Epic Win: 99 Red Ballons
Submitted by M Wittner
We had no idea this song was a Cold War protest – it just sounded so awesome! It’s undeniably danceable and fun for a song written about blowing up a city.
Besides the pointed lyrics, there’s a lot of interesting stuff about this song, like how the German version got higher on the American Billboard than it did in Europe, but the English version did better in Europe than it did in the US. Or how VH1 Classic played this song, alternating between the English version and the German version for an entire hour one Sunday afternoon.
Even JD agrees that this song is awesome:
FIRST!!!
and Epic Win. This song has the best bass riff I know XD
I agree. I loved the song back then, and still crank the stereo when it comes on now.
I think I was one of the only American teens at the time who actually understood what the song was really about, though. So many other people just loved it for the bass riff and synthesizer hook, which are of course the reasons it was so popular in the USA.
Still, the video is a fantastic example of “Totally Awesome 80s” pop culture. It had European guys with 80s hair making weird faces while “playing” a song, a hot girl in tight 80s jeans singing, and explosions! Epic Win!
Too bad Nena turned out to be such a bitch, though.
I was totally in love with Nena as 16 year -old…Tell me what has happened to her…give me some evidence as to why she is a bitch. I just haven’t heard anything about her in 20 years but still have a latent crush on her. If you can give me some reasons why not to like her, I’d appreciate it!
I love this song! The german and english versions are TIGHT! Ok so maybe I wasn’t alive when this song came out but I like it even today and just HAD to say something about it~
Great song indeed, but why is the title of this win “99 Red Balloons” while it is about the German version (99 Luftballons)? The German version is way better compared to the English one ;D
Because the literal translation of luftballons from German to English is (air) balloons. In the English version of the song red is inserted for luft to ensure the rhythmic continuity of the song.
That didn’t answer Rik’s question, though. 99 Luftballons should have been an Epic Win before the inferior English translation of the song.
I remember when I was in high school german class, we had to translate the lyrics to this song as part of the lesson!
I used to have a teacher who let us sing the song for “fun”… it got kinda old after the first 36 times.
Still better than the teacher I had two years later, who did about the same thing with the all-time classic “Meine Oma fährt im Hühnerstall Motorrad”, though.
In our German class, we learned to sing “Wild Thing” auf Deutsch and also “Das Caravan Leide” which now that I have written it, I’ll be singing in my head for the rest of the day.
“Wir fahren mit dem caravan, nach Hamburg auf der autobahn
auf wiedersehn, adieu good bye, wir fahren heute fort . . . *beep beep*
My German professor brought in a Rammstein album.
I am from Germany and I absolutely hate this song… o_O Not for the message, of course not. Just don’t like the melody, the overrating, the overplaying and the singer Nena. (Don’t like her attitude.) You hear it on almost every party, usually among those other “songs” one can only bear after having 30 beers… People don’t even listen to the message anymore. It’s just a stupid party song… Not what it once was meant to be, I assume… :/
A fellow German! w00t!
Hehehe… yeah, I know what you mean. Like any originally good song, it just gets annoying if you hear it over and over again.
And Nena has turned into a real bitch!
That makes us three germans in his forum who don’t like the song soooooo much…
…makes four Germans
By the way, the Mueller guy from Scrubs doesn’t really speak German. It’s only an American trying to speak German without an accent – FAIL!
sorry, I can’t jump on that particular bandwagon… I was raised pretty much isolated from popular culture, and have only discovered things like this since leaving home and living on my own. so it still has quite a bit of charm for me..
maybe in fifty years our grandchildren will rediscover it, and it will be new again.
Just asking, because I’m from the States, how has Nena become a bitch?
well, take a look at most of the talkshows she has been a guest in (she’s been in Wetten Dass…. for a number of times). She has a really bitchy attitude and is not afraid to show it.
also…. she’s not only a bitch, but an UGLY bitch today.
for any Germans wondering, I’m from Denmark
This song is totally addicting, but I kind of like the Goldfinger version better for the sing-along value.
I think the Goldfinger cover is better over all. But I do think the original is catchy. Especially in that Scrubs video. I would choose the Goldfinger version any day. Only partially because it’s mostly English.
I’m from Germany too and I totally agree with you! I was forced to listen to this song far too often and the lyrics are crap.
BUT: It’s pretty interesting to see what an influence it had on the american pop culture!
ahem…which kind of influence? AFAIK, “99 Luftballons” was a One-Hit-Wonder for Nena in the US.
But I’m still wondering…no comments about her hairy armpits so far. Hey, my first first!
The song’s premise doesn’t work though, since balloons won’t show up on radar. Radar only works on items that reflect (like metal), not latex balloons.
War protest fail.
Do you even remember the cold war? I though not.
Whether or not they showed up on radar is NOT the point.
That any insignificant anomaly could trigger WW III is.
Might want to fix the spelling of “Ballons”
Wait never mind.
Spelling police fail.
And, no, I had no ideal what this song was about until a couple of years ago. I wish I didn’t know, made a fun song depressing.
nice episode of scrubs!
reminds me of one Family Guy episode where Brain and Stewie go back in time to WW2 Germany and into a research lab.
Stewie: So what are you guys working on right now?
Scientist: Oh we’re working on 100 luffballoons (one of them popped) Oh
that cracked me up
Totally!
I have a weird obsession with this song. I even have a shirt with 99 red balloons on it =D
What I remember most is Nina’s hairy armpits.
My friends all enjoyed that the only part you could understand in both languages was “Captain Kirk” : )
Hmm…the original music video needs to be edited a little better. D:
You mention that this was played for an entire hour on VH1 one day, alternating the English and German versions. That was because VH1 was hosting a fundraiser for either 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina. One private donor gave $10,000 and requested 99 Red/Luftballoons be played for an hour.
The video from this song scared me. I was just a little girl when I first saw it and the fact that Nena had hairy armpits freaked me out. I wasn’t sure if she was a woman or one of those confusing 80s guys like Boy George. Once my older sister stopped laughing, she explained that all women grow armpit hair but North American women shave it off. She then said that Nena was German and at that time, shaving was not all that common in Europe. That was the day I started to fear on the onset of puberty and European women.
In Europe it used to be kind of weird if you did shave. So it goes both ways.
nonsense
Your sister is the worst older sister I’ve ever heard of. In that, she has done nothing to accomplish her naturally-born directive to make her sibling/s as miserable as possible, even if she herself receives no personal gain.
.
Grammar Patrol Roundup:
“…and at that time,..” -> “…and, at that time,..”
“…fear on the onset of puberty and European women.” -> “fear of European women and the onset of puberty.”
I actually really dislike this song. I guess it has just been played so often that it irritates the crap out of me. Actually – no, it always did that.
Anybody ever hear the parody of this song? 99 Dead Baboons by Tim Cavanagh. Hmm.. now that I think of I don’t think I ever bothered to listen to Red Balloons all the way through untill I heard the parody. Check it out.
This was in the Watchmen movie. It just came out of nowhere, and I couldn’t stop laughing. People were weirded out in the movie theatre because none of them had heard the song before, and because I was laughing. But it was incredible, because I did not expect it at all. The music in Watchmen was a little weird.
Yes, I remember this song as well. I started laughing too. I have no idea what everyone was thinking. Probably that I was crazy- but not until later, when I laughed like a stoned hyena at the very end, where Rorschach… well, the snow field. Manhattan. Enough said.
Is Einstürzende Neubaten still around?
JD is awesome may i add
My uncle has a version of DDR that’s got 99 Red Balloons on it.
I don’t think anyone else knows what it means.
Ahh. Nena. Thank you, Germany. This is the song that sparked my Obsession with the country..not to mention Bill Kaulitz is a HUGE fan…
Odd, that music video has the the most, and biggest explosions I’ve seen in it, and it wasn’t for a rock n’ roll song.
I wonder if you would include Schandmaul in that list?
Savous dearly wished to believe that Hyle was enjoyably distracted now, but he knew better. They had both recognized Salins unique voice when hed spoken through his mindlink with Radin. She shook her head. She even stood, with the vague intention of leaving the balcony. She knew that, on some level. They sat on the dusty floor of a wide cavern. She finished off her wine and set her goblet aside. He only shrugged when she glanced down at the wet spot on his trousers. Her body was shaking with sobs before she realized it. I could have been right! Not that it moved him. Kneeling in the middle of her mattress, she hurled a pillow at them. Thoughts rolled over one another in her head. She writhed, prodding the tip of him with her drenched folds. Dont stop, she begged, clutching sheets. Laughing, he grabbed her hips and rolled over. There is no blaming yourself for this, Nialdlye. So you are reading my mind? And Im hardly one to object, given that Im truemated to another. She licked his lips.