ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons" by Nena
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- Опубліковано 30 бер 2023
- Could a bunch of balloons end humanity? The German band Nena thought so in 1983, and somehow made one of the best songs of the '80s.
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When I was in HS, we did talent shows. We had a super cute German exchange student in the ‘83-‘84 schoolyear. So naturally she sang the German version of this song. Everyone went NUTS!
Ngl, being an exchange student that's a minority in the country, it is a total high-class power move to kill it in a talent show in your native language.
Perfect timing for her!
i.e. the good version
Did she win?
You asked her out right?
as a german-adjacent person, it feels absolutely wild to me to call nena a one-hit wonder. they were everywhere for so long and with so many different songs
Agreed. In Europe, it feels like Nena was so omnipresent for decades and had so many hits.
So much this
There's not many actual true one-hit wonders left. Most of the recent ones actually had other hits as Todd always points out, sometimes at length.
I'm firmly after her hayday, but even I knew any place anywhere anytime. It might be my own music taste biasing things, but 99 luftballons feels like NENA's Lovefool. (And irgendwie irgendwo irgendwan is favorite game)
The songs Todd covers in this series are from a US-Chart perspective, where Nena only had this one hit. He always says in his videos, that especially the foreign artist he covers often are big names in their home country. Even in this video he talks about Nena's other hits up until 2021. Same with Falco who nobody with German as their mother language would call a one hit wonder but once again only had one smash hit in the US.
Fun fact: The last note of the song is EXACTLY the same sound the fire-alarm at my work makes (which goes off way too often, mostly false alarms). So the song always gives me a small heart attack at the end.
No it doesn't
Where do you work where fire alarm goes off way too often and they're just MOSTLY false alarms?
@@jhutt8002 I was going to ask just that. What is "mostly"? 95% still means the place is on fire quite often!
not always false alarms? sometimes theres actual fires?
@@balecalduin1993 My guess is big commercial kitchen, either for catering or mass ghost kitchening. If fire alarm was cheaped out on (and you would be surprised how many buy the cheapest one just to pass regulations), it could easily fire alarm on heavier steam/smoke from all the food prep, and you would have mini non-false alarms like someone's sleeve or paper towels or what not catching on fire. Nothing serious, still an actual alarm.
The ending of the German version sounds so much more genuine than the English one, likely due to just how much more subtle it is.
For context (summarized), she finds one balloon in the rubble, and lets it go, watching as it flies off.
I took German all 4 years of high school (I just graduated college in December), and I attended my state German convention in my senior year. We all sang this song VERY loudly. It was chaotic but fun.
That's how the English version ends, as well.
The German version is generally more on point. I guess that's always the way with translations.
In the English version, it's her and her boyfriend letting the balloons fly and causing the mayhem. At the end of the song (after an indefinite time of war, maybe weeks, maybe years), she finds one of her balloons in the rubble.
In the German version, it's unclear who let the balloons fly originally. At the point of narration, there was already 99 years of war, and the narrator finds a balloon in the rubble.
I always perceived the German version to be much more post-apocalyptic because of the "99 years of war" bit.
I mean, its her finding the baloon and remiscending and has a tell you a story of old vibe. in a post apocalypse world
The German one gets into more detail about the destruction- it mentions that there's no more fighter planes or defense ministers, and that the world has been destroyed. The English version does mention that she's in dust that is was once a city but doesn't mention that the militaries were destroyed. I prefer the German version too, as I prefer the German version of Peter Schilling's "Major Tom".
"It's all over and I'm standing pretty, in this dust that was a city" still gets a shiver out of me.
I just love the rhyming of Kriegsminister (minister of war) with Benzinkanister (gas can)
The translation might have changed the story of the song significantly, but there are still some amazing lines in there, yeah!
It's quite better in the german original verses..."Heute zieh ich meine Runden - seh die Welt in Trümmern liegen - hab 'n Luftballon gefunden - denk an dich und lasse ihn fliegen" - today I'm doing my rounds/walking around, see the world turned into debris - found 1 balloon - and let it fly..."
I learned just enough German to understand this song, and "neun und neunzig jahre krige liessen keinen platz für sieger" is even better. Worth all those hours of Duolingo just for that line.
Captain Kirk: "Red Alert!" (in his head he thinks.... I need to beam down and investigate!)
Let's be honest, this is the one hit wonder we've all been waiting for.
This and the Macarena
Now all I need is a Marcy Playground and Crash Test Dummies episode
Accurate! Especially since I took German in high school and university.
Also still waiting for Stacy's Mom, Teenage Dirtbag, A Thousand Miles, Possum Kingdom, and also bad ones like Headstrong and Ice Ice Baby
As a German person i wasn't even expecting this to be a one hit wonder, as Nena is fairly known in Germany and definitely not a one hit wonder here.
It's so cool that a German New Wave song would be one of the major 80's synth pop songs people remember fondly
There's no synth pop without Germany, after all.
@@todesziege True. Almost forgot about Kraftwerk!
@@SleepFan771WHO FORGETS ABOUT KRAFTWERK?
German New Wave songs are very memorable
love ur username
I love it when you have a song with dark, serious lyrics and a happy, upbeat melody, but Nena's '99 Luft Ballons' was destined to be misunderstood because of that hook, and especially because it wasn't (originally) in English.
I don't care if Nena or anyone doesn't care for English translation, that's fine, but there's no denying "the war machine springs to life, opens up one eager eye" is a lyric that slams so goddamn hard
That line definitely feels reminiscent of World War I like Todd said about the German version. Calls to mind the oft-repeated "powderkeg"
actually a rly cool line but "99 Kriegsminister, Streichholz und Benzimkanister" is so simple yet somehow elegant
I was surprised to hear that they didnt directly do the english translation! Those lyrics absolutely SLAP! but in a way that I really feel like whoever wrote them really cared about what they were saying, I just assumed it would still be the band!
ikr.
Also, “This is what we’ve waited for, this is it boys, this is war”. Fabulous lyric
What's funny about this song is that when it got a single release in the US, the English version was the A-side and the German version was the B-side. The German version was the one that hit No. 2 on the Hot 100 and topped Cashbox's chart, while the English version didn't chart at all, which means that people were buying the single specifically for the B-side.
Keep in mind: That's the same thing happened with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" several years earlier.
Another good example would be Madonna's "Angel", the 12" single went Gold, mostly because "Into The Groove" was the B-side and it was the only way you could get it in the states.
For the life of me, I cannot recall which version they typically played on the pop stations here in my typically suburban market. I know they played both versions on the radio, but seems like they probably favored the English version I literally cannot remember, because aging sucks (but it sure beats the alternative).
NB: Actually what probably mattered more was which version MTV favored, since that's where most of us heard it first. It was def the German version, although they weren't afraid of the English one.
My mom was a teen around that time and she vastly preferred the German version so I'm not exactly surprised
Greetings from Germany: no one-hit wonder for us. Nena is kind of a star here, with multiple hits. They are just mostly unknown in the US.
Yes, which Todd mentions in the video.
As someone who was born and raised and still lives in Germany, you did this song and its story justice.
99 Kriegsminister, Streichholz und Benzinkanister remains one of my absolute all-time favorite rhymes in a song.
...hielten sich für schlaue Leute, witterten schon fette Beute...
god the German version is so good
@@jseipp Amen to that. It's fantastic!
Wait - "Streichholz"? I've always thought it was "streichelten" (because the image of ministers petting their personal gas cans was just bizarrely funny to me) 😂.
@@fermintenava5911 complete different things. A "Streichholz" is a match, "streicheln" means to pet.
There is a relation between these two words, they both refer to the movement of the hand
I was a teen when Nena had their big hit, and I can tell you that the armpit issue was just as big in the States, trivial as it was. There was a video and/or an MTV concert where she was in a sleeveless tee, then for a couple of days after, everyone was "Did you see that?! Eeew!" then that was it, no one ever heard from them again.
It's weird, I would have said, "Eww", too. But since I married a woman from the Netherlands, it's growing on me (pun most def intended).
@@PapaVanTwee5 did you know that women, human females, naturally exist with body hair? crazy.
Back in the seventies when I was a little kid I saw female armpit hair in Nat Geo on a late teen in a beach in Crimea. I learned that most American women except my older hippie cousin were unreal and Soviet teens were the ideal woman. Hey, I was like six.
Got plenty of what I wanted in the eighties and nineties because the tradition lived in America. And wanting women how they really are is never a fetish. Wanting how women are not is.
@@Bacopa68 idk I find it gross personally because I found I sweat and smell faster. Plus, it takes less than a minute in the shower. Shaving my legs is more infuriating. Luckily I have blonde hair so it blends in if I go without shaving for a bit, but I spent a summer in Europe in 2005 and don’t remember seeing women with hairy armpits.
I love having hairy pits. Men don't care. Only lil immature boys do ;)
I've got 99 problems but a red balloon is, well, all of them.
Being a German kid from the 90s this song was a huge part of my childhood and karaoke. Her comeback song "Liebe ist..." was the intro song to the German Betty Telenovela version. Her stance on COVID hurts the child in my heart, especially since she used to be one of the more down to earth celebs we have in Germany. Thanks for doing this video ❤
Her stance on COVID? 🤷♂
Oh my God! There's a German version of that show too? How big Betty is?
Ich will nicht arschig klingen, also verzeih mir bitte falls ich das tu: Aber vielleicht akzeptierst du einfach dass auch Promis andere/dumme Meinungen haben können. Ich stimme dem auch nicht zu, verstehe aber dieses Dämonisieren nicht. Dann denkt sie halt so...
@@TheRealNormanBates Sounds like she is a Covid denier.
Omg Liebe ist is a song I discovered while I was trying to learn German and its one of my favorites now!
The thing I love about Todd in the shadows is he never stopped giving us the content we love & expect from him. This format literally can give content for years and this channel continues to prove it.
And there’s Song vs Song, so even more content!
@@beautifulmidnight exactly!
@@beautifulmidnight I really should start listening to that podcast 😅 I think I would probably really enjoy it
Also the silhouette gimmick will keep future generations from questioning "Why is this 80 year old man weighing in on the current state of pop music?"
@@baumhauser lol! It's genius!
I speak near zero french, but the french cover of this fascinates me because of their insane number system. 99 is four twenty 10 nine and the syllables of that insane construct fit perfectly into just saying ballons after that and the number of syllables stays consistent with the german version.
Quatre vingts dix neuf ballons
Unless you’re in Switzerland….nonante neuf
@@n.b.1483 Or Belgium
It was fun to make the connection, many years after french classes, between 80 and the old-timey 'four score.'
Four score and 19 more balloons.
@@Jikkuryuu Four score and seven balloons ago...
I love it when music from other countries makes it to the US and opens doors to other languages, cultures and styles of music. This song is an enduring example of that. It’s one of the things that spurred my interest in learning Deutsch.
When I was learning German in college, I was listening to this song for inspiration. That is also when I discovered she has other kickass hit songs like Leuchtturm, Kino, Fragezeichen, etc.
In the context of the USA, it kinda makes sense to call her a 1-hit-wonder. In in the context of at least the German-speaking world, I don’t think you can really call her a one-hit-wonder.
wir sind helden is really good, and clean to listen lol
oh and die ärtze are funny
That duet with Kim Wilde is one of my favourite songs of all time. It's incredible!
It always sounds like they are singing "wrap your penis 'round my neck' at the refrein.
@@MisterCasket that's because they actually sing it
Oh. My. God. I randomly heard this song at the start of the week and thought, "I wish Todd would cover it in his one hit wonder series". This is honestly the best end-of-week surprise.
I'm still waiting on Todd to do an OHW on My Friends Over You by New Found Glory as my dumb closseted trans pop punk loving ass waits.
No joke I actually heard this this past Wednesday no less....
And I was wondering if Modern Talking ever had success in the US charts.
@@freshFerdinand why on earth, pray?😂
@@MrGnuifje I think it would be hilarious if Todd covers them.
"Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgenwann" is honestly Nena's second best song and it's strange to me that it happened decades after their original big hit.
And yeah... she's been pretty crazy lately.
That song came out before 99 red balloons.
@@MaLoDe1975 Not the version anyone remembers. That was in the early 2000s.
@@yoursonisold8743 that is your perception. Every club i attend plays the original.
the version with Kim Wilde I like even more than the original. Together with nur getraumt it is my number two
I also know the original only. The one they played in the series Dark
Always preferred the German version despite my ineffective four years of German classes. I’m surprised how catchy their other stuff was. And how good Gabriele still looks 40 years later. Hopefully they still make money from “99 Luftballons”.
The real sub v dub debate
99 Luftballoons is better than 99 Red Balloons, mainly because Nena sounds less confident singing in English than in German (though that's probably the case for almost all non-native English speakers). As you said, a banger of a track from the sweet spot when new wave was mainstream, but hadn't been completely consumed by pop.
I don't think the part about confidence is as true today, but maybe I'm biased. Many European artists seem to prefer making songs in English, either because it has much more reach or in my case because I like the language better for poetry than I do my native language.
@@randomusername1735 Some of my favorite songs are from Dutch artists, and they belt that stuff out no problem. Trijntje Oosterhuis's "Wrecks We Adore" album is a treat, teaming with Anouk was a fabulous idea. Anouk as well has great pipes and sings mostly in English. Krystl, Maan, Ilse de Lange, Laura Jansen, Lisa Lois and much more all sing in English, and they belt that shit out, although some have made some Dutch albums as well.
I was totally shocked to discover Tove Lo is Swedish. It seems like there are plenty of European singers who sound totally comfortable and have clean American signing accents.
True, but honestly I’ve always liked her delivery on the English version. It kind of adds to the paranoid energy of the song. 99 Luftballoons still rips tho
@@KeyDash753 Yes, but I'm sure if you heard her singing in Swedish, she'd sound more confident than singing in English. That tends to be noticeable regardless of how fluent an artist is at English.
This song has always seemed so metal to me, its the juxtaposition of the hopelessly dark & depressing imagery with such a catchy beautiful pop song is what makes it even more dark. Adore this one. Highly recommend everyone to listen to the 2009 remake, its harder
Check out Leo Moracchioli channel he does a metal version and there are some good punk versions of it floating as well.
Even when it's sung in German, it just sounded depressing. It made me want to know what were they really singing about.
What is power metal but a triumphant, anthemic backing under seriously bleak lyrics?
Like quite a few Prince songs
@LMN is OP Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?
I was born in the early nineties in Germany and this Song was still absolutely inescapable.
I know the lyrics by heart, just from hearing it on the radio or even at clubnights.
A lot of other Nena Songs like "nur geträumt" (which you also mentioned) had really long staying power aswell.
Nena is a househould Name even in my Generation.
Only not WW...
The 2000’s have been good to her. She is extremely popular in her native Germany to this day with sold out biannual tours. Still very entertaining, Todd!
Good job with the history…I lived there in West Berlin from 81-85 freshman thru Senior year. My father was US Air Force there. I remember that Stones concert as well.
The Goldfinger version of this song is probably one of my favorite covers. They combine the german and english versions.
I remember watching a Goldfinger covid isolated livestream in 2020 and they played it. I never forgot how much I loved that cover but that performance was pretty special all these years later.
7 seconds version is iconic but ur righty Goldfinger's spin on it is better
@@ikesours6558 I saw them preform it live years ago and it was sick as hell
Love that he played a clip of it at the end.
YES I came here to find this. It fucking rips.
Glad you mentioned the "went a little crazy" because that SURE happened. She did some genuine covid denial on stage during the heights of when that was a bad idea until security had her shut down, and all we can tell is that she uh... just had better "DO NOT POST THAT" people than SOME other public figures.
I got bad flashbacks to that Rick Derringer episode.
I wanna hear her and Rick Derringer scream about how horse dewormer paste is all you need to the man who eats Rolexes and drinks the tears of the parents of the victims of school shootings
Because then at least reality would fold upon itself
@Hal Emmerich Knowledge Fight has Todd on as a guest.
Right Said Fred were even worse, lucky their episode was before that I guess.
@@TheAlexSchmidt ….well, fuck. Now I have to go look that up.
I think Todd’s the reason I found out Hanson were such pieces of shit too.
I love this video so much. As an Austrian that's really into all this around 80s music stuff, i am really happy that there're people like Todd talking about this era. I appreciate the mentions of Falco, Christiane F. Berlin and NDW! Great.
Love how badass Todd’s cover of the song is at the beginning of the video, especially the first few notes!
Goldfinger's pop punk cover of this song is immaculate, especially the third verse when they belt out the original German lyrics.
Highly recommended.
EDIT: Todd uses this version in the vid's outro. Real recognizes real.
John said later on how he didn't like the meaning change between the two versions. I get what he's saying.
speaking of good Goldfinger covers of one-hit wonders, their cover of More Today Than Yesterday’s also pretty good, right?
Nena's version will always be the best, but there is something about Goldfinger's version that speaks to my eternal teenage pop punk soul. Truly one of the greatest covers of all time.
Leo Moraccholi's version is my favorite
The moment I saw this episode was up, I knew exactly what the end credit cover song would be. Didn't dissapoint.
As a German, there is an argument to be made that in recent years Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann has somewhat surpassed 99 Luftballons if not in icon status, then in popularity. It's easily one of the best German language pop songs ever written. Loved this video!
Na klar, dank Jan Delay 😉
Listen... Listen... Gran Turismo. All I have to say.
Luftballons bodies easy
@@LithFox Yay, someone else remembers this song from Gran Turismo! I just wrote my main comment about that being where I discovered 99 Red Balloons, lol.
I guess featuring this song in "Dark" also helped with it's popularity.
One of your best videos! Was laughing all the way through! Love it!
Hell yeah, man! Laughed a lot and having been listening in those years, I think your video was spot on. Best one I've seen. Thanks for it!
Another song for the "How the heck could this get popular in Japan??"-category is "Fujiyama Mama" by Wanda Jackson. A song talking about how Wanda is a sexually charged atom bomb that can blow you away like they did with Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
It was the first Rock'n'Roll Hit to top the charts in Japan. It was #1 for 6 MONTHS. Not even a Generation after the Bomb dropped. Wild.
Reminds me how in the 50s and 60s Nazi-themed erotic literature (known as "stalag") was relatively popular among young adult men in Israel.
I can't tell whether the Japanese have a strange sense of humor or are just so incredibly flattered by other countries acknowledging them that they embrace anything and everything that mentions Japan or Japanese culture.
There's a video of The Clash covering that song live in Japan with bassist Paul Simonon's then girlfriend Pearl Harbor (I know) on vocals.
Thats easy to explain: Wanda rocks!
On the topic of how Japan handles the bombs, may I remind you of the existence of the Godzilla franchise?
Between this and Balloon boy it's weird to me that I've lived through multiple balloon based national crisises.
Have you ever heard of Balloon Fest 86?
Don't forget the chinese balloon.
@@artbk I was born in 86, I remember when I first read about Balloon Fest 86. Absolutely wild.
I had forgotten about that one too! In fact, I had forgotten about the Chinese Spy Balloon by the end of the video despite Todd starting out with it!
Something something but it’s weird that it happened twice
As a german I am happy to report your german pronounciations were surprisingly good, almost astonishing😅
This may be the best episode of OHW ever. I lived in Germany for about 10 years. Her songs were still on German radio when I moved back to the US in 2016. I moved back so I don't know how her views on Covid have impacted her career. But it's hard for me to imagine her ever losing popularity there. They love her more than they love The Hoff.
Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann has had a big revival as an iconic song in Germany. It was used alot in the German Netflix series Dark - which despite its English name is an extremely German show with tons of depressive deterministic philosophy. It's really brilliant, yet quite annoying. Almost like contemporary Germany itself.
i've always liked that song more than 99 Luftballons, but that could be because i was born in '93 and heard the newer version first xD
Dark really should've stopped at season 1 IMO, S2 and 3 were not bad, just not as tight as S1.
Dark is an incredible show.
@@warxdrum I was born in 1980, and Irgendwo, Irgendwie, Irgendwann is my favorite song of hers. "99 Lufballons" always felt a bit...okay, you hear it once, you get the point, and you're good.
@@REDDAWNproject the ending was the best ending to a tv series ever made.
My favorite fun fact about this song is the music video was filmed on an actual military base and the explosions were real, which terrified Nena and the other band members so much they had a group cry after filming wrapped
Not exactly.
The promotional video, which was originally made for the Dutch music programme TopPop and broadcast on 13 March 1983, was shot in a Dutch military training camp, the band performing the song on a stage in front of a backdrop of fires and explosions provided by the Dutch Army. Towards the end of the video, the band are seen taking cover and abandoning the stage, which was unplanned and genuine since they believed the explosive blasts were getting out of control.
@@beckigreeninteresting
A group cry is fuckin funny
Absolutely fantastic episode, Todd.
great video Todd! I'm a long time Nena fan, and I have the group's first four German CDs, a greatest hits collection, and some of Nena's solo stuff all on CD.
Love that you got the pronunciation of her name right. I hear so many people say "knee-nuh", but since her nickname is Spanish for "little girl", it's not pronounced that way.
In 2016 Nena did a 3-show "tour" in the US called "99 Luftballons Across America", playing in NYC, San Fran, and Los Angeles. I was able to get a ticket for the NYC show, she was great!
As a bona fide younger generation whose parents had little interest in music, this is one of the relatively small number of songs covered on One Hit Wonderland that I have a lot of nostalgia for, as it was in the PAL versions of Donkey Konga. Besides that, this song still comes on at house parties I've been to full of teens and early 20 year olds. An absolute banger that'll last forever!
Yes, I first heard this on Donkey Konga too! Alongside the Mighty Mighty Bosstones The Impression That I Get
This song has had a lot of staying power to be honest. If you listen to any station that plays 80's music, there is a 90% chance it's going to come up.
I love that people are still drunkly dancing to this at house parties.
Ew European 🤮
I know this song from Gran Turismo 3, as the US soundtrack featured a cover of it.
I was born in the US but my family emigrated to Germany when I was two years old.
Nena's self-titled debut album at the time was actually given by the state to every immigrant in Germany to help them learn the language.
"Nur geträumt" then was my favorite song when I was four years old. The nostalgia...
Nur Gerrtraumt is probably one of the best love songs ever written. That pure young love is just bliss.
@@sunny1992s Funny I first heard it in 90-something as Blumchen cover version. You know happy hardcore remix.
@@sunny1992s absolutely. Sounds utterly ridiculous 40 years later, but this at the time at least for my parents actually did lift some bad stereotypes about Germans and their language. For many decades, Hollywood and others hadn't done the greatest job portraying the country as a whole unfurtunately.
I absolutely love their first few albums. This was great - thank you!
Yes!!! Love this song!!
I just found this channel and I absolutely love it!!
Great song. In Germany, Nena was always considered one of the biggest pop stars ever as far as I can remember. The German lyrics definitely flow much better, the same is true for "Irgendwo/Irgendwie/Irgendwann", where I prefer the original to the modern (slower) performance with Kim Wilde. Nur Geträumt/Just a Dream works in both languages, imo (and is my personal favorite Nena song).
Agreed, Just a Dream is fabulous. I love all the slower songs, they had some kind of magic
As a german, Nur geträumt weirdly enough is basically the only Nena song where I prefer the english version over the original
I bought her English album in 83, and it had 5 German songs on one side and 5 English on the other, and every one of them was a banger. Of course I didn’t know it was basically a greatest hits album at the time until I just watched this vid.
I was introduced to "Irgendwo/Irgendwie/Irgendwann" with the modern version, and it's the only reason I know it means "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime". I do like the synth opening of the new one more, and hearing both 80s icons sing it in their own language just pops with me.
I agree about the German lyrics flowing better; Iregendwie... goes so much harder in German 😂
I love the fact (?) that Todd added a Falco-impression to his German. It sounds so awesome (and his German is already pretty good in this).
Who is Falco?
@@user-hb4zz4gh5e the singer of Rock Me Amadeus. There’s a brief clip of that song towards the beginning of the video.
Well Falco was from Vienna, so he’s probably speaking in its accent
@@user-hb4zz4gh5e There's even an episode about his song "Rock me Amadeus": ua-cam.com/video/GQvbCnD23I0/v-deo.html
And that he named Falco (fron Austria) as hi example of NDW
I had heard the song on the radio when I was a child, but when I first really listened to it, it was in German class in 8th grade. The first few seconds with that omnious dark tone definitively makes it seem like everything is lost and there’s no hope for the world. The up-beat melody that comes after just seems ironic or mocking.
One of my favorite songs thansk for covering it.
I heard 99 Balloons first on Scrubs. I love when Todd does a hit that he really likes. His joy is infectious.
I was stationed in Germany during the 80's. I liked several of her hits. I bought the English lp. She didn't want to sing in English. The Beatles didn't want to sing in German. Just things the record companies pushed. Nena was quite happy to stay in Germany. I went and saw her in concert in Stuttgart. The band was very good. The crowd was very young. I didn't see any other Americans there besides me. Not every band cares if they make it in the US. UK has plenty of bands who never cared either.
I had a phase where I was really into european pop music and would listen to a lot of italian, french and German music. Nena was one of favorite artist out of Germany. It's so awesome to see you cover her music.
Wow, I came to think about this song today because it kind of fits into the current mood of war madness and I listened to it a lot in the 80s. So I looked for the music video and found this. Great, thanks!
i'm actually proud of folks in the US for going for the German version over the English one, and perhaps there's not a lot to be proud of us for, but I'll take this. And much appreciation for your deep dive here. This is a perfect song; always awakening the intelligence on several levels and so much fun.
"there's not a lot to be proud of us for"
America.
There's not a lot for Aerica to be proud of.
America.
🤷️
And this from a guy for whom the bar is so low that you're proud we listened to a foreign language song. You CAN be proud of that trivial, virtually meaningless fact, but you CAN'T think of many other things for the United States to be proud of?🤦♂🤦♂🤦♂
Landing on the moon.
Most money spent on humanitarian aid of ANY nation's government in the world.
Most money spent on humanitarian aid by the private sector of any nation in the world.
Producer of countless numbers of the finest scientists AND artists in history.
Home to many of the finest universities in the world.
But FU@K all that! We listened to a foreign language song that one time.
I have sincerely never read anything so utterly nonsensical in YT comments. Ever.
Sure, but it's true that the reason Americans could listen to the German version is that we would never tolerate the politics of the English version. At the time, I heard the song quite often but had only the vaguest idea what it was about.
@@colonelweird or maybe because it just sounded better in its native language
@@KirbyDerbi agreed, she’s a good singer in english, but she sounds way more beautiful in german, and I don’t speak the language
@@colonelweird They seem to do fine with Springsteen, who sings about politics on about the same level. I think her English is pretty incomprehensible anyway.
In this great review, you didn't once mention the real glue that kept this song stuck to us - that mysterious rising tone at the very end. It played you out of the song like you'd been on a spiritual journey. If the boogie didn't make a big enough impression, that final touch ensured the song would be remembered when it was over.
I always imagined it being the sound of a (perhaps the final of the 99?) balloon going up!
I have been wearing both versions of this out lately. I was thinking last week how I'd like to see you cover this tune. Well timed.
Been watching for over a decade now and actually so happy to aee one of my favourite one hit wonders finally being reviewed
I remember first hearing the German version in early post-soviet Moscow on a mixtape that you had to buy illegally from weird people camping in a railway station. What a breath of fresh air.
Hope one day you'll make a "Common People" by Pulp episode
If he does, he has to include the Shatner version too!
@@TheRealNormanBates and MCR's version.
Common People isn’t a one hit wonder, surely?
@@TheRealNormanBates The Shatner version is hysterical. He sounds like he's on the the verg of killing the snobby rich girl described in the song.
@@TheBomber15 I know here in the UK definitely not. I guess Common People was the only one Americans know?
The Goldfinger cover of this song is so good. Hearing that keyboard part on a guitar is just magical.
I swear, the Goldfinger version, if you write it down in musical notation, is actually slightly different. Nene, the version is "start->up, start->up" and the Goldfinger is "start->up, start->down" or something.
I was thinking the ending credits would be either Goldfinger or 7 Seconds.
And because I'm not sure Todd knows the existance of the latter, I put my eggs in the Goldfinger basket.
Wow! I didn't expect the real late Nena stuff to be in this video. But, yes, she got a little crazy and has been for a long time even before covid, like esoteric hippie crazy.
There's also an American indie girl called "Riki". She's American, but sings few songs in (slightly broken) German. She's like a mirror version of 80s Nena.
I was planning on putting in a request for this song on Monday, so I'm glad you did it anyways haha
I think this song is very fitting of the 80s. It really encapsulates the fears of young Germans at the time. Germans knew that if a war broke out Germany was ground zero.
The transition from ‘Things started falling apart at home’ to the music video where the floor falls apart is ingenious lol
Thanks for using Goldfinger. Always loved that version.
I'm gonna check out those early albums! Thanks for the great video and hot tip 😃
Todd missed one interesting fact: Carlo Karges had been in the very serious Prog Rock band NOVALIS prior to joining Nena. That would be like someone from Yes or Pink Floyd or Genesis suddenly joining Blondie. Weird career move, but it worked.
It's worth noting that King Crimson's founding guitarist, Robert Fripp, did some session work for Blondie (among other late-'70s & early-'80s acts). One other similar example would be Stewart Copeland having been a member of Curved Air for a few years in the mid-'70s.
@@The_Lawnmower_Man That was a one-shot not a career move.
I'm so glad you explained the different stories in the English vs German versions! I only knew the German version until recently, and was so confused by the lyrics telling a different story.
I grew up in Australia and I always assumed that the the English version a hit in the USA like Australia, and didn't know the German version existed until Goldfinger's cover.
The songs "Major Tom" and "Völlig Losgelöst" by Peter Schilling is the same way - subtly but importantly different, not just translation. I love that about both these songs
Of artists that had German-language hits in the US covered on OHW (so that would be Nena and Falco), Nena were definitely the ones who deserved to have a second hit, yet it was Falco who got the second hit in "Vienna Calling", a song which I only knew of from a youth spent with the TV constantly on VH1 Classic.
I'm a person who was a 13 and living in the UK when this song came out. I knew the English version and then moved to the USA in 1984 and they were playing the German version . With your analysis giving the closer translation and a proper context , I realize, I had no clue as to what the song was really about ! Great video !
As someone who was 13 years old in 1983 and lived through the song and other WWW III paranoia in real time, this video was a treat. Thanks, Todd!
Cheers, my 70s fellow
Your pronunciation of German words is surprisingly good! And by the way, even though we tend to take English versions, most of Europe listens to the German original version.
I’m Canadian but I’ve always preferred the German version. Probably because I never needed to understand the lyrics to enjoy it. Plus I think the singer sounds better singing in German
@mix3k818 did we watch the same video? I'am all for encouraging people but his pronounciation wasnt great IMO.
@@benjaminheering7236 We did. Maybe it's just my German being spotty again, because normally I react badly at improper or exaggerated accents.
german is my native language, and his german is alright! especially since he says he doesnt have a lot of experience with it!
@@Maru-et6of Same, its alright i guess but only if we consider how hard other americans butcher this language.
This whole album is amazing. Noch einmal, Kino, Tanz Auf dem Vulkan, nur geträumt are my favourites. Satellitenstadt sounds like it belongs in a nostalgic N64 or Gameboy game with the instrumentals. So many good songs like Einmal ist keinmal and Vollmond also stand out. Probably one of my favourite albums of all time.
I adore this series so much. I always learn so many things, and I love being that obnoxious guy at a party that can cite facts about every song that comes on. Going through the 1,001 songs to hear before you die and there's so many songs that come out of nowhere that I'm curious about. Like Lorraine Ellison's Stay With Me.
I listened to this pretty much nonstop growing up. My dad was stationed on a missile site in West Germany when it came out and he basically made it his personal anthem to be played in between ABBA songs
Todd's channel is a such a great resource for musicheads. I've gotten into the Carpenters, Klaatu, and now this band because of these videos. They're just the best.
That's one of the reasons I love this channel. He introduces you to songs, even entire artists, which you end up absolutely loving, whether or not they're a part of the main event!
This song is massive. I never stopped to think about the lyrics. I'm happy she's still doing well
I've had Nena's 99 Luftballons album for 25yrs, it's always been fantastic!
I saw a Japanese horror manga that involve red balloons twisting themselves around people's necks and taking them into the air and killing them. This song could be playing in the background🎈🎈🎈
Ayyy, that was Junji Ito's "The Hanging Balloons" probably :)
@@UndeadGirlCyber i was just gonna say
I love Junji Ito's work. He is one of the few writers who can actually scare me through pages. He perfectly captures a feeling of absolute helplessness that really works for me.
@@UndeadGirlCyber of course it's Junji Ito. I don't know who else I was expecting.
Great Video Todd and as a german I can infact confirm Nena's recent escapades into conspiracy theories. This sadly cast a bit of a shadow onto her (or her bands) great Songs, when my dad told me about it. 99Luftballons is still huge here even for younger people (like myself) its really nostalgic and everybody knows it, obviously.
I was hoping someone could confirm this 🥲 Danke
Nena just stood true to herself and uttered publicly what she thought about the inhumane, anti-scientific and destructive anti-corona-measures. That people even today ignore or deny these facts baffles me.
@@SCIIAS whooo a loaded comment, here is my 2 cents:
I will agree that the Corona measures were destructive to public life, as we knew it and they have serious repercussions to this day and will for the foreseeable future.
But the threat that that disease could have or indeed did posses is/was very real.
We as a society simply didnt know what could happen and so I do agree with most of the measures taken to "protect" us from the disease and buy time for researchers to catch up.
One thing that very much bothers me about your comment is the whole "anti scientific" part. The things most governments enacted around the world to stop or at least lessen the spread were not only scientifically sound but also provable and in some cases already proven to help lessen the spread of a airborne virus.
That being said Vaccines are something I dont really know much about and so I'am not gonna sit here and argue about them.
I simply dont know enough to have a serious INFORMED discussion.
And thats the same thing Nena and a whole host of other celebrities should have done, just be quiet, its not their topic of expertise and they arent knowledgeable enough around those topics.
She very much was responsible for spreading not just simple missinformation but straight up dangerous lies and thats something I hold her accountable for.
Thanks Todd for reminding me of this song, I now use it in my AP Euro class.
Great retrospective as always.
A lot of great songs from that era were about nuclear annihilation. I’ll Melt With You, 99 Luft Balloons, The Walls Came Down. At the same time, it was a great time to be a teenager.
If you want a modern twist, The Decembrist's have one called "Calamity Song." Darlingside also has a whole album called "Extralife" on the subject... Indie-folk stuff, but I love it!
Holy shit!!! This is random. Mike, sheree, do you guys remember the Kennedys?
I'll melt with you
Off the top of my head, add Forever Young and (if you understand Swedish) 800 Grader to the list.
@@JK-gm6kk Your fucking pfp bro
Pity you only focused on Nena and not on the rest of the band. Carlo Karges wrote the lyrics and Uwe Fahrenkrog-Peterson (the keyboarder) was the composer. He's actually the one who wrote all of Nena's hits. He had a decently successful career both in the US, Japan, and in Germany after the band split. He wrote a song for N'SYNC, several movies, produced Kim Wilde's album and lots more. Although his brother Lutz was even more successful as a producer.
I was borne a couple years after the new Wave boom ended so i didn't See it for myself but Nena was my moms Favorit band so i grew Up with their music. Thanks for the nostalgia trip and new information!
Takes me back, love this song!
This just made me realized “Racing into the night” by Yoasobi is the modern 99 Red balloons. It’s a catchy pop tune that everyone dances too until someone translates it, then the band releases an English cover but it’s not as subtle as the original language version.
You are pretty much spot on with that comparison.
I was 13 in 1984 when this was massive in Australia. Fortunately we had the German version and I didn't hear the English version until some years later. The English version never sounded quite right to me. If we were well behaved in my year 8 German class our teacher, Frau Murray, would play the song for us. And man, what a crush I had on Nena... the hairy armpit thing was never really noticed here. It's still an absolute banger of a tune
Strange, I grew up in 90s Australia and I never heard the German version until it was covered by Goldfinger.
2000s Aussie and same, I didn't hear the english version until long after I was familiar with the German version.
@@richardfan7157 I don't really recall hearing it much through the 90s. I'm talking about the early 80s when it was on high rotation on Top 40 radio (6PM was the station in Perth)
30 years on, it's still a banger
This was the best song at the skating rink. Thanks for the context, sir!
I was hoping you'd talk about the differences between the original version and the English version! That kind of shit makes me happy.
Also, this song is exactly 40yrs old this month, so doing this episode is timelier than you probably expected.
Before watching this let me make one thing clear.
Nena is not a OHW. She's a german pop icon. She's been in the business for years and is one of the most recognizable pop artists in german history.
She's even in our The Voice assamble!
yeah well Europe thinks Rage Against the Machine is a one hit wonder despite being one of the most influential rock bands of the 90s. So we'll call it even.
This came out when I was in elementary school, and pretty randomly I had a class where a couple of students from the local college were teaching us some German. Yes, we did sit around and translate this song. 3rd grade IIRC. In retrospect, that was damn cool.
Oh, an Nena was my first celebrity crush... Because of course.
I still have an abiding love for happy sounding songs about the end of the world. There are a lot of them out there.
I was waiting for that one for a long time
I love the section of Weird Al's "Hooked on Polkas" polka medley where he goes into 99 Luftballons. That's what lead me to learn all about this beautiful, upbeat, sad, depressing song.
The main time a covered song in a Weird Al polka sounded like it could have been from an actual polka! Not even "Rock Me Amadeus" went so traditional!
As soon as I realised that the North American balloon events were eerily reminiscent of this song, I thought "Todd has to cover this on OHW". Todd, you did not disappoint.
I literally had no idea what this song was about till now. Kind of amazing someone could come up with this concept just from seeing some balloons at a concert.
Back in 2000 or so this was my jam, 80s music from pop to punk to synthwave and all in between was one of my major musical interest during my high school years. Always enjoyed this song and even have a few fond memories of the follow ups.