Since we're going to his concert tonight, this is a question we needed to answer. We really didn't know. I know he had a big song around the fall of the Berlin Wall and I know Dirk Nowitzki admitted in an interview that he often sang a Hasselhoff song in his mind at the freethrow line....but I hadn't actually ever heard The Hoff sing.
To start you off, there's a montage of his appearances and "hits" throughout the last 20 years. Amusing and it won't hurt too much (except when you remember some of your old fashions and hairstyles from that time):
When you're feeling braver, there's the video to "Hooked On A Feeling," which I love for it's absolute cheesiness factor. Off the charts! Perhaps it's aimed at a German audience - I'm not sure otherwise how to explain the random dachshunds and Alps. Though the flying angels and flying Hoff are a nice touch. We have aliens, African villagers, and the Hoff in both macho-motorcycle-man and suave tuxedo attire...what else could you want?
And the song that started it all in Germany, "I've Been Looking For Freedom." I can see why it caught on in the time that it did. Here's Hasselhoff singing it at the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin on New Years Eve 1989. This German TV video is amazing on so many levels - for one, you see the Wall still up by Brandberger Tor and the excitement of the crowd. And then you see the full late 80's Hoff...complete with piano key scarf and leather jacket light show. Also, as we saw in Munich this New Year's, Germans bring their own fireworks - and aren't afraid to shoot them at people or monuments. He dodges one around the 1:50 mark.
I'm guess this song was first played in Germany because it was a remake of another 1970's German song, "Auf der Strasse nach Süden" by Tony Marshall. Hasselhoff gave it completely new words, but it was a already familiar tune to many when its new words of freedom helped it rocket up the German charts to #1.
If you're real masochist, here are links to a few other Hasselhoff hits:
"Crazy For You" Video (best described as The Hoff on a motorcyle, on a roller coaster, and with another dachshund)
Top 10 Hasselhoff Hits (in under 2 minutes)
"Secret Agent Man" Video (the 2nd comment on YouTube says it all "David, this is HOFFULL")
"Jump In My Car" Video (only available in US)
This guy has a good sense of humor - he seems to know that his cheesiness sells, not his talent, and he uses it. And he knows that he was in the right place at the right time to become a star in Germany. He was very successful in Austria in the mid-1980's and having the #1 song (about freedom) at the time the Berlin Wall fell won him a place in many German's hearts for decades. He still tours here every year, with his daughters opening for him. This year, he's having The Hoff Is Back Tour
Tonight is going to be wonderful or wonderfully horrible. Either way, it will be a fun cultural experience!