The Morten Harket Selfie Opportunity

By Terrence Oblong

Sat, 15 Jul 2023
  • 1143 reads
6 comments
 

I was looking through a CD rack when the man approached me.

“Do you want to take a selfie with Morten Harket’s trousers?” he said.

I looked at the man in bemusement. He was late fifties, bald and wearing a badly fitting T-shirt and smelt used and musty, like the vinyl LPs at the back of the store.

“These,” the man said, pointing to his trousers, a pair of well-worn, low quality, off-the-peg, high-street dark trousers.

“I bought them at a rock auction,” he continued. “Ten quid they set me back, that was a lot back then.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said.

“A-ha.”

“A-ha?”

“Their lead singer. I saw you looking at the A-ha section.”

“I was looking at Adele. I don’t even know who A-ha are.”

“Never heard of A-ha? They had six number ones back in the 80s.”

“The 80s?” I laughed. “I was even born. What is this, a history lesson?”

The man gestured around the store. “It can be, if you play your cards right.”

I returned my focus to the CD rack and looked at Adele CDs determinedly.

“You heard of the Boomtown Rats?” the man continued.

“I have actually. I saw a documentary about Live Aid.”

“In which case, do you want to do a selfie with Bob Geldorf’s underpants?”

Certificate 15
Story
Miscellaneous

Comments

Submitted by celticman on

ah, all these oldies (and I include myself in that category) and their memorablia. 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Enjoyed this. I went to see Aha as a child in Birmingham and I thought Morten was the perfect man, not so sure now. Bob Geldof's underpants, how traumatising, I imagine they might glow.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

'I went to see Aha as a child in Birmingham'

You've made a happy man feel very old Jane.

Turlough

Submitted by Turlough on

A-ha were (maybe still are) a brilliant band. I've a couple of their CDs myself. Not so fond of Geldof though.

Your words remind me of a time when I was looking through second hand CDs at a market stall near where I lived. As I browsed I could smell an absolutely revolting smell. The smell of the great unwashed.

I looked around me and saw standing at my side a man with long greasy hair, a long greasy beard and a long greasy coat beneath which he wore old track suit bottoms with holes in them and old trainers with holes in them.

As I took in this unkempt apparition he said to the stallholder 'Have you got anything by Gary Glitter?'

I turned around and went home.

But I still insist that A-ha are well worth a listen.

Turlough

Submitted by Terrence Oblong on

I've a friend who is an A-ha obsessive, has all the solo CDs of band members as well as all the band's material, so I have had pretty much everything inflicted on me, they're actually a much better band than the hits would suggest.

As for the Boomtown Rats, A Tonic for the Troops is a great album, Geldorf's solo work is best avoided though.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

You're dead right about A-ha's commercial singles not being a true reflection of the talent of the band. The album tracks are far superior and sadly overlooked by the record buying public.

I always think that when U2 were writing their song 'Beautiful Day' they stole the music from A-ha's 'The Sun Always Shines on TV'. A-ha's track was released around five years prior to U2's, so who's zooming who? I met Bono before he was famous. If I meet him again I think I might have a wee word with him about this.

I saw the Boomtown Rats perform live twice in 1977 at the start of the punk revolution. Both gigs were in small venues (Cardiff and Leeds Universities) so the atomosphere was extremely good. At the time they were only really known for two singles 'Looking After Number One' and 'Mary of the Fourth Form'. I went off them a bit after that, when they became really successful.

For me it's not so much Geldof's music that's questionable, but his personal finances. What happened to all the money raised by the Live Aid concert and how did he manage to become a multi-millionaire? Surely not just from the royalties from one successful album, a couple of duds and a few hit singles.

His 1986 autobiography 'Is that it?' was very well written and a great read and I feel sorry for him with regard to the personal tragedies he has suffered but his dodgy political views have put me off taking any further interest in him.

But those two Rats' gigs were nights I'll never forget.

Turlough