Hagen traveled to London where she was introduced to music genres such as punk and reggae, and befriended other artists including Ari Up of the band The Slits.

Joined by Reinhold Heil, they formed the Nina Hagen Band and in November 1977 signed a record deal with CBS.

Nina Hagen Band was certified gold by Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) and has sold over 250,000 copies.

[5][6] After Hagen's stepfather Wolf Biermann was expatriated from East Germany in 1976, she first stood up for his re-entry, but after her request was denied, she followed him to Hamburg.

She met with Ari Up, the lead singer of the band The Slits and together they wrote the song "Pank", which later appeared on the album.

Inspired by the London music scene, Hagen returned to Berlin and met with the members of the band Lokomotive Kreuzberg, Manfred Praeker, Herwig Mitteregger and Bernhard Potschka.