JULY 8, 2014 1:35PM
The Mother of Punk and I (Part 3)
UFOs! Ahhh. I have seen one in '81.
Yeah,
California. It was Malibu Beach, and it was a very, very blissful, even
ecstatic experience. I was pregnant [with Cosma Shiva] so there was no
alcohol or any kind of substance [to impair my judgement].
It
was a very amazing, powerful, blissful, private-eye, surprise event. I
woke up; I go to the window, open the curtain. I don't know why!? In the
middle of night, usually I don't do that. Something drove me...And then
I was freeze-framed! The lightship showed one light after the other, in
such intensity!
These
lights, they were stronger than anything I have ever seen on this
earth, but it didn't hurt the eyes. And the blue, and the red, the
purple, and the orange and the turquoise, and the green, every single
color had, ahhhh, such a loving energy. It was so extremely ecstatic!
They haven't found a word for it yet. And in the end came white, and
afterwards, I could look inside and there were three people inside [of
the lightship]. But they didn't look at me.
- Nina Hagen, discussing her UFO experience
Litchfield, Connecticut, circa 1986
I'm at the record store at the Danbury Fair Mall, looking at the wall of cassette tapes. Record stores used to initimidate me. The bad kids in their Def Leppard t-shirts and their feathered mullets would hang around in packs and sneer and be loud. It would be a few years before I could proclaim myself master of a record store.
There was actually a label on the cassette rack for "Nina Hagen." I see tapes for Fearless and In Ekstasy (which is extremely tough to find now in English). And I pick up a cassette tape for Nunsexmonkrock:
"That's so blasphemous!" I whisper to myself in shock.
Utah Valley, Utah, 2013
I'm banned from commenting on Nina Hagen's Facebook page.
Salt Lake City, Utah, 2014
Salon.com posts an article about Exene Cervenka of X (incidentally, also high up there among my favorites). She is a truther of various sorts - Elliot Rodgers, 9/11 - to the point where she denies the existence of the victims and calls them "actors."
I'm not randomly comparing two different female punks. Bear with me, it will come together.
Litchfield, Connecticut, circa 1987
In the midst of some of my listens to In Ekstasy, a couple of things become clear to me, even if they weren't all true:
1) The woman loves herself some UFOs. Nunsexmonkrock had "UFOs." Fearless had "Flying Saucers." In Ekstasy had "Gods of Aquarius."
2) Blasphemy, blasphemy, blasphemy! "Spirit in the Sky" and "The Lord's Prayer" I find just shocking. But my scandalization grows less and less, especially when I find I can't resist growling along with her: "THIS IS. THE REVOLUTION. OF THE SPIRIT. IN. THE. SKYYYYY!"
The late 1980's were spiritually interesting times, you see.
You had satanic panics, and you had the rise of the New Age movement, and you had the fundamentalists insisting that the latter was because of the literal truth of the former. Late night talk show hosts continued to mock Shirley MacLaine
's New Age beliefs. Girls in high school insisted that crystals
had special powers. Whitley Streiber's confusing and silly Communion
is found under "biography"at the local Waldenbooks. There was an
insistent belief in aliens, reincarnation and the "harmonic convergence"
event - more fodder for the comedian/late-night host ridicule. And you also had religious leaders toppling like dominoes over scandals. Jim Baker's sexcapades were ubiquitous in the media. Tammy Faye's eyeliner ran like a monsoon flash flood. "I have sinned against you!" exclaimed Jimmy Swaggart tearfully after an alleged hooker/self-diddling episode. And the Church Lady on Saturday Night Live
was pointedly highlighting the hypocritical finger-wagging moralism of these folks. It kind of all came together for me. Nina was remarking on organized religion!Except I was wrong. Because in truth, Nina really did believe in her UFO spirituality. She was a person of faith - in UFOs. There was really no blasphemy or protest behind "Spirit in the Sky" or "Lord's Prayer." This was a woman who preached with wacky demonic growling and punk songs:
Are coming with UFOs
They love me and they love you
And what they have to say is true
The good old communication
With holy spirits of God's creation
It's true, but our church denies it
God when will they realize it
But that would not be the only spirituality she'd end up professing.
New Orleans, Louisiana, 2002
I became hip to that nefarious and evil technology known as file-sharing. Among the hundreds of searches I waste precious time doing were for "Nina Hagen". And I found songs from this album
which she released in 1999:Om Namah Shivay is all Hindu
religious mantras. It's quite beautiful. Nina's throaty, opera trained voice makes these devotionals just entrancing. I had heard Nina make various references to Hinduism, in snippets of songs and comments in articles about going to study under gurus in India. You can see her here in this video with her daughter, Cosma Shiva Hagen, at a Indian commune.
By all accounts, she was in fact Hindu, while not necessarily disavowing other spiritual paths. She still talked about her UFO.
In the same place and year, more random googling occupies my time between studies and drinking. And I found out an unfortunate fact:
Nina Hagen, some time back, had become an HIV denialist.
I'm having a tough time finding the articles where she has both professed and then half-heartedly retracted those beliefs. But needless to say, Nina's crazytown becomes less charming.
"Well, she's touched with madness," I say to myself. "It's a price to pay for being an iconoclastic mystic. Love the art, still love the artist, don't agree with all they have to say. Who really cares if that's what she believed at one point?"
I would briefly lose sight of that perspective in the future. And I don't necessarily think I was wrong to do so. Although really, who the fuck am I, and who cares?
Salt Lake City, Utah, 2012
In the midst of researching the Pussy Riot affair, I stumble upon this article:
And it's, of course, a lovely article to read. When the periodical asks her if she saw the "Punk Prayer" video, she says:
Yes,
I've seen the video. I laughed so hard. I thought it was so adorable,
because they were such young musicians there, thinking now let's
protest against all of this. I don't know, we were all young once.
When asked what she would say to Pussy Riot if she met them, she replies:
I
would hug them, would tell them to have courage, tell them about my
near-death experience when I was 17. I was a wild child in East Berlin,
my heart was badly broken. My boyfriend cheated on me. I was a
candidate for suicide. But then my Christian aunts and siblings gave me
strength. That's what I would do for Pussy Riot. Maybe I would have my
guitar with me, so we could have a jam session right away and write a
song together.
Just lovely sentiments. And it was through this article that I became aware that Nina had become a devoted Christian.Wunderbar! Another spiritual direction for Nina. And furthermore, she remains as devoted to peace, justice, equality, anti-homophobia and the environment as when she was Hindu or a New Ager. She was in full support of the Occupy cause. And she has released a few recent albums: Volksbeat
, which was apprently inspired by Occupy, and Personal Jesus
, all covers of Christian-themed blues, gospel and rock songs, many with an acoustic bent. Ain't nothing wrong with this at all. Incidentally, despite Depeche Mode's original intent, her version of Personal Jesus is bluesy, gospelly goodness which Nina's now raw rasp makes more powerful.
Let's wrap this long story up.
I liked and followed Nina's Facebook page. Most of it is in German, thus making it tough to understand, but I get some of the gist - she's worried about government authority, corporate greed, frankenfoods, U.S. warmongering, etc. All good.
Every now and then she would post a video similar to this:
In other words, loony deluded idiotic garbage about pop stars being tools of the Illuminati to enslave mankind in the name of Satan or reptilian humanoids from the stars, bla bla bla (incidentally, this is not a religious viewpoint I feel I need to respect in any way shape or form— apologies if that offends).
There was also this claim:
“Lady Gaga is a pop prostitute, a satanic bitch with her fascist and demonic secret signs! Her pop prostitution has more to do with bikini advertising than with warmth.”
And, there she also posted on her FB page about some fan killing a cat because of Gaga's influence. She went on to accuse her of satanism, being sexually impure, etc. etc. She also disavowed her UFO's, claiming they were evil spirits all along and she was in a bad way.
Now I like Lady Gaga just fine but I'm not worried about defending her or her honor. If Nina dislikes her, so be it; musician feuds are nothing new.
But this ... this bizarre conspiracist Salem village accusation? From Nina Hagen, Mother of Punk, the woman who looked and sang and acted like the devil more often than not? The woman who has had quite a few stones cast her way?
It doesn't matter for Lady Gaga's sake. It matters for the sake of truth, and for the peace and compassion Nina does in fact actively preach, and always has whether as a crazy New Age UFO guru, a Hindu or a Christian.
It matters because ridiculous supernatural lies can turn dangerous, whether it's a witch burning, a false imprisonment, or an utter disregard for scientifically tested and observed healthcare.
Or they can lead someone like Exene Cervenka to exacerbate a father's pain based on nothing but a long, confusing internet or radio pundit rant that offers no empirical evidence and is designed to appeal to your sense of rebellion, victimhood and paranoia. Exene has since issued an apology.
So, I challenged Nina on this point, and BAM, I was banned from her FB page. That's it, end of story.
I'm only some schmuck on the web, and I don't have any grandiose ideas about changing Nina's mind or being some sort of crusader. I still love her and will always continue following her career and music. She'll never stop being fascinating.
Let's close out with this tidbit on Wikipedia, about Nina's one-time boyfriend Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the inspiration for the song "Give it Away." I know I was surprised that "Give it Away" wasn't really about Kiedis's dick.
The
song is titled after its most prevalent lyrical phrase "give it away",
which is taken from an experience Kiedis had with his former
girlfriend—punk rock singer Nina Hagen—in the early 1980s.[4] Hagen was several years Kiedis' senior and became a role-model during his drug addiction to heroin:
"she realized how young and inexperienced I was then, so she was
always passing on gems to me, not in a preachy way, just by seizing on
opportunities."[7] When Kiedis was looking through her closet he came across a jacket he liked, and commented to Hagen that it was "really cool".[7]
Upon expressing this, Hagen immediately told him to keep it. Her
reasoning behind this selflessness was due to an attempt to constantly
make her life more enjoyable, and explained to Kiedis that "if you have a
closet full of clothes and you try to keep them all, your life will
get very small. But if you have a full closet and someone sees
something they like, if you give it to them, the world is a better
place."[7]
The act was something that affected Kiedis significantly because he
had never before experienced such an enlightening ideology on life.
Growing up in Los Angeles he had always thought differently from Hagen;
instead of giving material possessions away and being free thinking the
vocalist believed one must take what they want as no one will provide
for you.[7]
Instead, he now adopted Hagen's philosophy: "It was such an epiphany
that someone would want to give me her favorite thing. That stuck with
me forever. Every time I'd be thinking 'I have to keep,' I'd remember
'No, you gotta give away instead.' When I started going regularly to
[drug and alcohol] meetings, one of the principles I had learned was
that the way to maintain your own sobriety is to give it to another
suffering alcoholic. Every time you empty your vessel of that energy,
fresh new energy comes flooding in."[7]
And if that ain't Jesus music, I don't know what is!TIP:
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Comments
Throw in some L. Ron
Hubbard and Tammy Baker and we got the whole package... I like this
lady's voice and her style, but the one woman who really scares the hell
out of me is Annie Lennox... ps I'm also a big fan of Amanda Palmer,
formally of the Dresden Dolls.
http://amandapalmer.net/
http://amandapalmer.net/
Hi jmac! Oh yes. Amanda Palmer is just awesome. I love the Dresden Dolls. How come you're scared of Annie Lennox?
My favorite female punk
singer was Poly Styrene of Xray Spex. For me their music embodied the
spirit of punk: anyone can do this. you don't even need to know how to
play an instrument or have a rock and roll voice. Get on stage and
express your anger and angst. Fuck the music business and the record
industry. Poly went on to become a Hare Krishna, and she died at the age
of 53.
Wow, great to catch up on Nina Hagen! I was her for Hallowe'en once.
@Closure - I couldn't
agree more. X-ray Spex is amazing. I wrote a small post when Poly
passed away:
http://open.salon.com/blog/chillerpop/2011/03/31/the_return_of_poly_styrene
@dalriadane - That awesome! Do you have pictures???
@dalriadane - That awesome! Do you have pictures???
I never knew the story
behind "Give It Away," let alone that Hagen and Kiedis were once a
couple. Boy, that must have been an interesting human intersection
while it lasted.
As for Hagen's recent rants ... oh my. I always liked Nina but thought she was nuts, but in a good way, but that kind of state can always tip over into something not healthy. As for Lady Gaga being the spawn of Satan, I must say that I just saw Lady Gaga a few weeks ago and thought she was thoroughly entertaining, and didn't see a single Satanic sacrifice taking place during the show --- not a one.
As for Hagen's recent rants ... oh my. I always liked Nina but thought she was nuts, but in a good way, but that kind of state can always tip over into something not healthy. As for Lady Gaga being the spawn of Satan, I must say that I just saw Lady Gaga a few weeks ago and thought she was thoroughly entertaining, and didn't see a single Satanic sacrifice taking place during the show --- not a one.
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