‘Rock Me Amadeus’ should need no introduction to anyone of a certain age. A massive hit for Austrian artist Johannes “Falco” Hölzel, it’s a bold, synth-drenched electrofunk track which in many ways paved the way for the sound of contemporary funk. Falco himself was tragically killed in 1998, in a road accident in the Dominican Republic. His other hits included ‘Der Kommissar’, ‘Jeanny’, and ‘Vienna Calling’, but it was ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ which was his signature piece, and has become a de facto Austrian national anthem, even featuring as part of the Eurovision Song Contest when it was held in Vienna in 2015.
