99 Luftballons

Encyclopedia : 9 : 99 : 99L : 99 Luftballons

"99 Luftballons" (literally "99 Balloons") is a protest song by German singer Nena that reached number one in West Germany in 1983.

Contents

1 History of the song
2 Cover versions
3 Trivia
4 Mentions in the media
5 External links

History of the song

Both the English and German versions of the song tell a story of ninety-nine balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalyptic overreaction by the military. The music was composed by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, the keyboardist of Nena's band, while the guitar player, Carlo Karges, wrote the original German lyrics. Kevin McAlea wrote the English version, titled "99 Red Balloons," which has a more satirical tone than the original.

[Nena - 99 Luftballons excerpt] ([file info])
*
* Problems listening to the file? See [Media helpmedia help].

The song came during a period of escalating rhetoric and strategic maneuvering between the United States and the Soviet Union. In particular, its international chart success followed two events in Europe that raised fears of the Cold War becoming "hot." First, in November 1983 the Soviet Union misread NATO's annual Able Archer exercise as an actual preparation for a nuclear strike and activated its own weapons for a preemptive strike. Although few outside the Soviet Union understood the seriousness of the response, historians now consider it one of the closest calls with nuclear war and a reflection of the war angst of the time. A few weeks later, in January 1984, The US deployed Pershing II missiles in West Germany, prompting protests across western Europe.

In this context, Nena topped the UK Singles Chart with "99 Red Balloons" for three weeks from 28 February 1984. She never charted again in the U.K., and was placed #10 on the recent Channel 4 poll, "The 100 greatest one hit wonders of all time." The song also peaked at #2 on the U.S. Hot 100 chart.

|- style="text-align: center;"

Cover versions

The song has been covered by numerous bands, most notably by 7 Seconds in English, Siobhan DuVall, and by Goldfinger in English with a German verse. The latter cover was featured in several films, including "Eurotrip" (2004) and "Not Another Teen Movie" (2001) as well as the video game "Gran Turismo 3" (2000) as background music and during various competitions in Nickelodeon's television movie "" (2002).

Trivia

"99 Luftballons" was also used in a Telus commercial in Canada in 2003. This commercial featured piglets being lifted up by red balloons into the air, with the German song playing in the background.

VH1 Classic, an American cable television station, ran a charity event for Hurricane Katrina relief in 2006. Viewers who made donations were allowed to choose which music videos the station would play. One viewer donated $35,000 for the right to program an entire hour and requested continuous play of Nena's "99 Luftballons" and "99 Red Balloons" videos continuously for an entire hour. The station broadcasted the videos as requested from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST on March 26, 2006.

Mentions in the media

A cover version is featured in the European release of the 2004 video game "Donkey Konga."
On a VH1 one-hit wonders special, host William Shatner joked that this was the only song on the countdown to mention him. He was of course referencing the line "Hielten sich für Kaptain Kirk." ("They thought that they were Captain Kirk.")
Played in the 2003 French movie ["La Beuze"]
Played in the 2002 video game ""
Sang for a few seconds by Drew Barrymore in the 1998 movie "The Wedding Singer"
Played in the pilot episode of NBC's television series "My Name is Earl"
It has been featured in a "Saturday Night Live" commercial, advertising a smoke detector that plays the hits of the 1980s.
Played in one of the climactic scenes of "Boogie Nights"
Features in the reunion dance scenes of "Grosse Pointe Blank"
Features as the closing theme for the BBC Radio 4 spoof panel game The 99p Challenge
Features in an episode of the television series "Scrubs" (Episode 2.20 , "My Interpretation")
Sung by Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in the movie "Wedding Crashers" as a deleted scene
Played on the Australian countdown programme "20 to 1" on 13 February 2006, in the episode ""
P. Diddy claims this to be one of his favorite songs.
Briefly quoted in the Guster song "Amsterdam"
Homer sings this song (in German) in "The Simpsons" episode "The Heartbroke Kid."
In a spoof of "American Idol" on "MADtv" Season 8, three celebrity contestants (Courtney Love, Wham!, and Bobby Brown) sang in different styles.
Listened by Lorelai in "Gilmore Girls" when she goes into labor

External links

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.