American reacts to Most Popular German Songs from 1980's

Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to Most Popular German Songs from 1980 to 1989
Original video: • Most Popular German So...
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[@marioberndt]

The 80s are indeed 20 years ago and nobody can ever tell me any different!

[@stuborn-complaining-german]

I can confirm that. I was born 1978, and today I'm still just 22yo.. .. 😅

[@andreas7250]

Haha, that's funny because it's actually 30 years, haha. No wait, its actually more than 40!! Wtf

[@jakordia50blattdrehpapier44]

The 80s not over,still raning.

[@obiwanfisher537]

Yeah, I always have to correct myself when I am looking at the age of things. My boat is from the 1970s and it never feels that old because it's only 30 years, which is upper limit for most people buying second hand. But then I realise it's 50 years by now lol

[@jordi95]

When I hear that someone is from the 2000 I think of them as children, but then I realise that they have already graduated from University 😅

[@johanneshalberstadt3663]

Be careful! "Geil" means "cool, awesome, exiting, amazing" but also "horny" depending on how you use it or the context. It it's the literal translation for "horny" and that is it's original meaning. But for some reason, through youth culture in the 80s, "horny" in Germany has come to mean "cool, hot, amazing, awesome, supreme" aswell. Just a way to enthusiastically praise something or someone.

[@clausanders2886]

Actually 'geil' meant 'fruitful'. FYI

[@Lisa-xn9xc]

Could also mean 'hot' as in 'a hot girl'. It's alwa'ys better to use a translation tool that shows all meanings of a word and not just one.

[@perrosol-ns4cc8ot4t]

To add: Bruce and Bongo were two Brits who were stationed in Germany during their military service. They were puzzled by the inflationary use of the buzzword "geil" and a variety of meanings that could have, including sexual. So they decided to make a goofy song that not all radio stations played because many found it offensive. Which obviously made it even more popular.

[@paulbeneder9337]

Geil - 🇦🇹 meaning was that the food was very rich / very fat „Des Essen is mir zu geil, des vertrog i ned.“

[@cmbaz1140]

like how you use "rad"...the english "rad" not the german "rad" 😂

[@Astuga]

Falco's "Der Kommissar" is actually a song about the 80's drug scene in Vienna. That's why in the beginning they didn't played it on the radio, until it became too popular to ignore it. The song was also his break through as a solo artist.

[@gierinarpagaus4160]

Jeanny was even more controversial.

[@goddragoner4460]

@@gierinarpagaus4160 both legendary songs

[@AudunWangen]

It kind of sounds like MC Hammer - U can't touch this, but that was sampled from Rich James' Super Freak, apparently. Different times, when intellectual property wasn't guarded like it was more important than art. I miss those times. Restricting ideas didn't completely ruin music, though. It gave us grunge, punk, rock and metal in the 90s. After that music has faded away in the green smudges of dirty money.

[@Astuga]

@@AudunWangen MC Hammer's song came out 8 or 9 years later. And I dont hear any resemblance.

[@GASH_one]

@@Astuga You don't get it. Super Freak by Rick James, from 1981, is the original. The bass melody is the same as the chorus in Der Kommissar in 1982. Also Super Freak was sampled in U Can't Touch This in 1990. So AndunWangen is absolutely right.

[@MrOpacor]

Nena's "99 Luftballons" is indeed iconic not only for the music, but also for the strong anti cold war lyrics.

[@wojathome]

Why the English version was called "99 Red Balloons" I'm still unclear about. No reference to red in the original text...

[@lyaneris]

@@wojathome I'd guess the need for a third syllable

[@wojathome]

@@lyaneris"Neun und neun/zig Luft Balloons" (6), "Nine/ty-nine red balloons" (5)...

[@lyaneris]

@@wojathome neun und neun-zig Luft Ball-ons Nine-ty ni - ine red Ball-oons Makes sense to me ^^ (stretching nine to fit two syllables), imagine it was just Nine-ty nine Ball-oons xD

[@gewinnste]

@@wojathome Without the "red" there'd be a time gap (or whatever you want to call it) in the lyrics. And "Luftballon" is just "balloon" in English - there's no "air balloon". Further, "red" fits both phonetically and semantically.

[@SkyCircle2]

It took Ryan a year and a half to realize the existence of Dieter Bohlen for the first time. Well, welcome to the dark side of "German culture".

[@paulbeneder9337]

😂😂😂 „Dark side of German culture!“ Made my day!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤪🤪🤪

[@kleingrrmpf]

Yeah, I wish I could go another 1,5 years without knowing that he exists lol

[@videomailYT]

^^ switch it and use "a Part of German culture to be ashamed of" instead of "dark side of German culture" XD

[@janw839]

Hahaha. I feel ya!

[@Nigolasy]

I had to mentally prepare to inevitably see him during the mordern talking videos before watching the video. LOL

[@Funkho]

During the 80s German music basically had a renaissance called "neue deutsche Welle" (new German wave). Musisicans were experiemnting a lot, singing in German and utilising new ways to make music (aka synthesiser and such). You heard some titles in this playlist, but maybe you would enjoy a deep dive into more? It has definitely been an interesting musical era and many songs are atill floating around today :)

[@user-cx6kt3ku2f]

They had new wave in English with stuff like New Order, Talking Heads and Duran Duran.

[@derekson6229]

Some of these NDW songs are like a car crash: terrible, but you can't look away

[@videomailYT]

^^ don't Mix the wrong things together, because a lot of artist were producing normally Rock Musik but because they get popular at the same time the NDW Pop ups, they get Putin into the NDW but they're normally Rock musicians Hm, soll ich's nochmal auf deutsch schreiben? 🤔

[@Jonas-rq9ru]

Wow das wusste ich nicht Mal als deutscher 😂😂😂😂

[@videomailYT]

^^ put in and not putin damn autocorrect Android keyboard

[@Alias_Anybody]

Honestly, the biggest surprise about the list was how many Austrian songs were included.

[@AverageReader._.]

"I didn't know this song was from germany" 🥲

[@ricardo_miguel13]

Junge Römer is missing

[@ricardo_miguel13]

and songs from Ambros and Danzer but I think they were mostly 70s

[@nelerhabarber5602]

Falco (Amadeus Amadeus) was an austrian singer songwriter. After the song Amadeus had already reached numerous top positions in Europe, it entered the top ten of the US single charts at the beginning of 1986 and finally occupied number one there for three weeks from March 20, 1986, something that no other German-language title had achieved before .Rock Me Amadeus is the only German-language song to reach the top of the US Billboard charts

[@StefanMarkBee]

Erfolge. Nachdem Nenas 99 Luftballons Ende März 1983 Platz 1 in Deutschland erreicht hatte, blieb der internationale Erfolg nicht aus. Sie schafften es neben Platz 2 in den USA an die Spitze der Charts in Japan, Mexiko, Kanada und Australien.

[@MCtheAustrianBrickfan]

Yeah, Falco is an Austrian ICON! 🤩 (with his perfect stereotypical Viennese pronounciation) He also did an English version of "Der Kommissar". (kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKGym4p4qrR3m9E) *EDIT*: English version was done by the British Band "After The Fire". (Thanks @arnehenkler8391!) As far as I know it was his first song on the US billboard charts in 1981 or 1982. On March 29th 1986 he hit #1 on the US billboard charts with "Rock Me Amadeus". Nena did the English Version of "99 Luftballons" (99 Red Balloons) too. *EDIT*: I'm pretty sure she did it herself. By the way Opus (Live is Life 1985) is also from Austria. 😁 (kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnK3iWCii5WJfM0) Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung (EAV) [First General "Un"insurance] is the next Austrian music powerhouse with lots of fun songs (many with deeper meaning). As is Rainhard Fendrich and the band Edelweiss. FANTASTIC reaction video! 👍 Brings up lots of great memories and made me listen to several songs again. Thanks! 😊

[@arnehenkler8391]

Falco never did an English version of "Der Kommissar". That was done by the British band After The Fire. Your link is to the maxi version of their cover.

[@MCtheAustrianBrickfan]

@@arnehenkler8391 Oooops! Thank you for the info! 👍 To be honest I was always sure he did it himself. 🙈 You always learn something new. 😁👍

[@Aracknoid91]

Not a big miss, but Mr Musikantenstadl, Andy Borg, is also a Viennese Brother.

[@MCtheAustrianBrickfan]

@@Aracknoid91 I never saw it with Andy Borg. As a kid I watched it with my grandparents - back then Karl Moik was the host and I loved "Hias". 🤣

[@elHorstio]

Just listening to that 1 second of funky Bass line, the Falco song sounds damn close to Superfreak by Rick James. That is probably what Ryan was thinking of since it was such a big hit in the U.S.

[@tomtorres212]

To this day 'Rock me Amadeus' by Falco (austrian) is the only german sung song that reached #1 on the US Billboard Top 100....and yes, there was a (horrible) english version of the 'Der Kommissar' back then.

[@marikothecheetah9342]

That is true. And the banned song Jeanny, which is probably one of the most misunderstood songs ever.

[@miyu5025]

@tomtorres212 As far as I remember, Nena had a No.1 hit in the American charts with 99 Luftballons.

[@Silkke]

@@miyu5025 Her best position in the Billboard Hot 100 was the number 2 in the week of 3rd March of 1984 behind Van Halens "Jump". By then she had been in the charts for 13 weeks working her way up. The next week she was on number 3, then the week after at 4, then 7 and then end of March she was on number 11. That was the week Jump lost first place to Kenny Logans "Footloose" after 5 weeks in the top spot. By mid April she was on number 64 and Phil Collins took over the number 1 spot from Kenny Logan.

[@tomtorres212]

@@miyu5025 Although quiet an achievement as well, Nena peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts.

[@rkkastarshina3989]

​@@marikothecheetah9342 Jeanny is my fav song, even tho I understand the lyrics (well.. reason being I'm German)

[@fischflossn]

Yes Falco translated a few of his songs, but the biggest one, that reached Top 1 of the US Billboard Charts was Rock Me Amadeu and it was the german version. Till this day its the only german song that achieved that. He's the biggest Popstar Austria had.

[@johnkramer8091]

80s music really was something else, in both America and Germany. Lots of iconic hits, lots of good vibes...

[@venoim.]

Da war es noch Musik auf Instrumenten und nicht am pc

[@DarrenArrowNo5]

Falco was a Legend, for many a Genius, since dead far too early and dramatic. His song Jeanny caused a huge scandal in Germany and Europe at the time, It tells the story from the perspective of a rapist and murderer. Jeanny is a Quadrilogy Part:1-4 (Coming Home, Where are you now, The Spirit Never Dies). To date, 'Amadeus' is the only German-language song to have made it to the top of the American Billboard charts ! Falco was one of the first rappers in the world and way ahead of his time. Looking back, his song 'Out of the Dark' was a dark Prophecy of his death. Modern Talking was one of the most successful Pop Duos in Europe, they produced hit after hit. They fell out, celebrated a comeback and fell out again. They still have an enormously large fan base today, especially in Russia. They sold worldwide 120 million records. Were their biggest hits 'You're My Heart, You're my Soul', 'Cheri Cheri Lady', 'Brother Louie', Atlantis is Calling-S.O.S. for Love', 'Geronimo's Cadillac', 'Win the Race', 'Ready for the Victory' and 'TV Makes the Superstar'. I thought 'Last Exit to Brooklyn' was nice. In Germany Five Nr. 1 Singles and Six Nr. 1 Albums. 'Dieter Bohlen' is in Germany what 'Simon Cowell' in the UK and America. 'Boney M.' were the most successful band in Germany in the 70s alongside 'Abba'. Eight Nr. 1 Singles and Three Nr. 1 Albums in Germany. When they Performed, it was Party Time. 'Sunny', 'Daddy Cool', 'Rasputin', 'Ma Baker', 'Belfast', 'El Lute', Hooray ! Hooray ! it's a Holi-Holiday', Brown Girl in the Ring', 'Gotta go Home', 'Painter Man', Mary Boy's Child-Oh my Lord' were their biggest Hits. But her biggest hit was 'Rivers of Babylon'....17 Weeks Nr. 1 in Germany ! Producer is 'Frank Farian', same Producer of 'Milli Vanilli'. Both groups had a scandal, but only the one from milli vanilli was exposed. Both Bobby Ferrell and Milli Vanilli sang Playback. Milli Vanilli At that time he was stripped of his Grammy Award. The Greatest Scandal in the Music History in America and Europe. Milli Vanilli has Three Nr. 1 Single Hits in the Billboard Charts in the USA. Singer 'Nicole' Won with 'Ein bißchen Frieden' (A Bit of Peace) the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany. A Timeless Song, just today. 'Nena' is International a One Hit Wonder. '99 Luftballons' Nr.2 in the U.S. Charts. 'Herbert Grönemeyer' is an institution in Germany. Three Nr. 1 Singles and Thirteen Nr. 1 Albums Since 1979. 'Roland Kaiser' is still touring today. Huge Fanbase in Germany. The Song '1000 und 1 Nacht' (1000 and One Night') ..and nothing Happened, is in Germany Cult. Then there was the 'New German Wave' a Genre Mix Punk/New Wave. From 1976. Many bands and Singers were part of it.

[@00wheelie00]

I must have dreamt that Nena had a hit with Nur geträumt.

[@michaelgrabner7179]

But Falco was an AUSTRIAN singer!

[@Reaktanzkreis]

Herbert Grönemeyer' sounds to me like a singing news reader on the telly.

[@Moribax85]

Let's be honest here: Rock Me Amadeus is the only german song to top the US Billboard Charts because 99% of americans had no idea it was in german due to Falco's style of singing in the track that makes it sound like gibberish to anyone that's not a native speaker.

[@DarrenArrowNo5]

@@Moribax85 Complete nonsense, it doesn't matter what language it is in. The fact is that the song was promoted convincingly and effectively. Falco was ahead of his time and the song simply worked.

[@EllaSilentDragon]

3:17 The Hippie German as you called her, was our Eurovision winner that year. Nicole with "Ein bisschen Frieden" There are some great songs in there. Also some embarrassing stuff. 😅 Unfortunately you only heard a few seconds of each. 😔 10:13 Milli Vanilli were involved in a big scandal. They were just models pretending to sing. The real singers were never shown. When this became known teenagers started to break down crying and burning their Albums melodramatically. 😅 Good times 😂

[@KzS_Guenther_Luetjens]

Seeing the band "Take That" falling apart was also hilarious! I had two girls in my school class, that won't come to school, after that, for having a heavy mental break down. XD A mental break down over a band. XD I just was loving it! Good old times for sure. The news of mental break downs where everywhere. Tousands of girls won't visit school the day after. Hahaha

[@Anthyrion]

And Falco's "Jeanny" was a big controversial when it came out. But the cool thing is, that they even got the news anchorman from the Tagesschau for the missing Girl part

[@barjel7951]

@@Anthyrion Oh yes, I remember. Some radio stations (e.g. Bayrischer Rundfunk) even banned that song.

[@codexdelux]

If you wanna know a funny fact. Milli Vanilli was produced by Frank Farian who was the founder of Boney M. Frank was actually the male voice of Boney M, and Bobby Farell lip synced on stage to the voice of Frank Farian... Sound familiar :D To be fair for Boney M Farian thought he did'nt look disco -cool enough so he hired Farrell to handle the stage-craft part of the male vocals :P

[@Ace-Of-Spades---]

​​​@@barjel7951The Bavarian radio was quick to boycott any songs anyway. Whether they had a somewhat controversial lyric, whether the singer or the band or the entire style of music did not please the people in charge (or the Catholic Church). 🤷🏼‍♀️ I always laughed my ass off when I heard Bobby Brown on the radio there. They probably didn't understand the text correctly. 😉🤣

[@MaexxDesign]

7:18 "Rock me Amadeus" is so far the only german-language song that reached #1 in the US Billboard Charts. This is one of the reasons why Falco is so famous in europe. He had a god-given talent !

[@Sandfrau]

I, as a 21 year old, am shocked how many I know and how many I can even sing word for word. Crazy that those are from the 80s. I mean some of them are still played in the radio or at Kirmessen (village party’s) today.

[@Finsternis..]

7:19 Rock Me, Amadeus was the first, and according to Wikipedia is, the only German language song to ever score top 1 in US billboard top 100.

[@Dirk-Ulowetz]

The clips are way too short. Best thing to do: make a playlist with all titles and hear them completely. In my opinion the 80s and 90s were the BEST years in term of music. At least here in Germany.

[@afjo972]

Baujahr 2001 hier und ich stimme zu !

[@Warentester]

Not sure I agree, but at least there was a distinctively German music scene that wasn't just German versions of American music.

[@Dirk-Ulowetz]

@@afjo972 wenn mir jemand zustimmt, der meine Tochter sein könnte... 😳 Ich fühle mich geehrt. 😊👍 Baujahr '71. Viel fehlt nicht und ich könnte sogar der Oppa sein... 🙃 Wenn ich an Musik denke, die 20 Jahre vor meiner Geburt herausgebracht wurde... Dass man Musik der 80er und 90er auch heute noch ohne nostalgische Gedanken problemlos abspielen kann und (fast) jeder findet es toll, sagt einiges über diese Musik aus. Ebenso der Fakt, dass viele dieser Titel zum wiederholen Male remixed wurden.

[@transient_]

Two reasons the clips are so short, I think. Copyright reasons and having to fit 9 years in 10 minutes.

[@lhuras.]

The clips have to be that short to not get striked ...

[@biloaffe]

5:41 1982 The world political situation was quite tense. This song "99 Luftballons" was intended to draw attention to the danger of war.

[@tiberiansun8430]

The Guy at 1:55 is Mike Krüger a german comedyan but he also will get fine with the name der Nippel 🤣

[@Tjulfars_rechtes_nasenloch]

Dachte genau das selbe 😂

[@NoZoDE]

Fun Fact if you like stereotypes about working attitude in Germany: The song "Bruttosozialprodukt" featured in the video is about a guy who works goes to work no matter what to increase the GDP. The catch phrase of the song is "Jetzt wird wieder in die Hände gespuckt, wir steigern das Bruttosozialprodukt." "Now we're spitting in our hands again (start working), we're increasing the GDP"

[@Goddybag4Lee]

It's a super good song.

[@Boelkstoff-pj4sg]

​@Goddybag4Lee When i started learning my profession i woke up at 04:30 AM for a long time with this song. 😊

[@Luluxand]

"Sie amputierten ihm sein letztes Bein, und schon kniet er sich wieder mächtig rein." 😁

[@Vampirzaehnchen]

Actually that was life in Germany for a pretty long time. After the war everyone got back to work and rebuilt the country again. Staying at home, especially as a man (remember: during some years women in western Germany weren't allowed to work at all and later needed permission from their husband or father) was seen as lazy and bad. So people went working even if they clearly weren't in shape to work ("Sie amputierten ihm sein letztes Bein und jetzt kniet er sich wieder richtig rein."/ "They amputated his last leg and now he's back at work again."). We can see the aftermath of this even today. Several companies don't want you to stay at home when you're sick and they state that you can go working even suffering from Covid 19. When I was in my apprenticeship in a bakery and stayed at home because of salmonella the confectioner, while making a cake with a lot of cream, told me that salmonella clearly wasn't a reason to stay at home. Never bought a cake there again. ^^°

[@MarcLeonbacher-lb2oe]

​@@VampirzaehnchenWhere do you get your information? A wife needed her husband's consent was officially meant to do the household chores, but there were always women who were working.

[@justiziabelle]

His face after seeing EAV (Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung).. priceless.

[@iantojones8021]

you have no idea what you have done to me with that video! i am now sitting here and watch all these videos full length. an unexpected evening on youtube with 80s songs. for hours. for like a lot of hours... THANK YOU! :)

[@Fennecwcue]

The songs “Jeanny”, “Der Kommissar” and “Rock me Amadeus” are indeed really iconic songs, both by Falco, I think Falco was and still is just a legend and it’s pretty sad that he died on drugs because of a car accident with just 40 years. Rest in peace 🕊️

[@d34d10ck]

What a great trip down memory lane. I was born in 1977 and this was basically my entire childhood right there.

[@gameboy-nq7je]

I was born in the early 2000 but still grew up on like half of these songs

[@RSProduxx]

jup, 77 here

[@AP-RSI]

Yeah, I'm born 1967 and that's my teenage time!

[@crazy_sauer]

1978 here ... feeling home ... and old :D

[@EvaCornelia]

I laughed so hard at your luftiloo understanding of 99 Luftballons. I had so many false understanding cases of English song texts as a child and teenager, it's funny to hear it the other way round. I also didn't understand Falco's Kommissar, because he raps fast in Austrian. The chorus goes: Drah di net um - German: Dreh dich nicht um, and I always thought he sang Dah deedle dum.

[@xbelle_rose]

Oha, ich dachte bis eben noch er würde "da deedle dum" singen! 😮 Danke! :D

[@DeadFairyCat]

Wt... ich dachte bis jetzt auch immer es heißt Da dede dumm 😂😭😂

[@EvaCornelia]

Ich hab mir irgendwann mal im Internet den Songtext angesehen. Auf Wikipedia steht folgendes: Der Text „Drah di ned um“ und der Rhythmus im Melodieteil erinnern an das Kinderlied Dreh’ Dich nicht um, der Plumpsack geht um. Ein Hinweis darauf findet sich in der Textzeile „Jetzt das Kinderlied“.

[@RaduRadonys]

He raps in Austrian? LOL :)) that's a first...

[@piiinkDeluxe]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 das habe ich bis eben auch falsch gehört 😅

[@RSProduxx]

Maria Magdalena by Sandra still gives me chills, dunno why it feels so special to me... I´m not even that much of an 80s mainstream fan... :)

[@apveening]

Probably because it just is a very good song.

[@RSProduxx]

@@apveening probably :)

[@Goddybag4Lee]

Seeing you dig hard to the two songs by Herbert Grönemeyer was so cool for me. Two of the best songs in German from the 1980's: Männer and Was Soll Das. I love them and I found them out last year.

[@hansc8433]

I grew up in the Netherlands and we had a whole wave of German music in the 80s (from German speaking countries). It was even called “Neue Deutsche Welle” (NDW). It started around 1980 and lasted a few years. It produced quite a few interesting bands, like DAF, Einstürzende Neubauten, Liaisons Dangereuses, and more mainstream bands like the Spider Murphy Gang, DÖF, Trio, Falco, Nena, Peter Schilling and (obviously) Nina Hagen. There were also some producers who created bands and plugged their own music, like Dieter Bohlen and Frank Farian. They are comparable to Stock, Aitken and Waterman in the UK. Very mediocre music with a very recognizable sound. It was a fun time, with lots of happy music, but also very politically and socially engaged bands creating darker and more gloomy music.

[@matzek.3220]

Frank Farian almost "owns" this playlist since he is not only the producer and mastermind behind Milli Vanilli but also Boney M.

[@marikothecheetah9342]

Nina Hagen is a legend.

[@Kutchulu]

I wouldn't count Einstürzende Neubauten and Liaisons Dangereuses as NDW. They are far more experimental post-punk, post-industrial. But I am very happy that you know them. :) Nine Inch Nails got their name from the Einstürzende Neubauten 1981 album Kollaps.

[@_H__T_]

@hansc8433: But in the seventies there were many Dutch singer/groups popular in Germany: George Baker Selection (Oh La Paloma Blanca), Luv (Trojan Horse, You're The Greatest Lover), Bots (Sieben Tage Lang / Seven Dagen lang), Earth and Fire (Weekend), Vader Abraham (Das Lied der Schlümpfe), Pussycat (Mississippi, Smile, Georgie), Shocking Blue (Venus). Just a few I remember spontaneously.

[@MusikCassette]

7:44 live is life the storry behind that song is, that they came up with it while they were drunk on a night before a concert. During the concert they were like "well there is this song we made last night, wonna here it?" But they did not have notes, so they tried to remember the text while performing. The fans in the concert loved it, so they just stuck with that version of that evening.

[@clausanders2886]

The song was played after that on every apre-ski party.

[@MusikCassette]

to be honest, I do not know for a fact, that this story is true. But the lyrics certainly make way more sense, when you imagine the singer trying to remember the text while singing.

[@SailingSquib]

Little correction "Is played"@@clausanders2886

[@kackerlakensalat]

Lalalalala 😂

[@marihunlep]

Funny addendum: the "labadabdabdab life" line is known by the entire country of Hungary as "Levelet kaptam life" ("levelet kaptam" meaning "I received a letter") 😆😆 Ask anyone here and we swear that's what they sing 😆😆

[@genericmusicenjoyer]

Tbh seeing Ryan so shellshocked from that penguin costume is almost as funny as the band itself is

[@philipkudrna5643]

Falco was actually Austrian and „Rock me Amadeus“ (about the Baroque Superstar Musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) was the only Austrian artist to ever become Number One in the US Charts!

[@dozzzor]

It was also the only german speaking song to reach number one.

[@gordonshumway7717]

Mozart`s music wasn`t baroque but "Wiener Klassik" 😊

[@jhin4win]

when he said "i kind of like this one" to der nippel i had to laugh so hard

[@johannastockinger6581]

Wenn man Deutsch kann…

[@MrsStrawhatberry]

„Ein bisschen Frieden‘ won the Eurovision of that year. Falco, the singer of ‚der Kommissar geht um‘ did in fact sing some of his songs in English. He is Austrian btw. he also sings with an Austrian accent which is his trademark.

[@nimdasanur4571]

He WAS!

[@marikothecheetah9342]

Falco's Kommisar was translated and released also in English. His song: Rock Me Amadeus hit no 1 in the U.S. and was the only Austrian song to do so. Falco was a very prominent singer in his times. As @Fpopkop explained, it was a part of neue Deutsche Welle trend. 99 Luftballons was also released in English for the western market and did pretty well.

[@AlexVinder]

Ah, what a trip down memory lane. I was born in 87 and throughout the 90s a LOT of 80s music was played on the radio. Takes me right back to my childhood - I LOVE LOVE LOVE 'New German Wave' music till this day!!! 💜

[@silviapointner1025]

FALCO was definitiv an Origin Austrian ( Vienna ) and i loved his music a Lot Greetings from Austria

[@matthiaswinkler1312]

Greetings from Vienna :)

[@brennsuppa]

I love how the most emotional impressions you got were from Austrian artists. Falco, Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung, Opus ;)

[@Pyrobanane]

True 🇦🇹💪🏻

[@dozzzor]

And because of that video he will think that they are Germans...

[@janahaibl]

I listen to aprox. half of the songs on a regular basis, like for example at partys or casually in the car to work. and I'm born in the 2000s. they're just ICONIC😍

[@elisamaza8909]

Your reaction on Mike Krueger's "Der Nippel" was short, but delighting...

[@Norbert_Sattler]

4:00 "Didn't know it was from Germany" It isn't. Falco was Austrian. And yes, unfortunately was is the correct term, since he died quite a while ago in a car accident, if I remember correctly. No idea if anyone ever made an English cover, but it would not surprise me. 7:25 Iconic is the right word. To my knowledge it is to this day the only German language song, that ever made it to the number 1 in the US charts. If feel second hand embarresment for my previous generation for getting multiple Modern Talking songs into the charts... but then they had some full-on "Schlager" in there too, so not too surprising. But holy shit, I did not expect to see the EAV and Reinhard Fendrich in this. I was under the impression that they were only big here in Austria. I had no idea, they were so successful with our neighbors too. I mean, absolutely deserved, but still surprising.

[@schwingedeshaehers]

to the first paragraph, iirc there were drugs "im Spiel".

[@taftybufty]

Stop acting as if modern talking were bad lmao yall listened to them in secret

[@AverageReader._.]

Yeah, the "I didn't know this song was from germany" kinda hurt 😅

[@twigalucie]

You didn't know the German version of 99 Luftballons? Even in America the original sold better than the translated version or the late remix XD

[@JoergDavid]

Ryan even was´nt born at that time....

[@afjo972]

And it’s 1000 times better than the English version

[@twigalucie]

Neither was I XD @@JoergDavid

[@JoergDavid]

😉@@twigalucie

[@MarcLeonbacher-lb2oe]

​@@JoergDavidThat's an excuse for dumbasses.

[@0x777]

4:15 Yes, there was an English version of "Der Kommisar" from Falco, named "Don't turn around, the Kommisar is in town". He's also the only (AFAIK) Austrian who ever had a number 1 on the billboard charts in the US with "Amadeus". Back when I was in the US for the first time, I asked the people what they knew about Austria. The top three answers were: Falco Sound of Music Mozart That Arnold Scharzenegger didn't make the top 3 kinda irked me. Back then, he was Governor of California. And I was in Pomona, California!

[@GerhardJThier]

Hey Ryan! 👋 It makes me really happy, that you stopped most times (and repeat) AUSTRIAN songs! ❤ Falco was the first Austrian singer, who was Nr 1 in the US Charts (!!) with his "Rock me Amadeus" - a story (song) about Mozart whos 2nd firstname was Amadeus. Wolfgang Amadeus - but that name was just like an artistname, cause his first name was Joannes - John -, the 2nd was Chrysostomus, his third name was Wolfgangus - changed to Wolfgang - and the fourth was Theophilus, which is Latin and means loving god - (Theo - god; phil - loving) and was transformed to another combination - Amadeus (deus - god; amor - loving)... Translated to German it is Gottlieb. So you are right - just iconic. And there is indeed an english version of his song "Kommissar". Falco got iconic by mixing English and German phrases together - as in "Jeanny" using "quit living on dreams, life is not what it seems" in the refrain. "Life is live" by Opus is another great song from Austria and even Fendrich, EAV and Edelweiß are Austrian 😊 Edelweiß - a flower from the Alps under nature protection (even known from the Musical "Sound of Music"). Greets from Austria - Gery And there are

[@Al69BfR]

You accidentally found out how Modern Talking was able to produce hit after hit: „Wait, I think I‘ve heard that already.“ 🤔 Fun fact: The guy who wrote the songs for Milli Vanilli and produced them, Frank Farian, also wrote the songs for Boney M. at the beginning of the video and also produced them. If you want to dive in deeper into the era where 99 Red Balloons and Major Tom were massive hits, you should watch some videos about the German New Wave or as we call it, Neue Deutsche Welle.

[@kackerlakensalat]

There is a Meat Loaf album with Frank Farian. And you can definitely hear the difference😂 "Bad Attitude"

[@taftybufty]

Someone hasnt heard of the saying: "if it aint broke dont fix it" 😂

[@ESCLuciaSlovakia]

Modern Talking, Alphaville, Falco, Milli Vanilli, Boney M, Sandra... all of those were iconic also in Slovakia. I was born at the end of the 80s and that was the music of my childhood and the music on my parents' tapes, with some others like C. C. Catch. I still love that music.

[@cetpe9998]

They forgot the most iconic Alphaville song: Forever Young

[@crittah74]

This video is basically my childhood. Many of these songs were my mom's favorites and many were my favorites. I would have loved to see Nina Hagen thrown in there. She had some good music in the early 80s.

[@all-stargamer3333]

9:45 Your Reaction about "Küss die Hand schöne Frau" was hilarious. Yeah that Song is crazy.😂

[@sebastiankaisel]

Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung is always crazy 😄

[@Durin01]

3:23 "You guys have always been this way" I was laughing so hard! Thank you made my day 🤣

[@TheBorgfelder]

"Female Elton John?!" - you made my day 🤣

[@MaxDerDude]

The music of Milli Vanilli and Boney M had been written by Frank Farian, a German music producer. Unfortunately, he died a few days ago. R.I.P.!

[@niemand3774]

Es schrieben auch andere Komponisten für Milli Vanilli!

[@da7_._]

Falco is an austrian artist. He was one of the first ones to introduce the english language in the german speaking culture, and he was the first german speaking rapper.

[@BenjaminVestergaard]

Growing up in Denmark, most of the English language ones, and Da da da, made it here to give me core memories 😄 But above all, the German language 99 Luftballons kinda became the anthem of the frustrations about the iron curtain dividing Europe into East and West, and the cold war in general. Very strong song.

[@irbaboon1979]

Scorpions also did a good job at that :)

[@BenjaminVestergaard]

@@irbaboon1979 Wind of change came out after the wall fell didn't it? Or are you thinking of another song? But sure, also a strong song about the hopes and dreams of the time.

[@6h483]

I had to pause your video quiet a few times to listen to some of the songs on this list in full length again😂❤

[@CrazyManuel94]

9:38 that song goes " Good morning, dear worries, are you all back again ... "

[@faultier3215]

The song "der komissar" by Falco (minute 3:42) is actually from vienna, austria, not germany. Lyrics are german, though.

[@KzS_Guenther_Luetjens]

Falco's "Der Kommisar" sung refrain is also the beat for MC Hammers "Can't touch this" and yes Falco did some songs in two versions and this is one of them. Falco also became famous in US, because he was the egocentric guitar genie, that also did big style rap outside of US in english and in german language!! He was a mixture of Pop/Funk/Rock with added rap. Just stunning the US audience hearing him the first time. Then "Major Tom" from Peter Schilling is existing in two versions, but his best song is "Terra Titanic"

[@geiseltal1]

Guardian Angel was performed by "Masquerade" aka Drafi Deutscher. He's a German, too

[@inisipisTV]

Sorry to break it to you, but "Der Kommissar" and M.C. Hammer's "Can't touch this" lifted the famous beats from Rick James' classic "Super Freak." Composer Robert Ponger of Der Kommissar even admitted he lifted the famous beats from Super Freak which was released just a few months earlier.

[@KzS_Guenther_Luetjens]

@@inisipisTV Every day i learn something new. Super Freak you say? Nice.

[@zwergenkoenig6628]

falco played bass

[@pazuzu9495]

Du wirst lachen!! Jenseits von Eden und Guardian Angel sind BEIDE von Drafi Deutscher geschrieben und getextet!!!

[@armitage9204]

Da Da Da sounds familiar because you already reacted to the whole song. The song was famous all over the world except in North America. The singer told in an interview that your companies wanted way too much money for promoting their stuff. So they skipped that one.

[@feuerwehrmanngrisu9094]

It was 33 in dance Charts. Think was a VW commercial

[@jens_hatje]

3:46 Yes, after Falco (who is from Austria) did his Der Kommissar song, a band called After The Fire did an English cover of the song.

[@pico174]

Born in 1979 in Germany. This is like a soundtrack to my childhood 😆 I loved listening to this! Just too bad some songs are played a little too short to capture the full essence. The one I will always love is Major Tom. Even as a young child it gave me such a special feeling thinking about space and spacetravel.

[@mememoments2779]

"I like this guy: der Nippel" killed me xD

[@docinho3206]

Your face at 9:45 made me laugh. I listened a lot to this Band (Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung) as a child (didn't fully understand what the texts were about most of the time), and they are my grandpa's favourite Band xD Also their music videos are wild

[@gabbyn978]

FYI: the name translates roughly as First General Insecurity

[@lorism.8755]

Thanks for this cool reaction. As a German I know the most of this songs and I listen to them very often and sometimes I´m also singing. Keep it up! Grüße from Deutschland!

[@andretertling9122]

Now this was a blast from the past. The video material was also hilarious, some things were so out of context it really made me laugh seeing you were like "WTF did I just see?!". All in all a nice compilation, and a hilarious pick of video footage. I think most if not all songs can be found on KZbin so I really recommend searching by name of artist/band and song to enjoy the full songs. Milli Vanilli were really big for a while and it all ended with a nice little scandal. Their music was "geil" though (see what I did there, Bruce?) and just recently a documentary about rise and fall of Milli Vanilli hit the cinema. Haven't watched it yet but I've heard a few good things about it. Put it on my watchlist. Keep watching music from all the decades that are just 20 years ago, it's quite some fun for me!

[@memyselfandi3202]

The songs in this list are sooo diverse and a German, who is from that time, could tell you stories to nearly each of them. We have a mix of Disco, NDW, Schlager, Rock, comedy style songs from EAV, Apres-Ski/Ballermann, etc pp F.i. that the person behind Bonny M is the same person who created Milli Vanilli: Frank Farian

[@Flamebeard0815]

There's so moch to unpack in this set of songs. And really nice to see the transition from 70s disco through 80s NDW songs to modern-ish pop songs. And to think that the outrage surrounding Milli Vanilli (and, to an extent, Boney M.) is the norm nowadays... To clarify for you, Ryan: The producer of Boney M. and Milli Vanilli, Frank Farian, was undisclosedly providing the male vocal track for the songs of the respective acts. While nowadays having a playback act is, in some music styles, the norm or at least expected, back in the 80s, this was seen as a cadinal sin.

[@vomm]

Theres also a nice transition to the 90s, Edelweiss from '89 is already 90s as it can get 🤣

[@robbeck8661]

And they had to give their Grammys back after the scandal was unveiled

[@apveening]

About Frank Farian being undisclosed: My parents had an early edition of "Night Flight To Venus" by Boney M. and Frank Farian was listed as one of the vocals (and Bobby Farrell wasn't). That surprised me very much at the time, being young and innocent as I was then.

[@ulrichbahr1531]

btw. David Bowie, Depeche mode (Hansa studio berlin ) Beatles etc. starts/ work in Germany .

[@chessnut4886]

The guy's name is Mike Krüger and the song is called "Der Nippel"! Which means "The Nipple" in English. Yes, THE nipple.

[@Roberternst72]

Interesting. I wasn’t aware of it, but „Der Kommissar“ by Falco 1982 has pretty much the same central riff that was used a couple of years later by the song „U can’t touch this“ by MC Hammer in 1990.

[@dinocatgaming2127]

They forgot Queen 😢 Most of their stuff was produced by a German guy and recorded in a studio in Munich...

[@poisonmilow]

I love your reactions. Some of the songs were iconic in Germany because of their lyrics. Jürgen von der Lippe was a Comidean and his Song was like "Good morning my Problems and Sorrows, are you back again? Of course!" Another one in the List was like Motivation Song to gross national product. EAV (Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung / first whole uncerteny) sang in a fun way about flirting, "Küss die Hand schöne Frau, ihre Augen sind so blau..." ("Handkiss to you, dear woman, you have the bluest of eyes...") they where known for their funny lyrics. And it's interesting that you skipped so fast over Nicole singing "Ein bisschen Frieden", only saying 'Hippie Germany'. She had been the only german winner from the Grandpre de la Chansong for years. (I am very aware I have a lot oft typing errors in this comment... ) As a german who grew up with these songs, I thought the whole World would know Nicole. Well, instead you praised Falco and skipped Modern Talking, which is amazing. Falco is a gineus... And Modern Talking... Sorry for their Fans, I hate this duo.

[@ASMREleanor]

And don’t forget: It‘s music from Western Germany 😊 There are also iconic songs from the former GDR 🥰

[@reesofraft4166]

Sorry to say - Roland Kaiser is still filling lots of concerts. I really don't get why the young generation is into Schlager. I guess they have not been tortured enough with it by their parents. i can sing along with almost all those songs... this is my kindergarten and elementary school time. and lots of those things were on for a long time.

[@annemone5568]

Schlager = torture; thank you for this!!! I was one of those victims…🤪 When I hear Roland Kaiser, the first thing that comes to my mind is „Help…“ and the second thing „can anybody please stop this or get me out of here…“

[@reesofraft4166]

dafür landen wir alle in der (schlager)Hölle, Hölle, Hölle! @@annemone5568

[@steffenbickert3538]

OMG !!! How fascinating ! The songs of my childhood (born 1975). And if you wanna see a guy from "Modern Talking" look for "Dieter Bohlen". He is still active on TV. I could watch this song-compilation over and over again. Milly Vanilly: There is a new film, cause the two guys did never sing. They were only for the look. It was a great betrayel. Thank you Ryan ! Made my day ! Absolutely !!!

[@johannesk007]

"Rock me, Amadeus" is about the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. And how he lived

[@nebelland8355]

As a German I wish we could claim Falco for us, but actually he was Austrian…and really good. Amadeus in the English version was a hit in the USA. As far as I know Nenas translated version of 99 Luftballons was 99 red balloons.

[@Dennis-Hinz]

OPUS is also austrian ;-) You know Milli Vanilli because there was a big scandal with fake-singing

[@PTBS_Ortega]

The Songs "Blauer Planet" from Karat and the song "Am Fenster" from City, should also be in that List. Really good Est German Music.

[@Luggi83]

3:43 As an Autrian I take personal offense by whomever made this list. Falco was as Austrian as an artist ever could be. Same goes for Opus and EAV.

[@Phusichen]

Er ließt selbst vor, dass in dem Video auch Österreichische und Schweizerische Sänger genannt werden

[@knipserey]

"Jeanny" by "Falco was such a strong composition - enough for at least 2 Songs... Please view the whole music-video of "Jeanny" and mind the part starting at 4:14 - when Falco is sitting in a strait-jacket and starts screaming .. especially mind the backing vocals... and then search for the music video of "An Tagen wie diesen" by "Fettes Brot". The backing vocals of "Jeanny" became chorus-melody and the scream by Falco became a backing vocal. And in the rapped verses the piano from the beginning of "Jeanny" was sampled. Both songs have very strong topics. Jeanny is about the missing of young girls where abuse / rape cannot be excluded. After release it was highly discussed and also banned from some radio stations because it is from the point of view of a... maybe psycho... it might be "just" a stalker, it might be a rapist... thats not clear in the song and it leaves many room for interpretation by the audience... but there came more songs that continued the story of Jeanny - so she was still alive. "An Tagen wie diesen" addresses the daily war coverage and the blunting of society because it is all becoming so normal. In the music video all cars were digital replaced by tanks to show how "normal" the war-scenes became. Seeing that the neighbors cat was killed by car-accident was more shocking for the protagonist in the song than all the war and hunger in the world that he saw every day on TV.

[@paul1979uk2000]

Yeah the 80's were a wild time when it comes to styles lol. I remember growing up in the 80's and 90's in the UK, thinking a lot of these songs were from English-speaking countries, as I became an adult, it surprised me how many good songs that were released from none English-speaking countries in Europe and what I didn't realise is that there were so many of these songs that spoke in the native language and did one in English. This video is just about Germany, but there are a lot of good songs from other European countries that many might mistake as being from an English-speaking country.

[@perrosol-ns4cc8ot4t]

Don't confuse "Boat On The River" by Styx from 1979 with "I see a Boat On The River" by Boney M from the same year, which was composed by their producer Frank Farian, among others.

[@Me_SwiftieEdition]

Him saying Da da da makes me falling out of the window laughing 😂

[@hope7831]

Ich erinnere mich als wäre es wirklich erst 20 Jahre her. Es waren echt tolle Lieder dabei.

[@draganazivanovic1406]

It was a great era for music and we loved it

[@rebexca3]

Love these quick journeys through german music taste

[@SG49478]

Some remarks which might explain why some of the songs are kind of familiar to you as well. Falco's first hit "Der Komissar" was covered by the Band "After The Fire" and released in english in the US. And it became a huge hit breaking into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The lyrics were "Don't turn around... the Komissar's in town" Nena and Peter Schilling's songs were translated and released in an english version and both were successful in the US and are still played in some retro US radio stations today. Nicole won with her song "Ein bisschen Frieden" the Eurovision song contest making this song more known internationally. The song "Da da da" by Trio was a huge hit in the UK as well and made it also into the US dance charts, means it was noticed there as well. The band Alphaville made into the billboard charts with "Big in Japan" and "Forever young", so they where known in the US as well. In Germany they had some more hits, their biggest besides these two was "Sounds like a melody" in this list. Back to Falco: He made it to number one in the US with "Rock me Amadeus". In Germany he had two more number ones with "Der Kommissar" and "Jeanny" and many more Top 10. Opus are from Austria, "Live is life" was huge in whole Europe, but also made it into the US Charts as well. Milli Vanilli made it to number one in the US with 3 out of the 4 songs in the list and the 4th "Girl you know it's true" made it to number 2. Their success abruptly ended once it came out that they never were singing on their albums, they were just lip syncing. That lead to a huge scandal and practically ended their career. And one more comment: Sandra, who is in the list with "Maria Magdalena" had some more top 10 hits in Germany. Her voice is well known in the US as well since she was the wife of Michael Cretu, who is the mastermind behind the project "Enigma". The female voice in the huge US success "Sadness" is provided by her.

[@Steffe]

Quite a few well known hits here that I remember. The Nicole song from Eurovision was a nassive hit.

[@clausanders2886]

Part of the songs are NDW: neue Deutsche Welle. Falco was Austrian, Milli Vanilli were fake and I'm ashamed of Christian Anders (I disavowed this part of my family) - part of Modern Talking. 80% of the songs are good though.

[@Flamebeard0815]

Oh yeah! Hopefully, Ryan will be at some point reacting to the different music styles that emerged over the last 40 years. There's several that are quite unique to Germany or at least have a uniquely German spin on them without 'foreigners' noticing, but still finding it weird or being uneasy whilst listening to them (not being able to tell why they are queasy about it).

[@twigalucie]

Milli Vanilli were THAT scandal from the decade. Teriffic story. And I don't even liked the music XD

[@Warentester]

I'll never forget my favourite radio station: "The Bad news: Modern Talking released a new album - The good news: were still not playing them"

[@taftybufty]

​@@WarentesterModern Talking doesnt need the approval of Krauts who think their music taste is superior. They already are quite successful worldwide. So dont worry. As for "being ashamed", there are worse things to be ashamed of. For example, ask your grandparents whom they voted in the 1930s. :)

[@patrickschindler2583]

Boney M. was a disco band produced by Frank Farian that had international success, especially in the 1970s, with songs such as Daddy Cool, Rivers of Babylon and Ma Baker. Boney M. has sold over 150 million records worldwide, including more than 60 million singles. If I'm not mistaken, the contract with the group was limited to a certain period of time. If I'm not mistaken, after the group dissolved, they tried to found a new one, but that was banned because of copyright. The group was brought from Jamaica. Everything else was history. Imagine Frank Faraian went to Jamaica and got some unknown group and signed a temporary record deal with them like Boney M

[@d.l.i.n.e2591]

The singer of Alphaville comes from the same city as me. That's unbelievable. If I hadn't seen this video, Google wouldn't have told me . Thanks ryan :)

[@sandrap.3399]

I recall you doing a video on "Da Da Da" - that's probably why it's familiar Lots of Austrian Music there, too Milli Vanilli were the infamous fake band, they didn't sing themselves^^

[@GettingNervous]

In 1983, there was a cover version of the song “Der Kommissar” by the English band “After the Fire”.

[@hannessteffenhagen61]

Falco also produced English versions of a lot of his songs because he figured he could get more popular that way

[@lora5638]

thanks for that. I am German from that generation. blast from the past.

[@Angie-df5ej]

Falco is an Austrian singer, he was very famous in the 80s and 90s. German singers always had to sing in English at that time. But some of them made their way and sang in German. The new German wave emerged. Unfortunately, he died far too early.

[@simonl.6338]

"Der Nippel" and "Samstag Abend" are not exactly the names of these people...😅

[@chrisgo4668]

Fun fact: Milli Vanilli only performed, the singing was done by Frank Farian.

[@niemand3774]

No, Farian was the Producer, not the singer!

[@Absbor]

Remember Ryan: German Songs don't mean the songs are all from germany. they can also come from german speaking countries (like you have read it in the description of the video). like we don't expect english to come all from england.

[@chemina8541]

Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung might sound funny (and they are) but their lyrics are nearly always very critical and thought-provoking. They pretty much commented on everything from the dangers of radiation (and human ignorance combined with radiation) 'Burli' to sex tourism 'Samurai', humans being violent through the ages 'Willkommen im Neanderthal' and ohters. Their music is pretty catchy and you have to actually listen and then think about it, like the best kind of jokes, that make people laugh and then wince. Reinhard Fendrich is another one that isn't always mushy lovey dovey - He has, among other pearls and some smooshy stuff, one song about corruption which was pretty explicit; 'Tango Korrupti' and when he sang it at festivals he always smiled very, very broadly at the politicians in the first row and then publically asked them to sing along (roughly tranlated): Tango Corrupti, if someone notices and exposes you, hire a lawyer who knows what he is doing, and be on your way! The tax police is after you, but eh, it doesn't raise your pulse, because everything you have is already at the Bahamas!' There were a lot of popular acts that weren't all about love.

[@rumpelpumpel7687]

song bits are way too short. i'd prefer if you reacted to actual songs instead of split-second snippets :) - thx for your daily uploads