99 Luftballons on the Wall

VH1 Classic will be showing nothing but Nena’s 1984 hit, “99 Luftballons” for an entire hour this Sunday at 1pm CST. And it's all Hurricane Katrina's fault.

Some anonymous joker apparently donated $35,000 to VH1 Classic's pay-for-play Katrina relief effort to make them play both German and English versions of the song over and over again for 60 minutes. I hope they show the “hairy armpit” version banned by MTV. Nena Kerner had the whole Buckwheat-in-a-headlock thing going back then.

I never really cared much for "99 Red Balloons" until I heard 7 Seconds do it on Walk Together, Rock Together. The anti-nuke anthem probably made even more sense to European audiences more familiar with Albert Lamorrisse's 1956 short, Le Ballon Rouge. That's French for "The Bulbous Ruse," by the way.