From synth-pop breakthrough to moodier later work, they kept writing on their own terms.
If you only know Take On Me, try The Living Daylights next, it's got that same soaring quality but with a darker edge. Summer Moved On shows where they ended up, moodier and less concerned with chart hooks.
Take On Me became a global hit in 1985, thanks to that pencil-sketch animation video and Morten Harket's falsetto. But their catalog runs deeper than one single, songs like The Living Daylights and Summer Moved On show a band that gradually shifted into more experimental territory while staying within pop structures. They faced questions about their reserved image and opaque lyrics, but kept making music their way for decades.
They formed in Oslo in the early 1980s, moved to London, and signed with Warner Bros. After Hunting High and Low in 1985, they released records like Stay on These Roads and East of the Sun, West of the Moon. They put out eight studio albums before a break in 2010, then reunited for live shows and new recordings.
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
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