by We catch up with Nena on a song that reflected both the 1980s’ geopolitical tensions and the era’s underlying optimism – and took some inspiration from Mick Jagger
It’s West Berlin, 8th June 1982, and a ragged-throated Mick Jagger is more than ready for some post-show refreshment. Staring out at the mesmerised crowd assembled at the city’s Olympiapark Waldbühne amphitheatre at the conclusion of an emotive, hit-spanning set, Jagger was surely conscious that playing here, in the still-divided Berlin, meant more than a usual show.
For the Berliners in the seats of this Nazi-built open-air stage, this wasn’t just an entertainment spectacle. Rock shows of the magnitude of those put on by The Rolling Stones were pointing toward a liberated future. Prefiguring that day, at the decade’s conclusion, when the Wall finally fell. A day when the people of this detached city could come together as one.
What Mick almost certainly had no conception of, was that he was about to directly influence the creation of a global smash hit song that perfectly bottled the hopeful spirit of Berlin’s citizens – and the fundamental absurdity of the forces underpinning the prevailing Cold War.
