A-Ha

As I was sitting in the cafeteria during lunch hour today, I noticed that the music selection has been veering towards the 80s this week.

“Did you notice the music?” I asked my one co-worker who has transferred to the new office with me. (So yes I am now surrounded by actual people every day at work. More about that later…)

“What about it?”

“It’s music from our youth!”

It was odd because I believe the average age at this office is 25 and the average weight is 125 lbs.

My Co-worker raised his eyebrow with suspicion.

“Come on. I listened to the same music that you listened to! There was this one English-speaking radio station in Taiwan that was a left-over from the American military occupation, and they played all the popular English songs all day long. Top 40. The best!

That was THE radio station that we all listened to when we were in college. Because it was cool.

Remember making mixed tapes? Remember there was no CD and the only way to get any music was to record songs off of the radio? How you had to press RECORD right at the second when the DJ started the song? And then you had to run to the bathroom but before you came back the song was already over and now you’ve got a bunch of talking on your tape at the end of the song? So now you had to press REWIND. STOP. Listen. Rewind some more. Repeat. Oh no. I went back too much. FORWARD FORWARD. Shit. Now I have to go backward again. Oh shit the DJ is now playing my FAVORITE song that I have not been able to get on tape?!

Remember there was no Internet. No Google? And the only way you could figure out the lyrics was by listening to the songs over and over again?

Well, if I had kept all my tapes with the lyric sheets, you could see that I had written down Chinese next to English words that I had to look up in the dictionary. That was how I learned English. How many of us learned English.

Actually till this day I still have no idea what the lyrics to most of my favorite songs are.

I wish I had kept all my mixed tapes. [I did not mention that quite a few were given as gifts by my “male friends”. Remember making mixed tapes for the person you’re interested in hoping that they’d know how you felt simply from listening to the songs?!]

Remember Wicked Game?

Every Time You Go Away?

Last Christmas? [There was eye roll and groan]

The Tide Is High?

Oh my god. Do you remember Take On Me? Do you?

I showed the boys the other day the music video of Take On Me. I told them it was ground-breaking when it first came out. Everybody was wowed because nothing like that had been done before. Of course they went Meh! on it. But oh I still remember how excited I was. We were.”

Just as I was wrapping up my psychotic rambling, complete with hand gestures and bouncing up and down on the chair, I recognized the first few notes of the next song coming from the ceiling.

I paused.

“Could this be?”

“No fucking way!”

But way. It was Take On Me.

If I did not think I am too old to be posting on My Life Is Average (or commonly known as MLIA), I would post:

Today just when I was reminiscing about how awesome it was when we first saw the music video of Take On Me, right on cue, the PA system started playing the song. MLIA.

 

It was a good day.

 

AHa – Take On Me from Eian Aldrich on Vimeo.

 

Coda: As I was finishing up this post, The Husband came to see what I was up to. “Remember this music video?!” I excitedly showed him the A-Ha MTV.  Turns out he has never ever seen it. Maybe I am a true cougar here. Maybe I have been married to a 20-year-old born after 1980 without realizing it…

You all have a good night now while I go find out whether he has ever seen the music video for Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus

50 thoughts on “A-Ha

  1. Velva

    I was a toss up between the late 70’s and early 80’s music. What rocked my world was weenie love songs from the 70’s and Bruce Springsteen in the 80’s.

    I do remember the Ah-A Video and yes it was ground breaking video in 1984. I think Michael Jackson’s Thriller in 1982 would be the first to rock the music video world.

    I used to record songs from the radio all the time! I had totally forgotten until you wrote about it in your post.

    Velva

    Reply
  2. Justine

    Yes, yes, yes, yes! (That’s me agreeing to all the “remembers” you had here, not me having an orgasmic reaction to this post). Thanks for taking me back to those good ol’ days. Rewind. Stop. Listen. Write lyrics. Rewind. Stop. Write lyrics. And sometimes we still get it wrong. Like Madonna’s La Isla Bonita’s “Young girls with eyes like the desert” became “Young girls with eyes like potatoes” in my transcript. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered my error.

    A-Ha’s video was totally badass for that time and yes, I remember that too. How awesome that we can relate like that. Even when we both grew up in different countries.

    Reply
  3. SisterMerryHellish

    I recorded Richard Marx’s “Right Here Waiting” for a boy I LOVED! I had it in the car, ready to play when I knew he’e be riding with me, but I wussed out! Lost my nerve.

    To this day I can’t hear it and not think of that moment.

    PS: I sing the “Dr. Zaius” version from The Simpsons!

    Troy McClure: Can I play the piano anymore?
    Dr. Zaius: Of course you can.
    Troy: Well I couldn’t before!
    Ooo…help me Dr. Zaius

    Reply
  4. Naptimewriting

    Okay, this is way too late and I’m so sorry I can’t go back in time and tell you this, but the secret to a great mix tape is to hit the Pause button first, then Record. You sit there listening with your finger over the pause button. And when the song comes on, especially when the DJ said, “coming this hour, A-ha’s Take On Me,” you gently release Pause. The record head is already on the tape and there’s no crackle. Makes for much smoother transitions.

    Just saying.

    Anyone who hasn’t seen the Aha video is HIGHLY suspicious. Anyone who did not get really scared for them as they ran has no heart. And anyone who didn’t want that deliciously sweaty lead singer to rescue them from black and white is a cold, cold fish.

    Reply
  5. Chickens Consigliere

    Wicked Game is still one of my favorite songs ever. I was 30ish when it came out though. Sigh. The songs of my youth? Little River Band, Styxx, Springsteen, Rod. gulp. Stewart. I loved this post

    Reply
  6. Elly Lou

    Remember when there was no reason to think George Michael was gay? Oh the 80’s. Such an innocent time.

    Reply
  7. Ameena

    I remember every single one of these songs and on matter what anyone says “Last Christmas” will remain the best Christmas song ever. Someone dared to remake it. Can you believe that??

    Rock Me Amadeus…classic. I forever will love it.

    Reply
    1. Absence Alternatives Post author

      I actually really really like Last Christmas. But it was probably because I was dumped by my first boyfriend near Christmas around the same time. I think. I need to go check the timeline. It is all so fuzzy in my memory now.

      Reply
  8. Nicole, the queen of this life

    OMG YES YES YES!!! I was having total flashbacks! I am ALWAYS talking about this stuff at work and people are ALWAYS looking at me like I’m a total freak from Back to the Future. And omg, Rock Me Amadeus? On my IPOD RIGHT NOW PLAYING!!!

    Reply
  9. Andrea @ Shameless Agitator

    A-Ha, Duran Duran, Power Station, The Outfield, Dream Academy, Crowded House, Paul Young, Robert Palmer, Corey Hart, INXS, U2, Human League, Thompson Twins, WHAM! – oh the memories are streaming back. I completed high school AND college in the 80s. Big curly bleached hair, huge roundish clear plastic glasses, skinny jeans and Reebok aerobic high top sneakers. My girls laugh when they look at my old photos. I was cool when I got a smallish stereo for my dorm room(a JC Penneys special) – it had a record player, dual-cassette AND radio.

    Reply
  10. pattypunker

    the mixed tape was the most alluring gesture of attraction. this girl didn’t want bling. sadly i made way more than i received, but oh how i cherish a music message.

    Reply
  11. BigLittleWolf

    You crack me up! And I do remember the damn Record/Stop/Play/Rewind!

    Of course, the other day, I was humming Sky Rockets in Flight… Afternoon De-light…. Maybe a little before your time?

    😉

    Reply
  12. GamerDarling

    It weirds me out that English is your second language, because what you right is better than what a lot of my friends could write in their native language!

    -Too young to have really appreciated mixed tapes

    Reply
  13. Life with Kaishon

    I do remember making those tapes : )
    I wasn’t very good at it. I always got the dj’s talking at the end.
    No boys gave them to me : (
    I graduated in 1994 so I had tapes of songs from the 90’s. : )

    Reply
  14. Cheryl S.

    LOVE the Take on Me video! I even saw A-Ha in concert when I was a teenager (and yes, he can really hit that note). You forgot to mention the 80’s GODS though — Duran Duran! I will still crank up the radio for Hungry Like the Wolf. (And, shockingly, their newest album is really good!)
    I had so many of those mix tapes! Mine are all gone now too. I wouldn’t have anything to play them on even if I had them. . .

    Reply
  15. Tom G.

    I love the Literal Video version of this one! Until you watch it, you don’t realize how silly it is. Kinda like the 80’s. Until you sit down and remember what they were like, you don’t realize how innocent, and silly they were. I mean that in a good way!

    As an American kid, I forget just how spoiled we were. I never knew how much American youth culture was exported around the world until I started traveling for work. As I made friends with guys my age in Japan, Belgium, England, Hong Kong, etc… it was fun to reminisce about all the same music, and cartoons we shared. It’s funny, but meeting someone who “gets” the A-Ha video is a great bridge builder, and does more for inter cultural understanding than anything else can.

    OK, one short storyon cultural fusion, then I’ll shut up. I was in a German Brewpub in Wuxi China with a bunch of Hong Kong Chinese guys. The bar had a band of Phillipine women (like every western bar in China) and they were taking requests. So I submitted “99 Luftballoons” because other than ‘Der Kommisar” by Falco, it was the only song with German in the lyrics. When they started playing it, the lead singer came over and made me get out on the dance floor with her to the laughter and delight of my colleagues. Who ever though that cheezy 80’s videos could bring about world peace?

    Reply
  16. kathy

    Okay—let’s be honest here–I don’t know the song! Isn’t that sad! I grew up with a religous fanatic mother who wouldn’t let us listen to the radio, so I might as well have lived on Mars! And you wonder why I’m “crazy!” Hint, hint! Religious fanaticism sucks!
    Kathy

    Reply
    1. absence of Alternatives

      hmmm. Now I wonder what it means that my husband does not know that song either?! LOL. 😉 His explanation was that his parents were frugal (and still are) so they did not have cable growing up so no MTV.

      Reply
  17. Andrea

    I love Take On Me and the music video! And it does take me back to my youth, when we were truly excited when we could FINALLY get MTV in our neck of the woods. We would run home from school to watch it. But then we had to hope our favorite videos would be played so we could tape them, just like the mixed tapes . . .

    Reply

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