Top 10 Best Songs from Nina Hagen's "Nunsexmonkrock"
"Nunsexmonkrock" is the first solo album by German singer-songwriter Nina Hagen following the disbanding of the Nina Hagen Band. It was released in 1982.The album peaked at number 27 on the German charts and number 184 on the US charts.
The music is a strong departure from her previous material with the Nina Hagen Band. The group's style was mostly lyrically daring yet controversial, characterized by new wave and punk influences, and is often credited with helping to shape the Neue Deutsche Welle genre.
Nunsexmonkrock is an avant-garde album that has since been described as extremely unlistenable by both its detractors and its admirers. Nina Hagen's vocal style, while always eccentric on earlier records, reached a never-again-delivered level of noise and shrillness. She screams, rattles, squeaks, whines, and strains her voice - much like Yoko Ono on her experimental albums. (It's worth noting that both artists did this intentionally while also recording more conventional material.) Even though her voice often sounds "ugly," improvised, and heavily trashy, Hagen is a trained singer who planned every aspect of the performance. She actually utilizes her entire four-octave vocal range on the album.
The album is bilingual, featuring both English and German lyrics, though it leans heavily toward English. Its lyrics consist of surreal sentence fragments about religion, conspiracy theories, social commentary, and spiritualism. The only straightforward element of the album is the new wave-inspired background music, but even that takes a backseat to Hagen's vocal eccentricities.
Due to its chaotic, extremely difficult, and messy style, the reception of Nunsexmonkrock is as polarizing as it gets. Some call it a masterpiece of avant-garde music, while others harshly dismiss it as pretentious trash. (By contrast, the Nina Hagen Band's work is universally praised as some of the greatest material ever recorded by a German artist.)
Being a fan of many of Nina Hagen's releases, I still have absolutely no idea what to think of this album. Part of me wants to stop halfway through the first track, but I usually end up listening to all of the songs. The album creates a sense of rush and excitement through its unpredictability. It is definitely not representative of Nina Hagen's typical music and completely stands out in her discography.
The Top Ten
Smack Jack
The first three songs on my original remix ("Smack Jack," "Born in Xixax," and "Antiworld") are still somewhat normal. They have eccentric vocals, but that's about it - they're not hard to get into.
After that, it just gets weirder. Judge for yourself if that's a good or bad thing.
Born In Xixax
Antiworld
Iki Maska
Cosmic Shiva
Future is Now
Dread Love
Dr. Art
UFO
Tiatschi-Tarot
I think this is the moment where the haze took over Mrs. Hagen's brain.
Listen to the audio sample, and while doing so, always keep in mind: she is a trained singer who also starred in The Threepenny Opera, as well as being a legend of the German punk scene.
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