Rock Me Amadeus

What a shock it was to me when I first heard in 1998 that Johann (Hans) Hölzel - known to us as Falco, died in a vehicular accident just before his 41st birthday.  I really enjoyed his music during the 1980s.  After "Rock Me Amadeus" hit number one on the Billboard charts, I purchased his album Falco 3 so I could listen to his music more, especially when I'm out driving around in my car. 


I didn't always understand what he was singing, even though the album was in English.  Perhaps his Austrian accent was a little stronger than I could make out at the time, but I still enjoyed what I heard.  It's not like you could always understand everything even by American artists singing in English anyway!

FALCO 3 Track listing:

Rock Me Amadeus (The Gold Mix) (U.S. version substitutes "The Solieri Version")
America (The City Of Grinzing Version)
Tango the Night (The Heart Mix)
Munich Girls (Lookin' for Love) (Just Another Paid One)
Jeanny (Sus-Mix-Spect Crime Version)
Vienna Calling (Waiting For the Extended Mix) (U.S. version substitutes "The Metternich Arrival Mix")
Männer des Westens-Any Kind of Land (Wilde Bube Version)
Nothing Sweeter Than Arabia (The Relevant Madhouse Danceteria Jour-Fix-Mix)
Macho Macho (Sensible Boy's Song)
It's All Over Now, Baby Blue (No Mix)

I was very fond of dancing to Falco's music and playing around at home with his album playing.  My younger sister and I would even sing along to some parts as though we were back-up vocalists performing along with him, especially with the songs "Vienna Calling" and "Munich Girls".  Although I didn't think much of it at the time, I recently read some reviews online about "Jeanny" having been somewhat controversial.  All along I thought it was just a sad story in a song with a very theatrical music video (you know, just like Madonna and her "Like A Prayer" video).  I didn't realize it was based on a real kidnap and ransom story and that Falco was criticized for having poor taste in making a song out of it.  These days what he did probably would not be such a shocker.

The album is still a great album to listen to even after all these years.  You know it's good when artists today like to incorporate clips from his hits into their own songs and the phrase "Rock Me Amadeus" is still used as a common expression.

(Post imported from my Music Closet blog which is no longer open).