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Editorial

Haven’t You Heard…?: “99 Red Balloons”

99rb

Hey Emillie (and the youths of today),

We’re not making fun of you or anything. We’re definitely not aiming you at the bus (isn’t that how you say that?) but haven’t you heard that song “99 Red Balloons” by Nena also known as “99 Luftballon”? It was enough of a gobsmack when Goldfinger released their cover back in 1999 and kids thought it was an original. (Maybe Prince was right about the end of the world.) But, seriously, you haven’t heard that song at all? Okay, fair enough, it came out in 1982 and you weren’t even a twinkle in your daddy’s eye. We’ve heard your dad was just learning to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star back then, so we get it. See what we did there?

But c’mon, girl, the song is epic. It was a hit in both German and English and it just makes you happy. We’re bopping around the office right now. Dun Da Dun Dah Dah. Such love for that bassline. Why do you think David Bowie told us to put on our red shoes the following year in “Let’s Dance”? We’ll tell you, it’s because we needed the shoes to go with our balloons. Um, yeah, so then there’s the Goldfinger version and it’s glorious. Have you never climbed out of your window, shimmied down a tree, and snuck off to a party? That’s why Goldfinger covered that song, so you could do that with the perfect soundtrack playing in your own personal John Hughes teen movie… Don’t Even ASK that question.

scrubs-99-luftballons

We’ll be back in a couple of weeks to tell you more about all the great tunes we’re shocked you haven’t heard. In the meantime, in the immortal words of Mindy, “Okay, we love you. Buh bye!” Yeah, we’ll explain who Mindy is next time.

Signed, Sherin and Alex (aka the Clone Squad)

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