NunSexMonkRock

In 1979, after working on the movie Cha Cha with Herman Brood and Lene Lovich, Hagen met the Dutch guitarist Ferdinand "Ferdi" Karmelk, with whom she later had a daughter Cosma Shiva. Together they started working on new music after Hagen's departure from the Nina Hagen Band.

After her European tour was cancelled in 1980, Hagen moved to the United States and signed with Bennett Glotzer, the former manager of Frank Zappa. She began working on songs in English since most of her previous material was in German and after six months she returned to Germany with her new tour. Shortly after discovering she was pregnant, Hagen broke up with Karmelk and moved back to Los Angeles. In 1982, Hagen signed a new recording deal with CBS Records.

Hagen recorded the album in New York City with Mike Thorne and collaborated with Karmelk, Paul Roessler, and Karl Rucker when writing the songs for the album. The lyrics deal with various themes including motherhood, religion, drug abuse, and UFOs. Musically, NunSexMonkRock is an experimental rock album with influences of post-punk and new wave music.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	C+[2]
Europopmusic.eu	[3]

Upon its release, NunSexMonkRock received mixed reviews from music critics. While some praised Hagen's theatrical vocals, others criticized its experimental production. Rolling Stone called it the "most unlistenable" album ever made. Bil Carpenter at AllMusic gave it four and a half stars out of five, calling it "eccentric rock material" and praising Hagen's vocal diversity.[1] Robert Christgau commented that "she does have a new-wave sense of humor - instead of taking on Maria Callas with her umpteen-octave range she does impressions of Linda Blair and Mercedes McCambridge."[2] Commercially, the album achieved a moderate success. In the United States, it peaked at number 184 on the Billboard 200. In Germany, it reached number twenty-seven, and also peaked inside the top forty in other countries, such as New Zealand and Norway. "Smack Jack" was the only single released from the album. It managed to be successful in Norway where it peaked at number seven.

Notes

• "Iki Maska" contains an interpolation of "Planet Claire" performed by The B-52's. During the last minute of the song, Nina sings lyrics from David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust".
• "Cosma Shiva" contains an interpolation of "The Changeling" performed by The Doors.
• "Antiworld" contains an interpolation of "Third Stone From The Sun" written by Jimi Hendrix.

• Nina Hagen – vocals, synthesizer, guitar
• Allan Schwartzberg – drums
• Karl Rucker – bass, synthesizer
• Chris Spedding – guitar
• Paul Shaffer – synthesizer
• Paul Roessler – synthesizer, piano
• Axel Gath – baritone saxophone, contrabass clarinet

Technical

• Mike Thorne – production
• Michael Ewasko – engineer
• Don Wershba – additional overdubs
• Harvey Goldberg – mixing, additional overdubs
• Jack Skinner – mastering
• Nicolaj Ilieff – design
• Juliana Grigorova – photography

• NunSexMonkRock at AllMusic
• NunSexMonkRock at Discogs (list of releases)