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Falco was one of the biggest pop stars of his time in the mid-1980s. © Brill/Ullstein Bild/Martin Athenstaedt/EPA/APA-PictureDesk/BuzzFeed Austria
February 6th marks the anniversary of Falco’s death. Today, the assessment of its importance is incorrect.
When his song “Rock Me Amadeus” reached number one on the US charts in March 1986, his entire team celebrated the success. According to contemporary witnesses, only Falco, actually Johann Hölzel from Vienna, sat sadly in the corner and pondered. By reaching the top of the US charts he was at the peak of his success, he couldn’t go any higher.
He managed to become one of the 13 Austropop legends who shook the music world. With “Vienna Calling” and the kidnapping fantasy “Jeanny,” which was scandalous at the time and is still more than questionable today, he was only able to really score points in German-speaking countries. Falco ultimately sabotaged his world career himself because he was too homesick. He quickly canceled an upcoming US tour. A line from “Rock Me Amadeus” fit Falco so perfectly: “He was a superstar, he was so popular.”
Falco was only a superstar in Austria
From the end of the 1980s, Falco was only a superstar in Austria; he had long since used up his powder. Later songs like “Data de Groove” or “Titanic” were more attacks on the sense of hearing and no longer brought Falco the success he once did. An acclaimed concert on the Danube Island in 1993 was canceled due to rain and thunderstorms underbroken, continued and then completely abBroken.
Under the new, but very hard-working pseudonym T>>MA, he tried his hand at techno-pop and at least caused a bit of a stir with the ambiguous “Mother, the man with the coke is here”. In 1998, Falco had a fatal accident in a car accident in the Dominican Republic, whereupon he entered the Austrian charts again after his death. “In Vienna you have to die before they can celebrate you. But then live long.” The quote comes from Helmut Qualtinger, but is often incorrectly attributed to Falco. But that’s pretty good too.
Falco is put on a pedestal where he doesn’t belong
Since then, attempts have been made to put Falco on a pedestal where he doesn’t belong. Sure, he was definitely more than “just” another Austropop artist. His creative use of language, his mix of German and English, his arrogant demeanor to say the least and his rap-like singing set him apart from his fellow campaigners. But even his biggest hit, “Rock Me Amadeus,” doesn’t match his early attempts. I’m not even referring to his time when he played bass in insignificant jazz-rock groups as Hans Hölzel. Not even when he was already involved in rock theater projects under the name Falco Drahdiwaberl hired out as a bassist and performed his first hit with “Ganz Wien”.
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His early years as a solo artist are interesting, when he attracted attention not only in Austria with “The Commissioner” and was the first white rapper to make a mark worldwide. His first album “Einzelhaft” was also original for its time, 1982, and is the only one of the seven albums released during his lifetime that has endured and has not aged badly.
Are Bilderbuch Falco’s heirs?
His appearance and cocky demeanor were also unique. You have to like that. And his bluntness, his change between languages, can perhaps be seen in picture books. But let’s be honest: Even if they don’t have a US number 1 hit to their name (yet), they are in a different league. Apart from the fact that the band from Kremsmünster sets trends and doesn’t follow them like Falco did from his middle phase.
What’s really annoying are those who ostensibly want to preserve Falco’s legacy and act as musical executors. Be it the video producer Rudi Dolezal or Falco’s former manager Markus Spiegel, who still live from the stories of the good old days, but have been baking significantly smaller bread since then.
The quality of Falco’s music has steadily declined
The fact that Falco’s musical legacy has less substance than his former companions want to believe is proven by “The Sound of Music”, a sampler on which Falco’s “best” songs are collected in chronological order. February 6th marks the 25th anniversary of his death. In any case, you can safely stop after a few tracks; the quality of your music decreases the more the younger it is. Nobody needs 20 seconds more of the song “Data de Groove”. “The Inspector” is still cool, but so are many other oldies.
Falco himself became increasingly ill-advised as he got older; his instinct for what was or would be popular had left him. I’m definitely not saying anything bad about the person Falco/Hans Hölzel. But very much about those who don’t want to let him rest and want to enrich themselves from his old quarrels. Much of Falco’s music is a thing of the past. And as we all know, it has already melted today.