Here’s a feel-good song to kick off your Saturday: “Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann” by Nena. I used to play this often on my stereo way back in the day.
Nena is a German singer who rose to international fame in 1983 with the song “99 Luftballons”. In 1984, the English version “99 Red Balloons” hit number 1 in the UK, while the original German version hit #2 in the US, behind Van Halen’s “Jump”.
In May 1984, while on tour in the UK, Nena made headlines of the British tabloids for having unshaved armpits. While not uncommon in continental Europe at the time, this was considered unusual in English-speaking countries to the extent that some consider it an explanation for the commercial failure of the follow-ups to “99 Luftballons”. Baffled by the attention generated, Nena asked her manager’s girlfriend to shave her and has remained clean-shaved ever since. Referring to the “huge indignation” the issue raised, Nena, in her memoirs published in 2005, wrote, “Can a girl from Hagen, who dreams of the big wide world and is in love with Mick Jagger, have no idea that girls can’t under any circumstances have hair under the arm? Yes she can. I simply had no idea!”
Although “99 Luftballons” was Nena’s only hit in the English-speaking world, the band continued to enjoy success in several European countries in the following years including with the single “Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann” (“anyhow, anywhere, anytime”). It reached No. 3 on the German chart. It was the last top-five entry Nena was to have in her homeland for 19 years until in 2003 she reprised the song as the duet “Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime” with Kim Wilde as part of her 2002 career revival brought about by the triple platinum Nena feat. Nena album.
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Featured image via Zona Rock dan Metal.
