Talk:Der Kommissar (song)
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[edit] Double A-side?
The picture sleeves for the 7" single as released in the various countries clearly show that "Der Kommissar" is being promoted as the A-side. Many singles' b-sides are mentioned on the cover of those singles' picture sleeves, even when they are not being promoted (or ultimately played) as a double A-side. Yet these "Der Kommissar" picture sleeves don't even mention the disc's b-side title. The Aussie 12" could by a stretch be considered an exception, as it mentions the titles of three songs, but then wouldn't that be considered a triple A-side, or an EP...or simply a single A-side whose accompanying songs get second and third billing? What is the standard for a single to be considered a double A-side? Isn't it that both of the two titles are actively promoted by the record company, and both titles receive significant enough airplay to chart separately, yet it is the same pressing which is sold for either? I would consider Falco's later 12" release in the U.S. to be a double A-side, as it contained both "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Vienna Calling", each of which had club play (as well as music videos and pop chart success). But I am doubtful as to whether the story (which I can certainly believe, as artists often get overruled by their record companies) of Falco's desire to release "Helden Von Heute" actually resulted in the record company releasing and promoting a double A-side. That is at least clearly not the case in the countries whose releases are depicted in the photos. If, for example, the German-speaking territories' releases of this single was a bona-fide double A-side, the sleeve(s) that would corroborate this should be the primary photo(s) for the article, and the point should be made that the record company acquiesced to Falco's desire in the initial release (which would speak well to his influence), but when "DK" clearly emerged as the public's favorite, it was a single A-side release in the subsequent countries (which would speak well to his handlers' savvy of what would best introduce him to non-Germanic markets). Abrazame 21:14, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
- No response in half a year to the query as to whether this was a double A-side single...could anybody upload a front cover that shows both titles in the same size font, or give a link to (or an upload of) a chart showing the B-side charting anywhere? Some time ago, when the article featured more than a half-dozen international covers, many did not list the B-side on the cover at all and those that did did not do so in font equal to the A-side. Abrazame (talk) 07:52, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Reinhold Bilgeri?
Who is this person? It is unclear what is meant about his being "determined" to sing the song: does this mean determined as in he was chosen by someone (record exec?) to sing it, or does this mean he had the passionate intention to sing the song? Had Falco and Robert Ponger originally written it for him? Was he a part of the song before Falco contributed his own lyrics? And "too unhard" is an oxymoron, it doesn't mean anything. I assume it means it was too hard for him? Does this mean he couldn't convincingly affect the rap attitude or rhythm? Was the range of the sung notes outside of his vocal range? The paragraph doesn't contribute any understandable detail to the article, but I would be interested to learn what is behind the mention, and try to edit this into coherent English. I think this is a brilliant record, and would love to see the article enhanced to better tell its story. Abrazame 21:28, 19 September 2007 (UTC)
- I too was confused about this paragraph. I looked at the German version of this page to see if it could shed some light on the matter. It seems the "too unhard" part was simply a bad translation from German to English. The orignal was "zu weich" which really means "too soft". "Weich" refers to physical softness, rather than difficulty (which would be "schwer"), so I am assuming the song was simply musically too soft, and Bilgeri turned it down because of that. I also gathered that Ponger (the producer) had originally intended it to be sung by Bilgeri, who turned it down.
- I am going to go ahead and fix up this paragraph, but I think it will still require some work. I understand that using another wikipedia article as a source is technically not legitimate, but I think in this case it will suffice as a quick fix for understandability. The German article doesn't cite a source for this information, so the content still goes unsourced. Someone with a little more Falco knowlege might be able to corroborate these claims. --BennyD 15:03, 15 October 2007 (UTC)
Reinhold Bilgeri is an Austrian singer, who was very succesful in the 80s, especially in South America. Bilgeri and Falco had the same producer and first the producer wanted Bilgeri to perform this song.--Dave it 14:22, 13 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] German-speaking countries
The current text states:
"First it reached number one in many German-speaking countries."
How many German-speaking countries are there, realistically? By my count, West Germany (the German Federal Republic), Austria, Liechtenstein, a substantial part of Switzerland, and a tiny sliver of Tyrolean Italy.
The record presumably did not play in then East Germany (the German Democratic Republic). Liechtenstein is too small to keep its own record charts, and the German-speaking minority in Italy is too small to have had an impact on the Italian charts.
So realistically, we're talking about West Germany, Austria, and maybe Switzerland. Does this really qualify as "many German-speaking countries?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jggraubart (talk • contribs) 03:26, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
