From 1972 to 1973, Hagen enrolled in the crash-course performance program at The Central Studio for Light Music in East Berlin. Upon graduation, she joined the band Automobil (picture), which released a well-received album in Germany, including her first hit "Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen" in 1974.
After a concert for a West German labour union in 1976 her stepfather, Wolf Biermann, was forbidden to return to the GDR. Because of their protests against it her mother, Eva-Maria Hagen and Nina were thrown out of GDR in 1977, and followed Biermann to his hometown Hamburg.
Nina subsequently met West-Berlin photographer Jim Rakete (who also produced some bands he shot the cover-photos for - like "Nena" some years later). He brought Nina together with the politically left-wing band "Lokomotive Kreuzberg" (later known as "Spliff"): thus the "Nina Hagen Band" was born.
In 1978 The Nina Hagen Band released their self-titled debut album, which included titles like "TV-Glotzer" (a cover of "White Punks on Dope" by The Tubes) and "Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo".
According to reviewer Fritz Rumler, she thrusts herself into the music, aggressively, directly, furiously, roars in the most beautiful operatic alto, then, through shrieks and squeals, precipitates herself into luminous soprano heights... she parodies, satirises, and howls on stage like a dervish.
Nina Hagen's eccentricity led to big disputes in the band and during a subsequent European tour Hagen decided to leave the band, though she was still under contract to produce a second album in 1979. This LP, Unbehagen (in addition to the obvious pun on her name, in German this also means 'discomfort' or 'unease'), was eventually produced with the band recording their tracks in Berlin and Hagen recording the vocals in Los Angeles, California. It included the single "African Reggae"/"Wir leben immer... noch" (a cover of Lene Lovich's "Lucky Number"). The headless Nina Hagen Band soon developed a successful independent musical career as Spliff.
Meanwhile, Hagen's public persona was steadily creating an increasing media uproar and she became infamous for an appearance on an Austrian talk show called Club 2, in which she performed an explicit simulation of masturbation. She also acted with Dutch sex-drugs-and-rock-'n'-roll legend Herman Brood in the movie Cha Cha, along with Lene Lovich and various Dutch bands.
An European tour with a new band in 1980 was cancelled, she had a love affair with a 16 year old punk from Amsterdam called Noddy (www.noddyriot.co.uk) and sang a RHCP rapduet with him at the OneWorldPoetry festival at the MilkyWay and lived with him in New York and in the Bahamas.
In 1982 her first solo album NunSexMonkRock, a dissonant mix of punk, funk and opera, was a minor hit, and led to a world tour with the No Problem Orchestra.
In 1983 came the album Angstlos and a minor European tour. By this time, Hagen's public appearances were becoming even stranger; over the years they frequently included discussions of God, UFOs, her social and political beliefs, animal rights / vivisection and claims of alien sightings. The English version of Angstlos, 'Fearless', generated two major club hits in America , "Zarah" and the disco/punk/opera classic, "New York New York".
1985's 'Nina Hagen In Ekstasy' fared less well, but it did generate club hits with "Universal Radio" and a cover of "Spirit In The Sky", and it also featured her hardcore punk take on Frank Sinatra's "My Way", which had been one of her signature live tunes in previous years. Her contract with CBS over, she released the Punk Wedding EP independently in 1987, a celebration of her marriage to an 18-year old punk. It followed an independent 1986 one-off single with Lene Lovich, the anthemic "Don't Kill The Animals".
In 1989 Hagen released the album Nina Hagen which was backed up by another German tour. Now living in Paris with her daughter Cosma Shiva, in 1991 she toured Europe in support of her new album Street.
In 1992 Hagen became the host of a TV show on RTLplus. The following year she released Revolution Ballroom and two years later the German-language album Freud Euch appeared, recorded in English as Beehappy in 1996. Also in 1996, Hagen collaborated with electronic music composer Christopher Franke on "Alchemy of Love", the theme song for the Tenchi Universe movie Tenchi Muyo! in Love.
In 1998, Hagen became the host of a weekly science fiction show on the British Sci-Fi-Channel, in addition to embarking on another tour of Germany. In 1999, she released the devotional album Om Namah Shivay, which was distributed exclusively online. She also sang "Witness" on KMFDM's Adios.
Nina has a strong interest in various religions, but that is mainly driven by her urge to build a better world and her own colorful freedom within it.
In 2000, her song Schön ist die Welt became the official song of Expo 2000. The album The Return of the Mother was released in February 2001, accompanied by another German tour.
Hagen dubbed the voice of Sally in the German release of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and she also did some voice work in Hot Dogs by Michael Schoemann.
Hagen has been featured on many songs by other bands, for instance Oomph!'s song Fieber, a cover of Rammstein's "Seemann" with Apocalyptica and in 2008 appeared readily on psy-trance act S.U.N. Project's X Black Album, most notably on the fully vocal track We're In Space. She also sang the song "Garota de Berlim" with Brazilian singer Supla in her early years.
Her two children are Cosma Shiva and Otis.
URLs:
BEST archive for Nina Hagen pictures and stuff (regrettably just in German), incl. very old GDR pics like a beautiful one at the age of 18 and one shot by the "Stasi" (together with her stepfather Wolf Biermann - wiki)
Der Spinner
Nina Hagen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ob ich hier weg fahr' oder was
Ej, guck mal, da kommt 'n Schnellzug und fährt weiter
'N Bulle von der Bahn taucht auf
Ich halt den Brief in meiner Hand fest
Da steht, du fühlst dich tot wie Stein
Um dir im Mos 'n Bett zu bau'n
Dein Riesen Saxophon ist natuerlich auch da
Und Flöten, Flöten soll'n auf der Wiese wachsen
Die alte Frau bezahlt mit Kleingeld
Wir warten auf den nächsten Zug
Ich frag die Alte, wo der Wald is'
Sie sagt "Mein Udo is' schon lange tot"
In meiner Tasche klebt 'n Bonbon
Wir steigen ein in unser'n Zug
Bei Wertheim gab es Salamander
Ich bring dir einen mit ins Moos
Als ich in Hamburg aus 'm Zug steig
Lauf ich durch Strassen bis zur Elbe hin
Down To The River
Da seh' ich dich am Ufer steh'n
Ich fass dich an und so, du hoerst nichts
Du sagst, du musst zum andern Ufer
Die Faehre faehrt am naechsten Tag
Ich dachte, dass du tief im Wald wohnst
Ich wusste nichts von deinen Ufern
The lyrics of Nina Hagen Band's song Der Spinner seem to be describing a surreal and somewhat disjointed journey taken by the singer. They are walking along a train platform, uncertain of whether they are leaving or staying, and witness a police officer before continuing on and discovering a letter that declares someone to be dead inside. The letter advises that the recipient "build a bed in the moss" and reinforces this with the strange image of "flutes growing on the meadow."
Further along the journey, the singer encounters an old woman who confuses them with someone else and mentions a dead person named Udo. There is also a mention of candy stuck in their pocket, and they later arrive at a river where they encounter the person addressed in the letter. However, even though they touch the person, they don't seem to notice and reveal they will be taking a ferry to the other side the following day. The singer is left confused and states they had believed the person lived deep in the woods and didn't know anything about the riverbank.
Overall, the lyrics of Der Spinner are both evocative and puzzling, and it seems unclear whether they are describing a literal journey or a metaphorical one. There is a sense of confusion and uncertainty that pervades the song, as well as a dream-like quality that makes it difficult to pin down any exact meaning.
Line by Line Meaning
Ich lauf 'n Bahnsteig lang und weiss nich', Ob ich hier weg fahr' oder was
I walk along a platform and I am not sure whether I should leave here or not
Ej, guck mal, da kommt 'n Schnellzug und fährt weiter, 'N Bulle von der Bahn taucht auf
Look, there comes a train and it continues, a cop comes out of the train
Ich halt den Brief in meiner Hand fest, Da steht, du fühlst dich tot wie Stein
I hold the letter firmly in my hand, it says that you feel as dead as a stone
Und dass du dir jetzt 'n Wald suchst, Um dir im Mos 'n Bett zu bau'n, Dein Riesen Saxophon ist natuerlich auch da, Und Flöten, Flöten soll'n auf der Wiese wachsen
And that you are now looking for a forest, to build a bed for yourself in the moss, your giant saxophone is, of course, there, and flutes, flutes are supposed to grow on the meadow
Die alte Frau bezahlt mit Kleingeld, Wir warten auf den nächsten Zug
The old woman pays with small change, we wait for the next train
Ich frag die Alte, wo der Wald is', Sie sagt "Mein Udo is' schon lange tot"
I ask the old woman where the forest is, she says "My Udo has been dead for a long time"
In meiner Tasche klebt 'n Bonbon, Wir steigen ein in unser'n Zug
A candy is stuck in my pocket, we get on our train
Bei Wertheim gab es Salamander, Ich bring dir einen mit ins Moos
There were salamanders in Wertheim, I will bring you one into the moss
Als ich in Hamburg aus 'm Zug steig, Lauf ich durch Strassen bis zur Elbe hin, Down To The River
When I got off the train in Hamburg, I walked through streets down to the river, down to the river
Da seh' ich dich am Ufer steh'n, Ich fass dich an und so, du hoerst nichts, Du sagst, du musst zum andern Ufer, Die Faehre faehrt am naechsten Tag
There I see you standing on the shore, I touch you, but you hear nothing, you say that you have to go to the other shore, the ferry leaves the next day
Ich dachte, dass du tief im Wald wohnst, Ich wusste nichts von deinen Ufern
I thought that you lived deep in the forest, I didn't know about your shores
Contributed by Camden P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.