A Return to the Past yet Moving Forward into the Future
By Christopher Mygrant,
on 25-07-2008 15:35
Terri Nunn of Berlin
It is the beginning of the nineteen eighties and the music scene in America is going through a change: a transition from what is now referred to as 70’s classic rock, disco and punk rock, to a type of music whose sole foundation is based on the synthesizer. To this point, the States have been offered only a taste of the synth sound courtesy of innovative groups such as Germany’s Kraftwerkand Japan’s Yellow Magic Orchestra, but it finally comes to pass that the music industry floods, not only the radio waves, but airwaves as well with the programmed, mechanized sound that is affectionately dubbed synthpop – a subgenre of New Wave music.
Key groups and musicians of synthpop were Howard Jones, Flock of Seagulls, Devo, Thompson Twins, Thomas Dolby, The Buggles, Gary Numan and the list goes on, but one group that viewers were exposed to on a daily basis, courtesy of the upstart television network known as MTV, was Berlin: an American band fronted by a powerhouse vocalist named Terri Nunn who was partnered with an innovative musician named John Crawford. Together, the two created songs that, to this day, resonate in the minds of all of us whose teenage years were spent watching MTV and going to many parties where their music was played.
The band released several memorable songs such as “The Metro,” “Sex (I Am…),” “Masquerade” and my personal favorite “No More Words.” However, the song that made them internationally known and which appeared on the soundtrack of the Tom Cruise movie, Top Gun was “Take My Breath Away.” (Yes, you may now sing a few bars).
After watching an episode of VH1’s 100 Greatest 80’s songs and seeing Terri provide her comments on “Take My Breath Away,” the quest to arrange an interview began. Luckily, a reply to this request came within two days of it being sent and below you will read what she and I spoke about during our conversation.
To view exclusive gallery images of Terri Nunn click on the image below:
Fears Magazine: Terri, to get just a brief history about you, what was the driving force that led you down the path of wanting to involve yourself in the music and acting industry? Terri Nunn: The music desire came first and I didn’t think as much about the business. As far as I thought about the business was maybe I could make a living at it which would just be the ultimate. Music itself, for me, was a reason to live from very young. It hit me hard very young and I couldn’t imagine a better job than to actually be creating music and doing music and getting paid for it. I wanted it so much and the people that I listened to and admired were gods to me. They were (pause), they couldn’t be normal people. They had to be like from some hallowed, holy land that normal people didn’t live in. So to me, I thought I couldn’t do that because that was for special people cause it was so special to me. I couldn’t even imagine having the talent to do that because I was so enamored by The Beatles and Jefferson Airplane and Pink Floyd and (David) Bowie. I mean these people to me were not normal people. So I veered off into something else that sort of fell in my lap.
Fears: Which was? And how did this opportunity come your way?
Terri: A friend of my mother’s had an agent friend that thought maybe I could do commercials. So I went in to meet with the agent and I read some lines that the agent gave me. She signed me on the spot and I guess I was a pretty good actor because I started to get not just the commercials, but more of the television roles. That morphed into actual jobs where I was making a living, but the passion was over on the music side and it finally collided into a crossroads really.
Fears: Do you mean there came that inphent moment of having to make a choice between one or the other?
Terri: I realized I had to make a decision. Maybe I couldn’t be Bowie. Maybe I couldn’t be these amazing people, but I had to try and there was a point in my television career where I was offered a series and I realized, at that moment, that I was either going to be an actor for the rest of my life or I was going to try this music thing.
Fears: Was it an existing series or one that was just starting? Did the television series become well known?
Terri: It was a show, at the time, that was just starting and it was called Dallas.
Fears: Well I guess the second part of my question has been unequivocally answered.
Terri: Yeah, there was a teenage role (Lucy Ewing) that Charlene Tilton eventually took. I guess I had done some work for the producer of that show before because I didn’t have to read (for the part). He brought me in and said, “We’re doing this new show, Dallas and this is the part and it’s seven years and here’s the contract and it’s busloads of money and of course you’ll say yes right? Let us know tomorrow.”
So I went home…in those days, they didn’t have like Jennifer Lopezes. I mean it didn’t work that way. You were either an actor or you were a musician, never the twain met. The Barbara Streisands of the world were few and far between. So I knew that I was either gonna take this job, and that would be my life, or I was going to try music and see if I could make something happen.
Fears: Once the decision to embark on a music career was made, did you also set benchmarks? Rungs on a ladder, so-to-speak, that everyone must climb in order for them to gauge how well they are doing and if their personal goals are being met?
Terri: Well that rung…I mean the space of that 24 hours, I lost my agent because when I told him I wasn’t going to take the job he said, “Are you out of your fucking mind? How often are you going to get these kinds of offers? You know, I thought this is what you were working for and goodbye,” (laughing) and he just left. The only person standing after the smoke cleared was my mother who stood by me and said, “You know, if you really want to do this music thing, you should try it because you’ll regret it forever if you don’t try.”
So my goal, at that point, that day, I decided that my goal, my ladder rung would be within a year I had to find a creative situation. A band, another artist, somebody that was doing work that was not only creatively exciting, but could actually, you know, create a living. Something that we could actually make a career out of it. So that was my goal. To find somebody within a year and it was exactly a year later that I met John Crawford (singer/songwriter/bass player/synthesizer for Berlin).
Fears: So the rest is history from that point forward.
Terri: Well yeah, it was a real faithful year, Chris, cause I met a lot of different kinds of people with a lot of different scenarios and there’s a saying that I really learned that year and it is, “People are about results or they’re about excuses” and I met a lot of people about excuses. Why their career wasn’t working, why music wasn’t happening for them, why their band wasn’t making it, why this, why that.
Fears: Well how did you go about choosing to collaborate with John?
Terri: There were two bands, actually, one that I wanted who were going places and they didn’t want me.
Fears:Which was? Or can you say?
Terri: Oh I don’t remember now. They didn’t end up making it and later on Berlin passed them up. We played the circuit together a couple of times and then they crashed and burned as all bands do eventually and then there was John. When I met him and saw what he was doing…I mean he was out there. Berlin was playing. The music was getting made. They were building an audience. They were working. They were rehearsing every week. It was a real situation and the music was amazing. I wanted something different and this was as different (chuckling) and off the charts as anything that was going on. I mean he was doing stuff that I never heard before and actually America had never heard before. It was going on in Europe, but it really wasn’t happening here (America) yet. At the time it was power pop that was happening here. We had The Go Go’s and The Motels and punk was still happening and The Cramps and The Zippers, but John was into this whole synthesizer thing and when I heard what he was doing, I was just...I was in love. It was, to me, like, “Wow, this isn’t gonna be easy because nobody knows what it is,” and people laughed at us, “but if we can get better, we will have something that no one else has.” And it was worth the risk.
Fears: What element did you bring to Berlin?
Terri: Emotion. As objective as I can be, the only problem with electronic music is the barren nature of it. It’s generated by machines in a lot of ways; that’s pretty much the way to say it. It can sound very cold and my voice, for better and for worse sometimes, is anything but cold. God, growing up I lived on emotions. I had to learn how to be logical because I would react first with my heart and second with my mind and that can be a big problem. But in music and in that kind of music, it (the emotion) brought the warmth to that kind of music that it needed.
Fears: Currently you are fronting the band Berlin, but who or what is really Berlin? Is it the music from the past? Is Berlin Terri Nunn? Or will Berlin forever be the past musicians who performed those memorable songs?
Terri: Berlin is (pause) it’s the music itself because the band changed all the time, Chris. Because the first record was so massive, people think, “Well, that’s the only Berlin.” Berlin, as a band, changed every record. The only constants were John and me and we hired people around us for each record of the tours.
Fears: So Berlin was you and John.
Terri: Right. The initial thrust of Berlin, the first three records, was John and me and then the musicians that we brought with us. If we needed two keyboard players because it was real keyboard heavy on that record, we would bring two. If it was stripped down we would bring one. Then as technology advanced, we could change the lineup of the band, but it (the lineup) was constantly changing. Then when John fell out of the picture, then I had other writers in Berlin and that’s what the rest of the records were. It was Berlin with other partners and me. So it’s been quite a long journey, but what’s the thread? It would be the music itself.
Fears: The one band I recall being electronically driven in the 70s was the German band Kraftwerk. Since Berlin was closely related to the synth sound, which bands and/or musicians inspired John, Kraftwerk perhaps?
Terri:He was inspired by Kraftwerk and Ultravox. That’s who he fashioned the band after. Those were his two favorite bands. When I met him, that’s what he wanted to do; that kind of style. Both of them. He played me everything that they did.
Fears: It has been very well publicized that the song “Take My Breath Away” caused strife between you and John. It apparently turned into a double-edged sword, of sorts. In hindsight, would you still record the song knowing the hardship it would eventually cause?
Terri: Oh yeah, absolutely. It did so much good for us too. The strife was already there. When it came in, it was just one more explosion in so many ways because it opened up the world to us for the first time. Before “Take My Breath Away,” we were only known in America, Australia and Japan. Nobody else gave a shit. We couldn’t get arrested anywhere else in the world and then “Take My Breath Away” came along and it was an international number one hit. So for the first time, we were invited to play in many different countries that we’d never even been in before. So that was amazing. But when it came along, we also were in the midst of a third record at the time that none of us could agree on. We didn’t know where to take Berlin. We had already fired one producer, in fact finished the whole record with him, and threw away $300,000 worth of material that was not working. The record company was totally pissed and we were totally lost and then (producer) Giorgio (Moroder) came along with this song.
Fears: How did he come to offer you the opportunity to sing and perform the song?
Terri: He had already done the song “No More Words” with us and he said, “I’m doing this song and it’s going to be in this amazing movie and it’s coming out next summer and you might be able to sing it.” I wasn’t the first singer he approached. He had gone to Martha Davis (singer for The Motels) who has her version, her demo, of “Take My Breath Away” on one of her compilation Motels records that she did. A couple of other people had tried to do the song, but they didn’t like it and so I sang it for the producers, did a demo of it, and they loved it.
Fears: Did you sing the song as presented to you or did you add your own touches to it?
Terri: I kind of messed around with it cause it had problems with the melody; it was a little stiff. Giorgio was kind of a stiff writer anyway and so I kind of played with it and loosened it up a little bit and they loved it. So they gave us the job and John hated it because he was 25 or whatever and it wasn’t our song and here was yet another non-Berlin idea that was thrown on us that he didn’t want. Then it became the biggest hit that we ever had and so that was just taking the dagger and stuffing it even deeper and twirling it. So now we had to play it every show too (laughing) cause that’s what everybody wanted to hear. But absolutely I would do it again. It was such a great, great ride to see the world. To see people everywhere who fell in love with us because of that song.
Fears: Throughout your career, you have experienced and got to be a part of many ventures. Would you consider your life to be fulfilling thus far?
Terri: Extremely fulfilling. Oh God yes. Cause it is a journey. It really is. It’s just that you’re going for your dreams. That is the whole cookie right there. Mom was right, if I had not tried, I would be a bitter old woman now. But that I did it, even if I failed, that I did it and that I went out there and gave it a shot, that I had a chance at it and, you know, believed in myself enough just to try made all the difference. It’s not about getting something else, or getting another award or another number one record, or whatever, it’s fulfilling because it’s just this constant journey of discovery and creativity. We just did a new version of “Sex (I’m A...)”. I rewrote it for a movie called Naked Ambition; a documentary that is coming out. We did it acoustically and that was exciting just to do that again. We’re doing a show with Pat Benatar and Patty Smyth of Scandal and that’s exciting to me because I’m going to get to sing with Pat. It’s just one thing after another to see what’s the next thing to try. What’s the next thing we’re going to do. That’s the fulfilling part. Even if it doesn’t work out or it’s not a big success or something fails or something doesn’t turn out or it doesn’t happen. That happens too, but the quest, the trying, the working with people and doing new things is what makes life fulfilling to me.
Fears: Getting back to Pat real quick, I just have to say she is an amazing singer and to see you both perform together must be one hell of an experience for the audience.
Terri: Yeah, she is very good. Actually the show is so successful that we’re doing together in August that Live Nation is putting together a tour for next summer with Pat and me and Patty Smyth. Be on the lookout for that. That might definitely be national.
Fears: For many bands, a number one hit never comes their way. However, they consistently write good songs and release albums on a regular basis, which is very gratifying. On the other hand, others want that quick adulation and they ultimately pay the price and are now known as “one-hit wonders.” What should a band or musician focus on when starting their careers?
Terri: It’s important to be good. That’s the bottom line. Whether that gives you a consistent career or not, that’s the most important thing. I mean that’s what hits me when I see a band like Stone Temple Pilots or Madonna. I saw, not live I didn’t go to the concert, but I saw one recently on DVD and the songs – wow. I’m not a Madonna fan. There’s only one song, “Live to Tell,” that I ever bought of hers. No excuse me, Ray of Light; I bought that record in her entire career. But when I saw this concert and listened to these songs, these are fucking good songs. She can write her ass off. She’s not a great singer, but she can write and she consistently writes good songs. And that’s to me, the bottom line. It’s all about the songs. It’s all about the music, bottom line. You can dress it up, but if it’s a turd, it’s still a turd. Maybe a prettier turd (laughing), but still a turd.
Fears: I saw your performance with Camp Freddy on YouTube and your rendition of AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” was spot on and it was a delight watching you rock out.
Terri: Thank you, Chris. You know why I really appreciate that? Cause that scared the shit out of me.
Fears: Scared you? Why should that even phase you?
Terri: Cause I had never done a song like that. These guys, they’re the best. Dave Navarro and Chris Chaney from Jane’s Addiction, Matt Sorum from Guns and fucking Roses and now Velvet Revolver, and Billy Morrison from The Cult, they’re the best in the world and they asked me to do this song. Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains wanted to do an AC/DC song and I said, ‘Well, the only one I know is “Highway to Hell,”’ and he said, “Well let’s do that one.”
Fears: So you were now caught between that rock and a hard place. Did you feel like bolting from the stage?
Terri: I didn’t want to say no cause I wanted to be good, but I was absolutely terrified. I mean come on (laughing); these guys chew up and spit out this kind of music for a living. This is what they do and I’m getting up there doing Highway to fucking Hell with these guys? (Laughter continues) I mean Jesus Christ! Oh my God what a challenge!
Fears: For those who view the performance, in no way would anyone think that you were terrified. It never showed. You nailed it.
Terri: I really appreciate that. Thank you so much. It was amazing and what a high.
Fears: What is on the horizon for you? Any projects, either Berlin or solo, that you are working on currently?
Terri: They have inspired me to do another thing. Camp Freddy is a unique experience in music and something that I love so much that I’m creating it in a different way. I’m calling it Girls Night Out.
Fears: A new band?
Terri: It is going to be bringing the best women, the greatest women artists of our time together to sing. Not just on the same bill, but to sing together. With each other.
Fears: And if you can say, what artists will be apart of this project?
Terri: So far we have, Melissa Etheridge, Shirley Manson (singer of Garbage), Fergie, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Queen Latifah, oh God the list is just endless. The women have just lined up asking when can they do this. It’s a logistical nightmare, but the idea of having women sing together, like they do in Camp Freddy, is so exciting to me that I’m going to do it. I’m gonna put this together. Cause Camp Freddy is just a bunch of guys that play balls to the walls music. It just really heavy, hard testosterone guy music and I love it because I don’t get to do that music with anybody except those guys. So I want to do the same kind of thing, but with women.
Fears: To see that idea pulled off would be something to witness. You are bringing together many genres of music and that’s terrific. I can just imagine what it would be like to see Queen Latifah rockin’ out. Terri: Yeah, wouldn’t that be amazing hearing her do “Highway to Hell”? You’d probably go, “Whoa!” She’d probably fucking nail it!
Fears: So would the same individuals tour the states or would it be a revolving lineup?
Terri: Every show is going to be different like Camp Freddy. Whoever shows up. We’ll get’em there and we’re gonna put them together and it’s like, “Go!” (laughing) Whew!
Fears: I see that, unfortunately, for the fans in the middle part of the states and the east coast, you only are touring around the California/Nevada areas. Are there obligations keeping you on the west coast or is it strictly a business decision?
Terri: It’s been very difficult with the rise in cost to fly people and things have gone up so ridiculously that we’re keeping it a little close to the chest this year plus I’m a mom so I’m not working as much as I did before cause I’ve got a real young kid right now – she’s three.
Fears: From your perspective, how has the advent of My Space and technological advances affected the music industry?
Terri: Well, it’s destroying the industry. The industry is imploding. It doesn’t know what to do anymore. It’s falling apart so fast that people don’t know where to run. I don’t think it’s going to go away; music isn’t going to leave, but they don’t know how to make a business out of it like they had and they probably never will have a business like they had again. But in the positive side, it is creating the platform for people to make their own way in music without needing the big machine and that’s a pretty fantastic thing because I mean, even for me Chris, the records that I put out now (pause) I sell a fraction of what I used to sell when I was in the machine, but I make more now than I ever did when I was in the machine because I’m not paying 200 people behind me, with my records, to keep the machine going. People don’t need the machine anymore.
Fears: And with the way technology is today, I’m sure the quality of an independent record or self-made record these days is equivalent if not higher than the products being churned out by the labels.
Terri: $300,000 for a record was standard. We used to spend that on a record, but now you can spend $10,000 on a record that is just as good of a quality as a $300,000 record because it’s all digital. It leveled the playing field. Now anybody can make a perfect sounding record in their bedroom for nothing. So to get a record financed is not that big a deal anymore for any musician. It’s actually easier for the musician now to get their stuff made than ever before. The issue, and I get asked this all the time and I don’t even know what Berlin would do if we started now, the issue how do you get the publicity? How do you get your name and music head and shoulders above everybody else’s so people know who you are? I don’t know.
Fears: Well Berlin and the bands back then had the upstart of MTV. That was our MySpace of the time.
Terri: It was amazing. MTV was a godsend for us because at the time it started, they didn’t have any bands. I mean they needed to sell 24 hours of time and we were one of the bands that knew video was going to go somewhere so we had videos and they would play our videos to death cause they didn’t have anything else. They played us every hour (laughing). They were like, “We have seven videos here, let’s play’em all. We’ve got 24 hours.” So everybody watched it because it was new and oh my God it was like a running commercial constantly.
Fears: 4Play was Berlin’s latest release; please comment on that CD just a little.
Terri: 4Play is cool. That one we did not only our own music, but we honored a few artists that inspired us over the years. We did our versions of Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Marilyn Manson and Buffalo Springfield. That was a lot of fun – that record. We had a good time with that.
Fears: Terri it has been a pleasure speaking with you. Your time with us has been greatly appreciated and we wish you all the best and continued success.
Terri: Thank you so much, Chris. Take care man.
For those of you who have never heard of Terri or Berlin or for those of you who wish to get reacquainted, I suggest two CDs. The first is 4Play which features “Scream,” a song that truly displays the talent within the woman. It also consists of covers ranging from Marilyn Manson’s “Dope Show,” to Prince’s “Erotic City,” to Buffalo Springfield’s hit “For What It's Worth,” as well as other noted artists. The other CD worth purchasing is Berlin: Live, Sacred and Profane. Never seen Berlin or Terri live? Well here you go. The CD contains all the Berlin favorites. Not only will you experience Terri’s softness, but her grittiness as well (and I mean that with all due respect). The energy of the entire performance is strongly felt. The synthesizer is present, but the guitars are more prominent which provides more of a raw and rockin’ feel. Of course, Berlin’s earlier releases never disappoint.
You may purchase these two CDs or download any of the songs from the many outlets available on the web (itunes, etc.) or visit Terri and Berlin at www.terrinunn.com.
I would like to take this moment to personally acknowledge Gaye Ann for her assistance with arranging this interview. Thank you very much Gaye Ann. Another individual that I like to say thanks to is Anisa Allen for helping review everything.
-C. Mygrant
So my goal, at that point, that day, I decided that my goal, my ladder rung would be within a year I had to find a creative situation. A band, another artist, somebody that was doing work that was not only creatively exciting, but could actually, you know, create a living. Something that we could actually make a career out of it. So that was my goal. To find somebody within a year and it was exactly a year later that I met John Crawford (singer/songwriter/bass player/synthesizer for Berlin).
