In addition to the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, the track also appears on Faltermeyer's own album Harold F. as a bonus track. Its music video was directed by Faltermeyer himself.
According to Faltermeyer, the initial reaction to his first presentation of the track to the film's producers and director did not result in an immediate approval; it was not until director Martin Brest voiced his approval that the producers showed enthusiasm.
A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Faltermeyer. Faltermeyer is featured wearing an overcoat, hat, and sunglasses; he sneaks into a computer lab at night and uses one of the machines to watch scenes from Beverly Hills Cop with himself edited in, interspersed with footage of a pole dancer, a female dancer, and of himself playing the synthesizer.
The B-Side "Shoot Out", although featuring prominently in the film, was not included on the Soundtrack album.
In 1992, German techno group Techno Cop covered the instrumental, and achieved modest success with a top 30 ranking on the German singles chart. Unlike the original, this version contains rap passages.
British pop/dance act Clock released a successful dance cover of "Axel F" in 1995. Produced by Richard Pritchard and Stu Allan and released by MCA and ZYX Music, it was featured on their debut album, It's Time... (1995), and peaked at number five in Scotland, number seven in the UK overall, number eight in Ireland and number 37 in Sweden. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the single reached number 20 in March 1995, while in Australia, it peaked at number 42.[citation needed] The accompanying music video was a Box Top on British music television channel The Box in April 1995.
Critical reception
When the cover was released in 1995, James Masterton wrote in his weekly UK chart, "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's RM Dance Update described the song as "another energetic remake". Another RM editor, James Hamilton, declared it as an "ultra excitingly galloping 135bpm Hi-NRG" track in his weekly dance column.
In 2002, South Korean singer Psy released a track titled "Champion" as part of his album 3 Mai, tapping into Seoul's enthusiasm over the 2002 FIFA World Cup. "Champion" was partially inspired by Korean street cheering during the 2002 World Cup. Paul Lester of The Guardian called "Champion" a "thrashy disco ... which heavily samples "Axel F" by Harold Faltermeyer".
Murphy Brown vs. Captain Hollywood version
In 2003, Murphy Brown and Captain Hollywood released their Eurodance version of "Axel F", titled "Axel F 2003". This version was produced by Matthias Wagner and Andreas Dohmeyer of the Off-cast Project, and Bass Bumpers. It contains a vocal sample from Max Headroom ("What's going on?"), heard at the beginning and middle of the song. It reached number 18 on the official German singles chart. This version was reworked two years later into the highly successful version by Crazy Frog, which was also completed by the same team of producers.
In 2005, Crazy Frog, an animated CGI character created by ringtone provider Jamba! released a cover of "Axel F". The song, itself a re-working of the 2003 Murphy Brown/Captain Hollywood version, was created in response to a popular unauthorized song using the Crazy Frog ringtone audio. "Axel F" would become a chart topping hit across Europe and Australia in summer 2005, while achieving top 40 status in the United States.
↑"Axel F – Harold Faltermeyer". Toponehitwonders.com. 31 October 2010. Archived from the original on 1 October 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2013. 'Axel F' is a brilliant one-hit wonder on many levels. It's a synthpop one-hit wonder, placing it in the same company as 'Cars' by Gary Numan ... and 'Autobahn' by Kraftwerk to name just a few genius synthpop hits.
↑Fraser McAlpine (14 July 2017). "What was the most annoying novelty song of all time?". BBC Music. Retrieved 12 November 2022. Then in 2004 the voice was used to launch an obnoxious ringtone called Crazy Frog, which proved so popular, it was then set to Harold Faltermeyer's 1984 electro hit Axel F and released as a global hit single.
↑"Axel F – HAROLD FALTERMEYER". VRT (in Dutch). Top30-2.radio2.be. Archived from the original on 22 February 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2013. Hoogste notering in de top 30: 2
