Ha-ha

I anledning dagens sørgelige nyhet om at A-has karriere nærmer seg slutten, er det på sin plass å minne om The Guardians hysterisk morsomme intervju med Harket & Furuholmen fra august i år.

Høydepunkter:

The first inkling that Harket may not see himself in quite the same ironic light as, say, Take That or Duran Duran – those other one-time teen idols currently enjoying a summer revival – comes in an email from the PR. "Morten can drift a little in interviews sometimes," he ventures diplomatically; the singer can be a bit "philosophical". Are we sure we wouldn't like his bandmate, Magne Furuholmen, to come along too? "Magne really keeps him on track." The advice has the ominous ring of experience, so we take it.

... For years poor old Harket had been insisting he was a serious artist, and grumbling about all the attention to his wretched cheekbones. And now, at last, vindication! If Chris Martin can credit A-ha as a formative creative influence, won't the world now take him seriously too? Well, the world would have a job to take Harket as seriously as Harket does.

... And now they're off again, tussling over some abstract philosophical point. "It's all about committing to this reality," Harket says, "when you talk about what is real and what isn't real." Furuholmen: "You don't see the difference?" Harket: "Yes, they are different, uniquely different – but one thing isn't more real than the other. When you're absent-minded, you're present-minded somewhere else."

What are they talking about? I have literally no idea. And then, dear God, they start quoting Søren Kierkegaard to one another – and even bickering about the correct translation.

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