"Axel F" is the

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

theme from the 1984 film ''

Beverly Hills Cop ''Beverly Hills Cop'' is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr., and starring Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Detroit cop who ...

'' performed by

Harold Faltermeyer Hans Hugo Harold Faltermeier (born 5 October 1952) is a German musician, composer and record producer. Faltermeyer is best known for composing the "Axel F" theme for the feature film ''Beverly Hills Cop'', an influential synth-pop hit in the 1 ...

. It was an international number one hit in 1985.

Background

The title comes from the main character's name in the film,

Axel Foley Detective Axel Foley is a fictional character, portrayed by Eddie Murphy, and is the titular protagonist of the ''Beverly Hills Cop'' film series. He is ranked 55 on ''Empire'' magazine's list of ''The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time ...

(played by

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...

). It is composed in the key of

F minor F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature consists of four flats. Its relative major is A-flat major and its parallel major is F major. Its enharmonic equivalent, E-sharp mi ...

. Faltermeyer recorded the song using five instruments: a

Roland Jupiter-8 The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in early 1981. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980s. Approximately 3300 units have b ...

provided the distinctive "supersaw" lead, a

Moog modular synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

15 provided the bass, a

Roland JX-3P The Roland JX-3P is a synthesizer produced by Roland Corporation of Japan from 1983-1985. The "3P" in its name refers to "Programmable Preset Polyphonic". It is notable as one of the company's first synthesizers (along with the Jupiter-6) to inc ...

provided chord stab brasses, a

Yamaha DX7 The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980 ...

was used for the marimba sound, and a

LinnDrum The LinnDrum, also referred to as the LM-2, is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics between 1982 and 1985. About 5,000 units were sold. Its high-quality samples, flexibility and affordability made the LinnDrum popular; it sold far mo ...

was used for drum programming. According to Faltermeyer, the initial reaction to his premiere presentation of the cues to the film's producers and director did not result in an immediate approval; it was not until director

Martin Brest Martin Brest (born August 8, 1951) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Education Brest was born in the Bronx, New York, and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1969, from New York University's School of the Arts in ...

voiced his approval that the producers showed enthusiasm. In addition to the ''Beverly Hills Cop'' soundtrack, the song also appears on Faltermeyer's 1988 album ''Harold F.'' as a bonus track. Reportedly, Faltermeyer was against including it, but MCA insisted as it was his most recognizable track.

Music video

An unusual music video was made and directed by Faltermeyer. He is featured dressing in an overcoat, hat, and sunglasses. He sneaks into a computer room in the night and watches as he plays the synthesizer while playing some scenes from the film.

Personnel

– synthesizers, drum programming

Track listings

* 7" single # "Axel F" – 3:00 # "Shoot Out" – 2:44 * 12" maxi # "Axel F" (M & M Mix) – 7:00 # "Axel F" (Extended Version) – 7:09 # "Shoot Out" – 2:44 * 12" maxi # "Axel F" (Extended Version) – 7:09 # "Shoot Out" – 2:44

Charts

This version of the song reached number 2 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and number 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US. It also spent two weeks atop the American

adult contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Techno Cop version

In 1992, the German techno group Techno Cop covered the instrumental, whose success modestly ranked to a top 30 success. Compared to the original, this version contains rap passages.

Track listing

* 12" maxi # Axel F (Outlaw Mix) - 5:50 # Axel F (Megaphone Mix) - 5:20 # Cops In Trance - 4:15 * CD maxi # Axel F (U-Boot Mix) - 6:00 # Axel F (Radio Edit) - 3:49 # Axel F (Minimalistixtendid) - 4:41 # Beverly Kills - 2:58

Charts

Clock version

British pop/

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

act

Clock A clock or a timepiece is a device used to measure and indicate time. The clock is one of the oldest human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month and the ...

released a successful

cover of "Axel F" in 1995. Produced by Richard Pritchard and

Stu Allan Stu Allan (6 February 1962 – 22 September 2022) was a British dance music DJ and producer who worked for Piccadilly Radio and Key 103 in Manchester in the 1980s and 1990s. His hip hop, hardcore techno and house music mixes ranked him the w ...

, it peaked at number five in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, number seven in the UK, number eight in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and number 37 in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

, the single reached number 20 and in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, it peaked at number 42.

Critical reception

Music writer

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

wrote in his weekly UK chart commentary, "There is no denying the brilliance of this record, making the Harold Faltermeyer classic more of a dance hit than he could ever have dreamed as the song makes the Top 10 close on ten years since the original did the same." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update described the song as "another energetic remake". Another editor, James Hamilton noted it as a "ultra excitingly galloping 135bpm

Hi-NRG Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s. As a music genre, typified by fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the ...

" track.

Track listing

* UK CD maxi #"Axel F (Radio Short Stab)" - 3:22 #"Axel F (Primax Mix)" - 4:47 #"Keep Pushin' (Clock N-R-G Mix)" - 6:27 #"Keep Pushin' (PTP 'London' Mix)" - 7:46 * Sweden CD maxi #"Axel F (Radio Edit)" - 3:38 #"Axel F (Primax Mix)" - 4:44 #"Axel F (Ten to Two Mix)" - 5:40 #"Keep Pushing (PTP London Edit)" - 4:40 #"Clock Megamix" - 15:40

Charts

PSY version

In 2002,

Psy Park Jae-sang (, ; born December 31, 1977), known professionally as Psy (stylized in all caps as PSY) (; ; ), is a South Korean singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Psy is known domestically for his humorous videos and stage perf ...

released a title track "Champion" as part of his album ''

3 Mai ''3 Mai'' ( ko, 3마이) is the third album by South Korean singer Psy. The album was released on September 19, 2002, and was also released worldwide through iTunes. It contains 15 songs. Release and success of title track The third album was ...

'' with its "crowd-pumping vibe", during Seoul's enthusiasm over the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. The title song "Champion" was also inspired by Korean street cheering during the 2002 World Cup. Paul Lester of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called "Champion" a "thrashy disco" which heavily samples Axel F by

". Jeff Benjamin of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' said, "'Champion' is a funky dance track that uses video game-like synthesizers years before the EDM explosion. With self-empowering lyrics and the repeated title word in the chorus, the song doubled as an anthem for South Korea when they hosted the World Cup in Seoul that year."

Crazy Frog version

In 2005,

Crazy Frog Crazy Frog (originally known as The Annoying Thing) is a Swedish CGI-animated character and Eurodance musician created in 2003 by actor and playwright Erik Wernquist. Marketed by the ringtone provider Jamba!, the character was originally creat ...

recorded the song, releasing it as "Axel F", and It became a

summer hit In the entertainment industry, a summer hit is a song that is released and peaks in its popularity during summer. In some years, a single pop song will gain widespread international popularity during the summer season, becoming that summer's def ...

that year. The

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

is Crazy Frog's first and most internationally successful single. The

cover Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

was produced by Matthias Wagner and Andreas Dohmeyer, the two members of Off-cast Project, and Henning Reith and Reinhard "DJ Voodoo" Raith, two members of the German

production team

Bass Bumpers Bass Bumpers are a German DJ and record production team, known for their Eurodance/techno music. They are originally from Germany, with members Henning Reith, Caba Kroll, CJ Stone, George Dee, Akira Yamamoto, and Reinhard "DJ Voodoo" Raith. They p ...

Wolfgang Boss Wolfgang Boss is a German music executive, producer and president of A&R for Sony Music Entertainment company. Wolfgang holds the position of Sony Music's Executive President A&R globally since 2012. With more than 100 gold and platinum certific ...

and Jamster! arranged the remix, and later marketed it as a

ringtone A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...

. The song consists of vocals taken from the Crazy Frog recording by Daniel Malmedahl in 1997. It uses mainly the same part of the two-minute original that was used in Jamster's ringtone release. The song also uses the "What's going on?" vocal samples (as well as the instruments) from another 2003 cover of Axel F, by Murphy Brown and

Captain Hollywood Captain Hollywood Project is a German eurodance music project best known for the hits “ More and More," " Only with You" and " Flying High." At the peak of its success in the 1990s, the project achieved ten top-20 hits on European music charts. ...

(dubbed "Axel F 2003" and sometimes "Axel F 2004" also produced by Matthias Wagner and Andreas Dohmeyer). The Ministry of Sound hired Kaktus Film and Erik Wernquist of TurboForce3D, the original creator of the 3D Crazy Frog, to produce a full-length animated music video to accompany the release of the song. The video, featuring the Crazy Frog character, is set in the future, and centres on his pursuit by a bounty hunter. The bounty hunter receives notification of a $50,000 reward for capturing the frog. There were three edits to the song. The original version of the song can be found at most

P2P P2P may refer to: * Pay to play, where money is exchanged for services * Peer-to-peer, a distributed application architecture in computing or networking ** List of P2P protocols * Phenylacetone, an organic compound commonly known as P2P * Poin ...

networks. This song used the "What's going on?" samples twice throughout the song and the "weeee!" sound is heard before the motorbike section of the song. A radio edit was made which had the frog saying "This is the Crazy Frog!" and removed some sounds, and a third edit was made for the ''Crazy Hits'' album with the frog saying "I am the Crazy Frog!"

Chart performances

Released across Europe in May 2005, "Axel F" topped the charts in the United Kingdom, with some of the best weekly sales of the year (out-selling rivals such as

Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...

by four copies to one), and remained at top of the

for four weeks and becoming Britain's third best-selling single of 2005, outselling and outpeaking the original version. In other European countries the popularity has differed, with the song failing to make the top 20 in Switzerland at first, before gradually climbing to number 1, whilst only making number 18 in Russia. It also reached number 1 in the overall European chart, after initially being number 2 to

Akon Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (; born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon, is a Senegalese-American singer, record producer, and entrepreneur. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of " Locked Up" (featuring Styles P) ...

's "Lonely" for several weeks, and stayed there until September. It also reached number 1 in Australia, Republic of Ireland, Belgium, Denmark, France, New Zealand, Norway, Ukraine, Spain, and Sweden. In France, the song made an amazing jump, entering the

French Singles Chart French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

at number seventy seven on June 11, 2005, and moving all the way to number two the next week. There it stayed for two weeks before climbing to the summit, where it remained for thirteen weeks. It fell off the first position being dethroned by its 2nd single, "

Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated; the same names also refer to the foodstuff produced by the expansion. A popcorn kernel's strong hull contains the se ...

" (it was only the second time that an artist dethroned himself in that country). The song remained in the top 10 for 21 weeks, 30 weeks in the top 50 and 36 weeks in the chart. Its best weekly sales were 103,564 on its 6th week. On December 1, 2005, it was certified

Diamond disc The Edison Diamond Disc Record is a type of phonograph record marketed by Thomas A. Edison, Inc. on their Edison Record label from 1912 to 1929. They were named Diamond Discs because the matching Edison Disc Phonograph was fitted with a permanent ...

7 months after its release by SNEP, the French certifier. The song is the third best-selling single of the 21st century in France, with 1,270,000 units sold. (1,265,579 sales, according to another source). Despite the Crazy Frog not being hugely well known in Japan, the single release also charted there, peaking at number 46. It peaked at number 50 in the U.S. Although "Axel F" managed to find more success in Mainstream Markets, it proved to be a moderate success on US Rhythmic Top 40 where it peaked at number 28 just scraping the top 30. It also peaked at number 3 on the U.S Digital Sales beating the likes of Lindsay Lohan and the Black Eyed Peas. Its highest U.S. success was just missing the top spot at number 2 on the US Adult Contemporary Top 20 however it became an Internet meme. The song was the 65th best-selling single of the 2000s in the UK.

Music video

An overview of the city is shown. Then someone in a

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

with attached

satellite dish A satellite dish is a dish-shaped type of parabolic antenna designed to receive or transmit information by radio waves to or from a communication satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radi ...

es and

high-tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

instruments on the interior sees a message on one of the monitor, which reads "Wanted: The most annoying thing in the world", referring to Crazy Frog, with a

bounty Bounty or bounties commonly refers to: * Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing Bounty or bounties may also refer to: Geography * Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...

of $50000 specified for the catcher. The bounty hunter activates a killbot mounted on armoured hover cycle in the video, then it proceeds to track the Crazy Frog as he commutes around the city on his imaginary motorcycle. As the bounty hunter closes in on his prey, Crazy Frog becomes aware of his pursuer and an unlikely chase begins over skyscrapers and through the city's sewer system, before the killbot launches a

guided missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

at the Frog. However, Crazy Frog is able to mount the missile as it approaches him, evidently confusing its

guidance system A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes in po ...

, as it then begins to loop and glide uncontrollably. The missile eventually locks onto the bounty hunter's van, destroying it and creating a large

mushroom cloud A mushroom cloud is a distinctive mushroom-shaped flammagenitus cloud of debris, smoke and usually condensed water vapor resulting from a large explosion. The effect is most commonly associated with a nuclear explosion, but any sufficiently ener ...

. The mushroom cloud does not appear in the revised version of the video seen as of September 2021. Crazy Frog manages to escape the blast, covered in dust from the debris and appearing to deliver the closing '

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

'. In 2011, the video was listed in ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

s "50 Worst Music Videos", ranking at 47. As of July 2022, it has been viewed more than 3.4 billion times on YouTube.

Track listing

* Australia # "Axel F" (Radio Edit) – 2:54 # "Axel F" (Club Mix) – 6:23 # "Axel F" (Club Mix Instrumental) – 6:23 # "In the 80's" – 3:29 * UK # "Axel F" (Radio Edit) # "Axel F" (Bounce Mix) # "Axel F" (Bounce Mix Instrumental) # "Axel F" (Reservoir Frog Remix) # "Axel F" (Original Version) # "Axel F" (Video)

Charts and sales

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

The 8bitpeoples "Axel F"
A freely downloadable compilation of various artists' interpretations of "Axel F" Released under

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

license.
Press release, including sound clips
{{authority control 1984 songs 1984 debut singles 1985 singles 1992 singles 1995 singles 2005 debut singles 1980s instrumentals Beverly Hills Cop (franchise) Captain Hollywood Project songs Clock (dance act) songs Crazy Frog songs European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles MCA Records singles Ministry of Sound singles ZYX Music singles Polydor Records singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Denmark SNEP Top Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in Norway Number-one singles in Spain Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Switzerland Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) number-one singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Song recordings produced by Harold Faltermeyer Songs written for films Songs written by Harold Faltermeyer Viral videos

Background

Music video

Personnel

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Techno Cop version

Track listing

Charts

Clock version

Critical reception

Track listing

Charts

PSY version

Crazy Frog version

Chart performances

Music video

Track listing

Charts and sales

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

See also

References

External links