PSA: Don't release 99 balloons into the sky. It's very rude for the people who have OCD. release 100 instead, meanies. -Eager Eye's are missile silos, and the pupils are the missiles.-
On a lot of her "live" clips performing this song, she's always very affectionate and "flirty" with the guys in the band. They must think they're in Heaven performing with her! She also comes off as VERY sweet and personable in all of the interviews she's done. To know her and to work with her must be an absolute blast!
During the last 30 years, Nena and her music developed extremly. 99 red balloons was a great success in the 80's, in Germany she is still a successful singer. In february 2015, she will release her new album "Oldschool", which is the 18th studio album with songs in different styles. Her newest hit "Lieder von früher" tells of songs in former times she still enjoy them and sometimes she is dancing the whole night to them, so to speak a tribute for her own ideals. It sounds absolutely good!
OK all you 40 and 50 year old people, if you could go back in time to relive the 80's, BUT you years off your TOTAL life, (so instead of dying at 90 years old, you would die at 75-80 years old) would you do it?? The 80's were a unique and amazing decade. The music! The parties! The dances! The friends (many of which you still have 30 years later). Even the movies (ET, The Breakfast Club, Fast Times At Ridgemont High. Dirty Dancing!!) Now that you know that the worst that can happen to you is to be grounded for a week or two or maybe lose your phone privileges for an entire weekend, would you have done more than you did the first time around?? Many of us would kill for a chance to get back to the big hair, the leg warmers, the girl's bathroom so thick with hair spray that it resembled a fog machine, and a chance to dust off those Levi's Button Flies and jean jackets one more time! The 80's were the last decade that, as a kid, we could stay out until "the street light came on" (after dark), go inside our neighbors houses and eat their food , and feel safe enough to stay in bed if you fell asleep with only the screen door locked! With all those things seemingly against us, somehow, we managed to survive! We didn't have XBox or Wii, and we couldn't carry our cell phones without appearing like we were carrying a purse with wires hanging out of it!! Today, they would look at that thing as a bomb! Hell, I'd even go so far as to say we had more fun without all those things! If we played the very latest, modern video games, it was playing Frogger, Tank Commander, or Pac Man, but after 30 minutes to an hour, we'd get bored and run outside for some real fun! We were totally happy playing hide and seek or Cowboys and Indians, and we didn't have to call it Western Residents and Native Americans. We made complex tunnels deep in the snow banks (it seems we had so much more snow back then), used ropes to swing 5 or 6 kids at a time 20 to 40 feet in the air, and we lived when we all fell off in a tangled heap! We fed marshmallows to raccoons from the back door steps, and taught chipmunks to eat nuts out of our hands or while sitting on our shoulders, and we didn't get lice, or ticks, or rabies! Life was easier then, and a hell of a lot more fun than any kid has today. Why? Because we were safe. Kids could wander the neighborhood, ride our bikes along roadsides, and enjoy running through connected yards sometimes until 9 or 9:30 at night! We chased fireflies and put them in jars to watch them glow before letting them go. Everyone knew everyone! But I think the one thing that made it so much more fun and adventuresome was that we went OUTSIDE, and ya know...we preferred it that way!
Jason Place Shame, it was going so well until you mentioned "The music! The parties! The dances! The friends (many of which you still have 30 years later)." and the movies "ET, The Breakfast Club, Fast Times At Ridgemont High. Dirty Dancing!!" lol
1. DAMN, 80's fashion & vids were "rough" to put it nicely... born in '79, glad I was too young to know what she was talking about 2. I still LOVE her voice... Even sexier when she's speaking German... *drool* Love ya NENA - from (north) Dallas, TEXAS!!!
Me being at the young age of 16, this song is very inspiring as well as incredible to listen to. and I have to say, I now wish I could have lived through the 80's. Music was good, Movies were amazing and there was actual action going on in the world. other than now where everything is about social media and music genres ( dubstep ) Sigh... If only.
+Noah Waters-Hoffman oh my god i know right! we were totally born in the wrong generation. i would suck the 80s dick because i fucking love those years so damn much. I gonna kill myself so im fucking reborn in the 80s.
Ninety-nine dreams I have had and every one a red balloon It's all over, and I'm standing 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 Beautiful.
I remember this song, and did like it...didn't know what the song was about at first, after I found out...I loved it! Growing up in the ol' USA during the cold war we were always on edge and i could never appreciate what it would be like growing up in Germany during this time. Being of German decent I only thought of this after this song and its meaning explained to me...Truly is a great song by a talented artist who had the perception to illustrate through words a fear that WWIII could be started over something as simple as balloons on a radar screen. It was influential with changing my mind about the cold war propaganda I was raised with! It never got enough air-play in the USA and I know why... The war machine (our military industrial complex) could not let such realities influence any decisions regarding their budget. My favorite lyric is "This is it Boys, This is WAR...This is What we Waited For!!"... Great song, Great lyrics, by a great artist.
I was there !! Watching these videos is rather bitter sweet for me, sweet because it takes me to time & place I will allways cherish, bitter because reality sets in when the video ends. lol
I love that she doesn't even try to hide that this is a playback performance. I think both versions of this song are simply powerful and paint a picture of a horridly war paranoid society with the words sung.
I'm an old man at 51 now...but in my 20's this is actually how we imagined the nuclear holocaust could begin....not a terrorist with one or two bombs..but the entire arsenals of both the USA and its nuclear allies and the USSR being unleashed...the motto was.."use them or lose them"...
I miss this kind of music. You know, the good kind. The music today is so god awful. Honestly. Can these idiots go one day without writing music about sex, drugs, alcohol, or parties? I'm beyond done. This is an example of what today's artists (well, today's pop artists) will never be able to write. A song that actually means something. An absolutely amazing song. I'm may have been born in the late 90's, but i can sure as hell tell what is good music and what isn't.
TigerLily It's because you don't look for good music. Plenty of good music gets put out all the time. increasingly with the ease of production lowering severely in the past 5 years or so.
Dude, trust me. I know a hell of a lot of good music. It's just the pop music specifically. 80's pop was truly amazing and it eventually went to shit. By went to shit, i mean it went to shit like nicki minaj, taylor swift, and meghan trainor.
1983... in a Soviet bunker there is a problem. Them main strategic missile launch detector radar array is down for servicing. The secondary array is not so good. A NATO exercise has being going on for weeks... the Soviets fear that it may be a cover for a real attack. Dawn comes over the Eastern USA. Suddenly the consoles for the secondary Soviet radar array are lit up *****LAUNCH*****. There is disbelief. A few second later a second warning; *****LAUNCH******. And again - a total of four times. The guy in charge hesistates; this looks real, but why so few launches. All he has to do is press a button and the Soviet hierarchy will respond will a full retalliatory response. He stops. He thinks. He does not press the button. Later it will be found that that there was an error in the radar array that mistook scintillation in the sunrisev for offensive missile launches. By now you're wondering what film that came from. It eas no film. This happened. God bless that guy. The real man who saved the world.
". . . the war machine springs to life, opens up one eager eye . . ." This has always been a favourite song of mine my whole life. But that line is so chilling.
Amazing song by Neena. Still packs the same punch today as it did back then. But I must admit, The song sung in German, trumps the literal English Translation song.
+Jontin i know there's meaningful music now. All i listen to is the music that actually means something. I avoid the popular music at all costs because that's the meaningless crap that everyone listens to nowadays. I've looked for meaningful music and I've succeeded in finding it. I just wish others could do the same
Both Versions Great. I Am Metallica, Zombie, ACDC, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Kid Rock, Everlast, Looking Glass, Van Halen, Nazareth, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Good Song All Versions.
I thought that it transferred very well into English but I had heard the German version first and actually think that they can stand together. I am British but having spent 5 years in the British army in Germany can manage the language enough to get by.
Classic song .. I love it.. I wish she'd done more popular songs back in the day. Features in Metal Gear Solid V apparently as you can send sheep and soldiers to their helium balloon demise .. so much for the pacifist message in this song !
This is a beautifuly done song, considering it's an anti war protest song. I think its fucking great. would listen to it every day but, well, you know... the feels
if you know anything about politics.. this song is about the the U.S. and Russia nuking each other.(the cold war)....red baloons is a metaphor for nuclear wepones thank god noone blew each other up.
Cellphones and multimedia. Facespace and Titter! Those days we wore clothes to attract conversation using 5 senses. Not stare into a screen. My mind and some old school shit. That time has left us and can not be done anymore..
Based on a true story, except there was only one balloon and it was very big (83ft 6inch x 43ft 6inch), and it was British, the result of an accidental break-away. This was the very early 1980's. 'Mass panic' was putting it mildly!
i saw the same exact thing happen here in Maine, USA... Portland Airport alerted and finally found the old 6 miles away with a kite on a 3 miles long teather and it was all planted firmly into the park ground and he was giving away to any child would could wind in the big gear.... big kite
Always funny to me how the most serious of songs sound so upbeat and fun
+Thewise one Dancing with tears in my eyes
That's true
same with pumped up kicks or love will tear us apart
Ikr, it's about the cold war
watchmojo number 1 song upbeat song with dark lyrics
Maravillosa Nena viva para mi la mejor música años 70 y 80
A fantastic track...sung by a stunningly beautiful lady!
Yes Ian..it IS better in German! Thanks for your comment...and my best wishes to you mate!
God this music video is so 80's. How can you not love it?
It's not a music video
Beautiful song and wonderful memories during the mid 80's. A very unique song that still rocks!!
PSA: Don't release 99 balloons into the sky. It's very rude for the people who have OCD. release 100 instead, meanies.
-Eager Eye's are missile silos, and the pupils are the missiles.-
Shinietehmit hahahah rite on
I like 99 better because I can group it into 3's. Am OCD
+KoalaDuty 33 groups of 3... yes
Ur mum ... I like to group things into 99. The song totally works for me!
but if you groupl them in to five.. one group will be missing one.. aaaaaaagghh i can't stand it ..........
Such a classic. Just saw video of her at les années bonheur this past summer. Great performance
This is THE BEST 80's song of all time.
On a lot of her "live" clips performing this song, she's always very affectionate and "flirty" with the guys in the band. They must think they're in Heaven performing with her! She also comes off as VERY sweet and personable in all of the interviews she's done. To know her and to work with her must be an absolute blast!
One of the best song ever....fantastic 80's that will never come back....great Nena!
Another great Aussie band from the 80's!!
+Jason West They're German. The original song was sung in German.
+knoxgarrett I meant to say they are Aussies of German decent.
+Felix Lievano Hey no need for filthy language!!
The German version is better. But Nena could read a menu from a chinese restaurant and I would pay to listen to her.
Jim the Hermit Nena could read a menu from a chinese restaurant and I would pirate the video to listen to her instead of paying.
AHSS SHOLLL !!!!
Not to even mention she's gorgeous, has an awesome band and the lyrics are unbelievably intelligent!
I've just played on my Atari computer this avo dating back to 1983 for this first time in decades and now listening to this, life is still cool!
Possibly the best english version of this song. The energy her band, and of course what she herself brings to this song, is fantastic...
During the last 30 years, Nena and her music developed extremly. 99 red balloons was a great success in the 80's, in Germany she is still a successful singer. In february 2015, she will release her new album "Oldschool", which is the 18th studio album with songs in different styles. Her newest hit "Lieder von früher" tells of songs in former times she still enjoy them and sometimes she is dancing the whole night to them, so to speak a tribute for her own ideals. It sounds absolutely good!
OK all you 40 and 50 year old people, if you could go back in time to relive the 80's, BUT you years off your TOTAL life, (so instead of dying at 90 years old, you would die at 75-80 years old) would you do it?? The 80's were a unique and amazing decade. The music! The parties! The dances! The friends (many of which you still have 30 years later). Even the movies (ET, The Breakfast Club, Fast Times At Ridgemont High. Dirty Dancing!!) Now that you know that the worst that can happen to you is to be grounded for a week or two or maybe lose your phone privileges for an entire weekend, would you have done more than you did the first time around?? Many of us would kill for a chance to get back to the big hair, the leg warmers, the girl's bathroom so thick with hair spray that it resembled a fog machine, and a chance to dust off those Levi's Button Flies and jean jackets one more time!
The 80's were the last decade that, as a kid, we could stay out until "the street light came on" (after dark), go inside our neighbors houses and eat their food , and feel safe enough to stay in bed if you fell asleep with only the screen door locked! With all those things seemingly against us, somehow, we managed to survive! We didn't have XBox or Wii, and we couldn't carry our cell phones without appearing like we were carrying a purse with wires hanging out of it!! Today, they would look at that thing as a bomb! Hell, I'd even go so far as to say we had more fun without all those things! If we played the very latest, modern video games, it was playing Frogger, Tank Commander, or Pac Man, but after 30 minutes to an hour, we'd get bored and run outside for some real fun! We were totally happy playing hide and seek or Cowboys and Indians, and we didn't have to call it Western Residents and Native Americans. We made complex tunnels deep in the snow banks (it seems we had so much more snow back then), used ropes to swing 5 or 6 kids at a time 20 to 40 feet in the air, and we lived when we all fell off in a tangled heap! We fed marshmallows to raccoons from the back door steps, and taught chipmunks to eat nuts out of our hands or while sitting on our shoulders, and we didn't get lice, or ticks, or rabies! Life was easier then, and a hell of a lot more fun than any kid has today. Why? Because we were safe. Kids could wander the neighborhood, ride our bikes along roadsides, and enjoy running through connected yards sometimes until 9 or 9:30 at night! We chased fireflies and put them in jars to watch them glow before letting them go. Everyone knew everyone! But I think the one thing that made it so much more fun and adventuresome was that we went OUTSIDE, and ya know...we preferred it that way!
Jason Place Shame, it was going so well until you mentioned "The music! The parties! The dances! The friends (many of which you still have 30 years later)." and the movies "ET, The Breakfast Club, Fast Times At Ridgemont High. Dirty Dancing!!" lol
I'd do it and i was born in 96
xfghhjn You'd be bored senseless within 24 hours, basic cable, no internet oh the horror, the horror... lol
DislocatedCardiganV1 Well...sometimes we get lost in a moment. LOL. Roger Ebert was turning over in his grave...
DislocatedCardiganV1 Maybe you're right lol.
1. DAMN, 80's fashion & vids were "rough" to put it nicely... born in '79, glad I was too young to know what she was talking about
2. I still LOVE her voice... Even sexier when she's speaking German... *drool* Love ya NENA - from (north) Dallas, TEXAS!!!
Like fine wine, she is timeless...............
Me being at the young age of 16, this song is very inspiring as well as incredible to listen to.
and I have to say, I now wish I could have lived through the 80's. Music was good, Movies were amazing and there was actual action going on in the world. other than now where everything is about social media and music genres ( dubstep )
Sigh... If only.
+Noah Waters-Hoffman Le Wrong Generation
+Noah Waters-Hoffman oh my god i know right! we were totally born in the wrong generation. i would suck the 80s dick because i fucking love those years so damn much. I gonna kill myself so im fucking reborn in the 80s.
pretty girl's in music , love it .
I've been on a fuckin hunt for this song and now I've found it!!
Her voice at the beginning of the song gives me goosebumps, 1984 is becoming a distant memory, but this song takes me right back.
Ninety-nine dreams I have had
and every one a red balloon
It's all over, and I'm standing 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
Beautiful.
yeah that bits cool. agreed
my favorite song from 1984, just as good as I remember it.
80's people have realy great no wonder my mom talks about it so much ! #80's ;)
I remember this song, and did like it...didn't know what the song was about at first, after I found out...I loved it! Growing up in the ol' USA during the cold war we were always on edge and i could never appreciate what it would be like growing up in Germany during this time. Being of German decent I only thought of this after this song and its meaning explained to me...Truly is a great song by a talented artist who had the perception to illustrate through words a fear that WWIII could be started over something as simple as balloons on a radar screen. It was influential with changing my mind about the cold war propaganda I was raised with! It never got enough air-play in the USA and I know why... The war machine (our military industrial complex) could not let such realities influence any decisions regarding their budget. My favorite lyric is "This is it Boys, This is WAR...This is What we Waited For!!"... Great song, Great lyrics, by a great artist.
I was there !! Watching these videos is rather bitter sweet for me, sweet because it takes me to time & place I will allways cherish, bitter because reality sets in when the video ends. lol
I was 16 when she burst on the scene and I fell in love with her. Every time I watch her videos now it transports me back to the 80s. Sigh.......
damn Nina was hot!!
amazing song... 2016
The 80s man, BEST years of my life!!!
Just proves you can totally be dressed and covered and still be hot! Unlike every other singer today that is all but nude or hardly dressed.
This is a pretty good song, could listen to this over and over again.
I also like "Just a Dream" and with Kim Wilde the duet "Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime"
Ahhhhhhhh, gotta love the 80's, wish i could go back.
80's music, my guilty pleasure
Haha me to and i missed it i was born to late lol
lol, A headband for every occasion....!
I love that she doesn't even try to hide that this is a playback performance. I think both versions of this song are simply powerful and paint a picture of a horridly war paranoid society with the words sung.
Excellent! And prophetic. Even truer now than then.
I sang that song on my first job ADC Company ,99 nena ,av / nenas awesome.
The strap-on keyboard- how 80's!! Love it...
Really love Nena, thats the best song ever.
Ok, so the eighties have come and gone...so why does this song STILL make sense as much if not even more so TODAY?!
I'm an old man at 51 now...but in my 20's this is actually how we imagined the nuclear holocaust could begin....not a terrorist with one or two bombs..but the entire arsenals of both the USA and its nuclear allies and the USSR being unleashed...the motto was.."use them or lose them"...
I love this song so much, Nena is such an amazing artist :)
I miss this kind of music. You know, the good kind. The music today is so god awful. Honestly. Can these idiots go one day without writing music about sex, drugs, alcohol, or parties? I'm beyond done. This is an example of what today's artists (well, today's pop artists) will never be able to write. A song that actually means something. An absolutely amazing song. I'm may have been born in the late 90's, but i can sure as hell tell what is good music and what isn't.
TigerLily
It's because you don't look for good music.
Plenty of good music gets put out all the time. increasingly with the ease of production lowering severely in the past 5 years or so.
Dude, trust me. I know a hell of a lot of good music. It's just the pop music specifically. 80's pop was truly amazing and it eventually went to shit. By went to shit, i mean it went to shit like nicki minaj, taylor swift, and meghan trainor.
It's alll about that bass, that bass!
Gary Burns gtfo
Love this one hit wonder band!
GES yes but they were more than one Hit Wonders, at least in the German-Speaking world
1983... in a Soviet bunker there is a problem. Them main strategic missile launch detector radar array is down for servicing. The secondary array is not so good. A NATO exercise has being going on for weeks... the Soviets fear that it may be a cover for a real attack. Dawn comes over the Eastern USA. Suddenly the consoles for the secondary Soviet radar array are lit up *****LAUNCH*****. There is disbelief. A few second later a second warning; *****LAUNCH******. And again - a total of four times.
The guy in charge hesistates; this looks real, but why so few launches. All he has to do is press a button and the Soviet hierarchy will respond will a full retalliatory response. He stops. He thinks. He does not press the button. Later it will be found that that there was an error in the radar array that mistook scintillation in the sunrisev for offensive missile launches.
By now you're wondering what film that came from.
It eas no film. This happened. God bless that guy. The real man who saved the world.
Adrian Graham Oh God...
If he'd have pressed the button we probably wouldn't be Comparing musical decades now...
Bush also saved the world by refusing to sell bunker buster to Israel.. But then he put it in danger in the first place!
Sweg
Adrian Graham So uh, You study no sleep often?
2:34 And when everyone is a Super Hero... No one will be...
+Hoshcof ??? the incredibles
Executive Velociraptor Yup
Finally..found the mysterious song behind the coke commercial...so feeling satisfied
No more songs like 80's...luck of everyone that was teen at that time..
". . . the war machine springs to life, opens up one eager eye . . ."
This has always been a favourite song of mine my whole life. But that line is so chilling.
Amazing song by Neena. Still packs the same punch today as it did back then. But I must admit, The song sung in German, trumps the literal English Translation song.
I was a teen when she exploded in the USA with this song. One of my favorites growing up. Does anybody remember the name of her album?
Every time I wanted to watch this video, I was always getting late for work 😭 I love this song so much!
Best song ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
me encanta este tema..Por siempre El Rock
The 80s....the best
She looked like a lassie in my class, needless to say we all fancied her, yeah me too :)))
i always love the end part of the song!!! u got me there Nena!!! Mabuhay...
I love the 80's
Dempsey Simpson I wish we lived like the 80s😣
Loved this song, in German too!
Love your songs
this is better music than today's trash lol (her voice is so awesome it gives me chills!)
Music is whatever speaks to you.
Completely agree
+Claire Choi you're totally right
+TigerLily shes talking about nuclear warfare lol
+Jontin i know there's meaningful music now. All i listen to is the music that actually means something. I avoid the popular music at all costs because that's the meaningless crap that everyone listens to nowadays. I've looked for meaningful music and I've succeeded in finding it. I just wish others could do the same
Nena: " I watched as Red Balloons floated over the Berlin Wall and into the horizon.. massed like a UFO. I wished I could hold onto the balloons".
I like that song.
Nena looks so 🔥🔥🔥 in this!
Both Versions Great. I Am Metallica, Zombie, ACDC, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Kid Rock, Everlast, Looking Glass, Van Halen, Nazareth, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Good Song All Versions.
RIP Nena…… up there with the balloons now x
like the original german version even couldn't understand a word from it 😁😀😊 love the headband!!!
LOS CARROS Y ESTA MUÑECA BUENAS TARDES, LO MEJOR DE ALEMANIA...Y LAS BIRRAS
I may only speak English but I like the German version better.
Totally agree, they ruined it when they did the English version:(
Neale Beresford There was no other version on sale or on the radio in England so the German version sounds weird to me.
everybody does
I thought that it transferred very well into English but I had heard the German version first and actually think that they can stand together. I am British but having spent 5 years in the British army in Germany can manage the language enough to get by.
I agree, plus Nena is sexy with that accent.
what a showwoman!
I sang in 1979 ADC,av 99./1979,etc.worked job 2 yrs,ADC
What an amazing English accent from a German singer. She obviously has perfect pitch and an amazing neocortex!!!!
Classic song .. I love it.. I wish she'd done more popular songs back in the day. Features in Metal Gear Solid V apparently as you can send sheep and soldiers to their helium balloon demise .. so much for the pacifist message in this song !
Top of the Pops parade was glorious!
There's time I wish I was back in West Germany . The Cold War was a bitch but it's nothing like today.
This is a beautifuly done song, considering it's an anti war protest song. I think its fucking great. would listen to it every day but, well, you know...
the feels
Words change dramatically from the German to the English languages.
The German one is better no doubt
The audience is rocking!!
You have no idea how much I love this song
there's german versions in current time of her and the band...and they haven't slowed down a bit..she's still got it after 30 plus years
Oh my god. The 80's fashion!
if you know anything about politics.. this song is about the the U.S. and Russia nuking each other.(the cold war)....red baloons is a metaphor for nuclear wepones thank god noone blew each other up.
Totally 80's look style
The amount of 80's!!!
Love! Nena
love it in the German she looks great.
'Round and 'round and 'round Nena goes. When does she stop? She knows.
Cellphones and multimedia. Facespace and Titter! Those days we wore clothes to attract conversation using 5 senses. Not stare into a screen. My mind and some old school shit. That time has left us and can not be done anymore..
Based on a true story, except there was only one balloon and it was very big (83ft 6inch x 43ft 6inch), and it was British, the result of an accidental break-away. This was the very early 1980's.
'Mass panic' was putting it mildly!
Damn never realized how 🔥 nena was!
Should've pushed the Reds into Siberia like Patton wanted. Great song of prophecy!
I thought this was going to be in German....OMG IS THAT MATT DAMON ON THE BASS!! THAT GUY BE SLAPPIN DA BASS!
and I dream too of those damn red ones. no not again smoke.
nice concert
Both versions are good, Nena showed us how sweet new wave music can be.
i saw the same exact thing happen here in Maine, USA... Portland Airport alerted and finally found the old 6 miles away with a kite on a 3 miles long teather and it was all planted firmly into the park ground and he was giving away to any child would could wind in the big gear.... big kite
Lol its amazing how many people dont know this song was about nuclear apocalypse