Nina Hagen

Get up, stand up for the black revolution

For the revolution of the revolution

Get up, stand up!

How many voices in the rock landscape could we call truly unmistakable? Well, know that among them is certainly that of Berlin-born singer Nina Hagen, nicknamed "the godmother of German punk". At least once in your life you'll have savoured the sheer bizarreness typical of her compositions, alternating between sudden leaps into the void and shards of unheard-of madness. Initially active as a schlager singer, she moved to London in 1976 and threw herself fully into the punk explosion, a phenomenon she embraced in both ethics and aesthetics. Indeed, a year later she founded the Nina Hagen Band in Berlin, together with guitarist Bernhard Potschka, bassist Manfred Praeker, drummer Herwig Mitteregger and keyboardist Reinord Heil. The project disbanded in 1979, following the rise of the frontwoman's solo career.

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 genuine milestone.

Hagen subsequently began working in the United States, achieving considerable success thanks to a handful of singles released in the early Eighties. Against this backdrop, the outlandish "Nunsexmonkrock" (Cbs, 1982), the work of English producer Mike Thorne (Wire, Colin Newman, Soft Cell, Laurie Anderson, Peter Murphy), can be considered the German singer's true debut. The version examined in this article is the 1991 compilation that gathers this work together with four iconic tracks performed by the Nina Hagen Band.

Represented by the radiant cover shot by Berlin photographer Jim Rakete, in which the singer is portrayed in a guise diametrically opposed to her public image - an implausible, heavily made-up madonna cradling a newborn against a gaudy, multicoloured backdrop - the record opens with the space-punk of "Antiworld", built on a solid initial crescendo and a narrative that was nothing short of grotesque for its time: amid warped, off-kilter voices, guitars seemingly dredged up from the underworld and a pulsing, tribal drumbeat, a restless Hagen tells us of the time Jesus encountered a man possessed by the 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 laid bare in the lyrics, and the godmother of German punk marries this concept to a compositional atmosphere that is at times downright apocalyptic. All hope, then, is in vain.

The occult post-punk of "Smack Jack" plays its cards well. Hagen proves once and for all her formidable vocal gifts, capable of stunning anyone with an androgynous and thoroughly evocative approach. Feverish and utterly unrestrained, the track suddenly transforms via its frenetic new-wave chorus, in which Hagen's particular brand of madness, Allan Schwartzberg's drums and Chris Spedding's guitar are unquestionably the main event.

Introduced by Paul Rostler's neo-psychedelic synthesizers, the brief art-pop track "Tiatschi" pairs delicately with Hagen's feverish attitude, her theatrical delivery unsettling the listener even as it's enriched by an at-times hammering piano.

The art-punk of "Dread Love" presents a Hagen utterly dissociated from reality. Body and soul merge to create the perfect being... or some Gremlins-like little monster? Amid a wild, unleashed drum part and Karl Rucker's dazed, off-kilter bass, we find ourselves facing a paradoxical split personality: on one side an indefinable being, somewhere between the coldness of a robot and the repulsiveness of a demon, and on the other an unruly, reckless little girl who won't stop screaming. And at the track's close, Nina utters "nunsexmonkrock" - the liturgy of the "monastic rock" we've just witnessed.

1968 is over (it’s over!) 1981 is over… Future is now!

Marked by an elegant Hammond organ, the celebrated “Future Is Now” strips away its most mysterious eccentricities. A decade or so after the sexual revolution – one of the first performances of the track dates back to 1979 – Hagen puts the notion of change back in front of her audience: anyone interested in a possible fix for society's ills will get their fifteen minutes of Warholian fame, as long as they keep babbling on, spicing it all up with some good, decidedly unhypocritical rhetoric to win over the most disparate crowds; the rest is boredom. Echoes of Klaus Nomi haunt the composition restlessly, as it shifts from a slow initial art-rock feel toward a brazen, modern frenzy in the style of Neue Deutsche Welle (German new wave). Hagen is a free spirit gifted with shape-shifting talent: she moves from being an opera singer, at the peak of her artistic output, to spewing out the wrathful soul of a teenager in the throes of a hormonal crisis. And that's exactly why we adore her.

In the compelling dance-punk of “Born In Xixax” what strikes most is the driving electric guitar riff, superbly punk-rock yet clearly distinct within the track's occult imagery and unusually calm traits. By contrast, in the following “Iki Maska” chaos reigns supreme. Hagen splits herself in two once again through endless outpourings that form a fabulous, dominant vocal solo.

In the wake of minimal wave, “Dr. Art” comes out in one go, like a simple scribble on a sheet of paper. The context fades at first impact and, as it's perceived, the track could be the alter ego of a lullaby: what drives the performance is the disbelieving hypnotism of the drum machine and the vocal arrangements, as well as the outcome of a lysergic trip.

Despite its seemingly radio-friendly nature, the sarcastic pop of “Cosmic Shiva” – dedicated to her daughter Cosma – disguises itself as a circular piece, essentially laced with disco–funk elements, showing no small amount of maturity on the production side.

And so we come to the closing numbers: “Ufo”, originally the closing track of “Nunsexmonkrock”, completely upends form and substance, built around a fascination with close encounters of the third kind. Not to be underestimated at all is the track's ability to maintain a constant sense of unease and disquiet throughout the entire listen.

The last tracks on the compilation's tracklist, recorded precisely with the Nina Hagen Band, catch you off guard with their stylistic shift, marked by a cabaret-like approach much closer to glam–punk sounds. Indeed, the deutschrock of “TV-Glotzer (White Punks On Dope)” brings about 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 mention, though, is owed to the hit “African Reggae”: with this devastating punk-wave-dub-yodel combo we're likely looking at one of those little late-Seventies pop-rock gems that, quite effortlessly, carved out a considerable place for itself among the singer's fans over the years, becoming a cult track revered like few others.

Once again, then, the godmother of German punk resets the standards of conventional rock, celebrating expressionist madness.

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01/05/2026