Neue Deutsche Welle is German new wave sung in German. It swings widely, from an avant-garde wing favoring cold synths and minimal repetition to catchy, breezy chart pop. The common thread is the choice to sing in one's own language rather than English, and a taste for mechanical rhythms and simple structures. Many lyrics carry irony, humor, or unease.

Around 1979, in Berlin and Düsseldorf, punk's impulse combined with the electronic-music tradition running back to Kraftwerk. At first a small indie current, it exploded commercially in 1982–83, thrusting German-language pop into the mainstream all at once.

On the avant-garde side (DAF), focus on the hard, looping sequencer and the provocative German vocal delivery. On the pop side (Nena, Trio), the draw is simple, memorable hooks and slack humor. It is fascinating to compare the two poles within one movement.

Nena's '99 Luftballons' (1983) is the poppy entry point. For the hard, avant-garde side, hear DAF's 'Der Mussolini' (1981).

'99 Luftballons' is a satire of accidental war in the Cold War — balloons mistaken for enemy missiles trigger a nuclear conflict — carrying a heavy theme beneath its carefree melody.