Luftballons Völlig losgelöst im Sperrbezirk
Anyone who consciously experienced the 80s will immediately recognize three songs in this title.
In the late 1970s, a new, independent music movement emerged in West Germany: the Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW). Inspired by punk and new wave, young musicians wanted to forge new paths. Instead of English lyrics, they sang in German – often provocatively, unconventionally, and with a deliberately simple, electronic sound.
Early pioneers included Fehlfarben, DAF, and Ideal. In the early 1980s, the initially alternative movement became a huge success with the general public. Bands and artists like Nena, Trio, Markus, Hubert Kah, Joachim Witt, Spider Murphy Gang, and Peter Schilling conquered the German charts.
Click on the titles in the following sentence to listen to them on YouTube. Songs like 99 Luftballons , Da Da Da , Skandall im Sperrbezirk , and Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst) have become classics.
The Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW) was colorful, flamboyant, and sometimes deliberately quirky. But its success didn't last long. As the record industry increasingly marketed the movement and more and more artists performed under the "NDW" label, a sense of oversaturation set in as early as 1983/84. The big wave subsided – but its music remained a defining part of German pop history.
To this day, the songs of the Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) represent the spirit of the early 1980s – a blend of punk, electronics, humor and youthful rebellion.
Germany has now immortalized the "Neue Deutsche Welle" (New German Wave) with a postage stamp.
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