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My
first introduction to Nina Hagen was as a little girl back in Germany.
"…ICH GOTZ TV…" pumping from the speakers and Nina's voice bouncing from
wall to wall, squealing! I was hooked, and she has been my guru and mothership
connection ever since.
Ten years later, and I found myself in The Paradiso in Amsterdam, anxiously
waiting (I made sure I was right in front) to see Nina perform live. She
entered the stage wrapped in black latex, strapped into killer stilettos
and a screaming red wig, which she sent fling into the audience a few
seconds later. Her four hour-long performance was filled with the unexpected,
singing opera with might and dignity, dodging conventional vocalizing
and extending her voice over several octaves!
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For 48 years Nina Hagen has mesmerized planet earth! Wherever she goes,
there is life. She comes across as a sympathetic cross between a priestess,
a prophet and Pippi Longstocking. When she speaks, her rubber band voice
stretches from squeaky soprano to heavy bass, like a junkie after a three
day binge. Nina Hagen has built a reputation throughout Europe and the
United States as a punk superstar.
Born in East Berlin in 1955, she hopped the wall in '76 and ignited the
west German rock scene with her punk-political musical theatrics. In London
she performed in punk underground clubs along with her friends, The
Slits. With her unbound nature, she became a hero amoung the punk youth.
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In Amsterdam she fell in love with junkie Herman Brood and became Europe's
dram couple, only slightly less destructive than Sid & Nancy ("…This was
the shortest relationship in my life - I learned a lot about heavy drugs;
I learned that you don't have to touch it. People who take it are so stupid
and in bad mood all the time…"). In her wild years, she caused a huge
scandal, appearing on a live TV show and demonstrating the art of female
masturbation - "…Some idiot said that women cannot achieve orgasm are
boring and I said this is not true and showed him how it happens…"
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Nina has become the ambassador for extra-terrestrial beings and had her first visit in Malibu while pregnant ("…I cannot describe it in words, it showed me all the colours of the rainbow. I couldn't move. We are all holy spirits from god's creation…"). In 1981 she announced the birth of her daughter Cosma-Shiva ("I bring the new Messiah!"). Today she is the devoted mother of both Cosma and Otis (her son by Franck Chevalier), but still the Queen of Anarchy ("…Deep in my heart I am a nun, a real clean green queen, as mother, as a human being and as Nina anyway!").
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She calls repeatedly upon the wisdom of her beloved Indian gods and gurus Shiva, Rama & Babaji, and explains how she plans to save the world - and I believe her. Every winter she travels to India for three months and climbs the Himalayas ("…Every morning I get up at 4am and bathe in the river, then drink tea, oh man, what a party! I cut all my hair off!).
After countless albums (I'm counting 18 in my collection) she still works hard at her revolution. But strange she is not. She knows more about life than anybody else I know. Nina is strong; her head is constantly filled with new ideas. She started a campaign for the decriminalization of hashish, she has collected over 10 million Deutsch Mark for a hospital in the Ganges and all the profits of her Indian Mantra albums goes to an AIDS charity.
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I sometimes wonder if Nina would ever know the amazing influence she has had on my life. I am hysterical will happiness every time she releases a new album. Nina Hagen is the living proof that rock 'n roll shall keep us young - "…It's groovy to get old, otherwise we stay stupid forever…!" And Nina, well, that's why the lady is a punk.
- Christina Storm