Falco - "Rock Me Amadeus"
(Single Release: June 1985)
One year after Miloš Forman directed the award winning film, Amadeus came Falco's loving, yet kitschy tribute. Falco, an Austrian pop star, had already become somewhat famous in the U.S. with "Der Kommisar," which was given an English language cover version by British band, After the Fire. "Rock Me Amadeus," however, became the first German language song to hit #1 in the U.S. charts. (I guess "99 Luftballons" didn't make the cut). The song has now become somewhat the butt of jokes in parodying the 80s, mostly thanks to its quite memorable, sing-song chorus, which, along with "Superstar" are the only recognizable English words. Family Guy, Muppet Babies, "Weird" Al, and Adam Sandler have all taken jabs, but the best is definitely The Simpsons' "Rock Me Dr. Zaius" from the Planet of the Apes musical. I can't help but enjoy this song. There is sort of an Adam Ant meets rudimentary rap kind of vibe. One particular YouTube caption claims that this is the best song ever. I can't back up that hyperbole, but I'll side against the naysayers at the very least. By the way, how many other pop songs are there about historic composers? "Lisztomania?" "Roll Over, Beethoven?" Is that it?
One man's writings, thoughts, and appreciations of all things cultural.
No comments:
Post a Comment