#deutsche pop

[anemoiawithatouchofobsession]

Gib mir die Hand Ich bau dir ein Schloss aus Sand Irgendwo, irgendwie, irgendwann 내 손 잡아 모래성 하나 쌓을거야 어떻게든, 언제쯤, 어딘가 Give me your hand I'll build a castle of sand Somewhere, somehow, some place - Nena

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

X-Mal Deutschland.

📷 Isle Ruppert.

[haveyouheardthisband]

[rockmefalco]

The Rock Me FALCO! Website is online! It hosts all about FALCO - Hans Hoelzel, but translated - so that it's accessible to non German-speakers. If you can think of it, it is (or will be) there: album and movie reviews, song texts, tour material and dates, interviews, anecdotes, sheet music or past fanzines... We want to strengthen our bond as FALCO fans. Given the international scene, we're already few and far between. Let's come together! We're born as an Italian fanclub, but it's a work in progress and most of our stuff will be multilingual (EN/IT). As you can see on the homepage, there's a little form to "sign up" as a fan club (totally free) member to find more available materials. There's also a chat feature through the comments to communicate between fan club members!! Let us know what you think about the website. We're also active on most other platforms, especially Instagram. It means a lot! <3 Rock on, neorockers! @nyxneon @viennaisalwayscalling @jungeroemer @wemmmo @madjacobin @niceandcozycave @nuttyfalcofan @dreminens @falco-thespiritneverdies @isastanzdervampire @dearestofallpoets @madamesmoke @on-my-way-to-wonderland @catboymisogynist @9puppiesdrowninginapool @japaneesee

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

From Beyond • After The Fall • Just One Look • Falling In Love Again • Icurok • Rubberband Lazer • Wayward Sisters • Ding Dong • Three Wishes • Simple Man • Death • Return

Spotify ♪ YouTube

[how-i-saw-the-world]

Jeder will wer sein

Dann bin ich lieber nichts!

— Jeremias, Egoist

[horstflemming-blog]

Die nächsten 2h werde ich euch etwas mit meiner Sendung " Bunt Gemischt " Unterhalten …. Ich wünsche euch viel Spaß bei mir 😉.

[bearfoottruck]

And here's another hot cut from German group Hermann Herz & die Infarkts.

[spilladabalia]

Miko - Kiss the Politicians (Waiting for the UFO) (Germany, 1983)

[randomvarious]

Falco - "Der Kommissar" 1981 Synthpop / Neue Deutsche Welle / Pop-Rap / New Wave

I think something that's lost on a lot of people when it comes to hip hop music is, really, just how quickly it managed to spread after scoring its first ever hit in 1979, with The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight"—which was also, remarkably, just the second song that the genre had ever released up until that point. There seems to be a general presumption that the music largely remained within the confines of the New York-metropolitan area, but as I'm about to show you, that notion is actually pretty false.

See, what I think most Americans have never really come to realize is just how deeply seismic of an event the release of "Rapper's Delight" was on a global scale. It was a modest hit in its home country, reaching #36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it did prove to a lot of New Yorkers who frequented the hip hop parties that this hobby of rhyming rhythmically and extemporaneously over extended disco-type breaks could actually be successfully metabolized into dollars, which people originally had their doubts about. But where "Rapper's Delight" actually performed much better commercially was in Europe: it went to #5 in Austria; #3 in the UK and West Germany; #2 in Belgium, France, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland; and #1 in the Netherlands and Spain.

And for Europeans who were hearing that song in 1979 and 1980, with all its pervasiveness, the fact that it sounded pretty much unlike *anything* that they'd ever heard before, and that rapping was also easily replicable, there was no doubt that "Rapper's Delight" was going to then end up inspiring a whole lot of different musicians to try their hand at something like it too.

So, while we largely tend to think of some of hip hop's earliest records as being made solely by New Yorkers (actually, the Sugarhill Gang were impostrous nobodies from New Jersey), that's actually pretty shortsighted, because some European acts were quick to start incorporating it into their own music too.

And such was the case with Austrian pop sensation Falco, who released his country's first known hip hop record in 1981, with "Der Kommissar," which also served as his breakout single, managing to not just top the charts in German-speaking countries like Austria and West Germany, but the ones in Spain and Italy too. Now, "Der Kommissar" is certainly not hip hop as we've come to know it; there's no DJ or record scratching, or a sampled or re-created beat; and first and foremost, it's a Neue Deutsche Welle (German new wave) tune. But there is clearly a lot of rapping on this record, and there's little doubt that the sudden Euro-popularity of "Rapper's Delight" is what initially sparked that fuse. I mean, this is before Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five even released "The Message" in 1982, mind you—another very early hip hop cornerstone. That's how early we're talking here. So, pretty fascinating when put into that context, no?

Now, maybe if you're an American, you're far more familiar with the 1982 Anglicized cover of this song by UK band After the Fire instead, as the video for it received heavy rotation on MTV, which then led to significant radio airplay, and then eventually a peak at #5 on the Hot 100. But Falco's German-language version is the one that came first.

And while Falco's only really rippled in the US, managing to reach just #74 on the Cash Box chart and #10 on the Billboard dance chart, the success of After the Fire's version appears to be what actually helped propel it into a very minor US hit in the first place. And that's just sort of funny, right? Like, the only reason that your record's even selling a little bit in such a huge market as the US' is because some other band who covered your song in English the following year is getting almost all of the limelight for it? That's a fun dynamic, huh? But Falco would still end up making *serious* inroads in the US a few years later anyway, with his terrific chart-topper, "Rock Me Amadeus," which also happened to have a bunch of rapping in it too.

So, ultimately there were two videos that were shot for Falco's "Der Kommissar" and this is the one that was released in the US. It's a very low-budget affair, in which Falco performs in front of a screen that shows footage of police cars traveling with their blue lights on, as he continuously makes like he's running away from them. And the song's about a couple who are on the run from the law—the titular 'kommissar'—so this very literal depiction certainly fits.

And actually, there were a lot more records from outside the US that both incorporated hip hop and also predate the release of "Der Kommissar" too. I came across this very enlightening list recently on RateYourMusic that shows what the earliest known hip hop release is for a bunch of different countries, and a lot of them happen to be from way earlier than you've probably ever thought! 🤯

Evidently, hip hop's been a global phenomenon for a bit longer than many people seem to realize 👀.

More fun videos here.

[symphoniedrang]

Keep on walkin', Baby, wenn du durch die Hölle gehst.

JONA

[anemoiawithatouchofobsession]

the next time soneone says German sounds aggressive, show them this specific part from German NDW/pop-rock singer Juliane Werding's version of Mike Oldfield's "Moonlight Shadow" :

~

Am Himmel zogen wilde Wolken, Hell war der Mond, und die Nacht voll Schatten Lief dir nach, und konnte dir nicht folgen Hell war der Mond, und die Nacht voll Schatten Und wenn mich die Erinnerung quält, Such ich dich in der Dunkelheit Du lebst jetzt in einer besseren Welt An dem anderen Ufer der Nacht...

~

(The wild clouds passed by in the skies,

the moon was bright and the night full of shadows

I ran behind you, but couldn't follow you,

the moon was bright, and the night full of shadows

And when your memory plagues me,

I'll search you in the darkness

You're living in a different world now,

on the other side of the night...)

~

(if you havent noticed yet, yes i'm german - indian by ethnicity, german by upbringing - and idk I would love to post a little more indian and european 80s stuff on here once in a while. not too much - that's not what this account is for - but once in a while if it matches the aesthetic)

[thedepartmentofdiscoveries]

[haveyouheardthisband]

[thecreativemillennial]

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Ist das so? • Rüssel an Schwanz • Guten Tag • Denkmal • Du erkennst mich nicht wieder • Die Zeit heilt alle Wunder • Monster • Heldenzeit • Aurélie • Müssen nur Wollen • Ausser Dir • Die Nacht

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