Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

Back in the ’80s, there seemed to be a formula for becoming a one-hit-wonder. Write an insanely catchy pop-song, deliver a visually interesting music video and get that video thrown into heavy rotation on MTV. The Norwegian trio A-ha nailed that formula with smash hit “Take On Me.”

The synthpop swing of the tune first made waves overseas before topping the U.S. Billboard charts in 1985. While it’s definitely a perfectly fitting song for the era, the majority of its popularity was due to the cutting-edge music video. The video combined pencil-sketch animation with live-action to create a comic book coming to life. It still stands as one of the iconic videos of early MTV. Check out this recent Family Guy, where they spoof the video by having Chris Griffin get trapped in A-ha’s world. Continue reading »