Born and raised in the GDR, the prison version of Germany, destiny kicked her over the wall and made
Nina Hagen a star ...
This could be the short version of what to has been told about this g*dess, but things are more complicated and have more of "A prophet has no honor in his own country."
In West Germany Nina became member of a band called "Nina Hagen Band" and very successful with two records in german language hitting the nerve of the end-of-the-decade punk audience.
A perfect match, so to say, and perfect products.
I've chosen my words well on that: "member of" and "product".
"Nina Hagen Band" essentially were an updated version of a band named "Lokomotive Kreuzberg" with the best female singer available in the well connected "Post Bowie in Berlin" Scene those days or a proto-version of a band named "Spliff", founded after NHB split.
So let's start with the end, the first Spliff-record: "Spliff Radio Show"
and have a hear at some Nina Hagen Band stuff from the "glorious" german language era
We understand: There are some guys who love the Tubes ;)
Don't let me be misunderstood: Nina is great and the band professional, no wonder they were that successful with these two records in german language. Okay: the French loved her from the very first moment on ignoring the language and just listening.
She was THE female icon in Germany then, not only based on her really
aggressive song "Unbeschreiblich weiblich" (Unbelievable female).
Clearly feminist. And damned offensive ... So (for example) she spontaneously gave masturbation-advices at a live TV-Talkshow.
And then all of a sudden: Sacriledge! "OUR!" Nina sings english lyrics on her first solo-album! "Scandal! How! Dare! She!". The german rock critics threw her in the trash can, I can't remember a copy in the record collections of my friends, the views on her tended to be hostile (ask Marlene Dietrich or Hildegard Knef on that matter ...)
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| viewed by the french "Rock & Folk" magazine |
But then: Hitchhiking with my later first wife on our first backpacking trip to the south of France, Cote d'Azur, we suddenly found ourselves sitting in a bus driven by a guy from Toulouse. He and his friend from New Zealand picked us up and while riding to our camping they played their favourite stuff (i remember also Roxy Music ) and went totally emotional when presenting german (!) music tor us. "Do you know her? She sooooo great. This Voice. And: She' totally crazy! A g*dess!"
It was "Nunsexmonkrock", Nina Hagen's wonderful first album that deserved her name
and represented more her experience with other european artists like Herman Brood or Lene Lovich ie.
So no wonder, the French admired her and so she entered american soil in 1982.
1982-07-31 Detroit, MI (sbd)
01 Habanera Carmen
02 Dread Love
03 Anti World
04 Alright Tonight
05 Future Is Now
06 Alptraum
07 Queen of Audio Video
08 Revolution
09 Taichi Tarot
10 Born In Xixax
11 James Brown
12 Glory Glory Hallelujah
13 UFO
14 Cosma Shiva
15 Rivers Of Babylon
16 African Reggae
17 Smack Jack
18 Satisfaction
Today Nina in Germany is more known for her obscure TV-appearances in private stations, but maybe this taste of obscurity is more about that she really doesn't fit in that environment. Being crazy in a squarehead "normal" world always has a bit facepalming-moods.
But: The French ...
In 2012 on the front page of my favourite french rock magazine "Rock & Folk" (a long list of covers in my - sorry in german - enthusiastic
post hymn on R&F
here)
inside: not only a 10 page hymn on the g*dess of punk as the french view
her 'till today and some new photos from the glorious era ... but also 25% of the whole magazine filled up with portraits of the most influencial krautrock bands. One
third on german topics! Never saw that vice versa in german magazines,
so that may explain why i prefer this now almost 70 year old flagship of
french rock-journalism over any german magazine. Or the "Rolling
Stone". Without being in the marketing hype-biz Rock & Folks loves the music
and the bands they write about. A solid Rock ...
So you can bet on an article about Iggy Pop every three months ;)
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| from "Rock & Folk" |