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Breeze · 07-22-2019, 07:32 AM

5. Nena – 99 Luftballons (1984)

Total Points – 267
Charts – 5
Top 40 – 1
Top 20 – 1
Top 10 – 2
Total Ranking – 8, 10, 15, 34, 88, NR

Gabriele Susanne Kerner, a German singer-songwriter, actress and comedian who while vacationing in Spain as a child with her family acquired the nickname, Nena (which means little girl). Nena started her musical career at 19, when she was asked to lead sing for band after the guitarist watched her dance as a club one night. The band was The Stripes and they performed English lyric songs and even managed to have a minor hit, but they never achieved mainstream success so they broke up. However, The Stripes label offered Nena her own contract if she’d perform German lyric songs, so she and her then boyfriend moved to Berlin and formed the band, which also went by the name Nena. The band experienced success almost immediately, having a huge hit only 2 months after forming. In 1983, they released this song, which was a #1 in German and the Netherlands. The English version became a #1 hit in the UK. Interestingly, the German version made it to #2 on the US Hot 100, kept out of the top spot by Van Halen’s Jump. In 1984, Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 played a sliced version mix of the English and German versions which was a huge it in many other countries. The idea for the song came when one of the band members was attending a Rolling Stone’s concert and a bunch of balloons were released. He watched them float away and noticed them changing shapes and thought that they looked like a UFO. When writing the song, they found an article about a 1973 prank where a group of boys released 99 mylar balloons (they lost one in transit or it would have been 100) to simulate a UFO. The song does depict the innocent launching of balloons leading to panic and eventually nuclear war. I’ve linked the English version here, if you prefer the German version, it is also available on YouTube.

07-22-2019, 07:32 AM	#233
Breeze Grizzled Veteran Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Northern Suburbs of ATL	5. Nena – 99 Luftballons (1984) Total Points – 267 Charts – 5 Top 40 – 1 Top 20 – 1 Top 10 – 2 Total Ranking – 8, 10, 15, 34, 88, NR Gabriele Susanne Kerner, a German singer-songwriter, actress and comedian who while vacationing in Spain as a child with her family acquired the nickname, Nena (which means little girl). Nena started her musical career at 19, when she was asked to lead sing for band after the guitarist watched her dance as a club one night. The band was The Stripes and they performed English lyric songs and even managed to have a minor hit, but they never achieved mainstream success so they broke up. However, The Stripes label offered Nena her own contract if she’d perform German lyric songs, so she and her then boyfriend moved to Berlin and formed the band, which also went by the name Nena. The band experienced success almost immediately, having a huge hit only 2 months after forming. In 1983, they released this song, which was a #1 in German and the Netherlands. The English version became a #1 hit in the UK. Interestingly, the German version made it to #2 on the US Hot 100, kept out of the top spot by Van Halen’s Jump. In 1984, Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 played a sliced version mix of the English and German versions which was a huge it in many other countries. The idea for the song came when one of the band members was attending a Rolling Stone’s concert and a bunch of balloons were released. He watched them float away and noticed them changing shapes and thought that they looked like a UFO. When writing the song, they found an article about a 1973 prank where a group of boys released 99 mylar balloons (they lost one in transit or it would have been 100) to simulate a UFO. The song does depict the innocent launching of balloons leading to panic and eventually nuclear war. I’ve linked the English version here, if you prefer the German version, it is also available on YouTube.