Reflections on ... Nina Hagen in Ekstasy (1985)

 

“Nina Hagen is at once the most outlandish of rock clowns and the most intensely committed and flaked-out female pop visionary since Patti Smith herself.” From Tim Holmes’ review of the album Nina Hagen in Ekstasy (1985) in Rolling Stone. 

Released forty years ago this month (February 1985) by CBS records: Nina Hagen in Ekstasy, the berserk German punk diva’s third solo studio album. Don’t compare it to Hagen’s earlier futuristic avant-garde science fiction tour de force Nunsexmonkrock (1982) and Ekstasy is a blast on its own terms (and it’s been a perennial favourite of mine since I was a teenager). 

/ Nina Hagen photographed by Paul Natkin in 1985 / 

The cover depicts Hagen as a punk rock Jayne Mansfield complete with shocking fuchsia hair extensions. The music inside more than lives up to this persona (aptly described by The Village Voice’s Evelyn McDonnell as “extraterrestrial demon-child”): it’s an anything goes explosion of lurid maximalist bad taste, gleefully throwing heavy metal, punk, psychedelia (she covers “Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum), hip hop, reggae and dance music into the mix. As ever, Hagen’s lyrics offer her crackpot ruminations on religion ("Gott im Himmel”), spirituality, UFOs and politics (especially Russian politics). Never one for false modesty, on “Prima Nina in Ekstasy" Hagen declares, “I love myself and I know who I am / Don't you be afraid, doc / I'm the queen of punk rock …” “Universal Radio” is one of the catchiest things she ever did. Her version of “My Way” matches Sid Vicious’ rendition for ferocity. Growling “Go down on your knees and pray for peace …” on “The Lord’s Prayer”, Hagen seemingly channels Linda Blair in The Exorcist. The freaky “Atomic Flash Deluxe” (which ends with her chanting / warning “Babylon will fall”) could be an off-cut from Nunsexmonkrock. And her repeated references to “ekstasy” perhaps hint at what she was dabbling in at the time. 

To be fair, CBS gave the album a major promotional push: did they think Hagen could be their equivalent to Cyndi Lauper or Madonna? But of course, she was never destined for that kind of pop stardom. As Trouser Press’ critic concluded, “Hagen’s rampant individuality almost precludes mass comprehension, let alone full-scale popularity.” And in retrospect, Ekstasy represents Hagen’s artistic last gasp. After this, aside from a fun, trashy heavy metal cover of Elvis Presley’s “Viva Las Vegas” in ’89, she well and truly abandoned quality control and pretty much never recorded a decent note of music again!

Listen to Nina Hagen in Ekstasy below. 

Reflections on ... Nunsexmonkrock (1982)

 

“Hagen recorded Nunsexmonkrock in New York with a band that included Paul Shaffer and Chris Spedding. To describe it as wild hardly suffices – the drugs-sex-religion-politics-mystical imagery that spills out is nearly incomprehensible in its bag-lady solipsism, but the music and singing combine into an aural bed of nails that carries stunning impact. It almost doesn’t matter that Hagen sticks to English; what counts is the phenomenal vocal drama. Her range seems limitless, and the countless characters she plays makes this fascinating.” 

/ The Trouser Press Record Guide (1991) review of Nina Hagen’s 1982 album Nunsexmonkrock /

“Nina Hagen’s 1982 album NunSexMonkRock is one of the single most ground-breaking and far-out things ever recorded and it deserves to be considered a great - perhaps the very greatest - unsung masterpiece of the post-punk era. I’ll take it even further: To my mind, it’s on the same level as PiL’s Metal Box, Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica or Brian Eno and David Byrne’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Or The Dreaming by Kate Bush. There I’ve said it … Nunsexmonkrock could have been recorded 40 years ago, yesterday, or a thousand years from now and it just wouldn’t matter.” 

/ From Dangerous Minds website / 

Unleashed on this day forty years ago (12 June 1982): berserk German punk diva Nina Hagen’s debut solo album and definitive artistic achievement, futuristic 1982 post-punk masterpiece Nunsexmonkrock – hailed by a Rolling Stone reviewer as the "most unlistenable" record ever made. Au contraire! Hagen’s confrontational Exorcist-style vocals and crackpot flights of fancy are (mostly) grounded in experimental but tough and danceable New Wave rock. Opener “AntiWorld” invents an operatic / Biblical / gypsy punk hybrid. “Smack Jack” - her spooky anti-heroin diatribe - nails a sense of junkie panic. "Iki Maska" is anchored to the same Henry Mancini / Peter Gunn guitar riff as “Planet Claire” by the B-52’s. The irresistible “Born in Xixax” bristles with paranoid conspiracy theories predicting World War III but vows, “One day we will be free!” Best of all, the extraterrestrial “Cosma Shiva” marries blaxploitation funk bass with samples of the gurgles and squeals of Hagen’s baby daughter, and concludes with Hagen declaring, “And my little baby, I tell you - God is your father.”

Hagen would go on to make two more fun, interesting records (Fearless (1983) - her foray into disco - and the heavy metal-leaning In Ekstasy (1985)), then seemingly run out of inspiration (which unfortunately didn’t stop her from continuing to record). Four decades later, Nunsexmonkrock still sounds like bleeding-edge science fiction. If any of this tempts you, the album is on Spotify. 

Lobotomy Room 30 October 2015 DJ Set List

/ Morbidly beautiful cadaverous cutie / glamour ghoul pin-up, part one: 1950s horror movie hostess, actress and confidante of James Dean, Vampira (aka Maila Nurmi, 1922-2008) - seen here in Plan 9 from Outer Space. Check out her finger nails - and that freaky emaciated waist! /

As promised / threatened on the Facebook events page:

It’s the night before Halloween! Time to awaken the ghost of Jayne Mansfield and twist your head off at LOBOTOMY ROOM!

Revel in sleaze, voodoo and rock'n'roll - when LOBOTOMY ROOM returns to its new home, the subterranean Bamboo Lounge of Dalston's Art Deco vice palace Fontaine's!

At last - a club night for the hillbilly beau monde! LOBOTOMY ROOM! Where sin lives! A punkabilly booze party! A spectacle of decadence for the permissive Continentally-minded! A Mondo Trasho evening of Beat, Beat Beatsville Beatnik Rock’n’Roll! Bad Music for Bad People! Rockabilly Psychosis! Wailing Rhythm and Blues! Twisted Tittyshakers! Punk Cretin Hops! Kitsch! Exotica! Curiosities and other Weird Shit! Think John Waters soundtracks, or Songs The Cramps Taught Us, hosted by DJ Graham Russell (of Dr Sketchy and Cockabilly notoriety). Expect desperate stabs from the jukebox jungle! Savage rhythms to make you writhe and rock! 

Costumes are welcome but not obligatory - but I'll inevitably throw in some Halloween novelty songs ("Goo Goo Muck", "Graveyard Rock" by Tarantula Ghoul, "Dead Man's Stroll" by The Revels - hell, even "Monster Mash")

Admission: FREE!

Lobotomy Room: Faster. Further. Filthier.

A tawdry good time guaranteed!

/ Morbidly beautiful cadaverous cutie / glamour ghoul pin-up, part two : actress Gloria Holden (1903 - 1991), unforgettable as a lesbianic vampiress in the lead role in Dracula’s Daughter (1936) /

Lobotomy Room (my monthly punkabilly booze party! Wild! Wild! Wild!) is, of course, usually located in the subterranean Bamboo Lounge in the basement of Fontaine’s. That was reserved for a private party this night, so I moved upstairs to the plush Art Deco splendour of the ground-floor bar with the silver-painted palm trees. Although the lighting was dark and Fontaine’s was decorated for Halloween, it still felt like I was dragging the elegant 1930s surroundings down to my putrid level. The only downside to re-locating upstairs: I couldn't project my usual vintage erotica

/ Morbidly beautiful cadaverous cutie / glamour ghoul pin-up, part three: Carroll Borland (1914 - 1994) as Luna Mora, eerily silent vampire daughter of Count Mora (Bela Lugosi) in horror movie classic Mark of The Vampire (1935). As Luna in her trailing white funeral shroud, Borland created the archetype of the sexy female vampire, paving the way for everyone from Morticia Addams,Vampira , Lily Munster and Elvira. She also may well have been the original goth! /

I didn’t particularly market this Lobotomy Room as a Halloween party (for one thing, Fontaine’s already had a Halloween-themed night lined-up for Halloween proper the following night). But how could I miss the opportunity to exhume a couple of kitsch atomic-era Halloween novelty songs? I played two tunes by campy 1950s horror movie hostess Tarantula Ghoul (well, the A side and B side of her only single!). In a just world, Ghoul’s “Graveyard Rock” would be celebrated as a Halloween perennial just like Boris Pickett’s “Monster Mash” (which I brought and totally intended to play – but forgot!). No one can resist the theme tunes from TV’s The Addams Family (those finger snaps!) and The Munsters (that twangy surf guitar!).  I also dug up some macabre tittyshaker instrumentals with blood-curdling screaming and groaning (“Rigor Mortis” by The Gravestone Four, “It” by The Regal-aires).  Playing something by The Cramps – The Addams Family / Munsters of punk and a band for whom every day was Halloween – was obviously compulsory.  (To embrace the spirit of things, I also wore the Vampira t-shirt I bought at Viva Las Vegas in April 2015).

/ Morbidly beautiful cadaverous cutie / glamour ghoul pin-up, part four: Tarantula Ghoul. Like Vampira before her and Elvira afterwards, Ghoul provided campy comedic introductions to horror films as the macabre Morticia Addams-like hostess of her weekly TV show called House of Horror (1957-1959) in Portland, Oregon.  Sadly no footage of her show survives, but backed by The Gravediggers, Ghoul cut one immortal Halloween novelty single in her brief heyday: "Graveyard Rock" / "King Kong" /

Otherwise I aimed to keep things characteristically weird’n’sleazy. As per usual, I worked in my “chicken suite”, desperate rhythm and blues, foreign language cover versions (I’ve had a CD by vivacious Brazilian 1960s pop siren Wanderléa for years from when I used to have a Brazilian boyfriend. I don’t know why I’ve never used it DJ’ing. I love her berserk Portuguese-language rendition of Ike and Tina’s “River Deep Mountain High”. It’s so wrong it’s right) and some cooing 1960s “white girl with problems” singers via the cinema of Kenneth Anger, John Waters and David Lynch. In honour of what would have been the recent 70^th birthday of The Queen Mutha of us all, I played a track by Divine (19 October 1945 – 7 March 1988). Suitably for Halloween, the song in question – “Hard Magic” – features some howling werewolf sound effects. And not one but two punk freak-outs by wacky German New Wave diva Nina Hagen: I’m on a one-man mission to have her reappraised as a genius unsung maverick post-punk outsider artist somewhere between a white Grace Jones and Klaus Nomi. (Trust me: this is a very lonely pursuit).

High Wall - The Fabulous Wailers
Night Scene - The Rumblers
Torture Rock - Rockin' Belmarx
Alligator Wine - Johnny Thunders and Patti Palladin
The Munsters' Theme - Milton DeLugg and Orchestra
I'd Rather Be Burned as a Witch - Eartha Kitt
Graveyard Rock - Tarantula Ghoul
Theme from the Addams Family - The Fiends
Rigor Mortis - The Gravestone Four
Vampira - Bobby Bare
A Cheat - The Earls of Suave
Rockin' at The Graveyard - Jackie Morningstar
Goo Goo Muck - Ronnie and The Gaylads
Sinner - Freddie and The Hitchhikers
Jukebox Baby - Alan Vega
Spooky - Lydia Lunch
Jungle Fever - Charlie Feathers
Tough Chick - The Rockbusters
It - The Regal-aires
Big Bad Boss Beat - The Teen Beats
Her Love Rubbed Off - Carl Perkins
Bombora - The Original Surf-aris
Love Me - The Phantom
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Chicken Rock - Fat Daddy Holmes
Chicken - The Cramps
Chicken Walk - Hasil Adkins
Run Chicken Run - Link Wray
King Kong - Tarantula Ghoul
Torture - Kris Jensen
I Wish I Were a Princess - Little Peggy March
I've Told Every Little Star - Linda Scott
Little Miss Understood - Connie Stevens
Wipe-Out - The Surfaris
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
Gostaria de saber (River Deep Mountain High) - Wanderléa
My Boy Lollipop - Sakura and The Quests
Harley Davidson - Brigitte Bardot
Margaya - The Fender Four
Muleskinner Blues - The Fendermen
Shortnin' Bread - The Readymen
Khrushchev Twist - Melvin Gayle
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
I Want You, I Need You, I Love You - Elvis Presley (played in error!)
Woo-Hoo - The Rock-A-Teens
I Walk Like Jayne Mansfield - The 5,6,7,8s
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad - Tammy Wynette
Intoxica - The Centurions
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Revelion - The Revels
Where's My Money? Willie Jones
Money, Money - Big John Taylor
Bewildered - Shirley and Lee
Beatnik - The Champs
Beat Girl - ZZ en de Maskers
Viva Las Vegas - Nina Hagen
Big Girls Don't Cry - Edith Massey
Hard Magic - Divine
Johnny Are You Queer? Josie Cotton
Your Phone's Off the Hook - The Ramonetures
It's a Gas - The Rumblers
Breathless - Arlie Neaville
Jailhouse Rock - Masaaki Hirao
Whistle Bait - Larry Collins
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Ah Poor Little Baby - Billy "Crash" Craddock
Year 1 - X
Comin' Home, Baby - The Delmonas
Twist Talk - Jack Hammer
Viens danser le twist - Johnny Hallyday
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Fist City - Loretta Lynn
Funnel of Love - Wanda Jackson
C'mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Breathless - X
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
How Much Love Can One Heart Hold? Joe Perkins and The Rookies
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard
I Live the Life I Love - Esquerita
Rock-A-Hula Baby - Elvis Presley
Honolulu Rock'n'Roll - Eartha Kitt
Bop Pills - Macy "Skip" Skipper
Ultra Twist - The Cramps
Aphrodisiac - Bow Wow Wow
My Way - Nina Hagen




/ I was so busy sweatin' to the oldies behind the DJ booth all night I only managed to snatch a single photo all night - of Pal and Martin /

Further reading: 

Did you know Lobotomy Room now has its own official Facebook page? Like and follow it if you dare!

Read about all the previous antics at Lobotomy Rooms to date here,here,here,here,here,here,here, here, here, here, here , here and here!

If you don't already, follow me on tumblr here. Warning - NSFW to the max!

And remember ... the next Lobotomy Room is Friday 27 November! Facebook events page here.

25 July 2014 Cockabilly DJ Set List at The George & Dragon

/ Personification of Cockabilly: Robert Rex by Kris Studio of Chicago photographed in 1959 (Via) / 

Cockabilly! A rock’n’roll homo-fest! A pink riot of bliss! Further! Faster! Filthier!

There hadn't been a Cockabilly club night (London’s sole regular queer rockabilly booze party at Shoreditch epicentre of hip, The George and Dragon) since May. So by Friday 25 July I was gagging to shake-up a rancid cocktail of vintage musical sleaze alongside Cockabilly head honcho Mal Nicholson. Sweat to the oldies! Get in touch with your inner juvenile delinquent! Swallow a fistful of bop pills and hit the dance floor! And how hip was this night? Let's just say Her Royal Highness, Ms Princess Julia (the princess of our hearts) was spotted dancing early on.

/ Perennial Cockabilly favourite: Cry-baby (1990) by spiritual father / filth elder  of us all, John Waters /

Let's Have a Party - Wanda Jackson
Tough Bounce - The Fabulous Wailers
Love Me - The Phantom
Lucille - Masaaki Hirao
Hound Dog - Little Esther
Don't Be Cruel - The Bill Black Combo
Honolulu Rock'n'Roll - Eartha Kitt
Rock-a-Hula Baby - Elvis Presley
Dragon Walk - The Noblemen
Jim Dandy - Sara Lee and The Spades
The Swag - Link Wray
Kruschev Twist - Melvin Gayle
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Let's Twist Again - Johnny Hallyday
Twistin' the Night Away - Divine
That Makes It - Jayne Mansfield
Sweet Little Pussycat - Andre Williams
Tina's Dilemma - Ike and Tina Turner
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Dance with Me Henry - Ann-Margret
Sweetie Pie - Eddie Cochran
C'Mon Everybody - Sid Vicious
Breathless - X
Comin' Home - The Delmonas
Wiped-Out - The Escorts
Whistle Bait - Larry Collins
One Hand Loose - Charlie Feathers
Chicken Grabber - The Nite Hawks
Vesuvius - The Revels
Wipe-Out - The Surfaris
The Girl Can't Help It - Little Richard

/ Walter Leon Gibson by Bob Mizer /

Read about the squalid proceedings at previous Cockabilly nights here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

/ Clown Princess of Punk: Nina Hagen /

Bonus set list! The following night (Saturday 26 JuIy) I hauled my ass to South London (Brixton, to be precise) for a club night called Strength! And Power! organised by my brilliant and talented artist friend Sarah Holly Sayeed. (Nightclub hostess Sarah was radiant in a kimono with her hair scraped into a little Samurai top knot). By the time I started my DJ guest spot towards the end of the night, the crowd had pretty much thinned and the atmosphere was a bit funeral parlour-ish. (The couple sat directly opposite me seemed to be there mainly to sit and text on their iPhones). So I cranked-up the aggression and antagonism to try to rouse a reaction with loud, raspy-voiced and confrontational tracks by the likes of Divine, Edith Massey and Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black amidst the usual mess of kitschy surf, punk, rockabilly, twist music and sleazy instrumentals.

Most satisfyingly, I seized the opportunity to play my favourite track from East German freak diva Nina Hagen’s unsung 1982 post-punk masterpiece Nunsexmonrock: the truly maniacal “Iki Maska.”  Just before it I played The Jester’s grinding tittyshaker twist version of the Peter Gunn theme and eased them into each other. Like “Planet Claire” by The B-52s, “Iki Maska” is anchored to that same minimalist repetitive surf-y Peter Gunn riff, over which Hagen trills, growls, shrieks and spews her crackpot bag lady lyrics while channeling Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Spine-tingling! My boyfriend Pal shook his head and said, well, you succeeded in making people feel uncomfortable! 

Mau Mau - The Wailers
Kismiaz - The Cramps
Twisting with Bad Boy Bubbles - Shuggie Smith and The Cajuns
Peter Gunn Locomotion - The Delmonas
You're Driving Me Crazy - Dorothy Berry
Margaya - The Fender Four
Here Comes the Bug - The Rumblers
Peter Gunn Twist - The Jesters
Iki Maska - Nina Hagen
Punks Get Off the Grass - Edith Massey
Female Trouble - The Melvins
Hey, You - Divine
Pillow Case - The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
Harley Davidson - Brigitte Bardot
Can't Stop Thinking About It - The Dirtbombs
He's The One - Ike and Tina Turner
Boss - The Rumblers
Honolulu Rock'n'Roll - Eartha Kitt
Rock-a-Hula Baby - Elvis Presley
Deuces Wild - Link Wray
Esquerita and The Voola - Esquerita
Suey - Jayne Mansfield
Rip It Up - Little Richard
Hard-Headed Woman - Wanda Jackson
Shout! - Johnny Hallyday
Whistle Bait - Larry Collins
Rock Around the Clock - The Sex Pistols
Year One - X
Beat Party - Ritchie and The Squires
8 Ball - The Hustlers
Save It - Mel Robbins
Love Me - The Phantom
Surfin' Bird - The Trashmen
Rock-a-Bop - Sparkle Moore

And finally: scrawl the date in your social calendar - preferably in blood! End summer 2014 on a note of sleazy desperation on Saturday 6 September 2014 when Lobotomy Room (my irregular Mondo Trasho punkabilly club night) triumphantly returns to its ideal venue, Paper Dress Vintage. And featuring special musical guests ... the vicious EMPRESS OF FUR! Led by the Bettie Page-tastic Venus Raygun (half angel, half jungle cat – all woman!), Empress of Fur answers the musical question “Why do the sweetest kittens have the sharpest claws?” – and rasp your freakin’ face off in the process with their raunchy post-Cramps voodoobilly assault! Imagine the musical equivalent of a 1960s Russ Meyer film about go-go dancers on a homicidal rampage, and you’re on the right track. The Von Nitros kick of proceedings with their surf / garage punk mayhem. And it's all totally gratuit (that's French for free!).

Facebook events page

Follow me on tumblr, damn it.