Heavy metal
At fifteen, Morten Harket heard Uriah Heep's Wonderworld and described it as a "massive revelation" that convinced him he "wanted to do what they did" — a formative jolt that shaped the operatic reach and dynamic range Harket later brought to a-ha's biggest choruses.
listen: upstream & heresource: Louder ↗
1974
WonderworldUriah Heep
1985
The Sun Always Shines on T.V.a-ha
listen forCompare the title track of Uriah Heep's "Wonderworld" with a-ha's "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." — both stretch a pop vocal from a hushed near-whisper into a full-throated, almost theatrical peak, chasing the same wide-open vocal drama Harket fell in love with as a teenager.