a-ha: ranking highs and lows

“I came upon this feeling / That someone's ranking / Covered by sycamore leaves” Dear a-ha friends,What better feeling is there than giving someone a carefully considered gift? Simple answer: receiving a carefully considered gift, of course. However, when we’re talking about a-ha and the three band members it’s fortunate that they have both given and received more or less carefully wrapped musical...

“What are we gonna do? I don’t know, create it ”Dear a-ha friends,It’s hard to conceive it… but sometimes we feel like doing something other than ranking. And so we did this time! We’ve stepped into our very own time machine and set it to late summer 1996. In this imaginary world, a-ha are getting ready to create and record their sixth album, the follow-up to 1993’s Memorial Beach. To help the guy...

New book "LESSON ONE - What Listening to a-ha Has Taught Me About Life" available now! In this short special, JP tells you all you need to know about his new book. The book is available worldwide on Amazon, and you can also find the direct links by visiting the book's linktree page: www.linktr.ee/lessonone About the book: "Lesson One: What Listening to a-ha Has Taught Me About Life" is not a tradi...

‘I’m ranking hard to make you jealous / Ranking harder to make you stay’ Dear a-ha friends, We thought it would take longer, but JP’s been editing all night, so why wait: here is episode 25 of a-ha: ranking highs and lows, where we – a little bit late – celebrate forty years with a-ha’s marvellous debut album, the legendary Hunting High and Low. And when we say “we couldn’t have done it without yo...

‘And what am I supposed to rank now?’ Dear a-ha friends,At a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows we are extremely proud to present another episode of the podcast that celebrates the wonderful music of a-ha, where our guest this time is none other than Pål Waaktaar-Savoy! Pål was kind enough to join us for a couple of hours to rank – in a semi-structured kind of way – his most memorable experiences from the...

‘You said that you were weak and I was strong / But I wasn’t strong enough / To let you rank’ Dear a-ha friends, We wanted to celebrate Morten and his amazing voice, we asked for your help, and you delivered! So here they are: Morten Harket’s 30 best vocal performances as voted for by you, the listeners of a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows - all nicely packaged in almost 3 hours of Morten (and a-ha) ma...

‘And when she’s ranking by my side / Eyes closed, all knowledge trapped inside’ Dear a-ha friends, We couldn’t be happier to set a new “personal best” when it comes to podcast episode length than with this latest edition of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’. We are joined by none other than Sondre Lerche, one of Norway’s finest songwriters and artists and - importantly - an a-ha fan since the tender...

‘Hey listen honey, something you should rank / This can’t wait’ Dear a-ha friends, We are extremely proud to share this new episode of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’ with you. We had the chance to catch up with Jørun Bøgeberg – a-ha’s bass player from 1990 to 1994, all-round cool dude and one of the nicest guys you’re likely to meet. In this episode, Jørun kindly shares his favourite moments from...

‘I went down to the ranking / Like a lamb to the slaughter’ Dear a-ha friends, We are very proud to share with you this episode of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’. Not only is it episode 20, but it is also our first episode to feature a guest star and guest ranker - none other than Norwegian journalist and author Ørjan Nilsson, the man behind three excellent books about our beloved a-ha members. Ør...

“You’re hoping for rankings / Well, just look around / Everyone here is standing in line” Dear a-ha friends,It’s time we made good on our promise to record a new episode of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’ - as far as we know the world’s only (and therefore arguably: best) podcast solely dedicated to the wonderful music of a-ha and their related solo projects. And this episode is of course a ranking...

In this episode we rank the 20 best music videos from a-ha. We also consider taking up synchronised swimming, we recall a sad day in 1991, and we have lengthy discussions about feet. We also hear about a cool gadget in Jesper’s teenage room, we discuss plot holes, find the optimal role for Morten in Hollywood, and speculate if slow-cooked wolf is a delicacy. We also do some book research, speculat...

In this episode of "a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows" we revist the MUSIC VIDEOS to see which ones have stood the test of time, and which ones fall flat. Not surprisingly we have a lot to say, so we’ve split the ranking into two parts. The upside of that is that there will be another episode out very soon, and the downside is… well, there ARE no downsides, as far as we can see. In this first episode w...

In this episode of 'a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows' we rank the 10 songs on the album 'Under' by Savoy, the 2nd band by a-ha-guitarist Pål Waaktaar-Savoy. This time you get to hear Jesper and JP being quite offended, Peter the Producer has unwarranted hopes for a shorter podcast, and we mispronounce Frode Unneland in so many ways that it’s almost Guinness Book of Records-worthy. We also tip-toe arou...

In this episode of "a-ha: ranking highs and lows" we’ve ranked the songs from ‘MTV Unplugged - Summer Solstice’ album, which we hope you’ve all had a chance to listen to. Otherwise maybe this episode can serve as an introduction. This time we go shopping for instruments with Mozart, Jesper invents a new superhero, and JP shares opinions about musical arrangements of which he has no clue. We also e...

In this episode we rank the 25 best live versions of a-ha songs. We’re happy to share a new episode of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’ with you as we’re getting into December. Consider it an early Christmas present from us to you. And no, it doesn’t come in another size, colour or shape, but it DOES present our ranking of the 25 best live songs from a-ha, and that’s really a ‘one size fits all’ if...

In this episode we rank the 11 studio albums by a-ha. Among other things you’ll get a tour through Jesper’s Facebook feed from 2009, Peter sees an escape door standing ajar, and JP provides a status on a t-shirt from the year 2000. We also rank German music magazines, and a-ha wins a questionable contest. And can you buy a girlfriend in a clothing store in Berlin? Jesper also worries about why JP...

In this episode of "a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows" we're doing a slightly different ranking of a-ha-related songs, more specifically a top 10 of the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) lyrical backstabs between the guys in the band. In other words: which lyrics are verbal knives in another band member's back, and how deep does the knife go? The Ranking Highs and Lows podcast team has n...

In this episode we rank the 25 best songs by Pål Waaktaar-Savoy from his projects outside of a-ha, which thereby is the 2nd part of our top 50 countdown. In this episode you'll be treated to more accents than anyone needs to hear, Jesper re-visits some of his favourite references, Peter the Producer is looking for a way out and JP continues to struggle with even the simplest Norwegian. We also sti...

This episode of Ranking Highs and Lows is part 1 of our ranking of the 50 best songs by a-ha guitarist and songwriter Pål Waaktaar-Savoy from his projects outside of a-ha. We're very pleased to announce that we've had the opportunity to ask Pål about some of the songs on our ranking. He was very kind to answer some questions we e-mailed to him, and it's probably safe to say that his answers were b...

In this episode we direct our attention to a-ha keyboardist Magne Furuholmen as we hunt for the 30 highs from his solo endeavours and side projects outside a-ha. In this episode you'll hear how Peter has given up on JP and now gives a trusted task to Jesper, we await a concept album about skimmed milk, and Peter and JP are left speechless (if only for a short while) by Jesper’s anecdotes from an A...

In this episode we rank songs from the solo career of Morten Harket, the legendary vocalist of equally legendary band a-ha. And whether you are new to Morten's solo efforts or have listened to all or most of it already this is definitely a podcast for you! In this episode we’ll be discussing the different stages of Morten’s solo career, JP once again tries to give a short summary of something (wil...

In this episode we rank the 12 songs from "True North" - the latest addition to a-ha's amazing career and song catalogue - from the worst to the best, and we can reveal that the battle for the top spot is close! In this episode we possibly fail at giving a short summary of anything, we praise some drummers, we talk about second cousins and sisters, and it would be surprising if there wasn’t someth...

In the sixth - and so far final - episode of Ranking Highs and Lows we finally reveal which of a-ha’s 147 songs is the ultimate number one! The superlatives are flying all around us as we count down from 25 to 1, but there’s still room for heavy compromises and disagreements - just like when a-ha makes an album. In this episode we hear about trips to the public swimming pool in the 1980’s, how a t...

In the fifth episode of Ranking Highs and Lows we crack the top 50 as we continue our ranking of the 147 a-ha songs from worst to best by counting down from 50 to 26. Here we encounter a song that both of us like but for quite different reasons, we run into some serious compromises and discuss which version of a song is the right one to rank. We also come across some big hits, discuss the importan...

In the fourth episode of Ranking Highs and Lows we continue our ranking of the 147 a-ha songs from worst to best by counting down from 75 to 51. In this episode we will discuss how many cousins Driftwood actually has, get to know which song made one of us realize at a young age that we were maturing, and which song one of us considers more Beatles than The Beatles. We also discuss whether a certai...