Saturday, October 22, 2011

A-ha Cheker Flag and Racing Numbers

The Checker Flag in A-ha Video

The most famous flag of racing makes an appearance in the music video Take on Me by A-ha. NASCAR, Go-cart, Indy Car, Motor Cross, Formula 1, Monster Trucking, and video game racing may all attract different types of people...but they are all united by the chase of a checker flag. It is a black and white weave that signals the end of the race. A race of man in complete union with machine.


Back in 1985 a Norwegian pop band that broke the visual music-arts barrier. Was it the song or video that rocketed them to the top? No matter it was a conjunction of sound and video and enchanted the world. The video blurred the line between reality and art. It was a perfect if odd match of music and image.



The numbers #13 and #77 feature as racing numbers in the video. The bad guys carry the #13 and it isn't clear if the hero is #77, but it seems so. Since #77 appears behind the band several times. In the video #77 sometimes appears backwards along with the backwards 'R'. They must have reversed it in order to get the over etching art effect. Here it is corrected to show #77 facing the 'proper' way.

Who is Number 77?

















A humors yet eye opening take on the video



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