Morten made a small appearance in a new documentary about Stargate that aired on NRK1 in Norway last night.
But those of you now eager to hear Morten’s views on the Goa’uld System Lords or Samantha Carter’s theories on wormhole physics, will be disappointed.
The documentary was actually about the Norwegian producer duo Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen, also known as Stargate. Based in New York, they have enjoyed big success in the US in recent years, becoming the first Norwegians to top the Billboard Hot 100 since a-ha. Stargate have written and produced such #1 hits as “Irreplaceable” (Beyoncé), “Firework” (Katy Perry), “Rude Boy”, “Only Girl (In the World)” and “S&M” (Rihanna) and “Black and Yellow” (Wiz Khalifa).
“When these guys manage to top that chart, which is the most difficult chart in the world to enter and which is based on airplay/sales statistics among an enormous amount of people – that’s like the ultimate achievement, in competition with everyone else”, Morten says in the documentary.
“They’ve done something formidable, which should be celebrated”, he added.
As some of you may remember though, Morten and Magne have made less favourable comments on Stargate in the past.
“Personally, this is not music that I’ll care to spend any time on. Success on its own doesn’t impress me, but if on the other hand you’re successfull with something good, that will really impress me”, Magne told VG in 2006.
“There’s one side of the music business that’s pure industry, and one side that’s more focused on the musical content, and then you find yourself situated somewhere between those two extremes. a-ha and Stargate aren’t exactly positioned in the same place on that scale”, Morten said in the same 2006 interview.
As for Paul; as a fellow New Yorker, he is a good friend of the guys in Stargate. The song “Shadowside” on Foot Of The Mountain was written specifically for one of Stargate’s artists. Eventually it ended up as an a-ha song instead.
“But without Stargate I wouldn’t have written that song. I’m looking for challenges like that, as I’ll come up with material that I otherwise wouldn’t have written”, Paul said in 2009.
The Stargate documentary can now be seen on NRK’s web-TV, but only within Norway.