Taken from the album Falco 3, "Rock Me Amadeus" is certainly an unusual rap/pop song, which spent one week at #1 in the UK During May 1986. I remember buying the 12" vinyl from Woolworths and excitedly rushing home to play it on my Amstrad tower system - pure bliss!
Falco was hugely popular in his home country of Austria, but had just two Top 40 hits here in the UK, the other being the follow-up single "Vienna Calling" which peaked at #10, which saved him from being an 80s one hit wonder, at least!
"Rock Me Amadeus" was a number one hit in 12 countries, including the U.S. and Austria, and the lyrics were about the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - it's just a pity that the majority of English people couldn't understand them!
Falco became the first German-speaking artist to score a #1 single in the UK and U.S. and he also achieved major hits with several other songs during the 80s, including "Der Kommissar" and "Jeanny".
There are no less than 21 different versions/mixes of "Rock me Amadeus" that have been released so far, the most recent being the Extended Canadian/American 2022 Re-Edit.
The original versions released in the UK during 1986 were The American Edit (on the 7" single), Extended Mix, Salieri Mix, Special Salieri Club Mix and The Can Am Mix. The B-side on both the 7 inch and 12 inch versions was "Urban Tropical" - an extended version of this featured on the 12" vinyl.
In the opening of the video, we see a sharply-dressed Falco sat in the back of a horse drawn carriage which is taking him to a masquerade ball - there is a similar opening to the video of his 1998 song "Out of the Dark", in which he is sat in the back of a luxury classic car (Not sure if it's a Rolls Royce or a Bentley) and stroking a cat. At the ball, he arrogantly walks through a line of people who bow and curtsey to him. Also, we see Falco dressed as Amadeus Mozart with a pink wig and having a rage fest with a large gang of bikers - at one point he is being carried on the bikers shoulders, and there is also a lot of angry fist waving!
Sadly, Falco died from his injuries after a
collision with a bus on 6th February 1998. At the time of his death he
was planning a comeback.
I'm
not sure if this song was ever released in the UK or US, but the Austrian
artist released no less than 19 singles throughout the 1980's. Personally, this video seems just so over cheesy to me and production wise the song is about as 1980's as you can get. Perhaps a bit too much!
The third single from the album Falco 3 caused quite a stir due to its lyrics which critics believed glorified rape. This led to the song being banned on some radio stations, which, inevitably, helped it to reach No.1 in several European countries, including Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
Simplyeighties.com
