# Origin of "Germans love David Hasselhoff"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796 "2004-07-12T22:52:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/1 "2004-07-12T22:52:41Z")
When Norm MacDonald anchored _SNL’s_ “Weekend Update,” he had a running gag that “Germans love David Hasselhoff” – just like Chevy Chase, back in the '70s, had a running gag that “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.” I forgot all about this after MacDonald moved on, but recently I saw _Dodgeball_ and there was a bit with the German team kissing Hasselhoff’s picture – I’m wondering, where did this come from? Did MacDonald just make this up and it became a cultural catchphrase? Or is Hasselhoff actually popular in Germany for some reason? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/2 "2004-07-12T22:55:06Z")
No, it’s true. David Hasselhoff has had a somewhat successful pop career in Germany. Kind like the French like Jerry Lewis, the Germans like Hasselhoff. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/3 "2004-07-12T22:56:19Z")
From what I’ve read, Hasselhoff is indeed very popular in Germany. Why? Beats me. [Cite](http://www.davidhasselhoff.com/biography.html) > [@](#): > > Despite his enormous success in television, Hasselhoff’s childhood dream of a recording career had, by the late 1980’s, yet to be fulfilled. However, that all changed when he recorded “Looking for Freedom,” just at the end of the Cold War. The song quickly became an anthem for the German people and it raced to the number one spot on the German charts where it remained for eight consecutive weeks in 1989. > > The album, Looking for Freedom, hit the top of the German charts as well, staying there for three months. It went gold and triple platinum in Europe while on its way to becoming Germany’s number one selling album of the year. Hasselhoff was named “Most Popular and Best Selling Artist of the Year” in Germany. This honor was followed up by a twenty-city standing room only tour, with Hasselhoff playing to well over 250,000 adoring European fans. > > The most thrilling performance of his singing career, however, came when Hasselhoff was invited to perform, “Looking For Freedom,” live on top of the Berlin Wall on New Year’s Eve, 1989. “It was the first time Germany had been unified, and close to a million East and West German fans stood together in the freezing cold at midnight watching me perform. I was overcome with emotion,” said Hasselhoff. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/4 "2004-07-12T23:04:26Z")
Keep in mind that this was in the late 80’s, early 90’s, so a modern German will deny they love him, in much the same way Americans deny we loved MC Hammer. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/5 "2004-07-12T23:04:44Z")
This thread once again proves my theory that GERMANS LOVE DAVID HASSELHOFF. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/6 "2004-07-12T23:19:14Z")
I’m _not_ going to go digging for cites, but in recent news storys Hasselhoff’s gotten the Germans to give him some credit for the Berlin Wall coming down, and he’s also made, what I consider to be a _very_ disturbing comment about the love he’s gotten from German children… ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/7 "2004-07-12T23:27:04Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > Keep in mind that this was in the late 80’s, early 90’s, so a modern German will deny they love him, in much the same way Americans deny we loved MC Hammer. I still love MC Hammer! It’s Hammer Time !!! …“Can’t touch this” ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/8 "2004-07-13T00:19:57Z")
Hasselhoff took his fame on Knight Rider (a huge hit in Germany) and used it to do some concerts in Germany…thus the fan base. His singing voice isn’t horrible, but not good enough to compete in the larger US market. He was perfect as a singing “star” for the smaller German market. I met Hasselhoff once and mentioned his huge fanbase in Germany…he had a good sense of humor about it, spoke some German, and seemed to just take it for what it was - a nice side gig in a foreign country that gave him a chance to sing in front of an audience and make some bucks. Another American TV star did the same thing…Audrey Landers of “Dallas” fame went to Germany and did her share of singing concerts. She has a decent singing voice, and used her TV fame to create a minor singing career in Germany. She just never quite achieved the large fan base that Hasselfhoff did. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/9 "2004-07-13T00:24:47Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I still love MC Hammer! > It’s Hammer Time !!! > > …“Can’t touch this” For those who wonder why I’m **astro** ’s _ex_-wife… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/10 "2004-07-13T00:37:18Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Hasselhoff took his fame on Knight Rider (a huge hit in Germany) . . . Is this for real? The country that gave the world Goethe, Beethoven, Marx, Hegel Kant, Nietzsche and Wagner dug _ **Knight Rider?** _ I’m starting to believe all those theories about Western cultures in decline. Then again, Great Britain did give us both _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_ and _Benny Hill,_ in the same decade . . . I guess there’s just different levels of culture coexisting in every country. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/11 "2004-07-13T02:08:14Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Is this for real? The country that gave the world Goethe, Beethoven, Marx, Hegel Kant, Nietzsche and Wagner dug _ **Knight Rider?** _ I’m starting to believe all those theories about Western cultures in decline. > > Then again, Great Britain did give us both _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_ and _Benny Hill,_ in the same decade . . . I guess there’s just different levels of culture coexisting in every country. Not to mention that Baywatch was also the most popular show in Germany (and the world) at one time… Big Brother (German version), too. Popular TV shows suck everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/12 "2004-07-13T02:58:28Z")
Hasselhoff was on Baywatch? I didn’t notice. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/13 "2004-07-13T05:49:03Z")
Then again, Great Britain did give us both _Monty Python’s Flying Circus_ and _Benny Hill,_ in the same decade . [/QUOTE] And how fabulous is that! I actually have an MP3 of Hassel The Hoff singing “Looking for Freedom”, which was procured to taunt a German in my wife’s lab. It’s a scream. _One morning in June some 20 years ago, I was born a rich man’s son. I had everything that money could buy, But freedom, I had none._ ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/14 "2004-07-13T06:43:11Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Another American TV star did the same thing…Audrey Landers of “Dallas” fame went to Germany and did her share of singing concerts. She has a decent singing voice, and used her TV fame to create a minor singing career in Germany. She just never quite achieved the large fan base that Hasselfhoff did. Awwwwww, man! I can’t believe I was beaten on this one! Back when I was 19 (1991) my best friend and I went to Germany and couldn’t believe that not only was David Hasselhoff a star over there… But that Audrey Landers had several CDs!!! Yes, the chick from _Dallas_… [Here’s](http://www.bmgnews.de/PARI/KAT/COVER1/JPG72DPI8/P/74321712392.jpg) a pic of her “Greatest Hits” CD cover… You’ll notice that the site is BMGNEWS\*\*.DE\*\* hehehehehe… ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/15 "2004-07-13T06:55:29Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Is this for real? The country that gave the world Goethe, Beethoven, Marx, Hegel Kant, Nietzsche and Wagner dug _ **Knight Rider?** _ Oh, that’s not a stretch – don’t the Germans love [well-crafted machines?](http://hem.passagen.se/pejj/knight10.jpg)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/16 "2004-07-13T11:36:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Is this for real? The country that gave the world Goethe, Beethoven, Marx, Hegel Kant, Nietzsche and Wagner dug _ **Knight Rider?** _ I’m starting to believe all those theories about Western cultures in decline. Greetings from the land of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Spinoza, Erasmus, Van den Vondel, Vermeer, Hals and Potter - where in the 1980’s, the only thing more popular than _Knight Rider_ was _The Dukes of Flippin’ Hazzard_. 😃 _Looking for Freedom_ is a scream, by the way. “Been workin’ on the farm, Got some muscle in my arm But still I’m not a self-made man…” _sniff_ You ought to see the video. Lots of shots of Hasselhoff singing all macho-like in a leather jacket, fistpumping away, whilst KITT jumps over passing trains in the background. C’mon - a curly mullet, a jumping car, a cheap leather jacket, and an easy-sing-along tune… of COURSE the Germans loved it. Have you ever _been_ to Germany? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/17 "2004-07-13T13:01:06Z")
The fact that Hasselhoff actually made a stage name for himself in Frank Wildhorn’s “Jeckyll & Hyde” makes me believe that musical theatre is doomed. When business starts to taper off They call in David Hasselhoff Or sign a Donny Osmond-type that has a low I.Q. from Gerard Alessandrini’s “Forbidden Broadway” 20th Anniversary CD ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/18 "2004-07-13T14:10:03Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Is this for real? The country that gave the world Goethe, Beethoven, Marx, Hegel Kant, Nietzsche and Wagner dug _ **Knight Rider?** _ I’m starting to believe all those theories about Western cultures in decline. Absolutely. Just to add a little German culture historic background: 😉 Up to the mid-1980s there was only public television in Germany. In the late 80s private television took off. In the first years the networks were underfunded compared to the public system and could (or at least did) not produce their own programs. Since domestic productions were in the hands of the public system, they imported US series. _Knight Rider_ was among the series aimed at younger viewers. I was about nine at the time and watching an action series (!) on those slightly indecent commercial channels (In the early years they lived on cheap gameshows, cheap cartoons, cheap imported series and even cheaper quasi-soft-porn) was definitely cool. Even the fact that reception was often crappy or not available at all added to the appeal. So to this day Knight Rider has a special place in the hearts of my generation - it was a step on our journey towards the modern media world. I guess you had to be there to understand the nostalgia when a group of current German university students watches a rerun of Knight-Rider or A-Team together. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/19 "2004-07-13T14:28:11Z")
_Tutti Frutti_ 😃 Actually, when the various RTL incarnations throughout Europe started to re-run (re-re-run?) Knight Rider et al in the mid 90’s, me and my college mates made a point of tuning in to the German RTL Plus version. Why? Because in Holland, everything is subtitled. The Germans - they dub everything. _Everything._ Which to us easily-amused-neighbours-to-the-West is downright hilarious. I mean, a mere… - “Sei vorsichtig, Michael!” - “Mach’ ich, Kumpel!” …would have us in stitches for minutes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796/20 "2004-07-13T19:08:11Z")
Be sure to check out the [customer reviews](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000070S1/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/102-8609385-1198526?v=glance&s=music&vi=customer-reviews) of Hasselhoff’s greatest hits album. There are over a thousand of them and many are brutally funny. Oh, and the song _Hot Shot City_ is particularly good. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-germans-love-david-hasselhoff/254796.md?page=2)