Did missle defense come about because of 99 red balloons?

I heard once that Ronald Reagan decided we needed a national missle defense after he was shown the video for 99 Red Balloons. Now as featherbrained as Reagan was, I still find this very hard to believe. Is there any truth to this, or is it just a good joke?

P.S. Goldfinger does an awesome cover of the song.

What was in the video?

I find it hard to believe that Reagan was watching MTV at the time, or that one of his staff would deem it necessary to bring a music video to the President’s attention.

I know the cover, and I like it too. It’s not a true cover though. The lyrics are quite different and seem likely to spawn an urband legend exactly like the story you describe.

Is this something you heard before or after the release of Stomping Ground ?

Not to let punk rock elitism come into play…but 7Seconds’ cover was better. =)

Ah… classic '80’s cold war paranoia.

World War III starts because someone thinks that balloons launched at a peace rally are mistaken for missiles.

Sheesh… how stupid ARE these people?

      • Reagan featherbrained? God Lord. That’s almost as funny as the press saying that so far Dubya has had an “uneventful presidency”, just because he hasn’t been caught taking Chinese campaign donations or having sex with the interns and none of his staff has turned up dead under suspicious circumstances.
  • That said, it probably had something to do with Reagan knowing that it is far less costly to develop an unmanned missile than it is to develop a manned fighter or bomber. Kind of like, uh, how that country over near Japan is doing, what’s it called? I forget. - MC

Dunno, but at 14, I thought Nena was a hell babe. :smiley:

As far as the OP is concerned:

Date of Reagan’s SDI speech: March 23, 1983
Year of release of “99 Luftballoons” (aka “99 Red Balloons”: 1984.

"Dunno, but at 14, I thought Nena was a hell babe. "

I’d agree, except for all the German armpit hair!

Wasn’t Nena herself actually an American in a German band?

No, she was German. Go to the following URL:

http://www.nena.de/

(Click on Biographie and then on Stichpunkte.)

It says that she was born in the city of Hagen in Westfalen in Germany. (For those of you without a good map, that’s about 50 miles northwest of Cologne.)

The German version of the song was released in 1983. In any case, Reagan wasn’t influenced by the video. Even someone like me who thinks Reagan was empty-headed and already starting to go senile in 1983 knows that he probably never watched MTV or even knew what it was.

Interesting fact: “Green Eggs and Ham” can be sung to the tune of “99 Luftballons”. The Seuss lyrics make more sense than the originals too.

I wrote:

> . . . about 50 miles northwest of Cologne . . .

Excuse me. I should have said 50 miles northeast of Cologne.

Which “original lyrics”? The German; or the English? They’re very different. Let me try to translate…

Do you have some time for me?
Then I will sing a song for you
Of 99 toy balloons
On their way to the horizon
Perhaps you will think well of me
And I will sing a song for you
Of 99 toy balloons
And come from that what may

99 toy balloons
On their way to the horizon
Were taken for UFOs from outer space
And so a general sent
A fighter squadron
To give alarm if that’s the case
But the only thing on the horizon
Were 99 toy balloons

99 fighter jocks
Each one was the greater warrior
Each one was a “Captain Kirk”
That’s what caused the fireworks.
The neighbours (neighbouring countries) had no idea (what was going on)
And felt that they were getting screwed (being attacked by the jets)
And so they shot at the horizon
At 99 toy balloons

99 Ministers of War
Matches and gasoline drums!
Saw themselves as sly people
They were already gathering the fat booty
Yelling, “War!” and wanting power
Man, who would have thought
That when “the big one” finally came
It would be caused by 99 toy balloons

99 years of war
Leaves no place for a victor
The War Ministers are no more
And there are no more fighter jocks
Today I trudge in my circle
I see the world lying in rubble
I’ve found a toy balloon
I think of you and let it go

It seems a fairly linear story to me. (And a lot “heavier” than the English lyrics.)