Saturday, March 24, 2018

Just Missed My Top 200: A-Ha - The Living Daylights

A-Ha took the #48 spot on my Top 200 with their only appearance, for the song "The Sun Always Shines On TV". Another song by the group I considered including on my list was their Bond theme, the title track from 1987's "The Living Daylights" starring Timothy Dalton as 007. The movie was a middling entry in the James Bond franchise, but the theme song by the Norwegian new wavers is definitely one of the best.

While the movie - and the song - can't quite compare to the magnificence that is 1985's Roger Moore-Duran Duran classic "A View To A Kill" (also starring erstwhile new waver Grace Jones who had a big hit with "Slave To The Rhythm" that same year), "The Living Daylights" is an awesome tune in its own right. 

A-Ha hit #5 in the UK - and a disappointing #103 in the US - with "The Living Daylights", a far cry from the #1 US/#2 UK "A View To A Kill" (still the only Bond theme to ever get the top spot in America). But who can compete with "Bon, Simon le Bon" & the Fab Five? Videos included below.





Be back next week with another great song that almost made my list.

2 comments:

  1. The atrocious Rolling Stone mag did a rundown of Bond themes and (as usual) got much of it wrong ... they rated Living Daylights at the rock bottom (20 of 22) but the blurb did have one interesting nugget in it:

    "The relationship between the Norwegian pop group and the Bond team eventually deteriorated to the point where the band claimed (composer John) Barry didn't deserve a credit on their song, and the composer compared them to the Hitler Youth."

    Who'da guessed !


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    1. The Hitler Youth! Wow, might as well go big on the hyperbole, I suppose. Rolling Stone *is* atrocious, you're right about that. A constant enemy of new wave almost from the get-go.

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