Funerals, jazz, and heroin: John Waters’ strange encounter with Nico
Judging by the controversial nature of John Waters’ work, which has contained everything from eating dog shit to getting fucked with rosary beads, it’s no surprise that he has met some interesting characters throughout his career.
He has long surrounded himself by outsiders, the kinds of people who are placed on the margins of society, but through his work, he brought these strange, wacky, unusual people to the forefront of the audience’s attention. It’s not so much that Waters wants to parade a freak show of quirky characters for the sake of simply shocking people, but rather, to shock people into realising that these people really do exist, and there’s no point ignoring them.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve got criminal convictions or a nasty drug habit, Waters will probably want to be your friend if you’re interesting enough, which has led him to become pals with some pretty shocking people, such as striking up a longtime friendship with Manson Family member Leslie Van Houten, believing that she has since shown enough remorse for her teenage crimes to be set free.
Less severe is his friendship with Patty Hearst, who became a regular collaborator of his in the ‘90s. Kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974 when she was 20 years old, she committed a range of crimes, most notably a major bank robbery, and ended up in prison. Later pardoned by Bill Clinton, Hearst has come a long way since her days of committing crimes, and it seems like Waters takes things on a case-by-case basis, believing in the potential of rehabilitation.
Waters clearly isn’t against meeting anyone, no matter their history, and in a recent interview with Amoeba, he gushed about his experience of meeting Nico. The singer might have icon status, but she also had a rich history of being incredibly racist, reportedly attacking a Black woman in the eye with a smashed glass during the early 1970s.
Despite the many allegations of racism and antisemitism that have stacked up against the German singer over the years, she is still held in high esteem by many for her music, most notably her contributions to The Velvet Underground’s debut album, singing on classics like ‘Femme Fatale’ and ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’.
A well-known figure in New York’s drug-fuelled artistic scene, she spent a lot of time at the Hotel Chelsea, her deep singing voice marking her out as an instantly recognisable musician, and you can love her music, but it’s important to acknowledge just how problematic she was. It’s unclear when Waters first met her, but his encounter with the singer was as you’d expect: she was totally out of it and just wanted to get her hands on some heroin.
“Nico. My favourite,” he said when picking out a live album of hers for a ‘What’s in my Bag’ video, “I finally met [her] in Baltimore. First thing she said to me was, ‘Can you get me some heroin?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not a jazz musician. I don’t have heroin.’ But then I said, ‘Would you play at my funeral?’ She said, ‘Yes, when are you gonna die?’ So, I always love Nico.”
Perhaps Waters can separate the art from the artist in this case? Evidently, the director isn’t bothered if liking something is totally morally correct or not; I mean, he literally dedicated Female Trouble to Charles ‘Tex’ Watson.
