HallPass: the music videos you grew up with

One music video you grew up with, the story you never heard, and pop-ups you can tap. Ten minutes, then back to work.

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Inside every Hall Pass

📼The story. How the video got made, and what almost went wrong.
💬Pop-up facts. Tiny bubbles of trivia, timed to the moment on screen.
🎸My take. Where I was when I first saw it, and why it still holds up.
🐇The rabbit hole. Covers, live versions, and where the artist is now.
🎟️Hall passes. Share it with friends and collect rewards.

This week's Hall Pass · No. 001

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a-ha, "Take On Me" (1985). Directed by Steve Barron.

It flopped twice. Then the video saved it.

The flop: "Take On Me" came out in 1984 and went nowhere. They put it out again. Nowhere, again.

The fix: a video that mixed live action with hand-drawn pencil animation. It turned a twice-failed song into a #1 hit, and today it has more than a billion views.

I wasn't allowed to watch MTV as a kid. My older brother was. So I'd "just happen" to be in the room.CW · HALLPASS

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POP-UP EDITION · NO. 001

Watch "Take On Me" with 19 pop-ups

The facts pop up under the video, right when they happen on screen.

SIDE B

LINER NOTES · NO. 001

198,000 people, a Weezer mullet, and Ellie's cover

The deep dive: the stadium record, the covers, and where a-ha is now.