Discussion YMMV / Nico

Um, so I was just deleting the last few wicks to True Art Is Offensive, and the entry for it on this page was pretty long. And that makes me hesitant so I am just pasting it here if someone wants to do something with it. Thatisall goodbye

• True Art Is Offensive – Nico covered the entirety of "Das Lied der Deutschen". It's Germany's national anthem, but the first two verses were banned in post-World War II Germany (even before the Nazi association they were criticised - Friedrich Nietzsche said it started with "the dumbest phrase in the world" and the second verse was criticised for perceived misogyny) and only the third is used as the anthem nowadays. At a concert in West Berlin, she performed this while her backing band (which consisted of John Cale and Brian Eno) played the noises of a thousand-bomber raid. This was met with expected results. According to Allmusic, Nico later stated she meant the song in the same spirit as Jimi Hendrix meant his version of "The Star-Spangled Banner", which is generally interpreted as a criticism of the Vietnam War (although Hendrix himself was tight-lipped about what his cover meant), and it's quite likely she was using the song as a way to work through childhood trauma she suffered during WWII.