That song, 99 red balloons?

Question

If you know what im talking about.... I know that song is supposed to be about something political. What is it exactly?

Answer 1

It's about nuclear war. See all the info provided in the link

This was one of the songs in the '80s to make a point about the brinkmanship and paranoia/hysteria surrounding the issue of war. The song talks about Nena and the listener buying 99 Balloons in a shop and letting them go, for fun. These balloons show up on the radar as unidentified objects and both sides scramble planes and go to full alert to counteract a perceived Nuclear Attack, when in fact it is the most childlike of things, a bunch of balloons.
This is a nuclear protest song. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was a lot of tension between East and West Germany. Legend has it that either West or East Berliners saw balloons going over the wall and they thought it was a nuclear attack. Meanwhile, the Americans and and Soviets were engaged in the Cold War, and the US was on high alert for attacks from their communist foes. The legend continues that one day, the Americans saw a FLOCK OF GEESE and thought the Soviets were attacking. They got all prepared and tensions kept rising. This song is saying that someone will end up destroying the world all because of balloons.... or geese. (thanks, Sunjay - Toronto, Canada)
Nena's real name is Gabriela Kerner. She was is a band called The Stripes before forming her own group.
This was released in Germany, where Nena was from. Their record company had no intention of releasing it in America until a disc jockey at radio station KROQ in Los Angeles found a copy and started playing it. They recorded an English version (the original words are in German, and yes, "Captain Kirk" in German is still "Captain Kirk") with the title translated as "99 Red Balloons" and released it in the US, where it was a big hit.
Nena is a true one-hit-wonder outside of Germany, where she didn't even come close to another hit. Before this, however, her single "Nur Getraumt" was a #1 hit in Germany.
Goldfinger did a cover of this that was used on the soundtrack of the 2001 film Not Another Teen Movie.
The English-language version was #1 in the UK for three weeks in March 1984. It was the first of two songs about nuclear war to top the charts in the UK that year; the other was "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. (thanks, Emery - London, England)
"Luftballons" means "Air Balloons" in German.

Answer 2

Nena's 99 red balloons was recorded by a German pop-group (in German) at a time when Germany was still partitioned into two countries: the Democratic Republic (communist) and the Federal Republic (a western democracy).
Many Germans who lived in the west had family still living in the east (whom they could not visit) - and of course many in the east had family in the west.
The old German capital had both western and eastern sections - with a wall dividing them. Every year Germans tried to escape from the east to the west section by crossing the wall, every year many of the escapees were killed by the eastern frontier guards.
The cold war was more real for Germans than for any other European nation.
99 red balloons tells the story of a fairground prank (releasing balloons) which goes wrong when the balloons (from West Germany) are mistaken on the eastern side for a nuclear attack. A counter-attack is launched and the city (probably Berlin) is destroyed.
The song is a protest against the madness of war by people who knew most about it.

Answer 3

It was sung by Nena,99 Luft Ballons.,it was about a nuclear war and it came out when President Reagan called and end to the cold war as the world thought it would initiate a nuclear war..,didnt happen did it?But it is a great song

Answer 4

Nuclear war

Answer 5

Nuclear war.

Answer 6

It's a trip back to the 80's

Answer 7

War, more specifically nuclear war.

Answer 8

Watch Spaceballs because i like pie

Answer 9

communism falling

Answer 10

Nena

War and her passion