Barbara Geier: A blast from the past

Do you remember Nena with her 99 Red Balloons? And Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW)? I was reminded recently of the enduring appeal of the ‘New German Wave’ music phenomenon of the early 1980s, when an ad popped up in my social media feed in which Nena proudly announced her first UK gigs in 15 years, with shows in London and Manchester this October.

Based on the comments below the ad a fair few Brits remember the singer (born Gabriele Kerner) who became the face of NDW in Germany and topped the UK charts with 99 Red Balloons. They not only eagerly announced that they had already bought their tickets but also shared their personal Nena stories from way back. Thanks to that I now know that someone had to translate the original 99 Luftballons lyrics as part of her GCSE German in 1985 and still remembers most of the words.

I’m pretty sure that another NDW mega-hit that also crossed borders and enjoyed international success didn’t make it past whoever decides on GCSE exam content in the UK: A translation of Trio’s gloriously bonkers Da Da Da lyrics which repeats ‘Da’ 84 times and ‘Aha’ 18 times in just under three and a half minutes would have been, let’s say, a bit of a non-challenge. For Trio, their minimalist approach to lyrics certainly paid off. The Da Da Da single sold millions of copies worldwide and made it to number two in the UK, where vocalist Stephan Remmler, guitarist Kralle Krawinkel and drummer Peter Behrens (the latter two are not alive anymore) appeared on Top of the Pops.

It should be mentioned at this point that Nena’s longevity (she’s still releasing music and touring in Germany) is a bit of an exception among her NDW colleagues. Most of them shared the same fate as one-hit wonder Trio who broke up in 1985 and disappeared into musical obscurity. However, the tunes of this music genre that was originally inspired by British punk and new wave music are still very much alive and have become part and parcel of German culture. And some of them even make unexpected chart comebacks:

Peter Schilling’s Major Tom (remember?!?), which shot to number one in Germany in 1983 and was also hugely successful in Europe, made it back into the German Top 10 last summer, after the German Football Association (DFB) had chosen the NDW hit as the German team’s goal celebration tune for Euro 2024 and it became Germany’s unofficial football summer hymn. I could go on and introduce you to other NDW heroes whose success was confined to Germany, such as Geier Sturzflug (literally ‘vulture nosedive’, don’t’ ask), but I will let you go. I know you’re itching to get your Nena tickets now, asap.