“99 Luftballons” Single by Nena from the album Nena and 99 Luftballons
Released March 1983 (West Germany); 1984 (United Kingdom)
Label Epic
Composer Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen
Lyricists Carlo Karges (German lyrics), Kevin McAlea (English lyrics)
Producers Reinhold Heil, Manfred Praeker
Charted No.2 in US; No.1 in West Germany; No.1 Switzerland; No.1 in Netherlands, No.1 in Austria, No.1 Belgium
While at a June 1982 concert by the Rolling Stones in West Berlin, Nena’s guitarist Carlo Karges noticed that balloons were being released. He watched them move toward the horizon, shifting and changing shapes like strange spacecraft (referred to in the German lyrics as a “UFO”). He thought about what might happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall to East Berlin
The promotional video, which was originally made for the Dutch music programme TopPop and broadcast on 13 March 1983, was shot in a Dutch military training camp, the band performing the song on a stage in front of a backdrop of fires and explosions provided by the Dutch Army. Towards the end of the video, the band are seen taking cover and abandoning the stage, which was unplanned and genuine since they believed the explosive blasts were getting out of control.
