Tune of the Week: The Curious History of "Der Kommissar"

This is a story about a little song no one believed in that became a hit for two individual artists. “Der Kommissar” was originally written by Robert Ponger for Reinhold Bilgeri who rejected it. Ponger took it to Falco who re-worked it into a pseudo-rap in 1981. Flaco did not really think it was single worthy, as the chorus was heavily influenced by Rick James’ smash “Super Freak”. His record label thought better and it became Falco’s first hit in multiple countries.

in 1982, one-time prog rock band After the Fire was reinventing themselves to fit in the New Wave scene. They decided to cover “Der Kommissar” with what I assume to be radically different lyrics in English:

This proved to be a big hit for the band, hitting the top 5 in the US. However, this success came too late as the band had already broken up after several years of lineup and stylistic changes. Their record company begged them to come back, at least to tour off the success of the single, to no avail. In fact, the band had sold off the instrumental track to singer Laura Branigan:

The song no one seemed to believe in much had surprising longevity. It also helped bring to life some textbook ridiculous 80s videos!