You have covered so much ground. I was in college with this song and the B52's and Talking Heads and The Clash. The best part is that you still have so many genres left to go. I am excited for you because it keeps going on. You don't have any Ray Charles. You don't have Grateful Dead (Ripple) Black-eyed peas (Where is the Love) Michael Buble (Feeling Good) Taco (Puttin on the Ritz) The Vapors (Turning Japanese) Thomas Dolby (Blinded me with Science) Stray Cats - (Stray Cat Strut) Adam Ant (Goody Two Shoes) Bobby McFarren (Don't Worry, Be Happy) Partridge Family (I Think I Love You) You don't have Garth Brooks. I could go on and on and on. A long way to go. Plus, do you keep up with the more modern ones like Macklemore?
Believe it or not, the German version was the one on the radio in America and other English speaking countries back in the 80's. It just took off and took over. We had no idea what we were singing in German, but it was a lot of fun.
@@JayveeTV It seriously keeps your channel fresh--thanks for being different!! (you can keep that trend going with some Alphaville and some Falco--both have great use of the sounds you loved here, taken even further sometimes! I seriously think you'll be an instant fan) :)
@@chrstnanomee7494 Actually it was a challenge among us to get all the words. Not that we succeeded in all the pronunciations, but even today I can remember most of the words. 🙂
I think both versions just represented the tensions between nations in the whole Cold War period, they were at their most strained the year before this song came out. Prob respresented the East/West Germany conflict and tensions too
@@JimmyNotes As an English only speaker, I prefer to think it "flows like poetry" hahaha But ya, I'm kinda jealous that I can appreciate both the music and the lyrics (in English) as much as I DO, knowing that there's an even BETTER version of the song that's "inaccessible" to me lol
OMG, I didn't even know there was an English version. Have been rocking out to the German version for 37 years 😂 No one even cared that we couldn't understand a word she said, lol
I don't speak German but the German version is better. That's what became a hit. That's what we were dancing to in the clubs. I didn't hear the English version until much, much later and it still doesn't sound right. It cheapens it somehow .... diminishes it's impact.
only cause you heard that version first. The english version was the version a hit in the UK. Not sure how it has more impact when you dont even understand what she is singing! Lyrics give a song meaning.
@@en6278 did not realise that. American and Australian audiences preferred the German version, while the English version topped the charts in the U.K., Canada and Ireland. I prefer the German version as it just sounds more passionate to me. It was also meant as a protest song. Also, you can Google the lyrics. The English version loses so much in translation, and wasn’t translated by the band themselves. Apparently they didn’t like it as much.
@@kikidee23 no I think people just have nostalgic attachement to the version they remember. Americans know the german version cause that took off there before they put out an english version for the UK. A protest song is no use if nobody has a clue what the words mean. And this was the early 80s so forget about google!! noboy is gonna care enough to go translate lyrics. some maybe but not overwhelming majority. Its just a catchy tune. With no meaning. The english lyrics give it meaning. Of course the band prefer singing their native language thats a no brainer.
@@en6278 well, it does have meaning if you understand it. And now you can Google it. But yeah, back in the day would have been more nostalgic. But anyway, I stand by my preference.
thats how we grew up in the 80s, great movies, awesome music. But the constant knowledge that at any moment the entire planets population could be nuked out of existence. Not sure if true but I had heard that the American missiles had been set for a two stage strike. IF the 'final code' were ever entered half our missiles would fire at preset targets and 24hrs later the rest would fire automatically to catch any survivors who had come out of hiding.
Check out Falco next, another German artist who had some 80's hits both in English/German versions: - Rock Me Amadeus (extended version) - Der Kommissar - Vienna Calling
I lived in Germany from 80-84 and back stateside Nena 99 Luftballoons was the biggest thing I was a cool teen because I knew both versions word-for-word 🤣 I'm glad you finally got it uploaded! ❤🎶❤
Great reaction. There is a reason why this was a world wide hit. Actually, they said the idea for this song came about when at the end of a Rolling Stones concert in Berlin hundreds of balloons were released. The song's lyricist watched them rise and let his fantasy run wild what this could spark. You have to keep in mind that those were the days of the Cold War. And yes, please react to the original German version as well.
@@rhoetusochten4211 - I wouldn't exactly say "plausible." Even the radar systems back then could distinguish between small balloons and actual fighter jets or missiles, so it was a bit of poetic hyperbole. But the danger of the cold war, and the fact that even the slightest miscalculation could spark a nuclear Armageddon, was indeed very real!
This came out when I was first stationed in Germany, ready to face off against the Soviets. Early in the song there is a lyric about "bugs in the software" and the "one eye" is the radar system picking up the swarm of balloons as a bogey (unidentified blip/target - potentially hostile). So the military scrambles fighters and things escalate until war breaks out. Probably with the death of her friend. Hence the sad ending. The video will give you a good idea of what I am describing. The German version conveys a similar sentiment but is better at more clearly telling its story.
@@dannyiontton3669 Yup, we knew that if the Ruskies & the Warsaw Pact came rolling into West Germany and Europe, the best, but unlikely, outcome would be that we could hold long enough and inflict enough losses that reinforcements could arrive and the Soviets would decide to withdraw. However, we knew the more likely outcome would be that they would be stubborn and things would escalate to World War III.
When a non-German speaking person says the German version of this song is better, what exactly makes it better to them? Is it something about how the song is sung like the pitch or tone of the singers voice? Because I don’t hear any difference in those respects. Each version is sung equally well to my ear regarding pitch and tone. Neither is ‘out of tune’. Neither do I hear any difference in cadence, tempo, or instrumental differences. They are sung and played exactly the same. So is it the case that a non-German speaking person likes the German version better because the German words to them lack any meaning, and therefore, the song is unburdened of any message or meaning to the listener? Or is it something about how the German words in and of themselves ‘sound’ when pronounced and sung to the beat and rhythm of a tune, which are nothing but incomprehensible ‘noises’ lacking meaning to the listener, that gives the song a unique, exotic or mysterious appeal?
@@oaktree1628 I don't speak German and wonder y English speakers rave about the German version being so much better. U just articulated what I've been considering so much better than I could or would have. Thank U.
@@jadecawdellsmith4009 It is difficult to explain. The german version has a Lot more soul, and was out first, so it was the right and original version. It sound more serious. It is About 99 ballons, causing 99 years of World war, because it was seen on radar as enemy missiles. The lyrics har a Lot Better flow and power, at last if you understand german. You Really Feel the terror of the last war going to end human civilisation. 😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀☠💀💀☠
@@Altinget I understand the meaning & gravitas of the song. I understand y German speakers would prefer it because of the meaning. I just am confused y non German speakers esp those who don't know the meaning of the lyrics to refer it.
Yeah, i think it was literally years before I even knew there was an English version. I think I'd either requested it on the radio or selected it on a jukebox, but they had the English version loaded by mistake. It just felt 'wrong'.
Others have already said the song's about 99 red balloons being released and accidentally triggering a nuclear war. In reality, there were a few cases during the Cold War where very innocuous things almost started World War III. (Including a flock of swans that missile radar picked up near Turkey In 1956.) Kind of heavy subject matter, really. But it had a beat, and people could dance to it.
I read about some VIPs being shown around a new USA radar centre when they were quickly ushered out as alerts started sounding, they thought Russia had launched nukes. It turns out that nobody had thought about the moon rising over the horizon and reflecting a signature back to the radar. It's scary how close accidental launches have been or could happen.
It’s so important to know history to understand songs. This was the Cold War. It’s about accidental nuclear war. They had us shook like y’all are from global warming. I was a kid when this dropped and we just gigged off it.
I was serving on a fast attack submarine when this song was relatively new, and I had the album on cassette tape (CD may have existed, but were not popular yet). It was the Cold War in those days, the balance of terror as they called it. One of my shipmates borrowed the tape from me and noticed that he could listen to the English version, then flip the tape over and listen to the German version since the play length was nearly identical and they were so positioned on the tape. He would do this for hours while off watch. Eventually he was removed from submarine service for mental issues, an all too common end to submarine careers in those days. But yes, there we were ready to respond in case any red balloons went up listening to anti-war songs when we had the chance. Thankfully none did. Now we have a new set of problems. Something tells me we'll find yet another set of problems as soon as we get this one sorted out. So it goes.
During the 80's the world was worried about a nuclear war between the USA and Soviet Union. Here in the UK we had warning films put out by the government telling us what to do when the war started.. There were songs about it and there was a film starring Matthew Broderick called War Games essential about a computer having a war between the USA and the Soviet Union and the computer decided there would be no winners. They were scary times.
I remember that @Denise Meredith. We were discussing the four minute warning in the playground. Just one misunderstanding, one wrong move... we came so close to wiping ourselves out. Will we ever learn, I wonder.
@@kayew5492 I remember doing the drills, diving under our desks. I often wonder what that desk was made from in order to protect me. I think me and the desk would have both ended up shadows or ash. So, they pretty much scared the bejeezus out of us, all while lying that we could survive if we just made it under the desks.
The song was written by the keyboard player. He saw balloons floating away, and imagined that those balloons would have gone over wall to E Germany and start a war.
@@texascard I know! Just saying the wrong order!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is awesome. This song is one of those that you hear the first time and can't help but smile and dance. One of my favorite 80's songs of all time. Love the reaction.
Not only was this the ultimate song about the cold war in the 80s, it was the best pop song of the decade as well, especially the german version. Merry Christmas, mate and fingers crossed for a less crazy new year
As many of the comments have already indicated, this song is about how easy it could be to start a nuclear war and wipe out humanity. The singer and her friend released 99 red balloons into the sky and the response from a trigger-happy nation that couldn't identify the objects in the air was to launch a missile attack.
Yes,,that Nation was the United States. It was a very Anti American song. I was living in Germany and saw her get big. She was very Anti USA and Loved the Soviet Union.
I don't think it inspired the song, and the incident I'm pretty sure postdated but one of the moments where both sides came close to launching went something like this. USSR: We're detecting a launch, oh shit is this it, is it starting? USA: We're detecting a launch oh shit is this it, is it starting? Norway: You mother fuckers! We told both of you we were launching a fucking weather balloon today at this exact fucking time to avoid exactly this fucking situation.
Yeah, Wall fell while I was a pre-teen/teen... Grew up with nuclear war a silent background tension to the world. Not as overt as the early Cold War Era, but There.
“99 dreams I have had and every one, a red balloon. It’s all over and I’m standing pretty, in the dust that was a city. If I could find a souvenir, just to prove the world was here. And here is a red balloon, I think of you... and let it go.” - Nena, West German New Wave Band, 99 Red Balloons, Recorded 1984
I have never heard the (English) Version of this song. Back in the day (80/90's) we couldn't understand the words of the song but like you said it just got you moving with the the beat.
It's hard to imagine if you were not around, but in the early/mid 80's nuclear annihilation was a very REAL possibility, the threat was something we lived with. Your generation very nearly never was! Happy Christmas and a peaceful, safe new year. X
What inspired the original German version was an incident where 99 weather balloons were briefly mistaken for missiles or bombers, triggering a scramble by jet fighter interceptors. When the English version was written, they used "red balloons" just because it scanned better.
UK was one of the few countries where the English version was the hit. Most of the rest of the world played the German version but this is what we heard in UK.
In this (the English) version, she and her friend released 99 red balloons at dawn because they thought it was beautiful. An anti-missile early warning system picked up the balloons and it was assumed to be a nuclear launch. The military leaders wanted war, and that's what they got, and so the world ended. In the last verse she finds a single red balloon in the rubble and releases it, thinking of her friend. The German version is similar in spirit with a slightly different story. Balloons are released, jets are scrambled to investigate the signal, they shoot down the balloons, that action is interpreted as the first step of a war, and so on.
Another song about nuclear war. It was what we were all worried about in the early 80s as tensions between the US and Soviet Union increased. There were loads of very happy sounding records that were about the end of the world.
So jealous of you getting to listen to this for the very first time! This was my song as a kid in the 80’s....my name is Nina....I used to think it was written for me 🤣 Great Video! X
This is about the closest were going to get to time travel listening to songs and watching movies from back in the day that bring back so much nostalgia
Anyplace anywhere anytime is Nena’s song, or in Germany, irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann. (I think that’s right, my German isn’t great!) Nena is amazing though. Love most of their songs.
OMG we were all amazed with Nenas arm pit hair in the video, she was a beast, made us feel something ya know? It was very risqué to us, so mysterious and beautiful
Since it's Christmas time ABBA's "Happy New Year" would be very fitting. And then may be "Thank you for the music" by them as well. Will uplift the mood, for sure)
As a little girl the German version was my favorite. I didn't know what I was singing lol. My dad had the record and I'd listen to it over and over again when I was at his house. When I got older and heard the english version I was shocked that it was actually a deep song.
99 Red Balloons anti-nuclear war song, in the Cold War ‘80s. Europe always lived in fear between the Soviet Union’s hostilities in a divided Germany and the territories Russia owned. Nuclear tensions between US and the Soviet Union: 99 Red Balloon was symbolic to a various things in this song: 99 dreams about the future, 99 days of tensions, 99 nuclear bombs, 99 cities that all this happened. The sole survivor of the event lets life know we have all passed but we were here.
This song chills me to the bone! The lyrics are prophetic and have a meaning! The ending is haunting- it makes me wonder if she lived or if she died? 😱
Nena was still touring and performing in 2020 - there are many concert appearances of her through the years. I heard a radio interview with her on shortwave out of Germany quite recently, so I think she's alive and well and working on another in what's been a long series of albums.
The balloons represent an errant nuclear missle. They mistake the balloons for a weapon and go in to panic mode. It destroys the world and all they have is one red balloon left.
Bro, the song is not a "hopeful" song. The song is about nuclear war. Two lovers release red balloons into the air; and the military misreads them on radar and think the balloons are nuclear missiles. In response the president launches nuclear missiles. There's nuclear war and the Earth is destroyed.
Lol, music means something to different people. The song tells a story, and the last line of the song is very poignant and in my opinion very hopeful and uplifting. I don't understand why you have to disagree with someone else like that, there is a polite way to do it.
@@fortunax22 listen to the lyrics. There is no question it's about nuclear war. There's a polite way to do it? I didn't call him an asshole or anything rude like that, so what are you talking about? I wasn't impolite. That's you reading into my words. And the last line of the song - put it in context with the rest of the last verse: 99 dreams I have had In every one a red balloon It's all over and I'm standin' pretty In this dust that was a city If I could find a souvenir Just to prove the world was here... And here is, a red balloon I think of you and let it go. So in a song where cities are reduced to dust and a souvenir as proof that the world was here - because the world is gone now - and the line you think is hopeful is "I think of you and let it go"? That's a slim hope - from cities reduced to dust and the end of the world to letting a single red balloon go? I don't see the hope.
@@jflaugher yes, I did listen to the lyrics. There is a polite way to do things and yet again implying people haven't listened to the lyrics is not the way to do it. It's an anti war song and yes the song does tell a story about war reducing both sides of a conflict, however, that doesn't mean the song cannot still have an uplifting and hopeful message. Perhaps you should actually learn more about the song aside from just looking at at the lyrics. Lyrics mean more than just their face value. As I said before, and you seem to want to just dismiss because you're always correct, people interpret music differently. You see it as a depressing piece of music, and other people don't. Learn how to frame your arguments so you aren't talking down to people, it will help you in life.
@@fortunax22 where in my original post did I say anything rude? I was informing him - educating him. He seemed to think it was about the Berlin Wall coming down - which happened several years later. So whether or not he was listening to the lyrics, he totally misunderstood what the lyrics were about. And it has nothing to do with me wanting the lyrics to be depressing. It's a matter of what the lyrics are actually about. If you have a problem with the subject matter of the song, take it up with Nena. I didn't write the song, she did.
Me and my best friend had this 45 vinyl- played it over and over in junior high school! Love that funky beat! One side of the vinyl was the English version and the flip side was the German side- we played both- that bass and groove was all we needed! Merry Christmas Eve Jovaughn! 🎄🎁✌️✨
@@denisemeredith2436 Or Trans Europa Express which was very successful in American clubs with mainly black audience. Also unexpectedly successful there was "Bostich" from Yello.
Jayyyy!!!! I’m so excited that you got to this song! The song definitely keeps delivering. “I could listen to this song all day.” Me too-one of my faves! Thank you, JoVaughn!
Great work friend. I love seeing these first-time reactions to songs dear to my heart, but new to others. It helps me to appreciate music I have loved for a long time all over again! :)
Dude you are so awesome, I loved your reaction and how you interpreted the song. Best reaction video ever! I’m subscribed! I look forward to watching all of your videos and videos to come!
It's an anti-war song. The German version is better because the text flows more naturally. However, there are so many other (better) songs to react to. Check out songs by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds (e.g. from the album: No more shall we part) or by Leonard Cohen (songs like: Famous blue raincoat, Suzanne, Avalanche, A street ......).
Suzanne Vega - Luka (Official Video) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VZt7J0iaUD0.html This song was very deep when it came out, and the subject matter. Great song though.
Nena was a band named after their lead singer who is now a solo artist. So far the only artist of the Neue Deutsche Welle (German New Wave) who had success after the hype and still releasing material. Nena was recently rediscovered by international audiences because of the repeated use of their 1984 song Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann in the first German Netflix show "Dark" (2017-2020).
Now you did it, Jay, you just did it, man...brought some tears to my eyes on all those memories. When this song hit the lists, I was in junior high. So many loving memories of those unforgettable days. Life was so different.
This is a song about 99 red balloons triggering World War 3. It was a popular anti-war song during the Cold War, when nuclear annihilation was a a real everyday concern. Sting’s song “Russians” deals with this same concern.
I’m from the Netherlands, like the german version bettter. I like Nena, she is still singing at 60 years old. Even has a new Album right now. It’s cold Licht ! Love that Album