Falco's Rock Me Amadeus is number 1 in UK singles chart

The Austrian Rick Astley

You can forget all about Cornelia Mooswalder. And as much as you love Anja Steinlechner or Eric Papilaya, I’m sorry but there is only one Austrian musical superstar for me. And that has to be Johann Hölzel, known by some as the lead singer of Drahdiwaberl but known by several more as Falco. It was on this day in 1986 that Falco’s massive worldwide smash Rock Me Amadeus hit number one in the UK singles chart.

This loving tribute to Mozart, inspired by the Oscar winning film Amadeus, topped that charts everywhere, from Sweden to New Zealand.Supposedly named after the East German ski jumper Falko Weißpflog (why he didn’t call himself the far more catchy Weißpflog I’ll never know) Falco had minor hits with Der Kommissar and Junge Roemer before his monster Mozart tune. Though perhaps its greatest cultural contribution is inspiring the song ‘Dr Zeus, Dr Zeus’ from the Troy McClure musical Stop The Planet of the Apes I want To Get Off as featured in The Simpsons, which still remains frustratingly fictional.