"TV-Glotzer" is a song by

Nina Hagen Band Spliff was a Neue Deutsche Welle (New German Wave) rock band, active in the 1980s. Three of the members were already playing together in the political rock cabaret ''Lokomotive Kreuzberg'' (founded 1972 in Berlin) before they were 'adopted' by Ni ...

, first released in 1978 by

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

and later, on 29 August 1979, released in United Kingdom. The song is a cover of "

White Punks on Dope "White Punks on Dope", abbreviated as "WPOD", is a 1975 song by San Francisco-based rock group The Tubes from their debut, eponymous album, produced by Al Kooper. The song was written by the band's dual lead guitarists, Bill Spooner and Roger St ...

" by

The Tubes The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band. Their eponymous 1975 debut album included the single "White Punks on Dope," while their 1983 single "She's a Beauty" was a top-10 U.S. hit and its music video was frequently played in the early day ...

, with different German lyrics from the perspective of an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

unable to leave her country, who escapes by watching

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

television, where "everything is so colorful". Hagen wrote the song before being expatriated from East Germany in 1976, following her stepfather

Wolf Biermann Karl Wolf Biermann (; born 15 November 1936) is a German singer-songwriter, poet, and former East German dissident. He is perhaps best known for the 1968 song "Ermutigung" and his expatriation from East Germany in 1976. Early life Biermann was b ...

. Later, when she formed the Nina Hagen Band in the West Berlin, they recorded the song and it became the lead single from their debut album ''

'' (1978).

Track listings

*7" single (Germany) #"TV-Glotzer (White Punks On Dope)" – 5:15 #"Heiss" – 4:11 *7" single (UK) #"TV-Glotzer (White Punks On Dope)" – 5:15 #"Naturträne" – 4:05

Credits and personnel

Nina Hagen Catharina "Nina" Hagen (; born 11 March 1955) is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rose to prominence during the Punk subculture, punk and New wave music, new wave movements in the late 1970s a ...

– vocals, songwriter *

Reinhold Heil Reinhold Heil (born May 18, 1954) is a German-born musician and film and television composer based in Los Angeles. He initially achieved success in Germany as a member of the post-punk and Neue Deutsche Welle bands Nina Hagen Band and Spliff ...

– keyboards *

Herwig Mitteregger Herwig Rudolf Mitteregger (born September 6, 1953) is an Austrian musician. He became known with the Nina Hagen Band, where he played drums and percussions. He lives in Hamburg, Germany. He was also a member of German rock band Spliff. After ...

– drums *Bernhard Potschka – guitar *Manfred Praeker – bass *Tom Müller – producer, engineer

References

External links

* {{Nina Hagen 1978 singles Nina Hagen songs 1977 songs CBS Records singles