LANE: But this is the cut-down version. I mean, just from the letter A, I excluded AC/DC, the Animals, and A-Ha, footnoted as a guilty pleasure.
AC/DC: Australian rock band, previously discussed.
The Animals [pictured]: English rhythm and blues and rock band, formed in 1962. They were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and deep-voiced frontman, Eric Burdon, most famous for their signature song and international #1, “The House of the Rising Sun”, as well as hits such as “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”, and “Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”. After a new line-up, they moved to California in 1966 and achieved commercial success as a psychedelic and hard rock band, with hits such as “San Franciscan Nights”, and “When I Was Young”, before disbanding at the end of the decade. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
A-ha: Norwegian synth-pop band founded in Oslo in 1982 by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitar), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards/guitar/vocals), and Morten Harket (vocals). Their 1985 debut album, Hunting High and Low, is their most successful – it yielded international hits such as “Take On Me” and “The Sun Always Shines on TV”, and went to #1 in Norway, #2 in the UK, and #15 in the US. They are the most successful global pop act to come out of Norway, and the first Norwegian band to be nominated for a Grammy. Their music has often been included in music soundtracks, they performed the theme song for the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights, and are one of the highest-grossing bands of all time.
I feel as if the commercial success and international acclaim of these bands might be what caused Lane to cut them from her extensive list. A-ha is probably a “guilty pleasure” because it is pop, rather than rock.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 