the story of a-ha

This is where to story of a-ha (as they had decided to call themselves) really begins. The picture shows our guys in New York together with Tor Marcussen, the author of this book.

Originally, Pål had used the word ‘a-ha’ as the title of a song. He alternated between ‘a-ha’ and ‘a-hem’. As Morten was taking one of his frequent peeks through Pål’s notebook, he came across the name a-ha. “That’s a great name. That’s what we should call ourselves.” After a few weeks of getting the feel of the name and checking dictionaries in several languages, it was decided. They found out that ‘a-ha’ was an international way of expressing recognition, with positive connotations. It was short, easy to say and unusual.

In January 1983 a-ha was ready for the ‘big time’ in England. They found a scruffy flat, bought the ‘Virgin Yearbook of Rock’ and ‘Melody Maker’s Yearbook’ and then began calling record companies and publishing houses which dealt with song copyrights. The boys knew what they wanted, and they knew how to go about it this time. They needed no other musicians, they had eight songs on a demo tape, and the only thing they required now was a contract and the chance to record in a good studio. That couldn’t take such a long time, could it?

It didn’t go too badly to start with. They got an appointment with a man from Decca Record Company, who thought the music was good, but not good enough. No deal. Then they came in contact with a publishing house called Lionheart, who were seriously interested. Several auditions and lengthy negotiations followed.

Meanwhile, the boys were getting accustomed to London and acquiring a real taste for the big-city life. The day before they were to sign a contract with Lionheart, they went out on the town… and wound up with two Italian ladies in their flat. The Italian girls thought the Norwegian boys were really cute, and were interested in becoming more intimately acquainted. The boys were not. Morten and Pål tried frantically to talk themselves out of the situation. Mags’ strategy was simply to hit the bottle! When the bottle was empty, and Mags fairly intoxicated, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He ran out into the street to get a taxi for the ladies. Charging full speed ahead down the road, he couldn’t be bothered to slow down for a parked car directly in front of him. So he just ran straight over the car , landing, unfortunately, right on the head of a policeman. The otherwise fairly congenial English bobby is not quite so agreeable when a drunk Norwegian lands on his head! Mags’ explanations were ignored, and he was subsequently thrown in jail and charged with disorderly conduct. Pål and Morten finally got rid of the girls, and spent the rest of the night trying to locate Mags.

The next morning, Morten showed up alone at the appointed time to sign the contract with Lionheart, while Pål was at the police station bailing out Mags – Mags having to declare himself guilty in order to get out. Meanwhile, Morten was explaining their absence as being due to having so many other appointments, photo sessions, etc… So it was in these chaotic circumstances that a-ha’s first contract was signed. Lionheart was going to manage a-ha! But as Morten put his name to the contract he hoped and prayed that Mags had not been deported from the country just when the group’s future seemed secured.

The contract with Lionheart proved not to be the breakthrough they had hoped for. The company had neither the time nor the money to do much for a-ha. They had financial problems and furthermore were using all their time to pursue projects which were not proving to be commercial successes. Their only efforts on a-ha’s behalf were a few telephone calls at the end of the day – after their other business was taken care of. Naively, a-ha had agreed to cancel all their other agreements to have a contract with Lionheart. So time was wasted, and a-ha’s money with it.

The boys were having a rough time. Their flat was a popular meeting place for the neighborhood cats – and smelt like it. Electricity was paid for by inserting a token in a meter in the hallway. Often the boys missed the end of a TV film because the meter was empty and none of them had a token. They ended up with one light bulb that still worked in the flat. When one of the boys wanted to use the toilet, he had to unscrew the light bulb in the living room and take it into the bathroom. Their meals consisted of home-baked bread made from ingredients of suspect origin, with salt and pepper as sandwich-fillers. Pål lost over a stone in weight in the course of a few months, and the others were not much better off!

Boredom and disillusionment led inevitably to frayed tempers and arguments. On one occasion, a friendly joke ended up as a fully-fledged row, with Mags eventually shoving Morten’s head right through a window, shattering the glass.

Morten tried to get out of the claustrophobic atmosphere by hanging around with a new group of friends. For a while he lived with Steve Strange, a major influence in London’s trendy fashion and music scene at the time. Here he was able both to eat fairly well for a few days and also be a passive observer of lifestyle quite different from his own miserable existence. But that didn’t last long.

The boys went back to Norway for a short time to earn a bit more money. On their return to London they decided to give up on Lionheart, make some new and better demo tapes, and try again. They scoured the music papers for ads for small recording studios, and ended up with John Ratcliff’s Rendezvous Studio, because it was the only studio that had both the equipment they needed – and the Space- Invaders game that Mags insisted on! They booked the studio, intending to re-record five songs. After five intense days starting on 1 April 1983, they ended up with only two songs finished. At first John Ratcliff couldn’t believe they had taken so long to produce so little output, but when he heard the songs beginning to take shape he had to agree that the result was encouraging. During a break in recording Morten had said “If these guys in the studio have ears, then they’ll realise how great this is and come and help us out!” Twenty minutes later John Ratcliff came down and told them that although he had heard only a little of what they could do he was very impressed. Furthermore, he believed the band had a promising future and wanted to play the tapes to an influential friend in the record business. All of this on the basis of just two songs!

As it happened, out of the five songs that the boys had planned to re- record, those two tracks have still not been released. The other three songs were Take on Me, Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale and Train of Thought! At this point, a-ha were so disillusioned with Lionheart that they eagerly signed with John Ratcliff. John, in turn, introduced them to his friend and manager, Terry Slater. Terry was constantly being presented with new acts, but this time he realised that he had come across something special. He asked the boys to meet him at the famous Beatles studio in Abbey Road. He approved of the little he had already heard, but wanted to hear more before making a final decision. Could a-ha manage to finish a few more songs while he was spending a week in the USA?

With this encouragement, and £200 from John Ratcliff’s otherwise tight pocket, the boys were inspired again. Among other songs which they managed to complete this time were Take on Me and Living a Boy’s Adventure Tale. When Slater returned from the USA and listened to the songs, he lost all doubt. He formed T.J. Management with John Ratcliff, and – at last – a-ha had managers!

Now things started happening quickly, at least for awhile. Slater proved to be an old hand at the music business, with contacts at the top of all the record companies. When he phoned around and informed them of his new ‘act’, they paid attention! a-ha set up in a little studio with their guitars and synthesizers, and played for everyone who would listen. One of the first on the scene was Andy Wickham, responsible for Warner Brothers’ repertoire in England. He liked both the boys’ music and their style. Instead of nervous and reserved performers, he found a relaxed and entertaining atmosphere. Wickham stayed long after his appointment was over. Warner Brothers was definitely interested!

Slater wanted to gamble for the highest stakes and invited representatives from the other important record companies. Not all of them were as enthusiastic as Andy Wickham, but only Slater and the boys knew that. So when the final decision time was approaching, Slater had his mates in other record companies call Warner Brothers to ask if they had signed up a-ha yet, because they were interested as well. As a result Warner Brothers increased their offer of advance royalties: first £25,000, then £50,000 up to £100,000 and finally £125,000. The contract was arranged directly with the head office in USA.

But the group’s trials and tribulations were not quite over yet. Now the search began for the best producer and the best studio, and that took time. Terry Slater wanted Alan Tarney, an old friend who had worked wonders for the careers of artists like Cliff Richard and Leo Sayer. Tarney was a loner, with a clear sense of musical direction and he was skeptical about working with a band. He preferred solo artists, so he himself could control the musical aspect with a firm hand. The record company suggested many other names and ended up with Tony Mansfield, who was an expert in the use of computerized synthesizers. a-ha liked the idea and agreed. Mansfield worked slowly.

They started to fall behind schedule, and musically too, it wasn’t working out. Mansfield took a-ha’s simple demos and turned on the machinery, filling the tapes with electronic gadgetry and mixing Morten’s voice way back in the sound level. This was so far removed from what a-ha had hoped to achieve that, together with their old friend John Ratcliff, the lads had to remix the whole album again. All of this took time, which in the music business, means money. Financially, they were so far behind schedule that the co-operation between Terry Slater and Mansfield’s manager collapsed once and for all. Eventually the album was finished, Take On Me released as a single in England and a video rushed through. And the result of all this activity and excitement? Nothing.

However, Warner Brothers’ head office in the USA expressed an interest. They had heard about this promising Norwegian band, but where were the results? Important record company executives like Jeff Ayeroff became involved. The first video was canned and a-ha were given the opportunity to re-record Take On Me. Terry Slater managed to convince Alan Tarney to produce this one song and a-ha returned to the studio to record a rough cut of Take On Me. Tarney liked what he heard, but had to leave. While he was gone, Pal and Mags added more synthesizer to emphasize their original concept. When Tarney returned and heard the result, he said “Fine – that’s just how it should be”. “Then we’ll do it for real,” said Mags. “No, no – it’s already done !” said Tarney.

In no time they had completed the version of Take On Me that we all know and love.

Warner Brothers’ response was very enthusiastic – and immediately gave the go-ahead for another song, The Sun Always Shines On TV. The album Hunting High and Low was now finished and the new version of Take On Me was re-released in England. However, the London office was so put out by the interference of the US that they gave absolutely no support to the release. The result was another flop.

To say that the boys were crushed is an understatement. The three idealists, who believed that talent alone would be enough to get them to the top, had now encountered so much adversity, wasted so much time, and been disappointed so often that they were on the point of giving up. They looked back on what it had taken to reach the position they were now in, and the people it had affected. John Ratcliff, who had risked everything for them, had ended up divorcing his wife, taking pills and drinking, and had such high blood pressure that he got a nosebleed just from talking to somebody. The pressure on Tony Mansfield from Warner Brothers had been such a burden that he almost had a break-down. They saw people’s hopes, money and lives going to waste and decided to split up for awhile. Pål visited Lauren in Boston. He thought that a-ha were about to be kicked out of Warner Brothers for good, but since he was in the States he decided to check it out for himself, and gave them a call. Amazingly, the voice on the phone from Warner Brothers said, “It’s great! We love a-ha, and you’re now our top priority group! We’re going to have a new video made of Take on Me and it’s going to be fantastic!”

Optimism grew again, and with it more waiting. But this time they didn’t wait in vain. When the new video of Take on Me was finished the USA suddenly lay wide open – it was sensational. The single was released three weeks after the video and immediately appeared in all the charts… and we know where it ended up. a-ha had done it!