a-ha: The Swing of Things 1985–2010 © Forlaget Press 2010 design: Bengt Olsson, Concorde Design AS cover photo: © Just Loomis This book is set in FF Scala Sans / FF Scala paper: 150 g G-print matt printing and binding: WS Bookwell AB, Finland photos: Stian Andersen: pp. 74, 153, 180, 182, 242–43, 256–65, 268–69 / Knut Bry/ Warner Brothers: pp. 94–99, 102–103 / Guri Dahl: pp. 83, 88–89, 194, 199–200, 210, 212–213, 228–34, 237–38, 248, 252 / Magne Furuholmen’s archive: pp. 2–3, 146–47, 176–79, 224 / Morten Harket’s archive: pp. 25–26, 110–111, 113, 176–79 / Just Loomis: pp. 4, 14–19, 53–55, 123–25, 134–41, 159–61, 185–87 © Just Loomis, all rights reserved. The photos must not be reproduced in any way without the written permission of the copyright owner. / Janne Møller-Hansen (private pictures): pp. 62–68, 72, 112, 150, 116–121 / Janne Møller-Hansen (VG, Scanpix): pp. 6–8, 214, 279, 280, 287 / Bjørn Opsahl: pp. 204–5 / Jan Valaker: pp. 218–19 / Igor Vereschagin: p. 142 / Paul Waaktaar-Savoy’s archive: pp. 176–79 / Rolf Aagaard: p. 28 photo editor: Guri Dahl/Forlaget Press | thanks to: Magne Furuholmen, Morten Harket, Paal Waaktaar-Savoy, Harald Wiik, Tor Einar Krogtoft-Jensen, and Martin Kvamme for all their help in connection with the collection of material for this edition. Thanks to Just Loomis, Janne Møller-Hansen, Guri Dahl, and Stian Andersen for working together to select the pictures for their photo series. Thanks to the National Library of Norway for loans from its collections. Thanks to P.A. Stenersen for having made his collection of a-ha items available for this edition. Thanks also to P.A. and his network for help in connection with the compilation of the discography and tour lists. P.A. Stenersen wishes to thank the following: Larissa Bendel, Yngve Bergli, Patricia de Cezar, Suzie Dent, Selina Fiander, Eirik B. Fonn, Richard Gjems, Chris Hopkins, Karen Johnson, Benn Kaasa, Stephen Paxton, Trond Magne Pedersen, Rachel Redman, Brigitte and Bernd Schwarz, Catherine Sexton, Geraldine Thacker, Trond Valberg, Heidi Waugh, Harald Wiik, Odd Rune Wolden, and Snorre Woll. 2004 edition translated by Donald Tumasonis; translation revised and new material translated by Bruce Bawer. The author has received a project stipend from the Norwegian Non-fiction Writers and Translators Association (NFF). isbn: 978-82-7547-416-0 The material in this publication is covered by the provisions of the International Property Rights Act. Without a specific agreement with Forlaget Press, presenting or making available any portion of this work is permitted only to the extent that is authorised by law or permitted by an agreement with Kopinor, the professional body for holders of copyright in works of the intellect. Use in violation of the law or agreement can lead to liability for damages and confiscation, and may be punished by fines or imprisonment.
Forlaget Press, Kongens gate 2, 0153 Oslo www.forlagetpress.no
CONTENT
preface 9 just loomis: the london series 1985 13 take on me 21 take on me: memorabilia 31
hunting high and low 54 janne møller-hansen: japan, world tour 1986 61 the musical signature 79 knut bry: the hawaii series 1986 93
scoundrel days 101 janne møller-hansen: vence 1987 115
stay on these roads 123 just loomis: the brazil series 1991 133 tensions 143
east of the sun, west of the moon 159
memorial beach 185 after the comeback 193
minor earth major sky 203 paul waaktaar-savoy 211
lifelines 217 guri dahl: russian tour 2003 227 magne furuholmen 235
analogue 241 morten harket 249 stian andersen: live & in the studio 2008/2009 255 foot of the mountain 267
foot of the mountain 275 tours 288 discography 298
Preface
We were songbirds / We were greek gods / We were singled out by fate / We were quoted out of context / It was great (Prefab Sprout, «Electric Guitars») new york, may 2010: There’s something unnatural about a pop band that keeps it going for three decades. The best pop music lives forever, but pop artists are supposed to come and go. Pop-culture relevance has a sell-by date; if you pass it, the product starts to smell. As Morten Harket (50) says elsewhere in this book, you’re already too old at 18.
But somebody obviously forgot to tell this to the 2200 souls who are singing “Wave good-
bye, wave goodbye” along with the a-ha vocalist in a packed Nokia Theater on Times Square in New York on a day in May 2010. Morten sings into a megaphone, and the metallic voice creates a sense of distance, a feeling that he’s moving away from us. Perhaps this is why the man next to me is standing there crying like a child? Tears aren’t an unusual sight at an a-ha concert, but on this evening the symbolism in the stanza from Manhattan Skyline that’s especially suitable to group singing is almost unbearable for the hardcore fans who fill the hall. a-ha is about to break up, and this is the last evening in New York in the brief US portion of the band’s extensive farewell tour. It’s goodbye, not au revoir.
It’s easy for us Norwegians to regard our country’s success stories with a mixture of good-
will, pride, and a helping of ironic distance. But tonight it’s hard to find room for petty reservations. A band that hasn’t even put out its most recent recording in the USA has drawn three full houses in New York, in front of audiences that know the songs by heart. This crowd isn’t just made up of old a-ha fans in their thirties, forties, and fifties, either. Young hipsters and kids of both sexes who know their music have come to see the Norwegian 1980s icons. The concert is a triumphal journey – in reverse chronological order – through the a-ha catalogue, from “Foot of the Mountain” (2009) to “Take on Me” (1985). a-ha delivers with energy, precision, volume and the right-on-the-money decadent synthpop sound that makes them fit perfectly into both the past and the present. I’m struck, not for the first time, by how clear and original this band’s musical signature is, and by how many exceptional pop songs they’ve given us.
After the concert there’s a party in the huge loft apartment of Paul Waaktar-Savoy and
his wife and professional partner Lauren. Among the many guests are Magne Furuholmen and Morten Harket. The a-ha members are the centre of everyone’s attention, but not one another’s. In the course of the evening I don’t see any of the three talking together. During the stay in New York, Magne is living at the hipster hotel The Bowery, Morten is at the Trump SoHo, and Paul
Facing page and preceding poster:
is here at home. Much of the communication among the three takes place via their managers,
Nokia Theatre, New York , 7 May 2010.
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Formula for success: Paul’s to-do list for the 1981 trip to London with Magne. “We’d made lists like that for several years already,” Paul says now. “It was just a matter of waiting for Magne to finish high school – then we could og.” From Paul Waaktaar-Savoy’s archive. 1. The car & trailer? Or roof rack. We have to arrange a 100 % mobile fast, simple unit. 2. Information must be got beforehand: addresses of record companies, managers, impresarios, and the like. 3. Take along the rest of the Records [??] + many cassette demos with the new take. (Also bring 1” reelto-reel tape).4. Pictures of all kinds (we’ll print posters over there). Write a professional press release. 5. Check accommodation possibilities. 6. Arrange a warm-up tour beforehand. 7. Check everything about work permit. Visit the British embassy (say that we have enough money to get by). 8. Arrange 16 track recording and take 4/5 perfect songs.a 9. Get addresses of all local radio stations and such. Local newspapers. 10. Put an ad in M.M. and offer room & board etc. for guitarist/vocalist and anti-drummer. 11. We have to find out if P.A: is enough. And how many can rent cheap & good.
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assistants, and other middlemen. That’s how it is, and maybe that’s how it must be, in a creative working fellowship which for a long time has been exploding all boundaries when it comes to expected lifetime, and which over almost three decades has created pop music with the power to move people all over the world. It must be all right to quit now. On 4 December 2010 a-ha plays its very last concert, at Oslo
Spektrum. By then, the tour, with its ambiguous name, Ending on a High Note, had covered 15 countries on four continents. Unlike when the band members parted company for a few years in the mid-1990s, this is the formal and definitive break. Paul Waaktar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen, and Morten Harket are calling it quits, more than 28 years after they found one another. No more recordings, no more concerts. The decision has been made, and it’s final – or, at least, as final as such things can be. It’s time to write the last chapter in the history of a-ha. that being the case, you first have to make a little mental leap. Try to imagine a more innocent and provincial Norway, a Norway that still bears the marks of the postwar era’s rebuilding projects more than the expansive oil wealth, the dawning information economy and the globalized celebrity culture. A Norway that so far has seen the beginning of the multicultural immigration wave, and that has hardly exported a single celebrity since the adventurer Thor Heyerdahl. A Norway turned inwards. A Norway with one TV channel and zero points at the Eurovision Song Contest. A Norway on the edge of Europe, and thus, to the same degree, on the edge of pop culture.
In this country three young men in their twenties from the Oslo suburbs of Manglerud and
Asker are walking around in the early 1980s knowing that it’s only a question of time before they become international pop stars. They don’t dream about it. They know it – even though everything they’ve seen and learned and had beaten into them by Norwegian matter-of-factness and home cooking should tell them that it’s an impossibility. For some reason or another, these three young guys are put together in such a way that they’re 100% convinced that it’s only a matter of time, a matter of the right door opening, before they head out into the world and into the limelight.
The history of a-ha is the history of the art of repealing the law of gravity. It is the history
of three Norwegians who do something extremely un-Norwegian, but who at the same time are helplessly trapped by their Norwegian identity. It is an identity that on the one hand equips them with an almost naive drive, and on the other hand makes them rather awkward and unwilling pop icons who never completely succeed in representing themselves in the way they dream of.
The history of a-ha is also the history of opposites that attract each other, of three boys
trapped in complicated social and psychological patterns that formed among them during their first years together. a-ha is a stew of creative and personal tensions that has always threatened to explode, but that is simultaneously the force that drives their creative partnership.
For above all, this is a story about almost three decades of exceptional pop music, and
about the creative dynamics among the three Norwegian boys who produced it. books have been written about a-ha in the 1980s, about the euphoria that followed the breakthrough that was “Take on Me.” There were rags-to-riches stories about their upbringing,
a-ha | The Swing Of Things 1985–2010 11
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their musical dreams, about their lean years in London and about the ecstasy of the days and months after the band climbed all the way to the top of the Billboard list in October 1985.
The Swing of Things, published in 2004, was my attempt to tell the story of what happened
afterwards. It wasn’t intended primarily as a chronological account of a-ha’s career but as a celebration of Norwegian pop’s greatest success story of all time and a psychological portrait of three now middle-aged pop stars and the strange energy that materialises when they come together. It was possibly a darker and more complicated story than many had expected, but it was a truer story.
At this writing, in the spring of 2010, a-ha is in its very last year. It should be celebrated.
This book is an updated, revised, and expanded edition of The Swing of Things. Many of the quotations in the extensive interviews that appear in the 2004 edition have been altered, and the tenses changed, so that they would make more sense in today’s context. Parts of the original text have had to be eliminated to make place for new, unique photographical material and for passages which focus more strongly on a-ha’s musical merits. Some material has been added, to tell the last part of the story of an impossible stunt. The book’s final chapter, which takes as its starting point the recording of “Foot of the Mountain” and the decision to dissolve the band, also seeks to view the band’s 28 years in a new light.
In working on this book I have had new conversations with Paul, Morten, and Magne.
Thanks go to them once again. Thanks also to their better halves, and to the musicians, sound people, producers, managers, advisors, family, friends, music-business people, and journalist colleagues. Some of them are quoted here; others have provided valuable background information and constructive corrections to the picture I have tried to paint of a-ha. They are too many to name individually, so one big thanks to them all – you know who you are. My work on the original edition of The Swing of Things was aided by the research assistance of Leif Åge Reme and Bjørn Andre Refsdahl. This time, P.A. Stenersen, a collector and a-ha expert, has contributed unique materials to the book and has updated and performed quality checks on lists, statistics, and other factual contents. Responsibility for any errors, however, rests as always solely with the author. I am also grateful to my friend and publisher Håkon Harket, and to my editor Trygve Riiser-Gundersen, who has provided friendly and constructive support during a hectic writing process. I have not forgotten his assurances that a certain quantity of Brunello di Montalcino Riserva would materialize when and if this book reached completion. Last of all I must thank my girls, Elin and Mira.
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JANNE MØLLER-HANSEN:
JAPAN, WORLD TOUR 1986
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a-ha | The Swing Of Things 1985–2010 65
THE SCOUNDREL DAYS ERA 1986 june 3: a-ha kick off their world tour
Vienna, Austria. The Stadthalle hall (ca-
in Perth, Australia, performing their
pacity, 10 000) is approximately three
a-ha ask that the audience wear only red, blue, or white. 1987 february 10: King Olav of Norway in-
first live concert. This event marks the
times larger than other venues the band
first of nearly 150 concerts for this tour.
had played to date. The concert is sold
vites a-ha for an audition. Following this
The backing band includes Leif Karsten
out for weeks. They then perform con-
event, the President of the Parliament,
Johansen (bass), Michael Sturgis
certs in Switzerland, France, Germany,
(drums), and Dag Kolsrud (keyboards).
Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark,
The forthcoming Scoundrel Days al-
Sweden, and the UK.
bum is several tracks short; therefore,
Jo Benkow, invites a-ha for tea. 1987 february 26: News spreads in Norway that a-ha will record the next
1986 november: a-ha film the “Cry Wolf”
James Bond title song. 1987 april 24: After a long-deserved holiday
they write “I’ve Been Losing You” and
video in and around an old castle in
“Maybe Maybe” in Sydney.
Couches, France, with directors Steve
and sporadic TV performances to pro-
Barron and David Yardley; the final cut
mote the “Manhattan Skyline” single,
of the video is completed in Hollywood.
a-ha travel to Italy, France, Switzerland,
1986 july 2: a-ha kick off the Japanese leg of the tour in Tokyo, which includes 15 concerts. 1986 august 8: a-ha perform a concert at
1986 december 4: a-ha kick off the UK and Irish leg of the world tour in Aberdeen,
and Spain for promotion. 1987 june 19: a-ha kick off a short tour in
the Waikiki Shell in Hawaii. While there,
Scotland. This leg includes 40 con-
Japan, where they perform seven sold-out
photographer Knut Bry shoots the cover
certs. Nine concerts are scheduled
concerts. While they are in Japan, the new
photos for the Scoundrel Days album.
for London, including a concert at the
1986 august 15: Six hours before play-
James Bond film premieres in London. 1987 august 2: Morten accepts the Peer-
Royal Albert Hall on New Year’s Eve.
ing the first concert in Canada at the
“We’re Looking for the Whales” is re-
Gynt award at Vinstrahallen in Norway,
World EXPO Theatre in Vancouver,
corded live at Fairfield Hall in Croydon
on behalf of a-ha. This award is presen-
Morten has an operation at St. Paul’s
for the B-side of the forthcoming
ted to recipients who have promoted
hospital for a vocal cord blister. Over
”Manhattan Skyline” single.
40 concerts follow in the USA and
Norway abroad. 1987 august 5: a-ha kick off a six-concert
1987 january 24: a-ha win three awards
tour in the south of France.
Canada. a-ha continue to do radio and
at the Norwegian award show
TV promotion. In Hollywood, a-ha
“Spellemannspris 86” in Oslo: “Best
film the “I’ve Been Losing You” video.
Pop”, “Best Video”, and a special hon
Photographer Knut Bry is on the team
our award. They perform “Manhattan
working on the video.
Skyline”.
1986 september 5: a-ha are nominated for
1987 august 27: a-ha perform “The Living Daylights” at the “Berolina”. They receive the “Best international group” award. 1987 october 18: a-ha participate in the
1987 january 30: a-ha film the “Manhattan
Norwegian “TV-Aksjonen: Hjerter for
ten MTV Music Video Awards in Los
Skyline” video in a London studio, with
livet”. An interview with the band is
Angeles. They accept the “Best Concept”,
director Steve Barron. a-ha then travel
broadcast, and they perform “Cold
“Best New Artist”, and “1986 Viewers
to Norway to complete their world
River”. a-ha receive the Australian
Choice” MTV awards remotely from the
tour at home, with the first concert
“Most popular international act” Count
backstage of their Houston concert. a-ha
at Gimlehallen in Kristiansand. They
Down award; they accept it remotely via
also win the “Best Video” Golden Europa
donate the profit from the last con-
a video greeting from England, where
award in Germany for “Take on Me”.
cert in Drammen on February 10 to
they are working on their forthcoming
organisations for cancer aid, Amnesty
album.
1986 november 1: a-ha kick off the European leg of the world tour in
International, and desert reclamation.
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1986:
SCOUNDREL DAYS
SCOUNDREL DAYS | THE SWING OF THINGS | I’VE BEEN LOSING YOU OCTOBER | MANHATTAN SKYLINE | CRY WOLF | WE’RE LOOKING FOR THE WHALES THE WEIGHT OF THE WIND | MAYBE, MAYBE SOFT RAINS OF APRIL
a-ha | The Swing Of Things 1985–2010 101
scoundrel days
Knut Bry: From photo session for cover, Scoundrel Days.
102 a-ha | The Swing Of Things 1985–2010
scoundrel days
a-ha | The Swing Of Things 1985–2010 103
Paul: On Scoundrel Days, we had learned a little. It was also a much cooler album. There’s a spirit there, a sound. It’s very much typical of its period, but at the same time not. Since Alan Tarney had done such a good job on “Take on Me” and “The Sun Always Shines on TV”, we hired him. But we were on tour and were so busy that we finished half the album in Australia. We started from scratch writing new songs. It’s good, but a little stressful. It’s very much on the edge, a very pure, youthful, go-get-’em piece of work. The A-side [Paul is thinking here in vinyl terms], with “Scoundrel Days”, “The Swing of Things”, “I’ve Been Losing You”, “October”, and “Manhattan Skyline”, is pretty good. The B-side was a little more uneven. “The Swing of Things” was Morten’s absolute favourite. Morten is often thought of as being very commercial, but then he can get totally hooked on the quirkiest songs. And “The Swing of Things” was one of those songs he just had to talk about all the time.
Morten: It isn’t necessarily my all-time favourite. But yeh, if I had to choose, that would be the one. The whole thing. The atmosphere and excitement in the song. It’s a song that gets you moving. It would have been possible to make a fantastic single out of it, with a
Magne: I wrote the verse riff for “Scoundrel Days” on grandpa’s guitar as a young lad
new recording. It’ll stand as an ex-
and Paul added the melody. We had another melody for it in Bridges – when it was called
planation of why we’ve done what
“The Leap” and had a totally different refrain. Paul changed the refrain later – I think it’s
we have. I felt a bit the same way
one of the most ingenious things we’ve done together.
when Magne wrote “Lifelines”.
I think “The Swing of Things” has the best lyrics on the album. Maybe a little too
Scoundrel Days is the re-
much macho attitude on the verse song-wise, and the transition to the refrain is a bit over-
cord that most closely resem-
powering. Or maybe that’s part of a-ha’s core: a quick shift from testosterone to oestro-
bles our demos. It’s simply an
gen. “I’ve Been Losing You” was our first attempt at self-production of an important song,
extension of the demos. It didn’t
and the beginning of the end of the collaboration with Tarney. “Manhattan Skyline” was
sell anywhere near as much as
perhaps one of the most inspired cut-and-paste projects that Paul and I did. I wrote the
Hunting High and Low. It de-
quiet part, Paul wrote the rock part. I thought I was doing a classic when I worked on the
mands more. That’s why it’s also
opening riff. Or, okay; it is a classic, actually.
become a darling for many. It was
“Cry Wolf” includes my first decent word-picture: “He came from where the winds
a surprise. The record company
are cold, and truth is seen through keyholes...”. Otherwise lots of bass, riffs, and pure
didn’t know how to handle it:
youthful willpower; less substance, perhaps. “Looking for the Whales” was an older
“What’s going on here?”
tune... one of the first we recorded at Rendezvous studio, and one for which there were great expectations. It’s difficult to do that song simply. As a rule, that’s not a strength. “Maybe Maybe” was written much sadder, as an experiment, but the way I remember it the others thought it worked well, up in there in pop’s rose-tinted heaven. It isn’t the only time I’ve wound up disappointed with one of my own contributions, but looking back in the rear-view mirror, maybe it wouldn’t have been so brilliant as a sad song, either. The album generally: our finest moments.
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A-side and B-side picture disk, “Cry Wolf”, UK 1986. A-side and B-side picture disk, “Manhattan Skyline”, UK 1987. From P.A. Stenersen’s collections.
a-ha | The Swing Of Things 1985–2010 105
Private Polaroids. From Magne Furuholmen’s, Morten Harket’s, and Paul Waaktaar-Savoy’s archives.