One Hit, Two Billion Views
In the music world, being known as a ‘one hit wonder’ band is quite an embarrassment. It’s a tag coveted by no one, and comes with a mocking smirk. Perhaps if the band could never muster a second hit shows it was a wonder they ever achieved the first.
Some bands hate being known for only one song, especially if they have a much greater pool of material which is unknown. The Knack was one such band, as apparently they had a lot of other songs than ‘My Sharona.’ Not that I’ve ever heard any of them.
The hard rock band, Extreme, was another one. Their sappy hit ballad ‘More Than Words’ isn’t even representative of their normal style, which is high energy, funky, heavy rock.
Of course, as many people have probably remarked, it is better to be a one hit wonder than a no hit wonder.
Mind you, if you’re only going to have one hit, make it a big one. That is certainly the case with ‘Take on Me’ by the band A-ha. The song has currently had more than two billions views on YouTube. That’s a huge number. It’s as if almost the entire populations of China and India have listened to your song.
But are A-ha really a one hit wonder band? Well, can you name another one of their songs, without looking it up?
Alright, now I have just looked it up, and it turns out they actually had another hit – and I quote:
” ‘The Sun Always Shines on T.V.’ turned out to be A-ha’s last Hot 100 Top 40 single and to this day – in the United States – A-ha is remembered by the general public almost entirely because of “Take On Me”. As such, the band is frequently considered a one-hit wonder there, despite their two Top 40 hits.”
Well, there you go. They did have other songs. And then another Google search revealed the following:
“On This Day 35 Years ago, ‘Take On Me’ reached the #1 spot on the US Billboard chart! “Reducing A-ha to just one song, ignores a discography that spans decades and includes some of the finest synth-pop of all time.” – Dig!19 Oct 2020.”
How about that? I had better go and listen to some of their other songs. Not such a one hit wonder after all, eh? Even so, ‘Take on Me’ is by far their biggest hit. Which brings me to report that I’ve just made a solo acoustic guitar arrangement of this song. Despite its origins as a synth song, it translates very well to the guitar. If you want to learn it, email me to arrange a lesson.
Now, here’s the original song.