Daily Dirt: You never get a second chance to make a first impression

Published On: July 1, 2025

Sunday, June 29, 2025: Daily Dirt

Is A-ha’s “Take On Me” the greatest debut single ever? Requesting a buddy Welcome to The Daily Dirt’s Vol. 1,327, which consists of three thoughts for today.

1. Today, we start a four-part series that looks at the greatest rock era debut singles from the 1960s to the 1990s.

There’s a reason we’re going to move about in this presentation, starting with the 1980s. Whether it was their debut or not, the lead singer of the group A-ha gave us one of the most iconic music videos ever. Rotoscoping, a live-action and pencil-sketch animation technique, made their 1985 Take On Me engrossing. The video, which took four months to finish in the middle of the 1980s, is still regarded as one of the best productions from any era of the rock era.

An excellent illustration of this ten-year span is A-ha. Bands and ensembles dominated the 1980s in terms of successful first singles. And compared to the greatest first singles from individual male and female musicians, it wasn’t even close.

Take On Me by A-ha is still as compelling now as it was forty years ago. The band’s lead singer, Morten Harket, is now battling Parkinson’s disease, which is the only depressing aspect of both the song and the group. Earlier last month, that information was made public. To assist control his symptoms, he had deep brain stimulation surgery twice at the Mayo Clinic: in June 2024 and again in December 2024. His voice has been impacted by the procedure, even though it has lowered the severity of those symptoms.

It’s quite unfortunate that Harket has voiced doubts about his capacity to sing with the same technical control as before. Even though the trio was never able to replicate Take On Me’s success, his voice and talent were outstanding.

In terms of bands and groups, Milli Vanilli’s “Girl You Know It’s True” was another noteworthy debut single from this decade. It sparked a run of three consecutive No. 1 hits from the duo.

(Yes, I am aware of Milli Vanilli’s story. Nevertheless, it’s difficult to describe the magnitude of these two men’s influence prior to their exposure. Other than seeing Rod Stewart four times, the Milli Vanilli show I went to is still the best I’ve ever seen.)

Here’s how The Daily Dirt ranks the top three male and female singers’ first singles, along with Big 80s bands and groups:

The 1980s

Men

Gold medal:

I m Your Man, George Michael (1985). The late Michael s best material has proven to be his upbeat songs like this one.
Silver medal:

Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley (1987).
Bronze medal:

Truly, Lionel Richie (1982).

Women

Gold medal:

Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper (1983). Remember Lauper s ties to the WWF? Now THAT was entertainment.
Silver medal:

Stop Draggin My Heart Around, Stevie Nicks (1981)
Bronze medal:

Fast Car, Tracy Chapman (1988)

Teams

Gold medal:

Take On Me, A-ha (1985). The Norwegian synth-pop band became global stars, thanks mostly to this song/video that blended music with innovative production.
Silver medal:

Girl You Know It s True, Milli Vanilli (1988).
Bronze medal:

West End Girls, Pet Shop Boys (1984).

Next: We’ll examine the top 1990s debut singles on Monday.

2. Were you aware? (Part 40)

Bob Dylan once wrote when he was young that his ultimate dream was to be in Little Richard s band.
In the 1950s, Little Richard kicked Jimi Hendrix out his band for stealing the spotlight.
Axl Rose s Sweet Child of Mine was written for Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly, one of the famous Everly Brothers. Rose and Everly were married for a month.
The recording considered the first-ever rock and roll record was Rocket 88 by the Kings of Rhythm in 1951.
Eric Clapton earned the nickname Slowhand from the Yardbirds.

3. These were the top five songs from 1985 that came out in late June or early July, since A-ha and the song “Take On Me” dominated much of today’s discourse. It’s difficult to realize that the following songs are forty years old: