The professor’s head exploded in a meeting with A-ha

It is embarrassing that we do not talk more about A-ha in Norway, says author and literature professor Janne Stigen Drangsholt. This week came her book about the band’s fourth album, “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”.

It is a moment in Norwegian television history that has burned into the memory of Janne Stigen Drangsholt. The calendar shows October 20, 1984, and the promising pop group A-ha has been invited to the actual Saturday entertainment on NRK, in the long-discontinued program Lørdagssirkuset.

Host Rita Westvik begins by introducing the band as “three boys”, and then clarifies with a follow-up question: “I meant, you are not men?”, Before she also gets clarified that it is a pop group they are. Then she goes on to tell viewers that the “boys” have become famous without having done a single song, neither on record nor concert.

– The TV moment said so much about the enormous skepticism of popular culture in NRK, but also in Norwegian society in general, says Drangsholt.

– Still a bit provincial

She thinks some of this is still lingering, and that it is the explanation why A-ha has not received more attention in her home country.

– Norway is still a bit provincial when it comes to culture and what is considered important cultural expressions. I think that’s a little embarrassing. When I was growing up, I looked at Norwegian musicians as extremely old. Everyone who played in so-called pop bands was the same age as my parents. We had Lava, Jahn Teigen and Åge Aleksandersen. Seeing the young band A-ha, with the visual expression they had, standing on TV saying they were going to be world famous – my head just exploded. From that day I was a blood fan, says Drangsholt.

The book about “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” joins a long line of so-called boxing singles from Falck publishing house, books where different authors address different Norwegian albums. When Drangsholt received an inquiry to write something, she knew that it had to be about A-ha and their fourth album, which came out when she herself went to 1st grade in high school. She believes that one of the interesting things about following A-ha’s career is that it tells a lot about how popular culture developed in the 80s and 90s, and about what it was like to be a youth at that time.

– There was a lot of excitement associated with the release of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”. No one really knew what it was going to be like, after three very different albums. When it arrived, everyone was very confused. The band looked like they came from the US, Morten had Native American braids – it looked like they were in a completely different band, much more adult and less polished than before. You could see that they went in a completely different direction, says Drangsholt.

Urban loneliness and violence

She is also interested in the texts of A-ha, which is not entirely unexpected for a literature professor. In them she finds major themes such as loneliness, violence and the modern understanding of masculinity.

– Ever since the first album, they have themed the urban feeling of loneliness we all feel from time to time, about being surrounded by people in a big city, but at the same time feeling an enormous loneliness. Then it tries to find meaning in life through a love affair, without it solving the problems. Often it ends in violence. There are many of their songs that are murder ballads, and there is not much talk about that, says Drangsholt.

She draws the threads back to the 19th century, when changes in settlement patterns led to a need for more men in positions in the police and fire service, because people to a greater extent than before clumped together in cities.

– From the 19th century, there were stricter requirements for what it meant to be masculine, and men were forced to express some of their feelings. When you start such a process, people change in a slightly unnatural way, and it is something A-ha puts into words in a groundbreaking way. I think it is so incredibly exciting, says Drangsholt.