a-ha - Take On Me

What this video is

Released in 1985 by Norwegian synth-pop trio a-ha, 'Take On Me' arrived at the precise moment MTV was transforming music consumption in North America and Europe. The video's rotoscope animation — executed by Michael Patterson — fused the visual grammar of comic books with cinematic narrative filmmaking at a time when most pop videos were straightforward performance clips. Its six MTV VMA wins in 1986 cemented the…

Why it matters

Canonical synth-pop crossover landmark. 'Take On Me' established that European New Wave acts could achieve mainstream American chart dominance through visually innovative music video strategy. Its production approach directly influenced the subsequent wave of high-concept animated and technically…

The director

Steve Barron (born 1956, Dublin) is a pioneering British-Irish music video and film director credited with defining the visual language of the early MTV era. He directed landmark videos for Michael Jackson ('Billie Jean'), Dire Straits ('Money for Nothing'),…