+ Visit Cardiff FC for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 40

Thread: Aha-Take On Me!

  1. #1

    Aha-Take On Me!

    Was reading an article on Aha and the song in the title came up, which lead to some quite serious debate over that song between the band members. All of them absolutely hate it and are loathed to play it, even though (i believe) it's the song that sent them on their way and is probably their most memorable bit of work. According to the article, Aha released the song a 2nd time due to it not doing particularly well on the first occasion, good bit of work by them.

    I suppose that what i am asking is, are Aha insulting their fans by lambasting the song that so many of them like? should they just put up and shut up, or is it a case of it's their work and they can say what they like about it?

    There's a wider question really, especially when it comes to Art, Music etc, and i suppose that if a person is an ardent fan of a band and then they say that the stuff that the fans like is a bit shit, then isn't that insulting and a bit spoilt? I would've thought that there has been plenty of artists who have gone cold on their biggest most popular hits, the songs that brought them mainstream success.

    What are peoples thoughts, and do you have a favourite artist who hates a song that meant a lot to you?

  2. #2

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Smells Like Teen Spirit.

    Kurt dropped it from the set .

    Stairway to Heaven.
    Plant famously said he'd break out in hives if he had to do it in every show ..

  3. #3

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Have they even got a 2nd best song?

    I can see why the singer might hate it, cos he'd struggle to hit the high note these days

  4. #4

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    I would have thought if you have hundreds of hits to choose when doing a set it isn't much of a problem to leave out the tracks that you don't like.

    In Aha's case, I am not surprised they hate the song, they probably have to sing it twice a night to fill the set!

    Van Morrison springs to mind when talking about being disrespectful to his fans steering clear of playing tracks his fans want to hear.

  5. #5

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by Wales-Bales View Post
    Have they even got a 2nd best song?

    I can see why the singer might hate it, cos he'd struggle to hit the high note these days
    I don't really know enough about Aha, but 'The Sun Always Shines On TV' isn't bad. Apparently, according to the article I read, Leonard Cohen was a fan!

  6. #6

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by MacAdder View Post
    I would have thought if you have hundreds of hits to choose when doing a set it isn't much of a problem to leave out the tracks that you don't like.

    In Aha's case, I am not surprised they hate the song, they probably have to sing it twice a night to fill the set!

    Van Morrison springs to mind when talking about being disrespectful to his fans steering clear of playing tracks his fans want to hear.
    Yeah, that's the question I'm asking really. I'd it disrespectful towards the fans, especially when the 'Big Hit' comes early in the career when they are struggling to get on? Or should fans just accept that they may love the music and the artist, but it's just not their business what songs the artist plays, a bit like us as city fans wanting a certain player on the pitch but the manager says no.

  7. #7

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by Tuerto View Post
    Was reading an article on Aha and the song in the title came up, which lead to some quite serious debate over that song between the band members. All of them absolutely hate it and are loathed to play it, even though (i believe) it's the song that sent them on their way and is probably their most memorable bit of work. According to the article, Aha released the song a 2nd time due to it not doing particularly well on the first occasion, good bit of work by them.

    I suppose that what i am asking is, are Aha insulting their fans by lambasting the song that so many of them like? should they just put up and shut up, or is it a case of it's their work and they can say what they like about it?

    There's a wider question really, especially when it comes to Art, Music etc, and i suppose that if a person is an ardent fan of a band and then they say that the stuff that the fans like is a bit shit, then isn't that insulting and a bit spoilt? I would've thought that there has been plenty of artists who have gone cold on their biggest most popular hits, the songs that brought them mainstream success.

    What are peoples thoughts, and do you have a favourite artist who hates a song that meant a lot to you?
    Interesting article here, butI think it’s more reflective of bands and artists growing tired of their most popular songs;

    https://loudwire.com/artists-hated-own-hit-songs/

    I can understand “serious” artists not liking really commercial pop songs they recorded early in their careers to try and get some chart success. For example, I can’t imagine the individual Beatles ever being big fans of She Loves You and I’m sure I read ages ago that Lulu hated Shout, her first hit. Sandie Shaw is someone who had a career in the sixties singing stuff she regarded as pap, she loathed her Eorovision song Puppet on a String and re emerged in the 80s with a great collaboration with the Smiths singing Hand in Glove - now she says she doesn’t mind Puppet on a String and has it as her ringtone.

  8. #8

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Take on Me, was the song that made Aha. Got to number 1 in the states, but wasn’t their biggest hit in the UK. The Sun Always Shines on TV was the bigger hit here, getting to Number 1.
    Not a fan of their music, but Manhattan Skyline is a good song.

  9. #9

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Kevin Rowland from Dexys Midnight Runners won’t play any of his hits. As far as he’s concerned those songs are from the past and he got plenty of new material. His attitude was if people are expecting him to sing his hits, then they can go home.

  10. #10

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    When I first saw this post I thought it a quote from Bale

    Aha take on me?? In your 'sweet dreams' ( just keeping the theme going )

  11. #11

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    It's the opposite of this one, where the singer thought the song was beneath him, so he refused to sing it on the record. The guitar player was then forced to step in and take over the vocal duties, and now the bloke who refused to sing it can't stop singing it!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEniy4CmSZQ

  12. #12

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    I saw them at St David’s Hall in 1985

    He couldn’t hit the high notes then

    The place was full of hormonal teenage girls
    Marvellous

  13. #13

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by Wales-Bales View Post
    Have they even got a 2nd best song?

    I can see why the singer might hate it, cos he'd struggle to hit the high note these days
    I'll go hunting high and low to think of one.
    Didn't they do a Bond theme aswell?

  14. #14

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by MacAdder View Post

    In Aha's case, I am not surprised they hate the song, they probably have to sing it twice a night to fill the set!
    They've released 10 albums so should have enough to choose from.

    I think most fans would understand a band getting fed up with something they've been playing for almost 40 years but as long as they do play it and don't introduce it with "here's that bleedin' song you like" then no-one will mind? There's a notion that once something is created and released into the wild it doesn't "belong" to the artist anymore but can be interpreted and received in whatever way the listener wants, so perhaps it's irrelevant what the band think about it later on.

    As an aside, The Rembrandts had a big hit with the Friends theme but not much else and had a period where they'd sell out large halls on the back of that one song. So they started playing it first to get it out of the way and the hall/arena would gradually drain until a small group of fans who liked the rest of their stuff were left for the encore. So I imagine they've a strange relationship with that.

    By the way, I'd recommend Minor Earth, Major Sky from 2000 if you like slightly moody, Scandinavian, adult-orientated pop. That's my fave album of theirs.

  15. #15

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by life on mars View Post
    Smells Like Teen Spirit.

    Kurt dropped it from the set .

    Stairway to Heaven.
    Plant famously said he'd break out in hives if he had to do it in every show ..
    I didn't know that about Plant. That's very interesting 👍

  16. #16

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by Wales-Bales View Post
    Have they even got a 2nd best song?
    A-Ha had nine UK top ten hits and another five hits that reached the top twenty. Their first UK chart hit came in 1985 their last was in 2006. One hit wonders they were not.

  17. #17

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman View Post
    A-Ha had nine UK top ten hits and another five hits that reached the top twenty. Their first UK chart hit came in 1985 their last was in 2006. One hit wonders they were not.
    Have you got all 14 in your collection?

  18. #18

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by Tuerto View Post
    Was reading an article on Aha and the song in the title came up, which lead to some quite serious debate over that song between the band members. All of them absolutely hate it and are loathed to play it, even though (i believe) it's the song that sent them on their way and is probably their most memorable bit of work. According to the article, Aha released the song a 2nd time due to it not doing particularly well on the first occasion, good bit of work by them.

    I suppose that what i am asking is, are Aha insulting their fans by lambasting the song that so many of them like? should they just put up and shut up, or is it a case of it's their work and they can say what they like about it?

    There's a wider question really, especially when it comes to Art, Music etc, and i suppose that if a person is an ardent fan of a band and then they say that the stuff that the fans like is a bit shit, then isn't that insulting and a bit spoilt? I would've thought that there has been plenty of artists who have gone cold on their biggest most popular hits, the songs that brought them mainstream success.

    What are peoples thoughts, and do you have a favourite artist who hates a song that meant a lot to you?
    They played Take on Me last, last Tuesday night in the castle, as part of a three song encore, including Sun Always Shines on TV. I guess there'd be havoc if they hadn't played it! The hormonal teenage girls mentioned elsewhere in the thread are all now 40-somethings who were equally excitable last week!

  19. #19

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Liam Gallagher hates Wonderwall.

    Quite right as well. I liked Oasis but hate that song.

  20. #20

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Apparently Norman Greenbaum once tried to play some songs that weren't "Spirit in the Sky" and got booed until he sang his big hit - over and over.

  21. #21

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    The Living Daylights is a tune.

  22. #22

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    In my opinion, at the end of the day, although you're an artist you're also an entertainer. There's no escaping it. You make new records?Do whatever you want. But when people pay good money to come to see you play, give them what they want. And be grateful you had a song like Take Me On.

  23. #23

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    I love Sabbath but hate paranoid , it's crap

  24. #24

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    This has been a problem for many years. Even John Lennon said he didn't want to be singing 'She loves you' for the rest of his life. Imagine having to go out, and play the same old songs every gig - it must get so annoying, when no-one wants to hear your new songs, but simply call out for the old stuff. I guess the answer is to keep coming out with amazing stuff, but it's not that easy.

  25. #25

    Re: Aha-Take On Me!

    Quote Originally Posted by Wales-Bales View Post
    Have you got all 14 in your collection?
    Most of them on various 80’s and 90’s compilations. Not really my end of the market, but they were a successful act. More UK top ten hits than Tears for Fears, for example.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •