You might want to ignore some of the academic pontification about 'skinhead subculture' in general, but the article at least discusses the phenomenon of 'Nazi Rock' and is a useful starting point for discussion - Strelnikov
Subcultures, Pop Music and Politics: Skinheads and “Nazi Rock” in England and Germany
That article quotes in its footnotes LCC prof. Roger Sabin, who it seems is STILL going on about Siouxise Sioux wearing a swastika armband in 1975/76....for Christ's sake.
ReplyDeleteIt is just difficult to take that kind of 'scholarship' seriously -- why does anyone in their early fifties ( probably Sabin's age) even care about that kind of thing anymore, let alone build a career on lecturing about such trivia? He is also still going on about the connections ( or lack of ) between punk and reggae.....thirty years or more after it all happened.
I just don't see why anyone takes such stuff seriously anymore, really.
LCC/St Martins is full of such 'professors' , and the whole industry is cyclical, because upper middle class students who can pay for these kinds of courses, and overseas students who pay absurd fees, then take PHD's themselves in similarly irrelevant topics, and so the whole frivolous cycle goes on....it is a mini industry, with attendant publishing companies circling around it, waiting to take their cut on books the profs publish, which no one actually buys or reads outside 'academia'..
It is ( mostly ) a sad waste of time showcasing deivative and substandard scholarship, that only the prof's students actually read and buy.
Anyone who has been anywhere near these 'scenes' in academia will imediately recognise what I am saying.
While I agree with much of what you say about academia (and this article certainly has many weaknesses - I didn't put it up here because I thought it perfect), I still fail to see what's wrong, eg., "going on about the connections (or lack of) between punk and reggae.....thirty years or more after it all happened". What's wrong with studying this history?
ReplyDeleteYou asked what is wrong with studying the connections or lack of, between punk and reggae in 1976 --
ReplyDeleteNothing really -- except that, like much of such 'academic' 'scholarship', it indulges in recycling myth, much of which is reworked and ( falsely) re interpreted to meet the 'tastes' of a new audience.
It is mostly just shlock and kitsch by the time is has been re invoked for the hunredth time since 1976.
And secondly, I do not only refer to the study of punk/reggae, but studies of racist skinheads etc, in my view deftly avoid looking at real fascism, and get mired in thinking that, because they are invesitigating thirty year old teenage movemements, they are tackling real and present danger.
In my view , they are not, and it is little more than a distraction, usually enjoyed by LCC /St Martin's/Goldsmith's PHD types.
I don't see any problem with people studying Fascism in 'popular' culture. I think it's a red herring and a diversion to say that everyone should study 'the bigger threat' instead.
ReplyDeletePS I do not say that music/pop culture studies are meaningless : on the contrary, just like study of any other historical phenomenon that clearly means so much to humanity,they are valuable
ReplyDeleteBut -- I can think of only three music writers who move anywhere near 'the true' in their work. Obviously,all music writers indulge in myth to a very,very large degree -- expecting them not to is absurd, and would be a bit like asking someone writing about poetry or painting to be deliberately dry and detached and scientific.
But, having said that, 99.99999 % of rock/popular culture writers just indulge myth and dream building and lying and hagiography and revisionism and hype and sensationalism to such an absurd degree that their work is utterly worthless.
The only three 'rock/popular culture' writers I would trust to any degree would be Stewart Home, Penny Reel and Savage.
Penny Reel and Savage are both irritating at points, but pretty reliable at points too.
" think it's a red herring and a diversion to say that everyone should study 'the bigger threat' instead."
ReplyDeleteWhy? And why are you deciding which fascists we can discuss here? Are some fascists better than others? Why can't we open the discourse here? If your blog is introducing Junger and Eliade and Evola to the table -- let's take it to the next stage and discuss other real and present dangerous fascists. I can't see why you don't want to.
Who is doing the diverting here?
@Anon#1: "I can think of only three music writers... 99.99999 % of rock/popular culture writers just indulge myth and dream building and lying and hagiography and revisionism and hype and sensationalism"
ReplyDeleteWe're coming close to violently agreeing; and I'm coming close to regretting posting this article, which really only intended to divert people's attention away from the fact that I hadn't posted anything else for a while :-(
@Anon#2: "Why? And why are you deciding which fascists we can discuss here?"
This blog is not about Fascism per se, but about it's impact on 'popular' (sic) culture. There are plenty of places you can go to discuss wider issues - some of them are linked to from this page.
All across this blog in the comments sections there are a plethora of "Anonymous" commentators complaining about discussing fascism in various music scenes as a pointless waste of time and demanding that discussion should be limited to "real" fascists. Why would fascists operating within popular music culture be any less real than fascists anywhere else?
ReplyDeleteThis is utterly disingenuous. What most of these comments seem to be doing is defending fascism or the bands that promote fascism, without actually having the balls to admit what they are doing, perhaps with the exception of Oneiric Imperium, who is at least honest in his opinions, even if he is a disgusting fascist creep.
If people don't want to discuss the subject why are they wasting their time commenting. It seems obvious to me that these commentators are either fascists or they are apologists for fascist bands and individuals being discussed. Either way I wish they would actually have a stab at some vaguely sound intellectual defense of their position or fuck off.
PsychicAntifa@
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Monika Pula, I hope you don't think that this is too weird - or new age - and that you go with my idea and post this up. I'd like to explain my skills - and what it is I would like to do for you.
I am what is known as a 'psychic profiler' - i have 'sklls' that are employed at times by law enforcement agencies and private investigation channels throughout America and further afield.
I use a mixture of psychiatric training and analysis, divination, intuition and plain old sleuthing. I am also strongly antifascist - that is what brought me here, of course. I applaud your work - but note that you allow comments - both good and bad - and have therefore unfortunately attracted some bad people along with the good.
I noted. as have you, [and also as has the person called 'jack spot' above] that it seems that behind the anonymous and occasionally fake names there is one person in particular who constantly derides the content and belittles your efforts to get at the truth - suggesting that what you report on is unworthy of attention and out - of - date - or driven by less-than-pure motives. I care little about the latter - in this case - it is the end result that counts [although I do instinctively believe that you do what you do for the right reasons - that is a little side analysis, gratis!].
One person, in particular, therefore, will be the focus of my attention. I see him [for I believe strongly that it is a male] as being about 38 to 40 years of age. He is very aware of age and the aging process - and also of supposed decorum surrounding the different stages of life - this may be due to having older parents than is usual - and the possible rigid approach that older parents can have to life. I sense that he has a relationship - but one that only engages half of him - the other half - the half we are experiencing here - is closed and unknown to the partner. I feel his resentment and envy of her at times. Or subject is in employment - and quite probably has a job with some responsibility but with little glitz or glamor about it - long hours and maybe some commuting. I feel that in fact that this is a successful couple in their work but that the female partner is by far the more successful also the more creatively rewarded in her work. I see them therefore spending time apart - even when at home. She exhausted and going to bed at the end of a rewarding and satisflying day - he sitting in front of the computer [probably drinking alone] leading the other life that I feel also taps into his past - pre- the responsibilty that he feels a man of his age should be showing to the world. [ctd]
[ctd]I feel that this was once a 'creative type' - but one who now does little himself - feeling maybe 'too old for stardom'. He probably makes much of his past and somewhat cautiously and anonymously promotes his past works - by pretending to be a third party to them!. He probably uses the web to talk to people he admires in the same way also hangs on to his partner and feeds off of her own kudos and renown in her field. He has [and this is not uncommon], huge and ever-present inadequacies that are now expanded by ambivalent attitudes towards his partner and those he knows through online correspondence only - or in some cases quite probably people he does know face-to-face - some of your adversaries, prhaps? he will pretend to know more about the lives of some people in order to enhance his standing. I would say it is probable that he is involved on the periphery of racist and nationalist organisations - but those with a veneer of intellectualism. Also there is the feeling of his having had dalliance with the Occult [there is an attendant darkness] - but this is in part, again - to prop up his fragile ego and has no true depth to it - he is ever in thrall to adepts - whatever field they inhabit. I se him as having a nondescript sort of first name - single syllable, easily misunderstood if not delivered with confidence which gave him a complex at a formative stage. He is also nondescript and therfore non-memorable in terms of appearance - possibly bearded - as in his youth he was maybe once attractive but now feels himself not so. He treats his partner, sometimes therefore, as a trophy - boasting about her job and/or physical attributes in the way that people sometimes carry around family phots or photos of 'status automobiles'.
ReplyDeleteIn summary - you have a man - maybe 38 to 42 years of age [35 at a push if he is especially conflicted] with an overdeveloped interest in his own ancestry [an attempt to find validity in his 'roots'] and born maybe in a mundane, unexciting locale - who, as a result defines himself by some sort of historical lineage in order to avoid the mundanity of his actual existence. A boring job - one whose vague title promises more than the actuality delivers, perhaps? [which at first impresses at parties then withers with explanation] in contrast with a successful and creatively stimulated partner.
He employs the web as an ego-enhancing battleground' where he attempts to 'big himself up' and seem wise, whilst engaging simultaneously the darker and amoralistic 'true self' he dare not fully reveal to his partner.
So - if I may step outside my professional guise for a moment - this is one very 'sad' individual - such as fill the 'true crime' shelves with a little more nurturing - I'm glad he is not my problem - but i'm sorry he is yours! you need one hell of a big bug spray - hope this analysis sheds a little more light on your problem - happy hunting!
I wish you well in your continuing fight,
Monika Pula,
Bay Area Antifa, North-East Coalition.
Oh dear! Oh dear! The anti-fascist tealeaf readers are on the march!
ReplyDeleteThanks "Monica", that was lovely. A little more analysis: a grown man who pretends to be a foreign psychic sleuth is a bit silly, in my opinion. But the personality breakdown seems bizarrely accurate — for explaining those who support this website and its absurd agenda.
ReplyDelete...oh, dear... its going to have to go to the point of having you go into your bosses office and explaining why, with all the important foreign customers you have, you seem to think it funny to be a rightwing nazi-loving asshole and make racist jokes and then having to explain it to the organisation at the other end of the phone that your personal opinions in no way reflect those of the company, is it? you don't think thats going to happen? count the days, fuckwad
ReplyDeleteI think that the people above should stop making assumptions about who I am or what sex I am - I never said if I was male or female - the arrogant and ill-informed lack of knowledge of other cultures and languages is sadly displayed here - and also they merely show their ineptitude in the area which I consider myself to be quite adept. I thank the owner of this site for posting the above piece by me and hope that they at least, can see, however sceptical they may be about my methods that from the nature of the anonymous quote above, that I was quite right. ataere is a ,Troll, in the house. (and thanks also to the person above who seems to think they know who I am talkinig about - I hope you do and find the offender and expose him, or whatever)
ReplyDeleteMonika is not the only 'gifted', if that is the word, person who has been drawn to this site. I sense very strongly that the campaign to ban the Slimelight gig tomorrow and the passions it has raised on both sides, together with the Oi! gig happening in Tufnell Park and the Death Metal show at Camden Underworld (both of which also feature right-wing bands) are connected with the spiritual forces who wish to detonate nuclear devices in Berlin on the 26th June at the Olympic Stadium. Persons are being used and played here in an attempt to raise cones of power. Almost none of the players will be consciously aware of their parts in the ritual.
ReplyDeletePlease see German news media for this story and note the blackout for the rest of the world, aside from poorly translated and misguiding material on crazy conspiracy sites.