FIRST TIME Hearing A-HA - "Take On Me" REACTION 

The music video was made for the song, it’s not from any movie. The animation was way ahead of its time and even today it looks really cool. No wonder it has over 1.5 billion views. Back in the 80s, MTV was still new and played actual music. There were a lot of new groundbreaking videos, like A-ha’s. As for CDs, they started to get popular by the mid to late 80s. But people still mostly listened to cassettes where they could make their own mixtapes. They would make the mixtapes by recording the songs when it came on the radio, so yeah it would take a while 😅

One of the greatest music videos in the history of music videos..PERIODT!!!! That music video will hold up for another 100 years, it was so ahead of it's time. The CD format came out in like 1985 but became extremely popular in the late 80s early 90s

The greatest music video of all time.

Morten’s voice is out of this world. Anton, CDs came out in 1982, MTV came out in 1981, if I remember correctly. It played videos all day long.

If Major Tom, didn't exist this would be my very fave 80s song and video

This video was absolutely the best of the 80's and SO ahead of its time. I think it took 3600 still frames to create that visual. And the song itself is fantastic. Morten Harket's vocals are absolutely INSANE. This video, Thriller, and We're Not Gonna Take It(Twisted Sister) are my top three 80's videos.

Brilliant song, best music video ever created.

Now you should go down the A-Ha rabbit hole! They're in their 60's now and still playing and sound absolutely amazing.. but to start listen to the entire Hunting High and Low album! That's their first.. then go in chronological order from there.

Back in the '80s and '90s, MTV was all about music and not about reality b.s. We watched music videos on TV, and because we didn't have internet access we actually discovered music via TV and radio. Then we'd go out, but the album (on vinyl or cassette), take it home and play the heck out of it. We didn't have instant access to unlimited music, so I think we appreciated what he had more than people do today. It seems like music has become super disposable, but back then, we'd listen through entire albums over and over, and we'd read facts about the bands in magazines and such. I didn't really have MTV until the 90's, but there were music videos on Norwegian TV as well, just not as often.

Newest movie it was in was Deadpool lol 😂 but this is one of my favorites you can’t not get pumped when you hear it!

They had some great hits. European music vibes - just love it. 🙂

God I'm sooooo old 😂🙄

A-ha is one of the best Bands ever, take on me is their most known song but not their best song. If you are looking for complex and deep songs look no further than a-ha. This band is known all over the world (except for the USA although Take On Me, Train Of Thought, The Sun Always Shines On TV also were hits there) they have released 11 studio albums (the most recent at the end of october this year), they have countless top ten hits, a Guinness World Record for the largest audience at a paid concert and Morten Harket, the vocalist, holds a record for the longest held note in a pop/rock song ("Summer moved on") and is one of the best vocalists in the world, maybe The Best Before the release of their current album, a-ha had sold well over 100 million records, and this number has probably increased considerably. You can listen to all a-ha albums, from beginning to end, and you'll think all of these songs could have been released as singles, there are very few placeholders. Despite all these hits and incomparably great songs released as singles like "The Sun Always Shines On TV", "Manhattan Skyline", "Hunting High And Low", "Stay On These Roads", "The Living Daylights" (James Bond Theme song) the real treasures are their unreleased songs because they are somehow different/komplex/deep and melancolic, not for the general public according to record companies. These people look down on the audience like they're all stupid, have no taste, or can't handle more complex things. Millions of a-ha fans still don't understand why songs like Scoundrel Days or East Of The Sun West Of The Moon were never released as singles, but we could have give up other songs like "You Are The One" e.g. A-ha had to fight for the song Manhattan Skyline to be included on the album and released as a single. According to the record company, the song was too rocky and would scare the fans away, but this song is one of their best. So I would like to recommend you these A-ha songs, they never released as Singel. I'm sure you'll not regret if you hear this songs : Scoundrel Days, (Studio and live version ) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LjaddgHR-nY.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rs1g1M-K4EI.html Sycamore Leaves, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iTjvvfv3R2o.html Cold as Stone, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-j2p4dJXtpEQ.html East Of The Sun West Of The Moon, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pSDoGq8iJuo.html Slender Frame, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RwWcdEpWlxk.html Lamb to the Slaughter, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OU9SgtL5sys.html I Call Your Name, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dksS0ldd-BU.html Out Of Blue Comes Green, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-B-BQR5aJqQA.html Living A Boys Adventure Tale, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hpYGCjFuNPw.html Early Morning. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Dbo2-lJw-Uw.html For comparison some singles, which are also masterpieces, but just a bit more for the general public: "The Sun Always Shines On TV", ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-a3ir9HC9vYg.html "Hunting High And Low", ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s6VaeFCxta8.html "Train Of Thought" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ofGx-OH9VBA.html "Stay On These Roads" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oVl4qvHuY8g.html Manhattan Skyline, ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LvuNJGGosFg.html "The Blood That Moves The Body" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GCQJdvLlGD8.html "The Living Daylights" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DfFbiFoAWjM.html "Summer Moved On" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oVl4qvHuY8g.html

I think probably thousands of ppl have already commented but this wasn’t from a. Film and she wasnt an actress from the 80s either (i think she was a model) - it was groundbreaking back in 84 and has been viewed way over 1billion times now. It’s one of those hooks that i think we all know (well i can only imagine as i was a fan back in the day) incidentally the lead singer, Morten fell for the actress and they were an item for a couple of years… mad that 40 years later its still a great video. Hope you react to more a-ha theyre still making new music and touring btw - enjoyed youre reaction might come back for more aha-hopefully? Lol :0)

His voice is insane!! The video was great!

This video was not something anyone had done before or since. It took months to make because everything was drawn by hand, by artists. This song/video was huge is so many ways and still withstands the test of time.

The instrumental part of Take On Me is, in some ways, more complex than the song itself. A-ha enjoy throwing busy instrumentals into their songs. The video was groundbreaking for 1985. It has a sequel in The Sun Always Shines on TV (which picks up from where Take On Me ends), and Train of Thought is almost a prequel, a video also in pencil sketch but in some ways more basic than Take On Me (the video, not the song). The tempo is, in common with many of their songs at this time, very fast (169 beats per minute). Morten Harket (and his falsetto) holds the European record for the longest held note in a top 40 pop song (at 20.2 seconds) in their 2000 song Summer Moved On. CDs appeared in 1982, but most people couldn't afford them until the late 80s and early 90s. It was mainly all about tape, both audio and video. Or vinyl. You could rewind and fast forward, but it wasn't precise, unless the song was at the beginning or end of a side. As far as videos were concerned, MTV didn't hit Europe until the end of the 80s, so as far as seeing them was concerned it was generally a once, maybe twice a week experience on your TV music show (so, in the UK it was generally Top of The Pops on Thursday evenings).

a-ha was an awesome band; Take On Me, Stay On These Roads, The Living Daylights, Summer Moved On, The Sun Always Shines on TV, and then personal favorites: Crying In The Rain (although not theirs - but they crushed it) and Hunting High and Low - do that one next it's simply spectacular !

Also, in 2017 they did an MTV Unplugged. This song becomes a totally different animal! Beautiful!

I grew up in late 80’s and 90’s and I went through all the stages - vinyl, cassettes and CDs and the rest. We used to make mixed tapes and then burned CDs. I downloaded a lot of music from the internet and made my own compilations. But I tried to buy official album cds of artists I really liked. It felt really special, more like a treat not necessity. When CD came out it was easy to skip a song you liked less and also same on a vinyl. You could easily pick a song you want on a vinyl. I think people had more patience and didn’t mind to spend more time on things. Now things happen fast, we need everything right this second and can’t waste time.. So we don’t hear many songs with longer intros and guitar solos in the middle of a song. That’s why I still go back to songs from 70’s til 90’s. They’re still my favourite.

As teenagers this video blew our minds.Incredible album this was from too x

Take on me is one awesome song 🎵

it’s not from a soundtrack it’s just a song by a trio of fantastic musicians from Norway 🇳🇴😘❤️

first of all thanks for reacting to AHA i have been a fan of AHA since the take on me days back in 1985 i was 16 then and i’m 53 now and love them just as much. A-HA are from Oslo, Norway they are a trio of very talented men. The band A-HA are criminally underrated and unappreciated with a huge back catalogue of music each song is different from the previous one. Even this song take on me if you watch the mtv unplugged version by AHA it sounds and feels entirely different. Take on me is just the tiny tip of a very large musical iceberg. i suggest you do a deep dive on AHA sometime. Thanks again and take care 😘🇳🇴❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

This was one of the first MTV videos that really took it to the next level. Oh to be a latchkey kid in the '80s.

We recorded songs we liked on cassette tapes in the late 60's & through the early 80's - no need to listen to a album front to back unless you wanted to. 8-tracks were in in the 70's, but I never liked the format so still bought music on cassettes. Then the industry ditched the 8-track and went fully to cassettes until CD's came along. The greatest thing about digital music, You Tube and such is the ability to FIND music. We used to be dependent on the radio to know what existed. That's why until last year I thought Ah-Ha was a one-hit wonder. Found out on You Tube they have tons of wonderful music, US radio just never played any of it after Take On Me.

I love your musings about what makes music catchy, the olden days of buying (and listening to) a full album, and music videos (run home after school to watch an hour’s worth of videos on “4:00 Rock” on TV). I remember seeing a CD player for the first time. My rich friend Philip had one, and I was AMAZED at how quickly you could skip forward or back. On my cassette Walkman I had to press the FF or RW button and just gently press the Play button at the same time to hear the squeak/squeal until it stopped between tracks. And then at the end of the side you either flipped it over or rewound the whole side which would take forever. But that CD player, man… a touch of a button. Freaking wizardry.

please do the sequel The Sun Always Shines On TV. HUGE comic fan here in #BuffaloNY who loves Lady Death from Coffin Comics, Vampirella, Catwoman, and Red Sonja.

Very intelligent review….you must listen to more of a-ha’s forty year output. This was their first and biggest hit, from their debut album Hunting High and Low released in 1985…however it’s not their best song by any means, in fact it doesn’t even rate in the top 10 with most long term fans of the band. They are a quite amazing band and have just released their 11th studio album called True North. To date they’ve sold over 100 million music units, broken 2 world records and recorded a James Bond theme. They draw sellout audiences from all around the world to their concerts and earlier this year just finished a massive world tour by playing at the Hollywood Bowl with a full orchestra.

Yesssss!!!! Takes me right back to jr high school!!! Love it

The first time?! Ah, to hear this song for the first time. What a joy to behold.

Haha, when you seid "imagine the World w/o RU-vid." I was once again reminded how different my childhood must have been from those of millennials. I grew up in the 80s and t5he first cd I bought was somewhere around my 25th birthday. And digital music is still a novelty to me. Enjoy your videos very much. And A-ha was one of the first bands I was into. They just released a new album by the way..

I still got old Records from the 80s with the covers still

Supposedly 14 drawings were drawn for per second of frame and over 1,000 drawn for the whole video. The director was an English guy, without the music video the song wasn’t played anywhere so the director said we are not letting this song go it’s too good we will make a classic video. Then everything else was history.

In the 70s and 80s we made mix tapes of our favourite tunes, it was the age of cassettes, we had Walkmans, cassette players in cars and cassette decks at home. Latter we burned CDs and loaded songs onto iPods. There is an amazing Harry Styles X A-HA - As It Was/Take On Me mash-up by KeinkoMusic on RU-vid.

I love this song, band, and music video. The way it was made, with interchanging live-action and cartoons, was a game changer back in 1985. It had never been seen before in that way. David Bowie were so amazed with the technique, that he used it for the "Underground" music video for the movie "Labyrinth" he was starring in. There's another version of this music video from 1984, search for "A-HA Take On Me 1984 Version", which is wildly different from this version, and clearly shows how a lot of music videos were made as music videos were only first becoming a thing. And artists/directors were getting a getting the hang on that craft. Great reaction.

MTV launched at 12:00:01 August 1st, 1981 (I was 10 years old) with "Video Killed The Radio Star" by the Bugles. When initially launched, MTV played videos 24/7/365 (366 on leap years). If you didn't have cable TV (where MTV was), you either could catch it if by chance it was in the Billboard Top 10 off the Hot 100 Chart when "American Top 10" with Casey Kasem would air and/or if your parents would let you stay up late on a Friday night when NBC would have "Friday Night Videos" (aired between 1983 & 2002). When this video first came out in the fall of 1985, it was groundbreaking and in my personal opinion, helped this become A-Ha's one and only #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. They would only have 2 other songs that charted here in the US (they were huge in Europe, particularly in their native Norway), "The Sun Always Shines On TV" (peaked at #20) & "Cry Wolf" (peaked at #50). It's place in music history, it only spent 1 week at #1 (week ending October 19th, 1985) ... the song that knocked it out of the top spot the very next week was the first (of a still record seven consecutive #1 hits) #1 for Whitney Houston, "Saving All My Love For You."

When the song came out it was something new. No one had heard anything like this before. That's the reason for the video. They had to make a huge investment to give the song playtime for people to get used to it. On the other hand, when it finally made a hit it stands very well on its own. Three years ago it had been played five million times on the radio in the US. That means 300-400 times a day on average, for 35 years. You definitely should react to the follow up, The sun always shines on TV. It's EPIC!

The voice is amazing...is a perfect Song, always!

Awwww, my teenage years!! I was, and still am, a MASSIVE A-HA fan! I loved them through the 80's and had the absolute pleasure of seeing them live about 4 years ago in Blackpool, England. Yup, we listened to the Top 40 back in the day, you sat and pressed record on cassette and tried to pause when the DJ spoke🤣Ach, happy days🥰🥰🥰

Vinyl records you can pick individual songs on the album by placing the needle at individual grooves on the album. So we could pick individual particular songs

My favourite song of all time for sure. I can never get enough of it and the music video is genius. A-HA is one of the reasons that 80's are my favourite music decade. :D

Coolest video ever! Blew us all away whenever it played on MTV! Loved it!

All AHA songs are complex❤

Someone already mentioned the 2017 version of this song from their MTV Unplugged - Summer Solstice album. It’s a stripped down version and it’s a completely different song. Even if you don’t do a video reaction on the 2017 version it’s well worth a listen to compare the two versions of the same song.

The girl in the video is Bunty Bailey.

She was/is Bunty Baily.An English model that dated Morten and was in their next video which was filmed a mile down the road from where i lived at the time.Shes 60 and still looks great.

The song got even more popularity when it was covered by the main character in the PS4 game "The Last of Us Part 2" in 2020.

Anton, from my recollection, it was all about the mixed tapes when this song came out in the 80's. I was a kid, so I didn't get any CDs till late 80's. I remember though, on NYC radios, if a song was in the top 10 on the charts (and Take On Me hit #1 in the US), you can set your watch to a song coming on the radio station, literally every 2-2.5 hrs. Perfect to get your tape deck ready, ha

I fell in love with A-ha since1985 when at school. This video is like a piece of art nothing else like it. I used to record mixed songs on cassette tape 📼 that's how we did it from various artists. Watched on TV MTV new music videos. Great video thanks.🎸😎❤️

Great reaction! This is my favorite 80's song! And most likely the most listened to song in my life! I used to have mixed tapes with this song being on them multiples times, ha. There are different versions too - mostly similar to the main release, just with longer intros and outros. Pure pop perfection! Always delivers energetically

I have to say my favorite A-ha song is Lifelines. Also, if you're up for it, I would recommend listening to the MTV Unplugged version of Take on Me.

They have a lot of great songs ❤️

the girl in the video is called Bunty Bailey her and Morten Harket (Aha lead singer) dated for a while after this video

The second half of this music video is aha the sun always shines on TV. Please react to that

AHA the viking invasion of 1985 and for me never left 🇳🇴❤️🇳🇴❤️🇳🇴❤️🇳🇴❤️🇳🇴

Thank you. An awful day at work today, but just watching this track and your enthusiastic reaction made it all fade away! Thank you and have a great weekend.

Such a dynamic creative video, holds up so well, thanks for reacting Anton 🙂

I've been listening to them for years and got to see them live for the 1st time this summer in Napa California. So good!

Hi Anton. First time listening & love your style man & have now subscribed. You appear to be a Reactor who doesn’t mind taking on artists you know nothing about. That’s great , because I have one for you & she is an absolute prodigy. Her name is Amira Willighagen who won Holland’s Got Talent at the age of nine ,WITHOUT-having a single singing lesson. She taught herself by watching the likes of Pavarotti & copied their techniques. She is now 18 & has performed in some 20 countries & sung in at least 5 languages. Anyway, below is a performance which will knock you for six. Amira Willighagen performing O Mio Babbino Caro with Andre Rieu & his orchestra. Amira was 10 at this concert, & got a standing ovation from the 15,000 audience. Cheers, Graeme. ps: hope this has conjured enough to interest for a reaction. You won’t be disappointed.

”Visage - Fade to grey” is really music of art! You would love it. Waaay ahead of its time

I love this song, He is or was a judge on Norways The Voice. Amazing singer. Cassettes were prob 80s and 90s and Cds were more popular late 90 and 00s.. It was always TV in late 90s , you had to rely on TV to see music videos

That actress was in some smaller roles back in the 1980's (one was a horror flick called "Dolls." She played more of a punky type character), and she was a model then too. Her name is Bunty Bailey.

This song stands out--best of 80s synth pop here. Such a groove. Any band, any genre could cover this. Jinger, Foo Fighters, Idles...

Oh, finally you reacted to a-ha (my fave band), though the song that doesn't really represent what they're about (though it is their most popular song obviously). I wouldn't really agree that a song that isn't a single is a waste of breath, especially for artists who are above the "charting" mentality, but are more about the idea of what they want to do with their music - their audience will find them and listen to anything they have to say through their music. CDs became big in the 90s and music videos were on MTV and Vh1.

Other places Take On Me has been: 1. The film Grosse Point Blank. 2. Season 4, Episode 2 of Family Guy ("Breaking Out is Hard to Do"). 3. The 2012 series finale of Chuck. 4. Deadpool 2.

One of the original names for this song was The Juicyfruit Song before it finally grew into what we now know as Take On Me. You can hear that early version here on RU-vid.

Late 80's CD players came around... 1987, I believe. In the 70's 80's and early 90s the vocals were the focal point, musical instruments were not loud like newer music. This video was MTV music video of the year. MTV came along in 1982, Was Huge until Teen Mom reality shows changed MTV.

The Sun Always Shines (On TV) is another a-ha track that's SO well worth checking out, it's another absolute banger. Also The Livfing Daylights (one of the very best Bond themes), Cry Wolf, Hunting High & Low, and Crying In the Rain are other real cracking standouts.

That masterful euphoric killer riff!Scandinavia gave out to the musicverse 3 of the most succesful bands ever and a music composer that ruled the worldwide charts till now.Norway's A-ha,Sweden's Roxette and the mega band ABBA and the hit machine songwritter Max Martin respnsible for huge hits for Britney,NSync,Adele,Katy Pery,Arianna Grande,and countless others that toped the charts in your country millions of times.

Love the feeling of hearing this kind of songs 💝

Hi anton❤ amazing song and amazing band!!!!! One of the best of the 80s

An English teacher who’s kinda famous here in Brazil said that this song was originally written in their home language. In Norwegian it was “Ta på meg” which translates to “touch me” but the melodic line didn’t fit the “touch me” words. So A-Ha went for “Take on me”, which according to that teacher doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Love you man . Thank you Anton for being your authentic self.

In nz in the 1980’s we used to have a show called “ready to roll” 6pm on Saturday night!! They would countdown the top 20 and if u would watch it to hope that your favorite band and song would play…. Along with hours hanging out at record shop exploring records and the artwork on covers it was a great time…..

Check out Morton as the Viking on The Masked Singer uk where he sang a gentler version of this

Back in the day there were three ways to get music. Listen to the radio, go to nightclubs, have friends that knew cool music...

Don't forget cassettes. They're nothing now, but in the 80s and early 90s they were major. Not so much for singles, but for albums - AND because we were able to record from the radio with cassettes. They were the only way to listen to your own music portably (Walkmans). We could copy from vinyl and from CDs *only* with cassettes. Cassettes were how we did music compilations for people we cared about for like 2 decades plus. They were the only way we could record current music directly from the radio for the longest time.

Yeah, we spent a lot of time at Musicland in the mall back in the 80s. Good times looking through all the casette tapes in their white plastic holders. If you were there you know.

back in the 80’s it was all singles, 12” singles, picture disks,casssettes and albums CD’s are a 90’s thing. You should check out summer moved on by AHA it’s in the guinness book of records for the longest note held. 🇳🇴❤️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I can't wait to see you reaction to this ...watching now!

Mooooore. A-ha

Rember when first on MTV so cool.

No, at the start of the 80s we only had cassette tapes. CD's didn't really become available until the mid 80's which I remember clearly because I got my first CD Walkman as a graduation gift in 86. As far as getting your music, you listened to music on the radio and then either went to the music store and bought the record, cassette, or CD and then usually either listened to the whole album if you liked it or you just skipped a lot of songs which you could do automatically with both cassette players with that function or of course on your CD player. But honestly what most of us did more often was make mix tapes. Record all of your favorite songs on a cassette recorder either off other media or even off the radio and then play the mix tape so you just heard your favorite songs. Basically the early version of a play list.

Please more a-ha: Hunting high and low( love also the video), I've been losing you,Scoundrel days ,The weight of the wind,Stay on these roads,Manhattan Skyline ( great video),There's never a forever thing,Early Morning ( live on NRK 1991),Memorial Beach,Summer moved on ( live at the Vallhall or live for Ending on a high note-Oslo 2010),Lifelines ....and the new I'm in from the album True North. A-ha are magic,Great Music and Voice.

We made mix tapes back in the day. A lot of work but worth it.

I got a CD “deck” for my stereo system in 88. I know there were really expensive decks out around 85. Definitely do the follow up single/video “The Sun Always Shines On TV.” Arguably an even better song, but not as iconic. ❤

This video was mind blowing when it came out!

A-HA is a Norwegian band from my country. They did a 007 song The Living Daylights They still is around now

Had this single on vinyl. Lol knew you'd recognise at least a small bit of the song!

Great reaction. Evoking emotion is the key whether the song is complex or simple. Complex melody = Bohemian Rapsody by Queen 70's / Simple melody = Take On Me by A-Ha! 80's The common denominator? The catchy, memorable riffs! No matter which decade or era of music, even classical, jazz, rock or RnB!

Morten , the lead singer, is still performing on a regular basis. You might like the live acoustic version of the song. His voice is still the same as it was. :) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--xKM3mGt2pE.html

Music videos have been around since the late 70s. They were not invented for youtube. 😉 They really had their peak during the 80s when MTV started out. And Take On Me is one of the absolute classics of that genre that had everybody talk about it back then. None of the current music videos on youtube today ever reaches that kind of cultural impact.

I remember going to a record store in the 60's and 70's and they would have a sheet with, I believe the top 50 songs of that week. It could have been the top 100 but I don't really remember.

MTV debuted August 1, 1981 with the Buggles video "Video Killed The Radio Star". Oh, the irony. LOL. My group of friends would frequently be found just hanging out at each other's houses watching MTV. And it was a huge deal when a big artist had a new video. As soon as they had a release date set for a premiere they'd promote it like crazy and everybody would be watching the night it would debut. Prior to MTV there were maybe a handful of artists that made videos on any kind of regular basis. Carpenters, Blondie, Abba were a few. Many at that time were just made in place of being in person for some television show performance, particularly for countries the artist might not be hitting on a tour. On another note, it's crazy how the first maybe two years MTV wasn't playing any black artists. It wasn't until the monster success of Billie Jean basically forced them to play it, and then the rest of the smashes from Thriller, that the barrier was broken. Then came Prince, Lionel Richie, Pointer Sisters, Whitney and so on. Hard to believe. Then VH1 debuted on January 1, 1985

One or two bars, 4-8 notes make for a catchy hook or melody absolutely. I was telling you about ELO and Jeff Lynne's ability to write verses that were catchy enough to be choruses. And, with a guitar, keyboards, drums, bass + cellos and violins as main instruments ha ha! Yeah, this song is or was so big likely because of the catchiness of it all the way through and the video.

The real life shoot took a couple of days. The animation took months. The allotted budget was 100K (not sure USD or GBP).

Awesome bud love those books too, videos back then was always movie quality

Great video ,great song,great reaction

Perhaps the most legendary music video of all time. Made in 1985.