Page 35 - the NOISE July 2014

BERLIN’S
TERRI NUNN:
ON THE METRO TO THE PINES
INTERVIEW BY MIKE WILLIAMS
The Noise caught up with legendary 80’s synth-pop icon Terri Nunn of Berlin in anticipation of their performance at the Pride in the Pines June 29.
Starting out, what was the inspiration for the sound of Berlin?
Kraftwerk and Ultra Vox, from Germany mainly. John, in starting the band, was mainly inspired by that kind of mu- sic. We went in that direction, but he started in it in 1977 and I joined in 1979.
Then you left the band in 1981 to pursue an acting career?
I’d been acting in my teens already, but I left in ’81 because I really didn’t like what was going on in the band with the guy who was funding it. His name was Joe Julien and he, to his credit, was helping the band keep going by putting money into it. The downside of it was that he was becoming dicta- torial. You know, he was telling us what we should wear and what we should sing and how we should present ourselves and where we should play. Everyone was just getting really un- happy and I was just the first one to voice the unhappiness. I wanted more of a say in it and didn’t agree with some of the decisions being made, but he wasn’t leaving any time soon, so I did.
I’d like to discuss the song “Sex (I’m a...).” The masculine per- spective offered in the song is remarkably one dimensional with the chorus “I’m a man,” versus the varying degrees of feminine perspectives. How did this song come about?
I wrote that about my boyfriend at the time. There’s a reason he was portrayed as one-dimensional — because he wanted to be. We were going to kind of a rut, sexually, and I loved him but I wanted to try some different things with him. So I approached him with some ideas, which are in the song, and he responded by saying, “Ya know ... No. I don’t want to do this stuff, I don’t want to be a pirate or break into your house and be a burglar and rape you ... I’m not really into that stuff. I’m just a guy. I just ... like ... normal guy stuff.” So that’s how I wrote it.
That’s wild ... So, the two of you split up?
Yeah, but we’re still great friends to this day and he’s a won- derful man. But we just weren’t meant to be together as a ro- mantic link. We were both just way too busy, too, his career took off at the same time mine did and we weren’t even really there to see each other much. You just can’t keep a relation- ship going that way.
The video was actually banned from MTV for people eating food too sensuously. Has the last decade of quality programming like The Jersey Shore been vindicating at all?
It wasn’t actually banned, but MTV had a lot of power at that point. What artists had to do was present videos to them, they’d look at it, and then be editors. So, they came back to us and said, “We don’t like these things.” It happened with every video. “You can’t do that with this video.” In “Sex,” it was, “These
people are eating this food way to provocatively and we have kids watching this station and you can’t do this.” So, we fixed some of it. There’s still some in there, but we fixed enough that they played the video.
Berlin’s most recognizable hit was featured prominently in the Top Gun soundtrack. A recent feature on cracked.com discussed movies that had horrible aftermaths implied by otherwise happy endings and for Top Gun, the final air-battle scene featured Amer- ican fighter planes engaging Russian jets in an act that would have undoubtedly set off World War III.
Ha! Well, we bagged on Russia all the time. I grew up in a time where we were told in school Russians were the ene- my. They were going to kill us and come over and take over our country and we had to be vigilant. We had to fight them at every turn and distrust them. Completely. I grew up with that whole story.
I took kind of a sh*tty stance because when I saw Top Gun and saw that scene, I came out in the press against it. Against the movie! I said ‘I don’t think this is cool, the Russians are good people, I’ve been there, and all this stuff they say about them being out to get us isn’t true. This movie is just pushing more of that and I don’t like it.’
The problem with me saying that was I’m trashing the movie, the people in the movie, and the people who made the mov- ie and gave me this wonderful opportunity to perform this song. I was basically turning around and bashing them in the head with it. That wasn’t cool.
Did you and Jerry Bruckheimer eventually bury the hatchet?
Well, he didn’t speak to me for years until just recently when I was invited to sing at the AFM Awards. He was the first pro- ducer they ever honored for his work in film and I was invited to sing at the event. That was less than a year ago and it was the first time I’d seen him since Top Gun came out. I went up and apologized to him. I just said I was a 20-year-old idiot, I’m sorry, and it was wrong. He just said, “Ahh, you know, when I was 20 I was an idiot, too.” I think he was doing okay, though.
In previous interviews, you mentioned at the time Take My Breath Away was released, you were in a very lonely place, and a sense of melancholy was definitely captured in the song. Was the dissolution of that relationship a factor in the tone captured?
Yeah, that’s where I came from. It was all I had, really. I didn’t have a way to sing that literally. But over the years, I’ve sang it from so many different positions because my life has changed so much. Sometimes I sing it to my daughter in concert be- cause that’s what she does for me. I’ve had two husbands, so other times I’ve sang it to them.
The one I’m with is going on 16 years and I sing it for him. The literal translation of the song is that you’re in this great relationship being just blown away. I want you to do it right now! You know what I mean? It’s literally a song about being in love and feeling this ecstasy when with a person.
But, at the time I recorded it, I wasn’t with anybody and I didn’t have a shot at any kind of feeling like that, so I came from
PHOTO BY MATT BEARD
that place. People tell me it gives it more of a dimension than it would’ve had instead of it just being this happy, “Oh, I love you, take my breath away.”
Do you ever wonder how different your life and career would have been had you actually gotten the part of Princess Leia?
Ha! I would probably be a really rich drug addict. On one hand, it was one of the most iconic films of our time and really started that whole genre. On the other hand, I wanted to make music. I was scared to try it and fail, so I wasn’t really trying it.
If I had done the route of Star Wars, a lot of people don’t know this, but George Lucas gave Mark Hamill, Carrie Fischer, and Harrison Ford one percent of Star Wars. Forever. That’s just ridiculous money. So, I would’ve been set for life, but would have probably never gotten the chance I did and this career I have in music.
How did you get onto the bill at Pride in the Pines?
I’m sure clawing and screaming. I’ll do any Pride that’ll have me. Prides are some of the most fun I’ve ever had standing up. They are just great in every way. I’m sure our booker just begged them on his knees to play. I honestly don’t know, but we’ve been doing quite a few of them now and I’ve never played the one in Arizona, so it should be really cool.
You’ve mentioned in interviews you’re a fan of Grace Slick. Have you been able to meet or perform with her yet?
Yes! A couple of times! The first time, I did a benefit her daughter hosted for animal rights. That was the first time I met her. I didn’t do very well meeting her and could barely speak in a sentence. I think just sounds came out of my mouth ... But, she was wonderful. Then she did a song she asked me to sing on to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims, so, in return I asked her to let me interview her on my podcast. So, I got to do a two- hour interview with Grace at her house in Malibu and it was just a highlight of my life. That woman is so brilliant and so honest. She’ll say anything. She just doesn’t care and I have such respect, not only for her talent, but also for her heart.
The tour dates definitely leave some room for downtime be- tween shows, how does Berlin spend their time off?
I have a family now. I’ve got three kids so I don’t really like sitting on a bus any more. I like coming in and out so I can maintain my connections with my family. I’ve been down the road of staying out for long periods of time and losing rela- tionships because of it. And I don’t think that being on the road is for kids. I don’t judge other people that do do this, a lot of people we play with on the road do. Heart is one of them, Pat Benatar is another, but, for me, the road is hard enough for adults. So, my compromise is that I book shows sporadically rather than just sitting on the bus. And it works for us.
| Mike Williams is honing a knack for the celebrity interview. mike@thenoise.us
INTERVIEW
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