Johann "Hans" Hölzel knew at a kid that he wanted to be a pop star. He showed signs of being a musical prodigy incredibly early in his young life. As a toddler, he was able to keep drum beat time with music he heard, and by the age of four received a grand piano as a birthday gift. A year later he would receive his first record player, giving him the ability to play albums from The Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Cliff Richard.
He would attend Vienna Conservatoire at the age of sixteen, but grow frustrated with the experience, and drop out. He would then take a job at the Austrian employee pension insurance institute. However, this too would be short lived.
In the late 70's, Hölzel would envelope himself in the Viennese nightlife. It would be here that he would play bass guitar for a number of bands. Though unlike his fellow band mates, would stand out for his clean cut appearance, and pressed suits. He would also adopt the stage name, Falco. After one particular performance of Ganz Wien in 1981, he would be approached by Markus Spiegel, who would sign him.
Falco would begin writing and composing his own music, presenting the single, Helden von heute as his first release. However, it would be the B-side, Der Kommissar, which his manager, Horst Bork, would be interested in. Rap was relatively rare in Western Europe at the time, and this made the singer hesitant. Despite this reluctance, the song would become a major hit in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan, reaching number one in each country, while charting high in several others.
Unfortunately, the track would fail to pique interest in the US and UK. That is until it was loosely covered and released in 1983 by band, After The Fire. That same year, Laura Branigan would change the lyrics, and release a none single cover entitled, Deep In The Dark.
While we won't be visiting the more popular cover version today, we will go back to where it all began. Of course, I'm talking about Falco's 1982 debut, Einzelhaft.
As I played through it, I found myself having mixed feelings. On one hand, it was nice to hear Falco's voice, and more so, something "new" from him. However, this didn't necessarily make for a good album. Overall, the tracks had a very slow pace, and dated sound to them. Early synthpop, which didn't necessarily stand the test of time.
Truthfully, while I like the Der Kommissar, I favor the remake from ATF. It's one of those rare occasions where the cover is better than the original.
The overall poor impact that Einzelhaft had on me was probably heavily due in part by it being strictly in German. Unlike future releases, where the singer had his breakout in English speaking territories, and thus incorporated that language, the fact that I couldn't understand anything deterred me from being able to get into it. I didn't understand anything, and since the music wasn't catchy, it all just kind of fell flat.
Hearing Helden von heute, I can understand why Bork favorder Der Kommissar as the lead single. However, this could be bias, as ATF kind of already cemented by love for that song. I can't say as it would have been as good if it were the first time I was hearing the tune in general.
It was a shame really. Falco 3 is one of my favorite albums from the 80's, and I really want to like the singer more than I do. Alas, that just doesn't seem to happen.
Falco returned to the studio in 1983 to record his follow up, 1984's Junge Roemer, but has stated very openly that the pressures were on from the label to deliver the same success of his debut. This unfortunately didn't happen with the release. Though it would reach number one in Austria, it failed everywhere else in the world.
Perhaps this was for the best, as this led to the singer parting ways with his original production team, and beginning to experiment with different musical styles, including the English language. Falco 3 was released in 1985, and led by Rock Me Amadeus gave him the success he was looking for across the globe. While this would have paved the way for further albums produced in the US, as well as collaborations with other artists, his personal additions to drugs and alcohol impeded this from occurring.
Instead, Falco released his 1986 follow up, Emotional. The album would fail to chart in the US, and start a steady decline of his worldwide popularity. Specifically in English speaking countries. Sales declined even further with his 1988 album, Wiener Blut.
Falco would release two additional albums in the 90's, 1990's Data de Groove, and 1992's Nachtflug, but continued his trend of declining popularity. It wouldn't be until 1995 that he would return to the studio to work on his comeback album, 1998's Out of the Dark (Into the Light). Sadly the album would be released posthumously, as Johann Hölzel would unfortunately die in a car crash on February 6, 1998, just thirteen days before his 41st birthday.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS April 1, 1989 |
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