''Nina Hagen Band'' is the debut studio album 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 ...

. It was released in late 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 ...

. If first entered the

Official Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

on 20 November 1978. It was the first release by German singer

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 ...

after her 1976 expatriation from

East Germany 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 ...

. When she arrived in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, her stepfather and singer-songwriter

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 ...

got her in touch with CBS. Hagen traveled to London where she was introduced to music genres such as

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

, and befriended other artists including

Ari Up Ariane Daniele Forster (17 January 1962 – 20 October 2010), known by her stage name Ari Up, was a German vocalist best known as a member of the English punk rock band the Slits. Biography Ari Up was born in Munich, West Germany. Both her pare ...

of the band

The Slits The Slits were a punk and post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma R ...

. After she returned to Germany, she met with musicians

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 ...

, Bernhard Potschka and Manfred Praeker. Joined by

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 ...

, they formed the Nina Hagen Band and in November 1977 signed a record deal with CBS. ''Nina Hagen Band'' was produced by the band with additional production by Tom Müller and Ralf Nowy. Most of the songs had been already written by Hagen in East Germany. Upon its release, ''Nina Hagen Band'' received positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

, who praised Hagen's theatrical vocals, different from singing on her East German records. The album was a commercial success. In Germany, it peaked at number eleven and also reached charts in other countries, such as Austria and Netherlands. ''Nina Hagen Band'' was certified gold by

Bundesverband Musikindustrie The Bundesverband Musikindustrie (English: Federal Music Industry Association), or simply BVMI, represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 280 labels and music industry related enterprises, which ...

(BVMI) and has sold over 250,000 copies. Four singles were released from the album: "

TV-Glotzer "TV-Glotzer" is a song by Nina Hagen Band, first released in 1978 by CBS Records and later, on 29 August 1979, released in United Kingdom. The song is a cover of " White Punks on Dope" by The Tubes, with different German lyrics from the perspecti ...

", "Auf'm Bahnhof Zoo", "Naturträne" and "Unbeschreiblich weiblich". The album was promoted by a European tour. As a part of the promotion, Nina Hagen Band performed in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

Westfalenhalle Westfalenhallen (English: Halls of Westphalia) is a commercial complex composed of conference (Kongresszentrum Dortmund) and exhibition centers (Messe Dortmund) with an indoor arena (Westfalenhalle), located in Dortmund, Germany. It is surroun ...

in December 1978. The show was broadcast live by the music television show ''

Rockpalast ''Rockpalast'' (''Rock Palace'') is a German music television show that broadcasts live on German television station Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ''Rockpalast'' started in 1974 and continues to this day. Hundreds of rock, heavy metal and jazz ...

''.

Background

After Hagen's stepfather

was expatriated from

in 1976, she first stood up for his re-entry, but after her request was denied, she followed him to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. In January 1977, he got her in touch with

. Hagen was invited to London by Juliana Grigorova, who cast her in the movie ''The Go-Blue Girl''. Grigorova would later work with Hagen as a photographer. She shot the covers of her solo albums ''

NunSexMonkRock ''NunSexMonkRock'' is the debut solo studio album by German singer Nina Hagen. It was released on June 12, 1982 by CBS Records. ''NunSexMonkRock'' marked Hagen's first release since her departure from the Nina Hagen Band, and was also her first a ...

'' (1982), ''

Fearless Fearless or The Fearless may refer to: Psychology * Lack of fear * Courage or bravery Film, television and audio Film * ''Fearless'' (1978 film), an Italian film directed by Stelvio Massi * ''Fearless'' (1993 film), an American drama directed ...

'' (1983) and ''

Nina Hagen in Ekstasy ''Nina Hagen in Ekstasy'' is the third solo (and fifth overall) studio album by German singer Nina Hagen. It was released on January 10, 1985, by CBS Records. The German version of the album ''Nina Hagen in Ekstase'' was released simultaneously. ...

'' (1985). Hagen discovered new styles of music during her stay in London and got inspired mainly by

. She met with

, the lead singer of the band

and together they wrote the song "Pank", which later appeared on the album. Inspired by the London music scene, Hagen returned to Berlin and met with the members of the band Lokomotive Kreuzberg, Manfred Praeker,

and Bernhard Potschka. The three musicians were afterwards joined by

and along with Hagen they created the Nina Hagen Band. In November 1977, the band signed a contract with CBS Records under the management of Jim Rakete.Buhrdorf, Arne.
Biography
, ''Nina Hagen Archiv''

Track listing

Personnel

;Nina Hagen Band *

– vocals *

– keyboards *

– drums, vibraphone *Bernhard Potschka – guitar, vocals *Manfred Praeker – bass, vocals ;Technical *Tom Müller – producer, engineer *Ralph Nowy – co-producer, engineer *Michael Zimmerling – technician *Friedhelm Meinass – design *Jim Rakete – photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

* ''Nina Hagen Band''at

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

* {{Authority control 1978 debut albums Nina Hagen albums CBS Records albums