Major Tom (completely detached)

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Major Tom
Peter Schilling
publication November 1982
length 4:33
Genre (s) Neue Deutsche Welle
Author (s) Peter Schilling , David Harland Lodge
Producer (s) Armin Sabol , Peter Schilling
album error in the system

Major Tom is a song by the German singer Peter Schilling . It was published in November 1982 in Europe as Major Tom (completely detached) and in September 1983 in English under the name Major Tom (Coming Home) also in the USA . With this song, Peter Schilling is considered one of the most successful interpreters of the Neue Deutsche Welle . Armin Sabol acted as co-producer and guitarist .

background

→ Main article: Major Tom

The fictional person Major Tom was mentioned by David Bowie in his song Space Oddity (1969) and also described by various other singers and bands. The theme of the songs is the same; Major Tom is an astronaut who observes Earth after it is clear that for unspecified reasons he will never return to Earth.

Publication in Europe

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Major Tom (completely detached) ( Peter Schilling )
  DE 1 12/27/1982 (23 weeks)
  AT 1 03/01/1983 (12 weeks)
  CH 1 02/06/1983 (12 weeks)
Major Tom (Coming Home) (Peter Schilling)
  UK 42 04/28/1984 (8 weeks)
  US 14th 09/24/1983 (22 weeks)
Major Tom (Coming Home) ( Shiny Toy Guns )
  US 97 02/20/2010 (1 week)

After the release in autumn 1982 the single could only show number 73 in the Media Control Charts in Germany . Spurred on by the media hype about the Neue Deutsche Welle at the time, the song made its breakthrough a few weeks later, climbing to number one in the charts and staying there for a total of eight weeks. A short time later this also succeeded in Austria and Switzerland. In the course of the year, the success of the single grew beyond the German-speaking area and brought Peter Schilling high chart positions in many other countries such as Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and France. In total, the single sold over six million times.

The song achieved a special status in Mannheim : During the third breaks at home games of the Mannheimer ERC ice hockey team , the fans sang along so fervently that Major Tom still plays regularly at Adler Mannheim games in the German Ice Hockey League .

“Major Tom” can also be heard in the official soundtrack and trailer of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the ISS Horizons mission and on the radio plays in the children's book series Der kleine Major Tom .

Major Tom (Coming Home)

After the great success of the German version in Europe, Peter Schilling also aimed for success in the English-speaking world. He recorded the song in English and released the single in 1983/1984 in the United States, Canada, South Africa and some parts of Europe. In Canada and the USA, the song made it into the charts straight away. After all, a top 20 hit in the USA, the title even took first place in Canada for two months; in South Africa he was also able to reach the top five in the charts. Some time later the song also made it into the charts in Great Britain.

The album Fehler im System was released in the US and Canada as Error in the System . In Canada the album was also listed at number one in the charts, in the USA at number 61.

The English version was used as the theme song in the German miniseries Deutschland 86 in 2015 and is part of the soundtrack of the episode Bullet Points (season 4, episode 4, 2011) of the US hit series Breaking Bad . (See also cover versions .) In the series The Americans from 2016, the song can be heard in the English version in the 4th season episode 9. In the series The Umbrella Academy , the song is used in the 5th episode of the 2nd season.

Classic

At the International Astronautical Congress 2018 of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) in Bremen there was a world premiere of "Major Tom" by the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under the direction of Issac Selya in a classic arrangement.

Cover versions

  • Otto Waalkes parodied the song in 1983 with a different text ("Völlig full stuffed with gingerbread ...") as part of a Hansel and Gretel medley.
  • Peter Schilling released a dance version in 1994 called Major Tom '94 .
  • The Belgian singer Plastic Bertrand recorded a cover version in 1983.
  • The American singer Chiasm covered the song in the late 1990s and recorded both an English and a German version.
  • In 2009, the US band Shiny Toy Guns took the title for a commercial and came back to the US charts.
  • 2011 sings in the fourth season of the US series Breaking Bad radio station AMC the drug cooker Gale Boetticher ( David Costabile ) a karaoke version of the English version (partly in the fourth episode and completely in the bonus material of the DVD).
  • Another cover version was released at the end of 2011, sung by Janina Korn .
  • William Shatner of Raumschiff Enterprise released a cover version of the English version on his album Seeking Major Tom in 2011 .
  • In 2011 the Austrian formation Global Kryner also released a cover version on their album Coverstories .
  • In 2012 the Canadian punk rock band Face to Face released a cover version of the English version of the single All For Nothing .
  • In 2013 the German metalcore band Callejon released their own version of the cover album Man Spricht Deutsch .
  • In 2013, the synth-rock band Apoptygma Berzerk released an English cover version with German credits, which was also played live earlier at the band's concerts.
  • In 2013 the Dutch HandsUp formation Wrong Plane released a German cover version of Raumschiff on the Hamburg label Tunnel Records .
  • In 2014 the German grindcore band Milking the Goatmachine released a version of the song on their cover album "Greatest Hits - Covered in Milk"
  • In 2020 a new variant of the German version appeared on the cover album "Gossenhauer" by the punk rock band Radio Havanna with Tüsn .

swell

  1. ↑ release date GER
  2. ↑ release date US
  3. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US Charts US Shiny Toy Guns
  4. ↑ tagesspiegel.de: Off to the fight, to capitalism
  5. ↑ Breaking Bad - Bullet Points - Soundtracks imdb.com, accessed May 31, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Major Tom" is premiered as a classical version . Article from October 2, 2018 in the Nordwest-Zeitung
  7. ↑ Discogs.com
  8. ↑ allmusic.com: All For Nothing