: When Furuholmen and Pål Waaktaar-Savoy were in their previous band, Bridges , the riff was used in a song titled "Miss Eerie" . They actually considered scrapping it because they thought it sounded too much like "chewing gum" pop.
: The main melody was primarily played on a Roland Juno-60 Go to product viewer dialog for this item. . To achieve its "metallic bite," the was layered with a Yamaha DX7 Go to product viewer dialog for this item. a_ha_take_on_me_instrumental_version
The instrumental track is a masterclass in 1980s music production, blending early digital and analog gear. : When Furuholmen and Pål Waaktaar-Savoy were in
The song famously flopped twice before becoming a hit. Each attempt changed the instrumental's "feel": Sound Diving #2 - Take On Me - mu:zines The song famously flopped twice before becoming a hit
: The driving beat was created using a LinnDrum machine . Interestingly, to keep the energy high, the tempo (originally 169 BPM) was manually bumped up by 0.5 BPM during the final verse using a sync box
The core of the instrumental—the iconic, perky synth riff—was first composed by keyboardist when he was just 15 years old.