As the frontwoman of the German pop/rock band that bore her first name, Nena Kerner became one of pop music's biggest international stars on the strength of the band's signature hit, "99 Luftballons." While the charismatic singer's success in America was short-lived, her band's iconic music video was a memorable fixture on MTV in 1984. That was quite a blessing both for fans of great pop music (regardless of its national origin) as well as adolescent and teenage boys who found themselves quite taken with Kerner's unusual black vest and adorable she-mullet only she could pull off. Not that I would ever be speaking from personal experience here, of course.
Album Cover Image Courtesy of CBS Records
Comments
Nena is great! In 2007 she is 47 and she is still making seller albums! After 1986 she continued with her solo carrier and with her personal life. Had 5 kids (4 alive), produced over 15 cds (including ones for kids, and also many for adults), she is still touring, and still looks fabulous! Nena is NOT a one hit wonder, perhaps in the USA she was. She is well known, respected and loved all over the world and treated as a national icon in Germany – her home countryl Kudos to Nena for keeping us fans happy for so long – I am a fan since 1983. And that is a long time. Her latest album came out in 2005 as a double cd titled WILLST DU MIT MIR GEHEN – and it is her very best musical work yet. Altough I love all the other work too. Nena is a true music icon that in the USA many have no idea of!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You’ve confused the English and German words for balloon. The German title is “99 Luftballons”. English version is “99 Red Balloons”. If you’re going to be a music guide, please get the song title right.
NenaFan:
It seems you’ve created an issue that does not exist here. As far as I’m concerned, “99 Luftballoons” is the official name of the song, and I never specify whether I’m referencing the German or American version. There’s nothing more important to me than getting information like song titles correct, but if you’re going to call me out about being wrong, please make sure I actually got something wrong. It’s certainly far from impossible for me to make a mistake, which I’d be more than happy to admit and correct, but I’d appreciate less of an insulting tone, especially regarding an imaginary error.
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.
Regards,
Steve Peake
Guide to ’80s Music
About.com
http://80music.about.com/
Become an About.com Guide: beaguide.about.com About.com is part of the New York Times Company
No matter which version you are referencing, “Luftballoons” does not exist as a word, either in English or German, because “luft” is German only, and balloons is English only. It may have been heard as luftballoons due to mispronunciation of the German title, but it is certainly not spelled that way. When people say luftballoons, they have mistakenly created a German/English compound word. Nena herself never used that as the official title of her song. (Sorry for the tone. It gets annoying when I see the title/word misquoted so often on the web.)
“luftballons” is the correct spelling. The word luftballon simply translates as “balloon” or, literally, “air balloon”. The english translation used “red balloons” because “air balloons” didn’t sound right and “balloons” didn’t scan properly. By the way, I double-checked that it really matters by trying to translate “luftballoons” – the word was simply ignored. So now we know. (Scan: verb meaning [in poetry] to fit or conform to a specific meter). Translation compliments of SDL (http://www.freetranslation.com/), definition compliments of Wiktionary (http://www.wiktionary.org/).
Just to clarify, the title in German is 99 Luftballons (with one ‘o’) – if you don’t agree, check out jpegs of the cover of the single, for example at
http://www.virginmedia.com/microsites/music/slideshow/onehitwonders/img_4.jpg
Now, how about an end to this debate and a move to something more serious – like why the entire Fragezeichen album failed to make any impact in the UK despite having some of the best songs she ever recorded (and, ok, some which are not – “Der Bus ist schon weg,” anyone???)
But any album with both “Kuss mich wach” and “Rette Mich” as well as the title track has to be a serious contender for best ever…
By the way, does ANYONE know where the photo of the band on the first album was taken? Exact location, Westberlin doesn’t suffice!
Chris in England
Stumbled upon this page today while doing a search on Nena Kerner.
“especially regarding an imaginary error.”
Your error is not imaginary. There are two versions of the song, the English “99 Red Balloons” (2 “o”s)
and the German “99 Luftballons” (1 “o”).
Nena’s 1st CD in Germany was titled “Nena” and the cover looked like this:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/jouwboris/Nena-1983Nenafront.jpg
Nena’s first American release was a comination of their first two German CDs, and was retitled “99 Luftballons” to capitalize on the success of the single. That cover is here.
http://ishqe.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/album-99-luftballons.jpg
You may want to call the single “99 Luftballoons”, but that doesn’t make your error “imaginary”.
Well said, Chris in England. For the rest of you, I was wrong. I’ll say it again: I was wrong; you were right. Let’s move on, agreeing perhaps that Nena was (and is) a hottie and the song is a classic.
Respect to 80music, top man to admit being wrong. Politicians please note.
Come on, does ANYONE know where that cover photo of the band in a doorway was taken? And does it still exist? On a more general note – given the widespread demolition of Berlin since 1990 – is there ANY sort of a guide to the classic music locations of the cities?
Responses welcome direct to me at deltics -at- h0tm**l dotcom (trying to avoid autospam!)
Ich bin Ostberliner, as JFK never said
Love and ballo(o)ns
Chris