little buddy, this whole island is bewitched. You remember? We were shipwrecked together. Welcome to this bonus episode of Sound Opinions. I'm Greg Cott. My co-host is Jim DeRigatis. And if you want to be the first to hear our bonus podcasts, become a Sound Opinions member on Patreon like Amy Cohn in Naperville, Illinois. I know Naperville well. My parents lived there for a number of years. Thanks for your support, Amy. Really appreciate it.
Jim and I have crammed our brains so full of music, we don't have enough time to get into all of it during our regular podcast. So this bonus podcast is perfect for us because we get to... celebrate the Desert Island jukebox and adding yet another song to it. Jim, give us a hint of what you're going to play this week. I just got to say, you're never going to twist our arms to talk more about music. I'm going to play something, Greg.
that we've never talked about on the show, that Rolling Stone magazine called quite possibly one of the worst albums ever made. And Dean Robert Criscow gave a C plus two. It read like an F-minus review, but he gave it a C+. But I'm going to defend it. All right. I love redemption conversations. We're going to hear more about that in a minute on Sound Opinions. Sound Opinions is supported by Goose Island Beer Company. Since 1988, Goose Island's been brewing beers in and inspired by Chicago.
They got 312 Weed Ale, Hazy Beer Hug, and many more one-off beers at the Fulton Street Taproom or their new Salt Shed Pub. the perfect place to go before a show at the Salt Shed. Me and Andrew were there on opening night, Greg. It was really exciting. You had Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tick fever. I'm sorry about that. Anyway, every time we go to one of these goose joints there's another new one to try.
And we love them all. I'm a fan. In addition to making great products and event spaces, Goose Island has always been a supporter of music culture in Chicago and nationwide. I mean, if you see that Goose Island logo at a venue or a restaurant, you know you're in good hands. Yeah, we are proud to be associated with Goose Island. Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago's beer. And sound opinion.
With a $5 meal deal with new McValue, you pick a McDouble or a McChicken, then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four-piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's. for not a lot of money. Prices and participation may vary. McDouble meal $6 in some markets for a limited time only. Welcome back to Sound Opinions. Jim, you're going to redeem a band for us. What song are you going to add to the Desert Island Jukebox? I'm going to add a song, Greg, by Nina Hagen. Yes, okay. You know...
First of all, you and I are journalists, so often there is a news peg. Sadly, it's often an obit. That makes us think of a great song like I did Brian James of the Damned and New Rose, right? You know, but sometimes it's just like, oh, there's nothing pressing this week. I'm just going to play something I've been wanting to play. I don't know why. I cannot understand the computer overlords that dictate our life, right? But I've been getting a million.
algorithmic hits on Nina Hagen lately, right? And so this was an artist I was vaguely aware of that I never dived deep into. And so I had the excuse to go down the rabbit hole, right? What a fascinating story. Now, I don't love all Nina Hagen, right? There's a lot in her long catalog since the new wave 80s. You know, it's been very prolific. She's been an actress, a voiceover artist.
prolific recording star, right? You know, there's a lot of Kurt Weill, Weimar cabaret kind of stuff happening sometimes, right? But I'm going to go to her third album. There were two as the Nina Hagen Band. And then her first proper solo album. First album she recorded in English. In New York, Nun, Sex, Monk, Rock, 1982, right? fascinating woman, grew up behind the wall, actually was born in the German Democratic Republic, East Berlin, before the wall.
You know, her parents were dissidents to varying extent. Her stepfather was a... Well-known folk protest artist kept getting thrown in jail, right? Eventually, because both her actual father and her stepfather are exiled across the wall, when it was a little easier to get out, she winds up in Hamburg, right? So that fertile West German democratic... period of creativity that gave us kraut rock she was a little young for that but she's coming up with that inspiration everybody's taking acid
Everybody's playing with Western rock and roll. They're doing it in that uniquely German way. And even among Germans, there's something unique about those who grew up behind the curtain. Right. Right. All of this goes into the mix, and she begins to make her name with the Nina Hagen Band, and then America begins to pay attention. She gets signed. in the U.S., thanks to briefly being managed by a former manager of Frank Zappa. That should tell you something about the aesthetic here.
minus many of her usual collaborators and just having given birth. She has this young child and on the cover of non-sex monk rock. She is in a Madonna-like pose with the baby. This is considered blasphemous. But she's actually a very devout Christian. And at the same time, She's a big believer that she had a UFO experience that changed her life. Nina Hagen is all over the map in terms of her belief system, right? She winds up getting paired with some...
you know, top grade session musicians, but I don't know how much they were grokking her aesthetic. Among the people playing on this album, the great art rock guitarist, Chris Spedding, but also Paul Schaefer. Wow. Right. You know, Saturday Night Live and then later Letterman. But I never knew this. Right. One of my all time heroes as a producer, Mr. Mike.
Thorne. He helmed those three classic wire albums, Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, 154. He also launched Amy Mann's career with Till Tuesday, right? Great producer. How he came to produce Nina Hagen, I don't know. weird punk rock energy because she was a heck of a performer on stage. Really distinctive look and screaming and super sexual and eruptions and then really quiet. She had an operatic range. In dissing her, Dean Robert Criscow said she has a new wave sense of humor, at least.
But instead of taking on Maria Callis, which she could have done with that opera-trained voice, and her umpteen octave range, she does impressions of Linda Blair in The Exorcist. You got me right there. You got me right. I love it. This is a song that really epitomizes to me 1982. Future is now. 1968 is over, Nina Hagen sings. 1981 is over. Future is now, right? Of course, future. I mean, what a 1982 new wave.
You know, it very fits in with Devo. It fits in with all that stuff, right? 1982, future is now. I don't know if that holds up as well in 2025. I wish the future was now. But I love this song. I love Nina Hagen. I love 60% of Nina Hagen. Right, right. I warn you about that deep dive because there's some stuff. But this song is as good as it is. Future is mine! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Future is Now by Nina Hagen. Now maybe the algorithm will leave me alone. How does this happen, right? You go to Juul and you buy something, right? It's something weird, right? Carmel gives me this list. I mean, she's always got weird stuff on the list. And I got to spend 20 minutes looking.
Where does Jewel have... Find the correct aisle. The coconut aminos. Yeah, right, exactly. Where do they have coconut aminos, right? And then finally I figure, she says, oh, well, it's like soy sauce, but healthier. Oh, okay, so it was in the Asian. All right. You know, and then I go home and for the next four days. Facebook and everything else is giving me coconut amino. How did they know? Right?
And that's what it was like for Nina Hagen. They're listening in. It's the surveillance capitalism we've all grown to loathe. It's freaking me out, man, but at least I'm not on signal. That is it for this week's episode. What a choice there, Mr. DeRogatis. Nina Hagen. I'll have to go back and check out some of that music again. I do remember the name well from that era. Oh, yeah.
It's been a while since I've listened to her. For more full episodes, visit soundopinions.org. To sponsor the show, email sponsor at soundopinions.org. Sound Opinions is produced by Andrew Gill, Alex Claiborne, and Max Hatlam. Our business development manager is Gary Yonker. Our Columbia College intern is Joe Pennington, and our social media consultant is Katie Cott. Thanks for listening.