Der Kommissar (song)
"Der Kommissar" is a song first recorded by Falco in Austria in 1981, covered a year later by After the Fire. Originally written by Robert Ponger and Falco, the Falco version reached the top of the charts in many countries.
After the Fire's version featured English lyrics by the band's Andy Piercy. The song peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Background
"Der Kommissar" was originally written by producer Robert Ponger for Reinhold Bilgeri. Bilgeri rejected it, as he felt the song was too soft, so Falco reworked the song for himself instead.Falco wanted to release "Helden von heute" as the main side, but the record company wanted "Der Kommissar" to be released, because they felt it had more potential. The record company decided upon a double A-side release and was vindicated when "Der Kommissar" reached No. 1 in German-speaking countries in January 1982. After this success, Falco's management decided to release "Der Kommissar" in other countries as well.
In the United States and the United Kingdom, Falco's version did not perform as well, despite topping charts throughout Europe and Scandinavia in early 1982. In mid-1982, however, the British rock band After the Fire recorded an English version, also called "Der Kommissar", and released it as a single, but the record floundered. Coming off a tour opening for Van Halen, After the Fire was working on material for a new album when in December 1982 the group announced onstage during a concert that they were disbanding. Both the After the Fire and Falco versions were rising on the Canadian charts at the time, but neither had cracked the US pop charts. Around that time, American pop singer Laura Branigan began working on her second album, and she recorded "Deep in the Dark", a new song written over the melody and arrangement of "Der Kommissar" which was prepared for release. Then the After the Fire version finally hit the US charts on 22 February 1983, and started rising. Though its version barely nicked their home country's Top 50, in 1983 the song's music video received extensive airplay on MTV propelling its popularity on US radio. The song entered the American Top 40 on 5 March 1983, peaked at No. 5, and remained in the Top 40 for a total of 14 weeks. The single was released under the Epic label, with a catalog number of 03559. Amidst all this renewed attention to the composition, Falco's own version, which had done well in some US markets but not charted nationally, was re-released, but the German-language record remained essentially a novelty hit there, charting concurrently with the After the Fire version but not rising above No. 78.
In Canada, Falco's version had peaked at No. 11 the same late-January week that After the Fire's version peaked at No. 12. After the Fire's record company, CBS, pleaded with the band to regroup, but to no avail. While UK promos for "Deep in the Dark" were pressed, Branigan's record company, Atlantic, officially released "Solitaire" in the U.S., where that song went to No. 7.
Falco single
"Der Kommissar" / "Helden von heute" is a double-A-side single by Falco released in Austria and Germany in December 1981. "Der Kommissar" reached the top of the charts in many countries. The song recorded for other side of the record, the pop-rock "Helden von heute", is a tribute to David Bowie's "Heroes". It was recorded in Berlin, Germany; Falco claimed in an interview that he went to Berlin to follow the "tracks" left there by David Bowie, with his albums "Heroes" and Low.In the official music video for Falco's German-language version of "Der Kommissar", Falco is shown in front of a blue screen while stock footage of police cars driving the streets at night play behind him. Falco runs in place while lip-synching the song. Another music video for the Falco single released in Europe also exists.
"Der Kommissar " only reached No. 74 in the US Cash Box Charts in 1983 and did not even chart in the UK, but Falco would break through with major hits in those countries two albums later, with "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Vienna Calling" in 1986. Updated remixes of "Der Kommissar" were released by Falco in 1991, 1998, and posthumously in 2008.
Cover versions and tributes
- After the Fire recorded a 1982 English-language version of "Der Kommissar" which peaked at No. 5 in the U.S.
- Pink Project sampled the guitar riff and chorus, mixed it with their electronic version of "Da Da Da" and launched it as "Der Kommissar" in 1982.
- Laura Branigan's "Deep in the Dark" from Branigan 2 is a 1983 English-language song written over the melody and hooks of Falco and Ponger's "Der Kommissar"
- Dale Bozzio, the lead singer of Missing Persons, recorded "Der Kommissar" in 2007 for her solo project.
- Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung
- Gimme 5
- Trent Reznor's first band Option 30
- Brazilian band Comunidade Nin-Jitsu's "Rap do Trago" uses the song's arrangement and replaces the lyrics with satirical ones that sound similar in Portuguese.
Chart performance
Falco version
| Year | Peak position |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Australian Singles Chart | 7 |
| - | |
| France Singles Chart | 1 |
| German Singles Chart | 1 |
| - | |
| Italy Singles Chart | 1 |
| Japan Singles Chart | 1 |
| Norway Singles Chart | 3 |
| Netherlands Singles Chart | 18 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 4 |
| Spain Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 4 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Disco Top 80 | 10 |
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100 | 74 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock | 22 |
Year-end chart (Falco version)
| Chart | Position |
| Italy Singles Chart | 1 |
After the Fire version
| Year | Peak position |
| - | |
| South African Singles Chart | 2 |
| UK Singles Chart | 47 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard Disco/Dance Top 80 | 17 |
Year-end chart (After the Fire version)
| Year-end chart | Rank |
| US Top Pop Singles | 30 |