Did David Hasselhoff sing the Berlin Wall down?

"Lookin' for freedom" - The reunion song and David Hasselhoff

Even today there are many rumors and even finds place in some conspiracy theories

Brandenburg Gate - New Year's Eve 1989/90 – The wall had some holes. From a lifting platform Hasselhoff belts out the song "Lookin' for freedom". Below him stand citizens. In a frenzy of joy, they lie in each other's arms, dance, sing and the already dilapidated wall continues to fall.

Rumors persist that Hasselhoff would have "sung down" the wall. In conspiracy circles it is even said that he would have known in advance.
But what is there to the rumors?

The text analysis

If you take a closer look at the lyrics, you will notice that the lyrics were not actually tailored for this day. The song tells of a boy who seeks freedom and thus leaves his home. However, this boy does not find freedom. The song ends with "Still it can't be found".

It is a fact that the song was not intended exclusively for this day. Nevertheless, of course, the rush of joy and the lyrics "Freedom (=Freiheit)" which somehow made it fit.

However, he has actually sung the wall... at least symbolically.

But would it really have been possible, in the literal sense, to bring down the wall with pure vocal power and amplifiers?

Our engineers have investigated this question:

The technical aspect

First, the piece of music was searched for dominant frequencies. With the help of a "Fourier transformation" the following frequencies appear:

    67 Hz (Corresponds approximately to a C)
    132 Hz (corresponds approximately to a c)
    150 Hz (Corresponds approximately to a d)
    199 Hz (Corresponds to about one g)
    266 Hz (Corresponds approximately to a c')

An applied modal analysis then examined a wall segment in terms of natural frequency. The first natural frequency is about 9 Hz, which is considerably lower than the frequency of the music. Direct excitation and resonance of the wall is therefore not to be expected.

What about higher frequencies?

Higher frequencies automatically mean more energy for the excitation. Thus, as the frequency increases, it becomes less and less likely that the wall piece will resonate. "Looking for Freedom" finally excites the following natural frequencies of the wall:

• Mode no. 5 at 62.2 Hz
• Mode no. 9 at 128 Hz
• Mode no. 12 at 205 Hz
• Mode Nr 16 at 266 Hz

It should be noted that excitation can also occur in the tolerance range of +-10%.
A vibration analysis (harmonic response) was carried out with these modes. A pressure of approx. 6 Pa was assumed (corresponds to approx. 110 dB).