Sunday, October 12, 2014

Cold Cuts

Watching Project Runway right now because I CAN! I don't have to be slave to commercials and limited selection. When I am done with the fashions, I will watch some Wicked Tuna - without even taking a break. Just how I roll, bitches. Then I will make a tuna fish sammich. No Star Wars Rebels this weekend? What's the deal Disney? Two shows in and then you take a week off? Poor form.

 
 
The anti-war protest song “99 Luftballons,” released by the German artist Nena in 1983, reached No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart. After the success of the original version, Nena released an English-language version called “99 Red Balloons,” which topped the charts in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland, but, interestingly enough, never even charted in the States. The song is about a nuclear war that starts after a civilian releases a bag full of helium balloons into the air and they are mistakenly registered as missiles by an early-warning system.
 
In 2006, as part of the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina, VH1 Classic let viewers who made a donation of $35,000 program the channel with the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s music videos of their choice for an entire hour. Strangely, one viewer who made the hefty donation opted for the music videos for both “99 Luftballons” and “99 Red Balloons” to be played continuously for the full hour.
 
At age 54, Nena is still active. Her last album was released in 2012, and she still holds dear the success “99 Luftballons” brought her. She even released a modernized version of it in 2002.
 

 
All these years later, and I STILL want to slap that keyboard player.
 

2 comments:

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

You could always listen to Geek Fallout #99, were we make reference to a song I'm sure you'll be familiar with.

http://geekfallout.podbean.com/e/gf-ep-99-a-podcast-of-ice-and-fire/

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

REFERENCE? Just a reference?