This is the English version ("99 Red Balloons") of the German group Nena's 1984 smash world wide hit, "99 Luftballoons". It was obvious that Nena is referring to nuclear war and possble aftermath, and for young people that survived the cold war that could certainly make you feel depressed (and more than a little scared, heck with the possiblity of terrorist and rogue states possessing nuclear weapons it should still make us scared). But Nena made it into a dance hit, as well! And a well great synth-rock-pop (and powerpop) 1980's new wave hit! And in what probably, at that time at least, more insulated U.S. (from say Germany which was split during the cold war between Communist East Germany and the democratic West Germany that was facing the watching "war games" and possible nuclear war upfront between the U.S. and the then Soviet Union) it was a very interesting surprise that in the more conservative Reagan era year of 1984 (winter/February to be exact) that this little danceable ditty about nuclear war would make it to #2 on the Billboard Magazine HOT 100 charts (both the German and English version -- one of those rare double-sided hits). (It was stopped to go to #1 by Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon" and would be replaced at #2 the next week by Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun"). And "99 Red Balloons" would prove to be a potent and big hit and used by many anti-nuclear war protestors throughout to the end of the cold war in 1991 when the Soviet Union fell apart. I myself, in August 1985 (when I was 21 years old -- with the risk of dating myself), participated in a silent demonstration/memorial for the 40th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima where we used the concepts that Nena brought up in the song "99 Red Balloons" and released red balloons as Nena does in the end of the video for the song (and this was in all places around Orange Lake in New Port Richey, Florida -- certainly not the hotbed of a lot of liberal political mobilization).