Wir hatten ja schon einige ungewöhnliche Coverversionen... aber Waschmaschine und Trockner noch nicht!

https://www.tiktok.com/@kurtsc…video/6828673691639975173

s.a. https://www.stern.de/panorama/…aschmaschine-9278202.html

Quote from Falbala146

Schaut mal in die Insta-Story von Tomine rein.

Kann ich leider nicht (hab kein Insta & Co.). Aber Deine Beschreibung klingt schon lustig!

Ein Interview mit Tomine!

https://noizz.de/news/tomine-h…nken-und-ihr-bett/lr02fqv

Mal wieder ein Artikel zur Bedeutung der Elektroautos in Norwegen (mit Erwähnung der Rolle a-has dabei):

Norway and the A-ha moment that made electric cars the answer

https://www.stuff.co.nz/enviro…-electric-cars-the-answer

https://www.theguardian.com/en…-electric-cars-the-answer

Die Geschichte von TOM nochmal aufgerollt:

https://www.mdzol.com/mdz-show…reproducciones-73794.html

Google-Übersetzung

Jetzt endlich gibt es einen Gewinner! Jemand aus Japan hat gewonnen (s. a-ha.com-Newsletter von gestern Abend).

Ja, ich find's auch sehr beruhigend, ein Lebenszeichen von Paul zu bekommen! Im Moment macht man sich ja um die Herren und ihre Familien Sorgen, wenn man nichts hört...

Und dieses Bild von den beiden zusammen ist ja einfach nur schön!!

Robbie Williams hat Morten ja vor ein paar Tagen als "Dorian Gray" des Pop bezeichnet - dann ist Lauren aber die Dorianne Gray!

Quote from babalu

kann nur ein Song sein

Selten genug, aber es kommt zum Glück auch mal vor, dass ein anderer Song gespielt wird! Wie z.B. "I Wish I Cared" bei der Smallville-Folge 2x09:

Echt? So lange schon nicht mehr?

Aber wie waren denn die Verkäufe der anderen Alben? Wobei das auch nicht erklärt, warum sie bei der aktuellen Tour nicht vorbei schauen...

Letzteres. Abgeschickt wurde es in England am 9.4., war also eine Woche unterwegs.

Jup! Ist gestern angekommen.

https://www.eventim.de/magazin…5874212821a4b2c3d7a5ca69e

Diese Songs hören Menschen in der Corona-Krise

Spotify hat analysiert, welche Musik derzeit am liebsten gestreamt wird. Die Ergebnisse sind teilweise überraschend.

von Martin Stepanek

Die erzwungene Corona-Isolation beschert nicht nur TV-Streaming von Netflix bis Prime und Pornoplattformen wie Pornhub Nutzerrekorde. Auch Musik-Streaming erlebte in den vergangenen Wochen einen Höhenflug. Spotify hat das Userverhalten analysiert und dabei entdeckt, dass Nostalgie derzeit Trumpf ist.

a-ha und Cindy Lauper hoch im Kurs

In der ersten Aprilwoche stieg die Anzahl von Playlists mit Songs aus den 50er- bis 80er-Jahren um 54 Prozent im Vergleich zum Vorjahr an. Besonders die 80er-Jahre erleben Spotify zufolge in der Corona-Krise einen Revival. Am häufigsten wurde "Take on Me" der norwegischen Pop-Band a-ha hinzugefügt. Zu den am häufigsten gestreamten Songs zählte zudem der Cindy-Lauper-Hit "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", der in diesem Zeitraum mehr als 2,3 Millionen Mal abgespielt wurde.

Laut dem Verhaltensforscher David DiSalvo ist die Flucht in Nostalgie, die nun auch im Hörerverhalten zu bemerken sei, eine menschliche Strategie. In der unsteten Zeit während der Corona-Krise könnten damit Erinnerungen aktiviert werden, die ein Gefühl von Stabilität, Kontrolle und Trost vermitteln.

Von David Bowie bis Lou Bega

Unter den Klassikern, die zuletzt im deutschsprachigen Raum besonders häufig gestreamt wurden befinden sich "(What A) Wonderful World" von Sam Cooke, der Queen-Song "Don't Stop Me Now", "Hotel California" von den Eagles und "Dancing Queen" von ABBA. Aus den 80ern hören Spotify-User neben Cindy Lauper und a-ha auch Nena, AC/DC, David Bowie, Bon Jovi und Cindy Lauper.

Aber auch die 90er sind mit einigen Klassikern vertreten. Neben "Wonderwall" von Oasis, "I Want It That Way" der Backstreet Boys, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" von Nirvana finden sich auch die Hits "Wannabe" der Spice Girls sowie "Baby One More Time" von Britney Spears. Wie stark die Sehnsucht nach guter Laune ist, beweist wohl der Song, der weltweit am häufigsten zu Playlists der 90er hinzugefügt wurde: "Mambo No.5" von Lou Bega.

https://futurezone.at/digital-…hen-auf-spotify/400814813

Quote from A-hadmin

Interessant wie erfolgreich, gemessen am Platz 5, der Song damals gewesen ist und wie viele andere Acts hinten ihnen geblieben sind.

Zumindest in Großbritannien und einigen anderen europäischen Charts. In Amerika waren sie gar nicht in den Top 100.

Ich hab hier mal eine Übersicht von Wikipedia mit den Höchstpositionen in den wöchentlichen Charts:

Quote

Dennoch sind a-ha nicht immer die Wahl der Stunde, wenn es um Bond-Songs

Ehrlich gesagt, kann ich das auch verstehen. Da gibt's eindeutig viele andere Bond-Songs, die besser sind als TLD!

Die Songs von Sam Smith, Billie Eilish, Madonna und Alicia Keys & Jack White zähle ich da aber eindeutig nicht zu...

In dem Zusammenhang auch noch interessant (da wir hier in der Rubrik "Number 1" sind):

Chart-Platzierungen von Bond-Songs in UK

Here's a quick look at the highest positions each released Bond song got on the charts (ranked from highest to lowest)...

• 1 No Time To Die - Billie Eilish (2020)
• 1 Writing's On The Wall - Sam Smith (2015)
• 2 Skyfall - Adele (2012)
• 2 A View To A Kill - Duran Duran (1985)
• 3 Die Another Day - Madonna (2002)
• 3 We Have All The Time In The World - Louis Armstrong (1994)
• 5 The Living Daylights - a-ha (1987)
• 6 Licence To Kill - Gladys Knight (1989)
• 7 You Know My Name - Chris Cornell (2006)
• 7 Nobody Does It Better - Carly Simon (1977)
• 8 The James Bond Theme Re-Version - Moby (1997)
• 8 For Your Eyes Only - Sheena Easton (1981)
• 9 Another Way To Die - Jack White & Alicia Keys (2008)
• 9 Live And Let Die - Paul McCartney & Wings (1973)
• 10 GoldenEye - Tina Turner (1995)
• 11 The World Is Not Enough - Garbage (1999)
• 11 You Only Live Twice - Nancy Sinatra (1967)
• 12 Tomorrow Never Dies - Sheryl Crow (1997)
• 13 The James Bond Theme - The John Barry Orchestra (1963)
• 20 From Russia With Love - Matt Munro (1963)
• 21 Goldfinger - Shirley Bassey (1964)
• 35 Thunderball - Tom Jones (1965)
• 38 Diamonds Are Forever - Shirley Bassey (1971)
• 39 From Russia With Love - John Barry (1963)
• 49 If There Was A Man - The Pretenders (1987)
• 75 All Time High - Rita Coolidge (1983)

Quelle: https://www.ign.com/articles/n…-a-james-bond-song-record

Von der Seite https://www.officialcharts.com…here-they-charted__10670/ erfahren wir auch noch, dass The Living Daylights insgesamt 9 Wochen in den britischen Charts vertreten war.

Bond-Songs ohne Ranking, nur Bewertung

The James Bond songs: Best of the forgotten and underrated

a-ha, “The Living Daylights”

Everything went wrong with this one. The Living Daylights was the follow-up to 1985’s A View to a Kill, which had had a super-successful title song by Duran Duran. So the flash-in-the-pan Norwegian band a-ha got chosen basically because they were avid Duran Duran imitators. John Barry, brought in to score his eleventh Bond film, realized there was trouble ahead when he and a small party of Bond-brass fifty-somethings attended an a-ha concert and discovered they were the only audience-members old enough to drive themselves home. The recording sessions were a mess. Barry fought with the huffy Norwegians and decided to never again work on a Bond film. The product of this unhappy collaboration was heard over a ridiculous credit sequence in which the line “and the headlights fade away” is set to an image of—guess what?—a headlight fading away. Then a-ha decided to release their own “definitive” version of the song, scrubbed of Barry’s input. Both versions died on the charts. But the Barry/a-ha version is surprisingly good—a pleasantly cluttered arrangement with lots of little hooks supports a catchy melody that singer Morten Harket just manages to deliver with a kind of charming nervousness. Hey, sometimes recording-studio dustups can make songs better.

https://blog.oup.com/2015/10/j…ngs-forgotten-underrated/

AM: So, the A-Ha theme tune. I quite like it, myself.

DNW: Not a fan. I don’t much care for the title design either. We’ve reached a point in the series where the opening titles are very by the numbers because the template is adhered to rigidly. There are better title sequences in future movies, but I don’t think any of them really do much that could be considered new until Casino Royale.

AM: I agree with that. Maurice Binder designed the titles for most of the series and clearly ran out of ways to film women in silhouette.

DNW: I’m listening to the A-Ha song again now just to make sure I’m not being unfair to it…but I haven’t changed my mind. It’s like being rickrolled by a Bond movie. This may sound hypocritical coming from a man who praised Duran Duran’s song, but I stand by it.

AM: I like that song, too. There are very few Bond themes I genuinely don’t like, and most of those are the newer ones. Madonna… *shudders*

http://www.movie-moron.com/?p=23814

The main theme, the stamp of every Bond movie, is an excellent track performed by A-ha. It’s one of my favorite Bond theme songs; it has everything I want in a Bond theme, and I listen to it quite often.

https://www.soundtrackdreams.c…aylights-john-barry-1987/

The main Living Daylights melody stems directly from the title song by Norwegian group A-ha (famous for 'Take On Me'), unashamedly eighties, but undeniably entertaining with its high-gloss and infectious rock undercurrent. The collaboration between the group and Barry was said to be difficult, with two versions of the song eventually composed.

The band's preferred arrangement of the song appeared on their 1988 album Stay On These Roads. However, in 2006, A-ha musician and writer Pål Waaktaar was highly complimentary of Barry's input: "I loved the stuff he added to the track, I mean it gave it this really cool string arrangement. That's when for me it started to sound like a Bond thing".

https://www.cineworld.co.uk/bl…ited-the-living-daylights

TITLE SONG
After Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" tore up the charts, Albert R. Broccoli wanted another super-hot band to record the next them and he found one in the form of Norway's a-ha, two years after the definitive '80s pop tune "Take On Me", and one year after their last huge European hit "I've Been Losing You"; that group's Paul Waaktaar-Savoy co-wrote "The Living Daylights" with Bond stalwart John Barry.

Europop is well and all, and I have already confessed my shamed affection for "A View to a Kill"; but really, it's not exactly Bond, is it? He's all suavity and intelligence under pressure, a cool, merciless killer, and whatever the hell it is that a-ha is doing - I lack the vocabulary to do it justice, but minor keys and synthesisers are both in heavy abundance - it is not that. It's just sort of, I don't know, '80s Europoppy. I find it annoyingly hard to forget, but intensely boring regardless, and while there are Bond themes towards which I feel much stronger hatred ("The man with the go-holden guh-huh-un!") this is undoubtedly the one that I am least inclined to listen to in any context whatsoever.

Rating: 2.5 Shirley Basseys

https://www.alternateending.com/2012/09/barer-bond.html

#20:

Don't you sort of wish David Bowie had recorded a James Bond theme? I get the feeling that the Bond producers had the same dream, but they couldn't book him for the gig and instead got... A-ha.

https://www.esquire.com/entert…-bond-theme-songs-ranked/

#4:

I really love this John Barry co-written/produced song, which has lived in my Spotify Starred playlist since jump, and have put it up way too high on this list. And speaking of: “Set your hopes up way too high / Living’s in the way we die” is the most punk-rock lyric in all the Bond themes. I adore everything about this song: A-ha themselves, the groove, the lyrics, the unlikely marriage of organic and digital, the woodwind breakdown, the lousy saxophone, the outro — all of it.

http://www.listenmusicculture.com/features/james-bond

#8:

To the Bond theme purists, this new wave anthem will have taken some getting used to, but it's got a certain '80s disco charm.

https://www.gigwise.com/photos…o-best-goldfinger-skyfall

#7:

Description: You probably don't know much about a-Ha outside of Take On Me, and if you remember this song, you're a pretty dedicated fan to either them or Bond. Funny enough how this is one of the best Bond themes out there, and yet this was the one that made John Barry quit. Apparently a-Ha had a different version of the song that they wanted to use, and despite their insistence Barry won out and had his version prevail for the film's use. Unfortunately this lead to the composer's exit from the series, but fortunately it left him with a memorable effort to exit with.

This tune ranks above the previous entry because while it revels in the decade of its origin it remains rather timeless to this day. At the very least, it's a much easier listen than A View To A Kill, because while both songs are amazing in their own right, this one doesn't screech on the synthesizer every so often and takes advantage of the sound of live instruments. (At least the Barry version does. Sorry a Ha, but your version is very much a product of its time.)

Choice Lyrics: "Set your hopes up way too high/Living's in the way we die." This could almost be taken as a spy's motto, or a saboteur's for that matter. Grand ideals, fought with force and planning, and the only true result is that someone's going to die and someone is going to win. The living in cases like this depends on how, or more specifically what, we die of/for. You don't become a spy because you want to grow old, stay safe, and play within the rules. You do it because you're willing to forego all those things for your cause.
https://whatculture.com/film/j…rom-worst-to-best?page=16

#18:

After the success of “A View to a Kill”, I get the impression that the producers were looking for a song that was Duran Duran-lite. As usual, a straight-ahead beat is a bad sign. There’s some interesting harmonic motion but it takes far too long to play out, though the transition into the chorus is pretty interesting. The chorus itself mostly consists of an “Ay-ay-ay-oh” invitation to sing along, an invitation that I will decline.

https://ethaniverson.com/guest…ond-songs-by-dan-schmidt/

#22:

When The Living Daylights was released in 1987, Norwegian band A-Ha was still relevant thanks to their huge 1985 hit "Take On Me." While this song perfectly encapsulates the time period, it simply falls flat in comparison to the other Bond themes. Perhaps it was the creative differences between the band and longtime Bond composer John Barry that killed A-Ha's song. While The Living Daylights was the last Bond film Barry composed, A-Ha won this creative battle. They released a revised version of "Daylights" on their 1988 album Stay On These Roads, and it remains one of their most popular songs.

https://www.houstonpress.com/m…ed-worst-to-first-7763996

#9:

By all accounts, a-ha and John Barry - who was working on his final Bond film - didn't get along. Yet when you compare the theme version to a-ha's own take on the song, it's Barry's brass stabs which really make it. It's a cracking theme from an underrated film.

https://vocal.media/geeks/jame…-songs-from-worst-to-best

#8:

"The Living Daylights". Die letzte Bond-Arbeit John Barrys – nach dem Streit mit A-ha um das Arrangement des Lieds – ist ein Meisterstück der Abmischung. Das Orchester feuert genau in den richtigen Momenten; die Popband setzt dem ein überwiegend akustisches Gewand entgegen.

https://www.musikexpress.de/ra…n-james-bond-songs-20097/

#19:

Strength: 6 Duran Duran rode a Bond theme to tremendous success just two years earlier — we’ll get to that in a bit — so it’s understandable that the next installment would try to repeat the formula with a similarly stylized, male-fronted, synth-driven New Wave pop band. It mostly works out, surprisingly, though anchoring the entire production to an explosion of harpsichord-like arpeggios during the chorus makes it feel a bit lopsided the rest of the time.
Reach: 3 Nice try, but no cigar — “The Living Daylights” failed to make a dent outside the UK.
Cohesion: 1 This has nothing to do with anything, frankly, and could have just as easily been a regular a-ha song. And, in fact, that’s exactly what it became — despite its mediocre commercial performance, the band still liked the song enough to reclaim it from the franchise, and grafted a lightly reworked version onto their album the following year.
Overall: 3.33

http://grantland.com/features/…bond-theme-song-all-time/

#16:

„Alright, hold on tight now“: Mehr 80er-Jahre-Feeling geht kaum! A-HA sind sicher Geschmackssache, aber der Bond-Song ist erste Sahne.

https://www.tonight.de/musik/v…mes-bond-songs_79007.html

#3:

In a surprise pick, Kerr lists "The Living Daylights" by a-ha, composed by John Barry, at No. 3.

"It just sounds like a wonderful blend," Kerr says. "It's a great, exciting, very melodic song."

Anhören (ab 2:33)!

https://www.npr.org/2008/11/14…king-the-bond-theme-songs

#3:

Bond wuchs aus der Swing- und der Beatles-Ära in die Achtziger. Schon 1985 verpassten Duran Duran Barrys Bond-Thema für A View To A Kill ( Im Angesicht des Todes ) einen waveigen Touch und die gerade angesagten technoiden Orchester-Staccati (besser als der Titel ist die Refrainzeile " dance into the fire " im Ohr). Für den nächsten Film zeigten die Norweger von A-ha den britischen Kollegen, wie es noch besser geht. Im Streit mit Barry um die Arrangements entstand eine Collage aus Kalter-Krieg-Orchestersoundtrack und dem Synthie-Pop der Perestroika-Epoche, voll auf der Höhe der Zeit. Der Neu-Bond Timothy Dalton hatte trotzdem keine große Zukunft.

https://www.zeit.de/kultur/musik/2012-10/james-bond-songs

#18:

THere's nothing really here that grabs you. It's no "Take On Me." There are some cool layers to the music here, but there's nothing about this song that says "you are about to watch a thrilling James Bond movie." It's a song that makes you slouch rather than sit on the edge of your seat.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.co…rom-best-to-worst-7636584

#17:

Although when you say a-Ha, most people reply with Take On Me, their track for the movie of the same name was quite the chart hit and a decent song to boot. It still features in their live set, FYI.

https://entertainment.ie/cinem…-bond-theme-songs-237795/

#20:

It’s awesome to hear A-ha kick off a James Bond movie, but the band allegedly preferred an alternate, more synth-heavy take on the track, and you know what? They were probably right.

https://people.com/movies/from…-bond-theme-songs-ranked/

#15:

The producers behind The Living Daylights were pretty savvy in enlisting a-ha to come up with a theme song for Timothy Dalton’s first outing as James Bond. They were still riding high from the success of “Take On Me,” undoubtedly one of the decade’s very best radio smashes. But their end product proved to be very far away from such blissful pop music heaven; even so, it’s not a complete miss either.

https://www.highsnobiety.com/p…-bond-theme-song-ranking/

#13:

The Norwegian new wave band a-ha gave us one of the best music videos ever made (with “Take On Me” in 1985), and a pretty good James Bond theme for a pretty good James Bond movie. There’s a fun mix of orchestral bombast and feel-good synth rock in The Living Daylights. This is one of the most underrated James Bond theme songs.

https://www.comingsoon.net/mov…s-bond-theme-songs-ranked

#21:

(Hier wurden Song und Titel-Sequenz bewertet)

Song: The Living Daylights by a-ha

Song Rating: 3/10

Creativity: 5/10

Wow-Factor: 5/10

Execution: 5/10

Spoilers: 2/3

Distinguishing Features: 80’s sunglasses.

Final Score: 20/43

Trying to duplicate the success of the opening title sequence from A View to a Kill, the filmmakers reached out to another popular pop rock band of the time to perform the title song. For some reason they picked a band that would become a one-hit wonder, and this song was not that hit. It’s forgettable, unfocused, almost nonsensical, and really cheesy. The actual sequence isn’t any better. It feels more like one of the openings from the 70’s films with the reflections off of the water and the blue colors. In fact, there’s one silhouette of Bond and a model together that feels awful similar to what we’ve seen before. It’s just a boring sequence. There’s not much movement or anything really to catch your eye. It fades in the headlight of Bond’s car, giving away an exciting part of the film, and then has its models wearing fancy jewelry, hinting at the Vienna music performance. The final image is a model in a glass of water, hinting at the desert locale of the finale.

https://www.cinelinx.com/movie…ames-bond-title-sequence/

#11:

Feeling like a conscious effort to replicate the success of 'A View to a Kill', band-of-the-moment A-ha delivered a decent ditty that's just lacking that extra bit of lyrical inspiration to elevate it. The Norwegian pop stars reportedly clashed with John Barry on the making of this track, but the latter admirably managed to work this tune into his instrumental score to good effect.

https://www.digitalspy.com/mov…-bond-theme-songs-ranked/

#23:

Why It’s Great: It’s not.

https://www.mensjournal.com/ge…eme-ever-ranked-20150911/

#18:

You don’t normally associate Scandinavian pop with James Bond (except for the reams of notes we’ve written for a Robyn-sung 007 theme — it’ll happen one day, dammit…), but clearly after a change of pace for the newfound Timothy Dalton era vai 1987’s “The Living Daylights,” producers went for Scandi-popsters a-ha, best known for “Take On Me.” It’s not a terrible song —fitting firmly into their bouffant-haired synth-pop formula (and clearly indebted to “Live And Let Die” to a degree), but it’s not hugely memorable either. Just as the Dalton movies, while not bad as such, never truly feel like 007 outings, the title song never feels like Bond. It’s technically the last theme co-written by John Barry, but it was apparently an unhappy process, and you can’t hear much of his influence in the finished song.

Bond-iest Lyric: “Set your hopes up way too high / The living’s in the way we die.” Forgettable though the song is, they come closest to getting that Bond tune essence in these lyrics which sound dramatic and sexy and make zero licks of sense.
https://www.indiewire.com/2015…s-bond-theme-song-114502/

#16:
Eigentlich waren die Pet Shop Boys für das Titelstück zu Timothy Daltons ersten Bond-Abenteuer bereits fest eingeplant. Als diese jedoch erfuhren, dass sie nicht den kompletten Soundtrack produzieren dürfen, zogen sie sich von dem Projekt zurück und machten Platz für A-ha. Damit übernahm ausgerechnet die Band den Staffelstab von Duran Duran, die diese auch gerade in der Gunst der Teenies überholt hatte. Geschickt verweben die Norweger atmosphärische Ebenen und erschaffen so einen der vielseitigsten Beiträge der Serie. Hinter (und später auch vor) den Kulissen eskalierte der Streit mit Bond-Komponisten John Barry. In einem Interview mit einer belgischen Zeitung verglich dieser die Band sogar mit der Hitlerjugend.
https://www.laut.de/News/Gelis…30-10-2015-11900/Seite-15

#7:

Die letzte Bond-Arbeit John Barrys – nach dem Streit mit A-ha um das Arrangement des Lieds – ist ein Meisterstück der Abmischung. Das Orchester feuert genau in den richtigen Momenten; die Popband setzt dem ein überwiegend akustisches Gewand entgegen. Der letzte große Bond-Song, 1987 veröffentlicht.
https://www.rollingstone.de/ra…ames-bond-songs-893889/4/

Bond-Songs-Rankings

„The Living Daylights“ von a-ha auf Platz …

#20:

Every Bond theme song is the product of its era, but that's particularly true for "The Living Daylights." How one judges the song in 2020 is probably reflective of how they feel about pop music of the late 1980s. A-ha's sound wasn't as catchy as Duran Duran's, which hurts its standing. Overall, it's not a bad song, but it hasn't aged as well as the others. https://www.yardbarker.com/ent…_theme_songs/s1__31748726

#23:

Hier hat man mindestens vier Songs in einem zu vereinen versucht. «Guck! Hier habe ich einen coolen Synthi-Lick!» – «Und ich habe hier eine lustige Gesangsmelodie-Idee!» – «Okay, aber der Refrain muss ein wenig Mitsing-Charakter haben, nicht? Etwas mit Oh-wo-eh-oh oder so?»

https://www.watson.ch/spass/le…-grauenhaft-bis-hammergut

#17:

Hauptkritikpunkt von „The Living Daylights“ von A-ha? Dass es nicht „A View to a Kill“ von Duran Duran ist. Zu offensichtlich wollte man hier die Erfolgsformel vom Vorgänger kopieren. Das Resultat ist ein nicht sehr gewiefter Abklatsch, der aber durchaus seine charmanten Momente hat – insbesondere dank den Stimm-Kapriolen von Sänger/Schlafzimmerblick Morten Harket.

https://www.rockstar.ch/musik/james-bond-titelsongs/

#23:

Gracelessly cavorting through the space opened up for them by Duran Duran, the usually impeccable A-ha really plumbed the depths of nothingness with ‘The Living Daylights’.

Their earnest detachment and straight-faced delivery work beautifully on their non-Bond pop epics, but here sound completely characterless. It’s perhaps no wonder that longtime Bond theme overlord John Barry found working with the band to be a bore: tensions and muted arguments meant that his contributions to the song (there are… some… strings… somewhere…?) are the only recognisably ‘Bond’-sounding remnants of what should probably have been an A-ha B-side.

https://www.classicfm.com/disc…bond-title-themes-ranked/

#24:

Points for creativity, but the guys from "Take On Me" are probably the strangest choice for a Bond theme on this list. Too synthy, too tethered to what was in vogue at the time rather than opting for something more timeless. "The Living Daylights" is not even a top-5 A-ha song, and that is saying a lot for a one-hit wonder.

https://www.menshealth.com/ent…bond-theme-songs-ranking/

#7:

While a-ha had a brief moment of glory in the U.S. with "Take on Me," the band had greater staying power in Britain. This led to their handling of the title track to Timothy Dalton's first Bond film.

"The Living Daylights" has a darker feel than a-ha's most well-known song and acts as a primer for the darker tone of The Living Daylights and Timothy Dalton's take on Bond. Critics didn't love the film, but the song has stood the test of time as one of Bond's best.

https://screenrant.com/james-bond-best-theme-songs-ranked/

#14:

The synth and melody knack of A-ha brought squelch pop to Bond. It was extremely of its time; a bowing-down to contemporary music that proves there is no reason No Time To Die couldn’t have a hip-hop track for a title song.

https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/…eme-songs-ranked-in-order

#18:

This one almost feels like an experiment. What happens if you take A-ha’s new wave sensibilities and mash them up with classic Bond string arrangements? The answer: something confused that almost works but, ultimately, doesn’t.

https://www.standard.co.uk/go/…t-007-music-a4335441.html

#23 (= dritt-schlechtester Song):

Film: The Living Daylights, 1987

Highest UK chart position: 5

Sample lyric: "Hey driver, where we going? I swear, my nerves are showing..."

According to composer John Barry, working with the Norwegian pop trio on the gloomy theme for Timothy Dalton's first 007 film was like "playing ping-pong with four balls".

The Bond producers reverted to a more traditional, Bassey-esque number when they came to make Licence to Kill with Gladys Knight two years later.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-51118593

#11:

After the success of Duran Duran, the first Timothy Dalton movie secured the services of another huge '80s band for the theme tune.

While not quite as great as its predecessor, it was a brilliant way to usher in the new moody era of 007.

https://www.smoothradio.com/fe…-theme-songs-list-ranked/

#15:

The Living Daylights is one of the spookier-sounding Bond titles, and A-ha’s ghostly way of singing, combined with unnatural sounding synth effects, inspires a sense of gradual dread. Granted, you never forget that this is the same band who did “Take On Me,” an all-time-classic guilty pleasure song if ever there was one, but the theme works, mostly. Boy, the Timothy Dalton Bond era sure was something.

https://www.gq.com/story/every-james-bond-theme-song-ranked

#00-7:

‘The Living Daylights’ (John Barry, Pål Waaktaar) from ‘The Living Daylights’, 1987. Performed by a-ha.

https://www.flickeringmyth.com…songs-from-worst-to-best/

#21:

While Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill” has aged well, Norwegian pop band A-Ha’s turn at a theme isn’t so robust. There’s some interesting synthesiser work here and a couple of good hooks (like the brief flute bursts), but otherwise there’s simply too much going on and not enough direction. Added to that the lyrics that make no sense along with a god awful opening credits make this a fairly unremarkable number. It’s a shame considering this first Timothy Dalton outing is one of the more under-rated of Bond films.

https://www.darkhorizons.com/r…ames-bond-opening-themes/

#15:

The Living Daylights звучит таинственно и мрачно. Слушая ее, даже чувствуешь себя слегка некомфортно. Но, кажется, это нормальное состояние, которое испытываешь от песен A-ha. В вас же тоже просыпается чувство вины, когда в наушниках играет Take on Me? Клип на The Living Daylights тоже заслуживает внимания. Его частично снимали на хромакее. Для 1980-х это большая редкость.

(Google-Übersetzung: The Living Daylights klingt mysteriös und düster. Wenn du ihr zuhörst, fühlst du dich sogar ein wenig unwohl. Aber es scheint ein normaler Zustand zu sein, den Sie bei A-ha-Songs erleben. Du wachst auch auf und fühlst dich schuldig, wenn Take on Me im Kopfhörer spielt? Der Clip für The Living Daylights verdient ebenfalls Aufmerksamkeit. Es wurde teilweise auf einem Chromakey gefilmt. Dies ist eine Seltenheit für die 1980er Jahre.)

https://www.gq.ru/entertainmen…es-bond-theme-song-ranked

#9:

Auch wenn sich die Band Aha und der Bond-Komponist bei der Entstehung dieses Songs in die Haare gekriegt haben sollen, ist ein gelungenes Popstück entstanden – das sich aber leider etwas zu sehr nach einem zweiten „A View To A Kill“ anhört.

http://www.filmstarts.de/filme…rgalerie-18496816/?page=9

#22:

The tea was spilled when this Bond song came out as John Barry — who worked on songs for many of the James Bond movies — said that he didn't like working with the Norwegian band at all, and that he found them difficult. That could explain why the song sounds disorganized and unfit for a Bond movie.

https://www.distractify.com/p/james-bond-songs-ranked

#20:

Credit where it's due: The first eight seconds of "The Living Daylights" are absolutely perfect, a suspenseful gust of flutes delivering on that classic John Barry sound. And then 1987 happens. Cue a wonky synth twinkle with all the grace of a Rickroll, as A-ha swoops in so violently that you can almost hear them locking everyone else out of the recording studio. The relationship between the Norwegian pop group and the Bond team eventually deteriorated to the point where the band claimed Barry didn't deserve a credit on their song, and the composer compared them to the Hitler Youth. It's a slinky enough pop jam, but so far removed from the world of MI6 that you're likely to forget what you're watching by the time the movie starts.

https://www.rollingstone.com/m…ng-daylights-a-ha-146239/

#14:

https://www.businessinsider.co…th-the-golden-gun-lulu-10

#20:

Remember every terrible musical gimmick that happen in the ’80s? A-Ha made a song with all of them so you’d never forget.

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/…ames-bond-theme-song-1-23

Ich hab mir mal den Spaß gemacht und sämtliche Bond-Song-Rankings zusammen zu suchen, die ich im Internet finden konnte. "The LIving Daylights" schneidet dabei sehr unterschiedlich ab - von 24 bis 3 ist alles dabei...

Je nachdem, wann das Ranking veröffentlich wurde, gehen die Platzierung bis 23, 24 oder 25. Letzte ist TLD zumindest nie geworden (Madonna war da noch schlechter...).

Da bei jedem neuen Bond-Song sich wieder einige Webseiten dazu berufen fühlen, wieder ein neues Ranking zu veröffnetlichen, habe ich dafür mal einen neuen Thread aufgemacht, der dann bei Bedarf erweitert werden kann.