A-Ha "Take on Me"

When the year is 2004 and you're giving away concert tickets to see a band that peaked in 1985, you have to get creative. Case in point: the morning show I produced in 2004 had a pair tickets to see A-Ha and we tried to come up with a creative way to give them away to true fans of A-Ha. The result: the In A Day or Twooooooo Game. Basically, we got three contestants on the phone and played the infectious hook from "Take on Me" and then let each person sing the verse "In a day or two". At the time, American Idol was all the rage and singing contests on the radio always made for good content. Our expectations were low, yet each of these three contestants put their unique spin on the verse. This audio clip still sits on a cassette tape somewhere in my basement.

Jennifer Rush w/ Elton John "Flames of Paradise"

With a music video that took its cue from A-Ha's "Take on Me", Jennifer Rush's uptempo "Flames of Paradise" featured Elton John in both real and animated form. You can close your eyes and picture the tune used at the end of an Eddie Murphy film. Critics predicted the duet would hit #1, but instead it flamed out. Rush's duet peaked at #36 on the Top 40 Chart in the US (#32 on the Adult Contemporary Chart).