Songoftheday 9/16/14 - Er War Ein Punker und er lebte in der groen stadt...

Falco - "Rock Me Amadeus"
from the album Falco 3 (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day is by the Austrian pop star Falco (aka Johann Hölzel), who had done stints in a few bands before striking out on his own in the early 80s, releasing his debut in 1982. A song from that record, "Der Kommissar", became a huge hit internationally, but was outshined in America and England by an English-language reinterpretation by the band After The Fire. Even his own translated version crept to #72, since the ATF record made the top-5 on the U.S. pop chart (and at least provided him good royalties).

After a second album that wasn't as successful, Falco released Falco 3 in 1985. With Dutch producers Rob and Ferdi Bolland in the studio, he drew inspiration from the immensely popular Oscar-winning movie about Austrian composer Mozart, Amadeus, for a rap/pop novelty that despite its mostly German lyrics, found an audience around the world including the U.S. this time, no doubt help by its hilarious video..

"Rock Me Amadeus" became the only German-language single to top the Hot 100 in March of 1986. The single also crossed over to both the Dance Club Play (#4) and even the R&B (#6) charts in Billboard magazine. Internationally, the record was huge, going to #1 in England, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Spain, and of course his native Austria.

After "Rapture", you could say that this may truly be the first "rap" record to top the American chart, even before "West End Girls", since the song is written to just have the chorus tag-line sung (as opposed to Harry's half-sung track).

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Besides the original version, there was a "Salieri Mix" which brought on guitars and bits of Mozart history into the mix..

Here he is live touring behind the album in 1985...

German rapper Fler interpolated "Rock Me Amadeus" into his single "NDW 2005", which went to #9 on the German singles chart...

Finally, here's Falco again with a "symphonic" live version of his biggest hit...

Up tomorrow: Fab Five offshoot bids an eternal farewell.