The Sun Always Shines on T.V.

1985 single by a ha

"The Sun Always Shines on T. V." is a song by Norwegian synth pop band a ha, released as the third single from their debut studio album, Hunting High and Low (1985). The song was written by guitarist Pål Waaktaar. In some commercial markets the single was not as popular as their previous (debut) single "Take On Me", which had achieved the top spot in the United States and several other countries around the world, but in the United Kingdom and Ireland it improved upon the number two charting of "Take On Me", reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in January 1986, having been released there on 16 December 1985. Its success secured for the band the prestige of having achieved number one single status in both the primary Anglo American popular music charts on either side of the Atlantic. The song was re released by the band as a live version in 2003 with some minor success in Eastern Europe. It has sold over five million copies worldwide.

The band's Paul Waaktaar Savoy said, we wrote "The Sun Always Shines on T. V.", that Andrew Wickham's secretary felt was a hit. She convinced him to make room for it. When we recorded it, we were really sick with influenza. Magne and Morten were lying in the studio on camping beds with high fevers. The bass line for the song was performed using a Yamaha DX7. Other synthesizers include PPG Wave, Roland Juno 60 and sampled instruments. The oboe during the song was played on a sampler.

The music video for "The Sun Always Shines on T. V." was directed by Steve Barron and was shot on location over three days early October 1985 at Udney Hall Gardens and the Victorian Gothic Church of Saint Alban the Martyr, both situated in Teddington, Richmond upon Thames, in England. The video opens with a short sequence which forms an epilogue to the video for "Take On Me", the band's previous single, continuing with the use of rotoscoped animation. The young lovers (played by Morten Harket and Bunty Bailey), having survived the ordeal of the story in the first video, now face one another in the woods at night. Suddenly the young man begins physically reverting to his original animated state seen in the "Take On Me" video. The young woman, distressed, realizes that he cannot remain in her world. In pain, he flees the scene into the distance back to his comic book world, and she is left behind. The camera rises away from her and closing credits roll in the style of the end of a Hollywood classic film, stating "The End / A Warner Bros. First National Picture", followed by an animated television graphic which reads "you are watching channel 3" and the a ha logo. The main sequence of the video consists of a ha performing "The Sun Always Shines on T. V.", supplemented by session drummer Lindsay Elliott, inside a Gothic church, filmed mainly in black and white with splashes of pastel coloring. Spectating at the performance is a dense crowd throughout the church of mannequins, most of them bare but some clothed in formal concert dress holding musical instruments to represent the song's classical instrumentation arrangement. The video ends with a ha being cut out from the background and becoming a still frame. The music video for the band's next single, "Train of Thought", would pick up from this cue shot, making a visual and story trilogy of "Take On Me", "The Sun Always Shines on T. V." and itself.

At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, the video won in the categories Best Editing in a Video (editor: David Yardley) and Best Cinematography in a Video (director of photography: Oliver Stapleton). It also received a nomination for Best Art Direction in a Video (art director: Stefan Roman).

a ha performed this song at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 1998 alongside the new song "Summer Moved On". Bono paid tribute to it by combining the two songs together at a concert in Oslo, Norway, in 2005. In 2022 Morten Harket said of the similarity between the two songs "that’s fine". The creators of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia have stated that the name of their show is an indirect reference to this song. Co creator Glenn Howerton came up with the title It's Always Sunny on T. V. for their original home movie about three vain actors in Los Angeles after listening to Hunting High and Low at the gym. The home movie later evolved into a television pilot with the now familiar title when the characters were turned into pub owners in Philadelphia.

+ Weekly chart performance for "The Sun Always Shines on T. V." Chart (1986) Peakposition Australia (Kent Music Report) 19 Denmark (IFPI) 2 Europe (European Hot 100 Singles) 5Europe (European Airplay Top 50) 1 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) 5Italy (Musica e dischi)9 South Africa (Springbok Radio) 8 US Cash Box 24

+ Weekly chart performance for "The Sun Always Shines on T. V." (live) Chart (2003) Peakposition

+ Year end chart performance for "The Sun Always Shines on T. V." Chart (1986) Position Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 41 Canada Top Singles (RPM) 95 Europe (European Hot 100 Singles) 15 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 49 Netherlands (Single Top 100) 71 UK Singles (OCC) 21 US Dance Singles Sales (Billboard) 49 West Germany (Official German Charts) 39

In 2017, a ha appeared on the television series MTV Unplugged and played and recorded acoustic versions of many of their popular songs for the album MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice in Giske, Norway, including "The Sun Always Shines on TV" (featuring Ingrid Helene Håvik).

Norwegian Eurodance group Diva, consisting of singers Helene Sommer and Elene Nyborg, released their version of "The Sun Always Shines on T. V." in 1994 as their debut single. It reached number nine on the Norwegian singles chart VG lista and number four on the Norwegian radio chart Ti i skuddet. In 1995, it peaked at number 53 on the UK Singles Chart. A music video was made to promote the song, directed by Lauren Savoy, wife of Paul Waaktaar Savoy of A ha. It was banned by Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK; they found the video too controversial. A new video was made for the UK version. This version received remixes from the Perfecto crew (Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne).

A reviewer from Music & Media commented, "What happened to Morton Harket's voice? Suddenly you notice it's a girlie cover of the A ha hit. The vocal arrangements might be similar, but the duo/dance context makes the difference." British magazine Music Week rated it three out of five, adding, "This clubby cover and remix of A ha's 1985 hit (huge in the duo's native Norway) could well take off here. Pure and peachy Europop." Alan Jones wrote, "Perfecto continues its chart charge with an unlikely remake [ ]. You could be forgiven for expecting a storming vocal, but Diva's sweet and soft vocal quality works very well with the muscular, bass driven Perfecto mixes." James Hamilton from the magazine's RM Dance Update described it as a "breathily cooed and sighed remake". DJ Jon Pleased Wimmin reviewed the song for Muzik and gave it four out of five, declaring it as "a big pop smash for the summer."