Get up, stand up for the black revolution
For the revolution of the revolution
Get up, stand up!
How many voices could we define as unmistakable in the rock scene? Well, know that among these there is certainly that of the Berlin singer Nina Hagen, nicknamed “the godmother of German punk”. At least once in your life you will have experienced the typical bizarreness of his compositions, alternating with gradual leaps into the void and splinters of unprecedented madness. Initially active as a singer schlagermoved to London in 1976 and fully experienced the punk explosion, a phenomenon he embraced in ethics and aesthetics. In fact, a year later he founded the Nina Hagen Band in Berlin, together with guitarist Bernhard Potschka, bassist Manfred Praeker, drummer Herwig Mitteregger and keyboardist Reinord Heil. A musical project that dissolved in 1979, following the rise of her solo career frontwoman.
In an original blend of German rock and pure glam, the band's self-titled debut (Cbs, 1978), produced by Berlin sound engineer Tom Müller, was closely watched by critics and over time became a real milestone.
Subsequently, Hagen began working in the United States, enjoying considerable success thanks to some singles released during the early 1980s. In this context, the bizarre “Nunsexmonkrock” (Cbs, 1982), the result of English producer Mike Thorne (Wire, Colin Newman, Soft Cell, Laurie Anderson, Peter Murphy), can be considered as the actual debut of the German singer. The one taken into consideration in this article is the 1991 compilation that contains this work with four iconic pieces played by the Nina Hagen Band.
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Represented by the radiant cover of the Berlin photographer Jim Rakete, in the portrait of the singer in clothes diametrically opposed to her public image – an unlikely made-up madonna holding a newborn in her arms against a colorful background – the album opens with the space-punk “Antiworld”, which makes use of a solid initial crescendo and a narration that was grotesque to say the least for the time: between out-of-phase voices, guitars coming out of the underworld and tribal drums palpitating, a restless Hagen tells us about the time Jesus met a man possessed by a devil. The eternal blackmail of the Catholic religion – “Do you see if you only could believe, Jesus said/ Everything is possible for those who believe” – is placed on the text and the godmother of German punk marries this concept with a sometimes apocalyptic compositional atmosphere. All hope, therefore, is in vain.
The occult post-punk of “Smack Jack” plays its cards well. Hagen demonstrates once and for all his formidable vocal skills, capable of stunning anyone through an androgynous and nothing short of evocative approach. Spasmodic and unbridled, the track suddenly transforms thanks to its frenetic new wave refrain, in which the madness hagenianaAllan Schwartzberg's drums and Chris Spedding's guitar are undoubtedly the masters.
Introduced by Paul Rostler's neo-psychedelic synthesizers, the short art pop song “Tiatschi” delicately blends with the fervent attitude of ours, whose theatrical performance destabilizes while listening, even if this is enriched by an at times pounding piano.
The art punk of “Dread Love” presents a Hagen totally dissociated from reality. Body and soul merge to create the perfect being… or a Gremlins-like monster? Between wild drums and Karl Rucker's dazed bass, we find ourselves faced with a paradoxical split of personalities: if on the one hand we have an indefinite being, halfway between the coldness of a robot and the repugnance of a demon, on the other there is an awkward and imprudent little girl who won't stop screaming. And at the end of the song Nina pronounces “nunsexmonkrock”, or the liturgy of “monastic rock” we are witnessing.
1968 is over (it's over!) 1981 is over… Future is now!
Scored by an elegant Hammond organ, the famous “Future Is Now” is stripped of its most mysterious extravagances. About ten years after the sexual revolution – one of the first performances of the song dates back to 1979 – Hagen proposes the notion of change to his audience: anyone interested in a possible remedy for social problems will have their fifteen minutes of Warholian popularity, as long as they babble incessantly, seasoning everything with healthy and certainly not hypocritical rhetoric to embrace the most disparate consensus; the rest is boring. Reminiscences of Klaus Nomi nervously rage within the composition, which from the slow initial art rock moves towards a brazen and modern frenzy à la Neue Deutsche Welle (German new wave). Hagen is a free spirit with transformative skills: she goes from being an opera singer, at the height of her artistic work, to vomiting the angry soul of a teenager in the midst of a hormonal crisis. And that's why we love it.
In the engaging dance-punk of “Born In Xixax” the rhythm is particularly striking riff of electric guitar, excellently punk-rock but very distinct in the occult imagery and with the unusually calm features of the track. On the contrary, in the following “Iki Maska” chaos reigns supreme. Hagen doubles again through endless effusions that constitute a fabulous and dominant vocal solo.
In the wake of the minimal wave, “Dr. Art” comes out in one go like a simple scribble on a sheet of paper. The context attenuates at first glance and, as it is perceived, the song could be the alter ego of a lullaby: the performance is favored by the incredulous hypnotism of the drum machine and the vocal arrangements, as well as the result of a trip lysergic.
Despite its apparent radio nature, the sarcastic pop of “Cosmic Shiva” – dedicated to his daughter Cosma – disguises itself as a circular piece, essentially contaminated by elements disk-funk, demonstrating considerable maturity on a production level.
And we are at the final bars: “Ufo”, originally the final track of “Nunsexmonkrock”, completely overturns every form and substance, having as its main theme the fascination for close encounters of the third kind. The song's ability to maintain a constant sense of unease and restlessness throughout the entire listen should not be underestimated in the slightest.
The last pieces in the compilation's tracklist, created with the Nina Hagen Band, are surprising due to the stylistic difference due to a cabaret approach and much closer to glam-punk sounds. In fact, the deutschrock of “TV-Glotzer (White Punks On Dope)” sees a brilliant meeting between the quivering emotion of Patti Smith and the rebellious character of the New York Dolls.
No less important are the dynamic art rock of “Superboy” and the irrepressible dance-punk of “Wir Leben immer…noch (Lucky Number)”. A separate discussion, however, for the hit “African Reggae”: with this deadly combo punk-wave-dub-yodel we probably find ourselves in front of one of those little masterpieces of late Seventies pop rock which, with ease, has carved out a considerable space for itself among the singer's fans over time, becoming a cult piece venerated like few others.
Once again, therefore, the godmother of German punk resets the canons of conventional rock, celebrating expressionist madness.
10/02/2026
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
