He is the only artist to score a #1 Hit in the U.S. with a German language song, and his albums and singles have sold about 60 million copies worldwide.
Early Years
Born in Vienna, studying at the Vienna Music Conservatory in 1977 which he left after one semester to pursue a career in music, he lived for a short time in West Berlin while singing in a jazz-rock band. When he returned to Vienna he was calling himself "Falco," reportedly in tribute to the East German ski jumper Falko Weißpflog, and playing in the Austrian bands Spinning Wheel and Hallucination Company. En route to becoming an international rock star in his own right, he was bass player in the Austrian hard rock-punk rock band Drahdiwaberl (from 1978 until 1983). With Drahdiwaberl he wrote and performed the song "Ganz Wien" which he would also include on his debut solo album Einzelhaft.
Individual success
Falco's first hit was "Der Kommissar" from the 1982 album Einzelhaft. A German language song about drug consumption that combines rap verses with a sung chorus, Falco's record was a number-one success in many countries but failed to break big in the U.S. The song, however, would prove to have a life of its own in two English-language versions. British Rock band After the Fire recorded an English cover version, loosely based on Falco's lyrics and also called "Der Kommissar" (with "uh-oh" and "alles klar Herr Kommissar" the only other lyrics held over from the original). This time, the song shot to number three in the United States (their only major hit there) in 1983, though it failed to crack the UK Top 40. The band - who had been together more than a decade - broke up almost immediately thereafter. That same year, American singer Laura Branigan recorded a version of the song with new English lyrics, under the title "Deep in the Dark" on her album Branigan 2.
After a second album, Junge Roemer, failed to provide a repeat to his debut single's success (outside of Austria and Germany, where the album topped the charts), Falco began to experiment with English lyrics in an effort to broaden his appeal, and chose a new production team. The result would be the most popular album and single of his career.
Falco recorded "Rock Me Amadeus" inspired in part by the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, and the song became a worldwide hit in 1986. This time, his record reached #1 in the U.S. and UK, bringing him the success that had eluded him in that major market a few years earlier. The song remained in the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and his album, Falco 3, fittingly peaked at the number three position on the Billboard album charts. Unheard of at the time for a white performer, much less a European one, the Austrian rapper's single climbed to the upper reaches of the Billboard Top R&B Singles Chart (only a few years earlier called the "Black Singles" chart), peaking at number 6. Falco 3 peaked at number 18 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. Ultimately, "Rock Me Amadeus" went to the #1 spot in over a dozen countries including the Soviet Union and Japan. Follow-up single "Vienna Calling" was another international pop hit, peaking at #18 of the Billboard Charts and #17 on the U.S. Cash Box Charts in 1986. A double A-side 12" single featuring remixes of those two hits peaked at #4 on the U.S. Dance/Disco charts.
"Jeanny" the third release from the album Falco 3, brought the performer back to the top of the charts across Europe. Highly controversial when it was released in Germany and the Netherlands, the story of "Jeanny" was told from the point of view of a rapist and possible murderer. Several DJs and radio stations refused to play the ballad, which was ignored in the U.S., although it became a huge hit in many European countries, and inspired two sequels on later albums.
In 1986, the album Emotional was released, produced by Rob and Ferdi Bolland (Bolland & Bolland). On the Album were "Coming Home (Jeanny Part 2, Ein Jahr danach)" and the song "Kamikaze Cappa" which was written as a tribute to the late photojournalist Robert Capa. "The Sound of Musik" was another international success, and a Top 20 U.S. Dance hit, though he failed to make the U.S. pop charts. He also went on "Emotional-Tour" which was a world tour where he ended up in Japan at 1987. In 1987, he sang a duet with Brigitte Nielsen "Body Next to Body" and the single was a Top 10 hit in the Germanic countries. The Album Wiener Blut was released in 1988 but it did not get much publicity outside Germany and Austria.
After "Jeanny," there were a number of European hits, but Falco was rarely heard in the U.S. and the UK. His 1992 U.S. comeback attempt, the album Nachtflug with the song "Titanic" won a number of awards, but failed to chart in America.
Death
Falco died of severe injuries received from a collision with a bus in his Mitsubishi Pajero near the city of Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic on 6 February 1998, just two weeks before his 41st birthday. While it was initially reported that the autopsy showed high blood levels of alcohol and cocaine, this was disputed. At the time of his death, he was working on a comeback into the music world.
He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna, Austria.
Years active: 1974 -1998
Männer des Westens-Any Kind Of Land
Falco Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Es ist Tatbestand
Dass dieses Abendland
Die Geschichte immer hat bestimmt
Es ist angesagt
Auch immer mehr gefragt
Wer die Männer dieses Westens sind
Dass die guten Kräfte dieser Welt sich sammeln
Jener, der daran noch glaubt, der irrt
Ich habe nachgedacht
Die Nacht damit verbracht
It's gettin' more and more
It's gettin' weird
You got the holy land
Got tomorrow land
You got a madhouse land
You got any, any, any kind of land
Männer des Westens sind so
Männer des Westens sind so
Männer des Westens sind so
Sind so, sind sooh
Restlos intercool
Rock on Neo Rockers
Rock on
Come on, rock it, do it
You got Rockefeller
Got Kennedy
You got James Bond
Gotta Muhammad Ali
Got Frank Sinatra
You got classic coke
Andy Warhol
Gotta any kind of dope
You got Oppenheimer
And you got John Wayne
Mac Ronald's Circus's drivin' us insane
You got Bob Beamon
Got the Jumpin' Jack Flash
Beverly Cops - they got a brandnew crash
You got the holy land
Got tomorrow land
You got a madhouse land
You got any, any, any kind of land
Männer des Westens sind so
Männer des Westens sind so
Männer des Westens sind so
Sind so, sind sooh...
The lyrics to "Männer des Westens" by Falco talk about the cultural and historical influence of the Western world. The song starts by affirming that the story of the West has always been determinant, and that people are increasingly aware of who the men of the West are. The song goes on to say that the good forces of the world are gathering, but those who still believe that the West is the center of the world are mistaken. The lyrics suggest that the singer has thought about it and that things are getting weirder and weirder.
The chorus of the song repeats that the men of the West are intercool (a word that does not exist in English, but can be interpreted as meaning they are completely cool), and lists a number of cultural icons and symbols associated with the West, such as Rocky, Kennedy, James Bond, and Muhammad Ali. The song also mentions some less-mainstream references to the culture such as Bob Beamon and Mac Donald's Circus. Overall, the lyrics of "Männer des Westens" are open to interpretation, but they seem to convey a sense of fascination and admiration for the Western culture while at the same time criticizing its hubris and excesses.
Line by Line Meaning
Es ist Tatbestand
It is a fact
Dass dieses Abendland
That this western world
Die Geschichte immer hat bestimmt
Has always determined history
Es ist angesagt
It is trendy
Auch immer mehr gefragt
Also increasingly in demand
Wer die Männer dieses Westens sind
Who the men of the west are
Dass die guten Kräfte dieser Welt sich sammeln
That the good forces of this world are gathering
Jener, der daran noch glaubt, der irrt
He who still believes in it is mistaken
Ich habe nachgedacht
I have thought about it
Die Nacht damit verbracht
Spent the night doing so
It's gettin' more and more
It's becoming more and more
It's gettin' weird
It's getting strange
You got the holy land
You have the holy land
Got tomorrow land
You have tomorrow land
You got a madhouse land
You have a madhouse land
You got any, any, any kind of land
You have any, any, any kind of land
Männer des Westens sind so
Men of the west are like
Sind so, sind sooh
Are like, are so cool
Restlos intercool
Absolutely intercool
Rock on Neo Rockers
Keep rocking, Neo Rockers
Rock on
Keep rocking
Come on, rock it, do it
Come on, rock it, do it!
You got Rockefeller
You have Rockefeller
Got Kennedy
You have Kennedy
You got James Bond
You have James Bond
Gotta Muhammad Ali
You have Muhammad Ali
Got Frank Sinatra
You have Frank Sinatra
You got classic coke
You have classic coke
Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Gotta any kind of dope
You have any kind of dope
You got Oppenheimer
You have Oppenheimer
And you got John Wayne
And you have John Wayne
Mac Ronald's Circus's drivin' us insane
Mac Ronald's Circus is driving us insane
You got Bob Beamon
You have Bob Beamon
Got the Jumpin' Jack Flash
You have the Jumpin' Jack Flash
Beverly Cops - they got a brandnew crash
Beverly Cops - they have a brand new crash
Contributed by Layla C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Libor Synthesizer
on Out of the Dark
super muzika ,nádhera