Let’s bring Nena forward to 2009 from where we last left her off in 2002. With the release of Nena feat. Nena, she came back in the spotlight as a solo artist. The story is simple. She did well during the period of time between 2002 and 2009. She even started her own record label called The Laugh & Peas Company in 2009. I assume in order to commemorate that, she decided to make yet another version of 99 Luftballons–complete with a whole new music video. I guess every time there’s a milestone in Nena’s career, we are going to get a new version of 99 Luftballons. I have no problem with this.

Now that a little backstory is out of the way, let me say that I love this version. The original was good. The English version was quite terrible. The 2002 version was a nice retrospective, but it never felt like Nena. Just because the times change, it doesn’t automatically mean you have to radically change your sound to fit-in. This version is the original, but updated without changing her sound. I’m assuming that the reason she sings a few parts in French is because of the War in Iraq. It also ties the shoe-throwing incident with George W. Bush to the shoe-banging incident with Nikita Khrushchev by having them shown back-to-back.

One subtle thing that I want to point out, now that we’ve reached the fourth and final version of this song by Nena, is one word that is easily missed. According to Wikipedia, critic and musician Scott Miller said in his book, Music: What Happened?, something that I would have missed otherwise. It’s that the song has always used the word “kriegsminister.” It’s a German word that translates to “War Minister.” He said it suffers from the inclusion of that word. I’m not sure why. I’m sure there’s some context for that statement that isn’t on Wikipedia, but I just see it as an Easter Egg to pick up on. The last War Minister in the U.S. was Kenneth Claiborne Royall. He is famous for having been appointed to defend some Nazis that had come ashore on Long Island. He did his job essentially, but Roosevelt wanted them to be executed–the sooner the better. It still happened, but he did his best to defend against them being quickly tried and executed behind closed doors by taking it all the way to the Supreme Court. It’s kind of similar to the events Bridge of Spies (2015) is based on. He was later appointed to be War Minister by Harry S. Truman. Truman being the one who dropped the bombs that helped end WWII. The office of Minister of War ended in 1947. That’s the year when people tend to agree the Cold War started because it is when the Truman Doctrine was introduced. I don’t see the issue there since it ties in heavily with the meaning of the song, but I am probably missing something. Maybe it’s because he would go on to forced retirement in 1949 because he refused to desegregate the Army.

I like the music video quite a bit. Go ahead and put aside it showing what the lyrics mean for a minute. A good portion of what you are seeing is heavily focused on the catchy riff of the original, and not being ashamed of what Scott Miller called an “embarrassingly out-of-place disco funk interlude.” The power of the song has always been that it is a lot of fun, you can belt out the lyrics, and dance to it to your heart’s content. Yet, if you actually listen to the lyrics, they are in direct contradiction to the way the song sounds and makes you feel. For me, that is one of the reasons the song has long-lasting appeal rather than having just been a catchy hit-song from 1984. I only bring up Scott Miller because the Wikipedia article on the song does, and I happen to disagree with those particular opinions.

There are other versions of this song by other artists, including a music video for Goldfinger’s cover. However, I am done with 99 Luftballons for now. I have another music video picked out as a capstone before Election Day in the United States. Enjoy!

99 Luftballons versions:

1. 99 Luftballons by Nena (1984, dir. Bert van der Veer)
2. 99 Red Balloons by Nena (1984, dir. Bert van der Veer)
3. 99 Luftballons by Nena (2002, dir. Marcus Sternberg)