If you are nostalgic and want to relive 1985-1986 with Falco’s chart topping hit “Rock Me Amadeus”, definitely give the “Rock Me Amadeus 30th Anniversary” EP a try!
Click here to purchase Falco – “Rock Me Amadeus 30th Anniversary” on Amazon
ARTIST: FALCO
EP: Rock Me Amadeus 30th Anniversary
DURATION: 7 Tracks (37 Minutes)
YEAR OF RELEASE: 2016
- Rock Me Amaedus
- Rock Me Amadeus (Salieri Mix)
- Rock Me Amadeus (Extended Version)
- Rock Me Amadeus (The American Edit)
- Rock Me Amadeus (12″ American Edit)
- Rock Me Amadeus (Canadian Version)
- Rock Me Amadeus (Canadian/American ’86 Mix)
The early-to-mid ’80s, were an awesome time for music.
But it was a time when music artists/bands from other countries had a chance to gain popularity among the US masses.
While many people have choices to listen to music from other countries in today’s modern era thanks to YouTube and people can purchase music of these artists/bands easily on Amazon, iTunes or listen via streaming on Spotify, the ’80s was a different time.
Radio, MTV and Night Tracks were one of the only ways to catch this music and if you wanted to buy it, sometimes you had to do special orders.
One artist that really benefited from the ’80s was Johann “Hans” Holzel, best known to music fans worldwide as “Falco” from Austria.
Falco had international hits such as “Der Kommissar” (1981), “Rock Me Amadeus” “Vienna Calling”, “Jeanny”, “The Sound of Musik”, “Coming Home (Jeanny Part II, One Year Later”) and more.
While Falco passed away in 1998 from a shocking car accident, many people are remembering the best selling Austrian music artist through deluxe edition releases.
In 2016, “Rock Me Amadeus 30th Anniversary” was release featuring seven tracks, different versions of the songs.
The song written by Falco with Dutch music producers Bolland & Bolland reached No. 1 in the US and the UK.
The song reached No.1 on the Billboard charts in 1986, the first artist in history who’s language in German, to score a number one hit in the United States.
And the song has had so many remixes and airplay in the radio station, that it’s really hard to keep count of how many versions of the song are available. But for those who are wondering, as of 2022, there are 21 versions and many fans often have to look at the duration of the song to know which version they are going to get.
And because many albums of Falco, including deluxe edition re-releases have different versions of the song, for those who want the original version and possibly the one you heard on the radio, will want to look towards this “Rock Me Amadeus 30th anniversary” release.
The first track of “Rock Me Amadeus” (aka The Gold Mix) was the version released in 1985 in Europe.
The second track which features the Salieri Mix of “Rock Me Amadeus” was featured on the US release of Falco’s album “Falco 3”. This version is the longest version of “Rock Me Amadeus” at 8:22 and features the Rick McCullough voice-over.
1756: Salzburg, January 27th, Wolfgang Amadeus is born.
1761: At the age of five Amadeus begins composing.
1773: He writes his first piano concerto.
1782: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart marries Constanze Weber.
1784: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart becomes a Freemason.
1791: Mozart composes The Magic Flute.
On December 5th of that same year, Mozart dies. (Requiem)
1985: Austrian rock singer Falco records… “Rock Me Amadeus”!
The third track features the extended version of the song, the third longest version at 7:07. This one is no doubt very ’80s by the many sampling and replaying the samples and also primarily drums and a little synth. And once you get to 2:45 into the song, then it starts to transition to the synth-driven version that many people are familiar with.
The fourth track features the American Edit which is one of the shortest versions of the song and played in the radio. It starts out with a woman singing “ooh, rock me Amadeus” and includes female vocals towards the end of the song.
The fifth track is the 12″ version is a little longer than the American Edit but features a repetition of “ooh, rock me Amadeus” and a lot of sampling in the intro.
The sixth version is the Canadian version without the “ooh, rock me Amadeus” at the beginning and goes the through a lot of sampling and abruptly goes into the “ooh, rock Me Amadeus” and a lot of sampling and then goes into the Rick McCullough voice-over and the German vocals are pretty much stripped and focuses on the music beats and sampling.
The seventh and final version is the “Rock Me Amadeus (Canadian/American ’86 Mix)”. This is probably a version that many people heard on the radio which features the female vocals, the Rick McCullough voice-over and the German vocals.
So, this is pretty much a good way to get different versions of the “Rock Me Amadeus” songs that you have heard in the ’80s.
But if you are a person who enjoyed the music of Falco, you can find the 2004 release “Vienna Greatest Hits” that contains his “Rock Me Amadeus”, “Der Kommissar”, “Jeanny”, “Vienna Calling”, “Maschine brennt” and “Manner des Westens (T. Borger Version 2007)” and you can also purchase Falco’s greatest hits collection as well.
Now if you were to ask me what my favorite version of “Rock Me Amadeus?”, It would be the Salieri Mix but one that I did enjoy, for being different and to hear a new Rick McCullough voice-over is the “Rock Me Amadeus (The Falco Biography Mix)” that was included in the “Falco 3 25th Anniversary” album which is the second longest version of the song.
But since Falco has reached No. 1 on the Billboard, many have wondered if there are other tracks not in English that have made it No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 since “Rock Me Amadeus” and the answer is yes.
Los Lobos’ “La Bamba” (1987) and Los Del Rio’s “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix) (1996) and Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee feat. Justin Bieber’s “Despacito” (2017).
But Falco still holds the distinction of having the old German language song at No. 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 Charts and the UK Charts.
If you do want to relive 1985-1986 with Falco’s chart topping hit “Rock Me Amadeus”, definitely give the “Rock Me Amadeus 30th Anniversary” EP a try!
Click here to purchase Falco – “Rock Me Amadeus 30th Anniversary” on Amazon
