{"id":691979,"date":"2026-03-30T07:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/691979\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T07:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:54:18","slug":"on-the-charts-in-1986-falcos-novelty-tune-about-mozart-became-the-first-german-language-song-to-top-the-hot-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/691979\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Charts in 1986, Falco\u2019s Novelty Tune About Mozart Became the First German-Language Song To Top the Hot 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forty years ago, on March 29, 1986, Austrian New Wave artist Falco<\/a> made music history when his quirky, rapped synth-pop tune \u201cRock Me Amadeus\u201d became the first-ever German-language song to top the Billboard Hot 100<\/a>. The Vienna-born Falco, whose given name was Johann H\u00f6lzel, was inspired to write the tune following the success of the Oscar-winning 1984 film Amadeus.<\/p>\n

The movie, of course, was based on the life of legendary 18th-century Austrian classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Falco humorously celebrated Mozart\u2019s life and talent in his song.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: A Look Back at the Quirky 80s Song That Hit for Several Artists in Multiple Languages]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an example of one of the verses, translated into English: \u201cHe was a superstar, he was popular \/ He was exalted, because he had flair \/ He was a virtuoso, he was a rock idol \/ And everybody shouted, \u2018Now come and rock me, Amadeus, do it!\u2018\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRock Me Amadeus\u201d dethroned the Heart ballad \u201cThese Dreams\u201d from the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100. It spent three weeks at the top of the chart before being replaced by Prince and The Revolution\u2019s \u201cKiss.\u201d<\/p>\n

The popularity of \u201cRock Me Amadeus\u201d was boosted by a fun music video that got heavy airplay on MTV. It included scenes featuring Falco in a rainbow-colored powdered wig performing for a crowd of bikers. The clip also featured the singer in a tuxedo surrounded by a group of people dressed in 18th-century formal attire.<\/p>\n

\u201cRock Me Amadeus\u201d appeared on Falco\u2019s 1985 album Falco 3, which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100. The album was certified Gold for sales of 500,000 copies in the U.S.<\/p>\n

More About Falco<\/p>\n

Before \u201cRock Me Amadeus,\u201d Falco had a major international hit in 1981 with \u201cDer Kommissar.\u201d That song topped the singles charts in Austria, West Germany, Italy, and Spain.<\/p>\n

In 1982, British rock band After The Fire released an English-language cover of \u201cDer Kommissar\u201d that reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n

After \u201cRock Me Amadeus,\u201d Falco had one more hit in the U.S., \u201cVienna Calling.\u201d The song, which also appeared on Falco 3, peaked at No. 18 on the Hot 100 in June 1986.<\/p>\n

Falco continued to have major hit singles in Austria throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Sadly, he was killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic on February 6, 1998. Falco was just 40 years old.<\/p>\n

(Photo by s.e.t.\/ullstein bild via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Forty years ago, on March 29, 1986, Austrian New Wave artist Falco made music history when his quirky,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":691980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[171,289855,975,42099,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-691979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-falco","tag-music","tag-new-wave","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116317053040577668","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}