Hunting High and Low United Kingdom. The band went back into the studio to re-record the song for the "Hunting High and Low" album, but a second UK release in early 1985 was again ignored. Before releasing their single in the United States, the band undertook the production of a new music video for the song, working with director Steve Barron. Barron had previously created hit videos for Toto, Thomas Dolby, Culture Club and Michael Jackson, but the A-ha video was unlike any of his earlier work. A plot-driven amalgamation of live-action and rotoscope-style animation by husband-and-wife team Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger, it
Hunting High and Low drew inspiration from Patterson's animated film "Commuter" and the film "Altered States". The innovative video for "Take On Me" was first broadcast on local Boston music video station V-66, and soon after given heavy rotation on MTV. The single debuted in "Billboard" the week of 13 July 1985, and was heading into the U.S. top twenty when it was given an international release, including a second release in Norway and a third shot at the UK market. It hit number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in the United States, spending 27 weeks on the charts and becoming the tenth-biggest