Nina Hagen tweaks The Tubes: 'White Punks On Dope' and 'TV-Glotzer' (1977, 1978)

An anthem of excess,
'White Punks On Dope' closed out the eponymously-titled
debut album by The Tubes,
released in 1975.

The song was a featured production number for the
San Francisco-based group's live shows, legendary in the bay area and beyond for being as much outrageous and satiric burlesque revue as rock act.

Written as a tribute to a select portion of their fanbase of the era, it struck a nerve and 'WPOD' became a popular graffito for many years following.

In the persona of Glam monster 'Quay Lewd', lead singer
Fee Waybill tumbled off of
his absurd platform shoes almost as often as he fell out of his
silver lame' (or aluminum foil) costume.

The Tubes made an
appearance on British TV's
The Old Grey Whistle Test on Tuesday November 8th, 1977, coinciding with their sold-out ten-day run of concerts at
London's Hammersmith Odeon, during their first overseas tour.
Recordings from those concerts were released the following year as The Tubes' 4th album, What Do You Want from Live.



(Later dates in that concert tour were cancelled when Fee Waybill broke his leg onstage, though reportedly not while in the Quay costume.

When Nina Hagen left East Germany in 1976, her earlier singing career was derailed.
After visiting England at the height of the Punk movement, she settled in Hamburg, West Germany, and formed the Nina Hagen Band in 1977, becoming a fascinating punk diva.

Her version of 'White Punks On Dope' appeared on her first LP, but was not a true cover in the strictest sense;
She changed the lyrics and meaning completely, turning it into a song about television addiction.

- Follow link to the lyrics section of a Hagen website.

Click on the 'Nina Hagen Band' album cover at the top of the left-hand sidebar, then click on 'TV-Glotzer (White Punks on Dope)' to see both the German lyrics and an English translation.

Below, her concert
performance of 'TV-Glotzer' at the Westfalenhalle Dortmund on December 12th, 1978 was televised on an episode of German TV's Rockpalast.



- A chronological collection of other Nina Hagen video clips can be seen at POCIMAS DEL DRUIDA.

- For a collection of rare and early Tubes video clips , follow link to The Tubes Project channel on YouTube.