Nena says . . . . .

 

Birthdays and One Hit Wonders (combined) NENA - 99 Red Balloons

Happy birthday to Nena, born as Gabriele Kerner in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia on this day in 1960. 

Floating in the summer sky, 99 red balloons go by.

Always hoped there would be more but it didn’t happen over here . . . . . .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NENA! - 99 RED BALLOONS just went by . . . . . .

 

Happy birthday to Nena, born as Gabriele Kerner in Hagen, West Germany on this day in 1960. You and her in a little toy shop, buy a bag of balloons with the money you've got, set them free at the break of dawn, til one by one, they were gone.

99 Luftballons

NENA

99 Red Balloons

On this day in music history: January 14, 1983 - “Nena”, the debut album by Nena is released (US release is re-titled “99 Luftballons” and is released on February 28, 1984). Produced by Reinhold Heil and Manne Praeker, it is recorded at Spliff-Studio in Berlin, West Germany in Late 1982. The German new wave pop/rock bands debut release includes their worldwide smash “99 Luftballons” (#2 US Pop), which is inspired when the bands guitar player Carlo Karges watches balloons being released at a Rolling Stones concert in West Berlin. He collaborates on the song with the bands’ keyboardist Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen. The songs’ lyrics are a fictional narrative of children releasing balloons that are mistaken for incoming weapons by the East German army, setting off a nuclear war between the east and west. When the album is released in the US thirteen months after its international release, it features three of the songs re-recorded in English, including “99 Luftballons” (re-titled “99 Red Balloons”) and the follow up single “Just A Dream” (#102 Bubbling Under). “Nena” hits number one on the German album chart, with the US version “99 Luftballons” peaking at number twenty seven on the Billboard Top 200.

This may cheer you up on a dank and dreary day here, overcast and damp and imagine children releasing red balloons over the Berlin Wall . . . . . . . I think I bought this when it came out over here and we certainly really enjoyed it. Can't find the single down in the vaults this morning but pretty sure I did . . . . sadly a bit of a one hit wonder and I often think they could have gone on to bigger and better things. Disliking the English language version didn't help and we wish them every success in their native Germany

Despite having given in excess of 500 concerts over a period of more than 30 years, Nena has never sung "99 Red Balloons" live, even at her rare concerts in England, always performing the German version instead

On this day in music history: January 14, 1983 - “Nena”, the self-titled debut album by Nena is released (US release is re-titled “99 Luftballons” and is released on February 28, 1984). Produced by Reinhold Heil and Manne Praeker, it is recorded at Spliff-Studio in Berlin, West Germany in Late 1982. The German new wave pop/rock bands debut release includes their worldwide smash “99 Luftballons” (#2 US Pop), which is inspired when the bands guitar player Carlo Karges watches balloons being released at a Rolling Stones concert in West Berlin. He collaborates on the song with the bands’ keyboardist Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen. The songs’ lyrics are a fictional narrative of children releasing balloons that are mistaken for incoming weapons by the East German army, setting off a nuclear war between the east and west. When the album is released in the US thirteen months after its international release, it features three of the songs re-recorded in English, including “99 Luftballons” (re-titled “99 Red Balloons”) and the follow up single “Just A Dream” (#102 Bubbling Under). “Nena” hits number one on the German album chart, with the US version “99 Luftballons” peaking at number twenty seven on the Billboard Top 200.

Yes yes yes, sounds bought when they came out can have some oddly embarrassing results . . . . . maybe, just maybe, this is cool again and has come background!?

The Eighties WERE weird for this and things like one offs such as Martha and The Muffins 'Echo Beach, The Bangles 'Walk Like An Egyptian' Stephen 'Tin-tin' Duffy "Kiss Me' and the like. I stand by this one and it cheers me to post it from the wonderful Jeff Harris' site on Blue Monday a fictitious and specious if you ask me (nobody did- ED) notion that the third Monday in January after the 'excesses' of the New Year and Christmas holiday, that back to work folk are explicitly depressed more than any other day of the year. It IS however a reason, were any needed, to add a cautionary note about mental health so give each other a smile, shake someone's hand and open the door for an elderly person [like me] with a cheery 'Good Morning!' Stick this on and turn it up and if it requires it, dance around the living room in your pants! I know I will . . . . . . 

Go Nena!

thanks to the most excellent Jeff Harris' blog 'Behind The Grooves