Songoftheday 3/8/14 - a theme for a swanky policeman...

Harold Faltermeyer - "Axel F"
from the album Beverly Hills Cop (Original Soundtrack) (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #3 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's Song of the Day was the fourth big hit single from the soundtrack to the first film in the comedy film franchise Beverly Hills Cop starring Eddie Murphy as street-smart Detroit detective Axel Foley. German musician and producer Harold Faltermeyer came to America under the wing of disco king Giorgio Moroder. The two would man the studio for Donna Summer's late 70's work as well as produce the Oscar-winning soundtrack to the film Midnight Express in 1978. Two years later they had a top-10 album with the soundtrack to the Richard Gere smutfest American Gigolo.

In 1984, he supplied the score to Beverly Hills Cop, and one of the tracks, the pulsing electro-beat of "Axel F", was placed on the pop-single-laden soundtrack. After the top-ten success of the Pointer Sisters' "Neutron Dance" and Glenn Frey's "The Heat Is On", and Patti LaBelle's top-20 album opener "New Attitude", the instrumental was also released as a single, and won over radio and record-buyers...

"Axel F" became the third top-10 pop hit from the movie in June of 1985, while going all the way to #1 on both the dance club play and adult-contemporary (or "easy-listening") radio charts (an odd pairing). The single also crossed over to R&B radio, peaking at #13 on Billboard's genre chart as well. Internationally the single was huge (of course no language barrier there), topping the chart in the Netherlands and Ireland, and reaching the runner-up spot in England, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium. It would be his only top-40 pop hit in the U.S., and one of the last big instrumental hits of the rock era (so far)...

Harold would go on to score a slew of other 80's movies, as well as help produce the Pet Shop Boys' seminal Behaviour album in 1990.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


..and here's the club remix of the song, which topped the dance charts as a double-sided 12" single with "New Attitude"...

In 1995, Manchester house music act Clock went to #7 in England with a raved up cover of the song...


Another rave version of "Axel F" from Spacecorn from Sweden was a minor hit in the UK at #74...


But by far the most "popular" cover version of the song worldwide came from novelty act Crazy Frog, which used sped up vocals like the Chipmunks of yore, adding lyrics to the song, and riding in with the wave of phone ringtones ended up going to #1 on the singles charts in England, France, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Belgium, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Switzerland, and even reaching the American pop chart at #50 and the dance club chart at #7.

Yes, this was one of the biggest-selling songs on Earth that year. For reals.


Up tomorrow: the Jersey City funksters are not spoiled.