Der Hoff

Germany is certainly a land of cultural surprises. You learn to expect strange connections and differences, and you can usually piece together some kind of logical series of circumstances that led where they led. But other times, things really come out of left field.

Germans (and Austrians) have this strange relationship with David Hasselhoff. I wouldn't call it an unhealthy relationship, as such. And I wouldn't call it hero worship, as such. And I wouldn't call it outright ridicule, as such. But it's probably a combination of all three. And something else I'll probably never quite identify.

Why is David Hasselhoff famous in Germany?

As a thirteen-year-old boy, my favourite American TV shows were "A-Team" and "Knight Rider," so I split my hero worship between B.A. Baracus and Michael Knight. Thirty-seven years later, I've moved on. And like most people (including Americans I've spoken to), the actors who played these roles still retain a kind of awkward nostalgia, tinged with vague embarrassment.

I don't know about Mr. T., but Mr. Hasselhoff means a lot more than that in Germany. And as a singer, not an actor. But it's complicated.

How did it start?

The semi-mythical rise of the Germanic Hoff starts in Austria in 1985. Hasselhoff released a debut album called "Night Rocker" and it became a number one hit. Perhaps the idea of a super-powered talking car in the car-mad German nations transferred into music sales? Who knows. Hasselhoff still jokes today that it sold only seven copies in the USA - he bought five and his mother bought two.

What happened at the Berlin Wall?

Three years later, the Berlin Wall was down, Knight Rider had been cancelled but was only now being shown on German television - just when everything American was in German vogue. Hasselhoff was smart enough to see an opportunity. He took an old '70s song, reworked it into Looking for Freedom, and it sold like hot Bratwurst.

He got a spot on a very popular New Year's Eve TV show called Die Silvester Show. He performed from a cherry-picker crane above the now-breached Berlin Wall wearing a piano-keyboard scarf and a jacket covered in red flashing Christmas lights. Over one million Germans were there in person. Countless others watched on television.

When you go to Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin, there's a picture of this event next to pictures of the Wall coming down, the JFK visit, and George W. Bush. It's led to this myth that Germans like to pretend is true: that the Hoff actually had something to do with the Wall coming down.

When they tell you this, they laugh, and you know they don't really believe it. But there's a kind of wish at the back of their minds that he did. And sometimes the wish is so strong that you think they believe it anyway, just because it should be true.

Is Hasselhoff still popular in Germany?

Over the last thirty years, Hasselhoff has released many albums in Germany and Austria and had many more hits. He regularly tours both countries, sometimes supporting larger acts like Green Day and Iron Maiden, sometimes in solo shows. He packs decent-sized venues. He even interviewed former East Germans about their experience with the Wall in a documentary called "Hasselhoff vs. The Berlin Wall."

If JFK once said "Ich bin ein Berliner" to identify with the German people, perhaps they could all return the compliment and reply: "I am the Hoff."