A-ha

A-ha is a new romantic band popular in the eighties. They are best known for their hit Take On Me, which was a chart topper in several countries. Their debut album went platinum. The Sun Always Shines on TV was also a hit single, charting at number twenty. The group has been covered by numerous artists including Madonna and Coldplay. A-ha provided the theme song to the James Bond film The Living Daylights. The group is phenomenal in Europe, Australia, and Japan. In the United States, however, they are considered a one-hit-wonder, like many synth-based groups of the eighties. Although they are often labeled as "new wave", they are not categorized as such here because I define new wave as bands with a style similar to that of Talking Heads, Devo, or The B-52's. The style of A-ha is more similar to post punk, or "indie" in Britain due to the artists' tendencies to release to independent record labels (although many did release to major labels). Today's indie bands are trying to revive that style.