Was This Punk?

It is 40 years ago today when Nina Hagen released her first record called Nina Hagen Band after her expatriation from Eastern Germany. She was the stepdaughter of Wolf Biermann, a dissident and critical singer-songwriter from the other side of the wall. She made success in Eastern Germany with some kind of schlager in her origin country. After she crossed the border she went straight to London and anticipated the upcoming punk scene. She got in touch with punk and reggae and got befriended with Ari Up and The Slits. She also found some German musicians on the island and back to Germany they released their first album. It is certainly not a punk album in music because there were too many ingredients of classic rock inside but her voice blew us all away. Probably because she sung their songs in  our language. The Nina Hagen Band is still a record you can listen to after all these decades and having fun (if only you remember the times the record was released). I remember back then when I saw her live once. It was a terrific set. Nina in front of the band acting like none we've seen before. She filled the venue with her classical trained voice. Sadly she never reached the level of her first record.

Nina Hagen Band -  Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo
Nina Hagen Band - Rangehn'
Nina Hagen Band - TV-Glotzer (White Punks On Dope)

A Girl From The Other Side Of The Wall

In addition to my yesterday's post I ought to post a story about another formidable German voice. It's about Nina Hagen the daughter of German actress Eva-Maria Hagen and screenwriter Hans Olivia. She had an education in singing in the former GDR and a big hit with Du hast den Farbfilm vergessen (You've forgotten the colour). Because her mother was engaged with east German dissident Wolf Biermann she was classified as unreliable in the meaning of Stasi. So she settled to west Berlin in 1977 and formed a band. Their first self titled record Nina Hagen Band was one of those records in these days that a lot of people could agree with. She combined the punk attitude of The Tubes  (she covered their White Punks On Dope) with classical rock and reggae. and gave her the name of Godmother of Punk. What also was impressing was her voice over four octaves that made her sound so unique. Her second record wasn't bad at all but could not beat her first. After her affair with Hermann Brood and his death on drugs she drifted more and more into a weird world telling us about real existent aliens and stuff like that to turn into a serious reciter of the works of Berthold Brecht.

Held It

When I came home from my walk in the wood I made me another cup of coffee and checked out some e-mails. In one of them an old friend of mine informed me that he got the latest album by Zeus B. Held and supplied me some tracks. So I went to listen to them songs that was released decades ago.

Zeus B. Held is a German producer and musician known for his work from the 70s to the 90s. He was a long time member of the successful Krautrock band Birth Control playing keybords in these days. I remember seeing them live in my hometown playing in an old cinema when I was 14 or 15. I was impressed by the leading keybords that made this sound so unique. After he left the band he worked as a producer, session-musician, programmer and engineer in several German and French studios. He was also involved in the new wave as a producer for Nina Hagen and Spear Of Destiny. I think, he is always on the search of new sounds. So he experimentated with organ and vocoder sounds. This record contains selected tracks from his three albums released under his name. Some are sound still fresh but always unique. No music fore everyone but one for me (even if it was a nostalgia mood).

Zeus B. Held - Held it
Zeus B. Held - Sound trigger

The Foreign Correspondent Returns - Stories About German Rock Music # 44

Spliff (I know what synonym it is for) came from Berlin. What is in it so particularly? Berlin about which it is here does not deal with today's any more overmuch. Berlin an end of 1970s was, not least because of the island situation within the Western Germany, a special case. Crowds of the young men who wanted to escape the service in the armed forces moved there and by the geographical bulkheading quite an own cultural scene which worked magically engagingly on all kinds of outsiders also originated. Pop dimensions like David Bowie, Iggy Pop or Depeche Mode made this Berlin for for some time her native country. The band is very successful during those days in Berlin. Stylistically in the political rock the seventy-year-old roots, however, one cannot hold a candle overpowering Ton Steine Scherben (another German left wing band from the 70s). When Nina Hagen from the GDR is expelled, she joins the four one and completes the Line Up of Nina Hagen Band as the troop is called. After only two albums the combo separates. From the remains arise in 1980 on the one hand the solo artist Hagen and Spliff. They had their most successful years throughout the New German Wave but their were much better than this foolish stuff.

And as Nina Hagen Band:

And the German version of White Punks on Dope by The Tubes:

The Foreign Correspondent - Stories about German Rock Music # 7

Herwig Mitteregger is an Austrian musician, played in former times in the back-up band from Nina Hagen - Spliff (a synonym for a joint). They were very successful in the days of New German Wave with chartbreakers like 'Carbonara' and  'Heut Nacht'. After the split of 'Spliff' he turned into a solo career, in which he played the most of the instruments by himself. On this record he tried to explore some new ways to produce the songs he liked to do in his way. Most of them sound a little bit of morbid for listeners who are not able to understand his words. But for me he made a record that still stands the test of time. 'Kein Mut, kein Mädchen' what means 'No courage, no girl' is a record that had an tries to plump the borders of rock music and electronic. It is a perfect mixture of how new sounds could sound. Nearly 20 years ago it was a masterpiece from him and it still sounds fresh and new over a long years ago.

Herwig Mitteregger - So oder So
Herwig Mitteregger - Kald wie'n Stein
Herwig Mitteregger - Rudi