Just Fascination

Extreme political imagery in underground industrial music

Browsing through the racks at your favourite record shop, you stumble across an album by an unfamiliar band. The name tells you little, but there is Nazi insignia on the record sleeve. This must be an album by some neo-Nazi band, right? Maybe not. In the darkest corners of certain underground music movements, the use of such controversial imagery is ubiquitous. Nowhere is this more true than in Industrial music and its sub-genres. Explicit references to extreme political ideologies and their historical manifestations abound. There is a particular focus on World War II and the Axis powers, as well as Soviet communism. Album artwork, song titles, lyrics and sampled sounds frequently refer to the darkest hours of the 20th century. What is the signicance of these images? At rst glance, there is little doubt. They must be a reection of the artists extreme political views. However, a closer examination of the music uncovers no call to arms for the far right. There is rarely any political content at all. Further research reveals that the artists are not neo-Nazis or Nazi sympathisers. Indeed, some go to great length to distance themselves from such people. Their appropriation of reviled and taboo imagery is an aesthetic choice, often with little or no commentary on the totalitarian regimes associated with these symbols. To a mainstream audience, the use of such powerful imagery implies a particular intent on the part of the artist. The artist is expected to align himself either for or against the ideals these symbols represent. Some musicians do take sides, either implicitly or explicitly. Others exploit these images for their shock value. A third, and arguably most interesting, group uses totalitarian imagery to create an aesthetic mood around their music. There are no value judgments about rights and wrongs. There is no commentary at all. This ambivalence creates a sense of taboo which complements the music. Like the images on the album sleeves, Industrial music is often oppressive and unpleasant. The dark packaging both reects and augments the dark music. The visuals relate to dark periods in recent history, including World War II and the Holocaust, that are hardwired into Western consciousness. They require no explanation, and as such are a pre-existing set of evocative references. This appropriation and manipulation of imagery has clear precedent in both art and music. It can be traced back to the Dadaists and the Futurists and to the work of John Hearteld. A line can be drawn from the Situationist concept of dtournement, through punks shocking fashion statements, to the dark recesses of Industrial music. The concept of dtournement is crucial in understanding the heavy use of extreme political imagery. The sampling of sound is complemented by the sampling of visual cultural signiers. The use of controversial imagery has, unsurprisingly, caused a certain amount of controversy. Even the most obscure underground music occasionally falls into the hands of the uninitiated audience. Without prior knowledge of Industrial music and its use of shock tactics, people can, and often do, jump to erroneous conclusions. Artists have been labeled as fascists, records have been banned and concerts have been picketed or cancelled. This moral panic is largely unwarranted, as it is based on ignorance of the genre, rather than fact.

Death in June - The Guilty Have No Past (1990), Laibach - Tanz Mit Laibach (2003), Mussolini Headkick - Themes For Violent Retribution (1991)

The Unacceptable Face of Freedom

 Any number of images and symbols could be considered extreme. Industrial music was built on transgressive, shocking and upsetting themes. These could be found both in the music and on the packaging. Common themes include interpersonal violence, sexual perversion, serial killers, genocide and mutilation. However, from the very beginning, one theme in particular held a special fascination for Industrial artists: the regimes of the second world war. To this day, Nazi, fascist and communist insignia make for powerfully charged images. For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on the use of totalitarian political visuals in Industrial music, rather than the whole gamut of extreme imagery. Given the variety of trangressive subject matter used by these artists, I will concentrate on musicians and bands that have paid particular attention to the political. However, I am not interested in uncovering actual political beliefs of artists who have chosen not to reveal them. It is not my intention either to accuse or to counter accusations made by others.

Der Blutharsch - Fire Danger Season (2002), Killing Joke - Laugh? I Nearly Bought One! (1992)

Do the Mussolini (Headkick)

[1] Duguid, 1995 [2] Savage, 1983 [3] Duguid, 1995 [4] Russolo, 1986

The Industrial music movement began in the mid-1970s, around the same time as the birth of the British version of punk. The bands Throbbing Gristle (TG) and Cabaret Voltaire set the musical and aesthetic direction for the new genre. In A Prehistory of Industrial Music, Brian Duguid traces the origins of the movement and attempts to dene it by combining two previous denitions.[1] He quotes Michael Mahans denition from Alternative Press, who describes it as, An artistic reection of the de-humanization of our people and the inexorable pollution of our planet by our factory-based socioeconomic state. However, this is too simplistic a denition. Duguid augments it with Jon Savages denition: Access to information, shock tactics, organizational autonomy, extra-musical elements, and use of synthesizers and anti-music.[2] This second denition almost seems more like a manifesto for a paramilitary organization than a description of a musical genre. These denitions do not say much about the music itself. Since the inception of the genre, very few Industrial bands have sounded alike. Alongside the genre-dening bands (TG & Cabaret Voltaire, Einstrzende Neubauten, Test Dept, Skinny Puppy), many different kinds of music has been labeled as Industrial. Sometimes Industrial is applied to music which is mechanically repetitive, and sometimes to music which is abstract and amorphous. There has been musique concrte-esque composition (Nurse With Wound, Lustmord), manipulated layers of noise (Merzbow, NON), electronic dance music (Severed Heads, Front 242), heavy metal or hard rock with a keyboard or a drum machine (Rammstein, KMFDM), bombastic martial orchestral music (Shinjuku Thief, In Slaughter Natives), acoustic guitar-driven folk music (Death in June, Sol Invictus), and many other musical styles. Often, Industrial bands have made use of very different musical styles at different points in their career (Laibach, Die Krupps, Foetus, Coil). Industrial is also frequently used as an afx to other musical genre terms, so one will encounter Industrial Metal, Industrial Techno, even Industrial Hip-hop. Industrial music shares its roots with those of British punk. Both can be traced back to Guy Debords ideas in the Situationist International (S.I.), and even further back, to the Futurists. Duguid gives a historical overview of Industrial musics avant-garde and antimusical antecedents. He connects Industrial music to the Futurists, with their enthusiasm for dynamism, for technology, and for patriotic militarism, all of which ensured that fascist politicians would later attempt to claim the Futurist cultural heritage as their own.[3] The Futurists celebrated noise and warfare. In The Art Of Noises, Luigi Russolo revels in the noises of the modern world, the palpitation of valves, the coming and going of pistons, the howl of mechanical saws, the jolting of a tram on its rails, the cracking of whips, the apping of curtains and ags the crashing down of metal shop blinds, slamming doors, the hubbub and shufing of crowds, the variety of din, from stations, railways, iron foundries, spinning wheels, printing works, electric power stations and underground railways.[4] He goes on to note that the newest noises of modern war should not be forgotten. The Futurists were not just the sonic forefathers of Industrial music, but clearly influenced the Industrial ideology. Duguid notes that in the Industrial music of the 1980s and 90s, the Futurists uncritical fetishisation of technology and artice re-emerged. Marinettis

Throbbing Gristle

Industrial Introduction

[5] Hegarty, 2007, 124 [6] Marcus 1990 [7] Savage, 1991 [8] Bracken 1997, 144 [9] Bracken 1997, 233 [10] Savage 1991, 188 [11] Coogan, 1999 [12] Ford 1999, 195 [13] Debord 1995, #4, 12 [14] Debord 1995, #18, 17 [15] Novotny 1997, 100

celebration of the industrial revolution has a lot in common with the ill-digested cyber-fandom of some recent musicians. Paul Hegarty asks, Is noise fascistic? Many have misunderstood noise and Industrial musics interest in extremes [to] imply advocacy of Nazism, for example, or violence, in general Historically, we can point to the Futurists love of the sounds of war as indicating fascist potential.[5] The S.I. is often cited as an ancestor of punk, but the influence of ther ideas on Industrial music has been overlooked. Greil Marcus argues that the Sex Pistols Anarchy In The U.K. distilled the Situationist viewpoint into a world-changing pop song[6]. This link is reinforced in Savages Englands Dreaming, which details Malcolm Mclaren and Jamie Reids time at art school, their initial encounters with the ideas of the S.I. and their original attempts to do something similar.[7] This eventually culminated in the forming of the Sex Pistols. It should however be noted that this link is disputed by some. Len Bracken accuses Marcus of a sloppy brand of structuralism, misapplying an objectional archetype category to connect Dada, Nazis and Debord.[8] Because of the way the S.I. has been associated with punk following the publication of Lipstick Traces, Bracken also accuses Marcus of masperisation, a Situationist term for falsication and distortion of key Situationist texts. Even Marcus came around to the conclusion that theres nothing revolutionary about punk nightclub acts.[9] It could be argued that the Industrial music acts were somewhat more revolutionary. Revolutionary or not, the punks courted controversy, making shocking fashion statements, inspired by Vivienne Westwoods designs. Westwood used portraits of Karl Marx next to (often inverted) ying swastikas. Malcolm McLarens boutique Sex sold Nazi symbols alongside S/M and fetish gear. The intention was [to] not be politically explicit, but instead [the design] should be an explosion of contradictory, highly charged signs.[10] These juxtapositions were chiey intended for shock value, but contained a certain amount of cultural criticism. More than just a cheap shock, the swastika mocked the ideals of the 1960s, the era of long hair, free love, and ower power.[11] Debord encouraged the use of dtournement, manipulating spectacular images and language to disrupt the ow of the spectacle.[12] Recognisable symbols are recombined, subverting their original meaning, often in a shocking way. Debord wrote, The spectacle is not a collection of images; rather it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images.[13] So subverting these images can affect society. For one to whom the real world becomes real images, mere images are transformed into real beings.[14] This subversive aspect of dtournement filtered through into Industrial music. Characterized by the S.I. in terms of a collage aesthetic [dtournement] involved the appropriation and recombination of cultural fragments that transformed their original meaning.[15] This could well describe the collage aesthetic of the early Industrial musicians; they were among the pioneers of the now commonplace technique of sampling sound. They used dialogue snippets from lms and television, eld recordings, elements of other pieces of music, and so on, re-combining them in new ways. This can certainly be seen as a sonic version of dtournement.

Sid Vicious

[1] Ford, 1999, 7.16 [2] Ford 1999, 6.19 [3] Ford 1999, 8.26 [4] Reynolds 2005, 232 [5] Ford 1999, 7.12 [6] Reynolds 2005, 233 [7] Fish, 2002, 31

The term Industrial music was coined by multimedia artist Monte Cazazza, as a slogan to describe the intentions of his friends, the group Throbbing Gristle[1]. TG formed from the ashes of Fluxusinspired performance art group COUM Transmissions. COUM began in 1969, and their performances became more and more transgressive, confrontational and shocking over time, culminating in the notorious Prostitution exhibit at the I.C.A. in October 1976, which featured the debut performance by TG[2]. The show was hugely controversial, not because of political imagery, but because of the use of sexually explicit photographs of one of the members of TG, who also had a career posing in pornographic magazines. Following the ICA concert, COUM became less of a going concern, and TG became a full-time band. TG were sonic pioneers as well as transgressive artists. They made heavy use of homemade musical equipment, including rudimentary samplers and sequencers, to manipulate found sounds into pieces of music. A perfect example of this is TGs track E-Coli, a split-stereo recording of two scientists discussing genetic engineering and the use of E-Coli bacteria in experiments. As the voice of one argued that the release of the bacteria offered no signicant risk to the population, the other simultaneously claimed it could potentially wipe out the human race. The idea was that you could listen to each side separately and decide which you thought was right or you could listen to both sides at once and be totally confused.[3] This is clearly a prime example of sonic dtournement. TG were thoroughly controversial from the start. Early in their career they produced a promotional poster with the slogan Music From The Death Factory. The image used was deceptive; the seemingly inoccuous photo of some factory buildings on a leafy lane was in fact a photo of Auschwitz. This image was also used as the logo for their independently-run record label, Industrial Records. The band started to dress in camouage or matching uniforms on stage. The groups logo was a lightning ash, based on Oswald Mosleys British Union of Fascists England Awake emblem[4]. TGs ambivalence and ambiguity carried with it a real possibility of misinterpretation.[5] Simon Reynolds also touches on this: Theres a fuzzy line between anguished awareness of horror and morbid fascination bordering on identication with evil. TG constantly teetered on the edge.[6] Much of their work made reference to totalitarian regimes, especially the Third Reich. Examples include song titles such as Zyklon B Zombie and Subhuman, and Hitler-paraphrasing slogans such as Nothing Short Ov A Total War! The sleeve of Zyklon B Zombie showed band member Chris Carter in the shower, a clear reference to concentration camp gas chambers. In response to allegations of Nazi sympathies, the group was adamant that they were apolitical.[7] TG fans began to expect the extreme from this band. Mick Fish, who attended many TG shows, was uncomfortable with some of their more extreme antics: My misgivings were compounded in that weeks Sounds which featured an article about TG holidaying in Auschwitz. All of this seemed to me to be stretching the Nazi connections close to breaking point.[7] He also notes, Dipping our toes into the world of TG was like acquiring membership to some weird little secret society.

Industrial Records logo, Throbbing Gristle logo

Music From The Death Factory

[1] Duguid, 1995 [2] Reynolds 2005, 488 [3] Neal 1987, 164 [4] Hegarty, 2007, 120 [5] Duguid, 1995 [6] Hegarty, 2007, 119 [7] Novotny 1997, 99 [8] Novotny 1997, 115

TGs arty ambivalence contrasts with the rare left-oriented political fetishism of Test Dept. Fetishisation of the left was unusual among Industrial musicians. Test Depts disgust for the society they found themselves in led them to politics of protest that directly embraced the ideas of the left; solidarity being the major one[1] The band released records and played a series of concerts opposing the Conservative assault on the trade union movement, supporting the striking miners unions, ambulance workers, print makers and antipoll tax campaigners. Their politics were reflected in their aesthetics Test Depts metal music sounded like a Soviet factory. Or at least the idealized propaganda version: comrades inter-locking like cogs in a single engine an absolutely perfect machine.[2] Interviewed in Tape Delay, they describe themselves in terms of a collective.[3] Test Dept engaged with actual politics, supporting the miners strike, recording with the striking Welsh miners choirs They used Communist imagery in a way that was provocative, but also pretty clearly symbolized their views.[4] While other Industrial musicians sampled Hitler and Charles Manson to subvert and dtourn, Test Dept used samples of speeches given by Margaret Thatcher and other contemporary politicians. They made their political stance clear with scathingly ironic song titles such as, Long Live British Democracy Which Flourishes And Is Constantly Perfected Under The Immaculate Guidance Of The Great, Honourable, Generous And Correct Margaret Hilda Thatcher. She Is The Blue Sky In The Hearts Of All Nations. Our People Pay Homage And Bow In Deep Respect And Gratitude To Her, The Milk Of Human Kindness. However Test Dept. were an anomaly; the Industrial scene of the 1980s was better characterized by what Throbbing Gristle had started. Their interest in mass murderers, Nazism and similar topics [leading] to accusations by some that [they] were more than interested[5] could have referred to any number of Industrial acts of the time, such as NON, SPK, Whitehouse, or Psychic TV. Hegarty expands on the theme of Industrial musics ambivalence: If Industrial music is ambiguous about power, violence, extreme behaviour, exploitation, and so on the strength was precisely in the uncertainty and the excitement that it generated (much more than the frisson some might get from transgressively listening to groups that are oriented to the extreme right wing.[6] So the audience is less interested in actual connections of the groups to forbidden areas, but more in their use and manipulation of the taboo and their ability to create unexpected connections. The shocking juxtapositions used by the original Industrial bands of the 1970s and the left-wing idealism of Test Dept in the 1980s seem fairly simplistic when viewed in the light of the post-modern society. Postmodern parody revels in the problematisation and disruption of aesthetic forms and representations The postmodernist parody of aesthetic representation has been frequently carried to an extreme of self-negation.[7] In his essay No Future!, Novotny places Industrial music in the context of postmodernism: Industrial music is based on the eclecticism of dtournement and postmodern appropriative collage technique [and] is infused with the social sarcasm and laughter of postmodernisms parody.[8]

Test Department & South Wales Striking Miners Choir - Shoulder To Shoulder (1985)

Total State Machine

[1] Monroe 2005, 7 [2] Grifn 1999 [3] Zizek 1993 [4] www.laibach.nsk.si/t3.htm [5] Neal 1987, 224 [6] Monroe 2005, 156 [7] Obodda 2002 [8] Obodda 2002

Given this postmodern contextualizing of Industrial music, we can consider one of the most complex examples the Slovenian group Laibach. Monroe states that Laibachs methodology is based upon the amplication or rendering audible of the hidden codes and internal contradictions of a series of artistic, musical, political, linguistic and historical regimes For instance connections between rock and Fascistic mobilization.[1] Laibach is part of the Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK) movement. Since the early 1980s, NSK have produced Hearteld-inspired, Debordian juxtapositions of totalitarianism and popular culture. Like Test Dept, they make a considered political statement with every release. But while Test Dept wore their hearts on their sleeves, Laibach challenge their audience to decipher their combinations of cultural references. Pompous rock opera classics, Eurovision hits, The Beatles, NATO, Josip Tito (the former dictator of Yugoslavia), Nazi Germany, Malevich, and numerous other references have featured in Laibachs releases. Laibach dont merely sample individual sounds. They take great swathes of cultural signifiers and recombine them almost to the point of absurdity. Laibach manipulate the sensation of both repulsion and fascination Laibachs attitude is to take ideology more seriously than it is prepared to be taken by its subjects. In so doing, Laibach draw attention to the negative implications of any ideology when pushed to its logical conclusions.[2] Fellow Slovenian Slavoj Zizek examines the audiences fascination with the forbidden, this desire of the Other. Zizek poses the question: What is Laibachs actual position, are they truly totalitarians or not? His answer is far from straightforwad: Laibach compels us to take up our position and decide upon our desire.[3] He goes on to explain that there are two types of law. The Superego is the obscene nightly law that necessarily redoubles and accompanies, as its shadow, [the Ego, or] the public law.[3] Laibachs use of references to totalitarianism is designed to appeal to the Superegos sense of curiosity and fascination with the forbidden. In doing so, they aim to provoke thought and debate, to cause us to question the subject of our illicit fascination and, indeed, this fascination itself. Laibach themselves have pronounced on this subject in an early press release, 10 Items of the Covenant: All art is subject to political manipulation except for that which speaks the language of this same manipulation The material of LAIBACH manipulation: Taylorism, bruitism, Nazi Kunst, disco.[4] Their contribution to Tape Delay states, our organizational activity is an intense agitation and constant systematic, propagandistic-ideological offensive.[5] The band was highly controversial from its inception. The name Laibach was the Germanic name for the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana, used under German occupation. At the time of their rst album release, they were banned from using their name, instead replacing it with Malevichs Black Cross[6]. They sang many songs in German, making them easy targets for those wanting to peg them as Nazis.[7] One of their most well-known songs is a cover version of Queens One Vision. The song is translated into German, with the mantra-like lyrics barked over martial drumming. Thus, it is transformed into a Hitlerian vision.[8] Queens One esh one bone, one true religion, one voice one hope, one real decision is mutated to Ein Fleisch, ein Blut, ein wahrer Glaube. Ein Ruf, ein Traum, ein starker Wille. However Hitlerian this may sound, this song is actually a commentary on the

Laibach

Geburt Einer Nation

totalitarian nature of popular music itself. Queens anthem of hope and unity through celebration is hijacked by Laibachs vision of popular culture as one transmitter and a multitude of receivers.[9] One incident illustrates Laibachs politically-charged, almost perversely dangerous use of dtournement. In 1987, the Yugoslavian government commission a poster for the Youth Day celebrations. The poster was designed by the NSKs design group New Collectivism, which includes one member of Laibach. It won the design prize for the celebration and was used all over Yugoslavia. However, it transpired that the source image used in the poster was a 1936 work by Richard Klein called A Heroic Allegory of the Third Reich. Subtle changes had been made the Nazi ag was replaced with a Yugoslavian banner, an eagle was replaced with a dove. Great controversy followed in the media, causing New Collectivism to issue press statements comparing its work to night actions by Partisans to deface Nazi and collaborationist posters.[10] Monroe notes that, The affair was acutely embarrassing for the Yugoslav youth organization, which, by choosing the design, revealed its latent sympathies for propagandist imagery, and the fact that it was as instinctively attracted to right- as well as left-wing imagery No charges were pressed [and] a trial would also have drawn even more attention to the fact that this image was chosen as the most appropriate representation of Socialist youth. Further discussion of this would have highlighted the alleged similarities between Nazism and socialism. Laibach have made good use of both the arty shock tactics of the punks and Throbbing Gristle, and the earnest politics of Test Dept. However, as Griffin argues, Laibach function as a question mark, forcing the individual to answer his or her own question.[11] Their ambivalence is not affected for shock value, but to cause analytical thought in the audience, to compel them to consider their own relationship with the cultural and political elements dtourned by Laibach.

[9] Laibach, Perspektive [10] Monroe, 2005, 98 [11] Grifn 1999

Laibach - M.B. December 21, 1984 (1997)

[1] Keenan 2003, 151 [2] Keenan, 2003, 95 [3] Obodda 2002, 69 [4] Obodda 2002, 70 [5] http://www.deathinjune.org [6] Burkholder 2008 [7] http://www.deathinjune.org/modules/news/article. php?storyid=70

The line between TGs shock tactics and Laibachs ideological interrogation becomes blurred in one of the more controversial subgenres of the post-Industrial music scene. Apocalyptic folk, also known as dark folk or neofolk, includes bands such as Current 93, Death in June(DIJ) and Sol Invictus. Current 93 was started by David Tibet, a close friend of Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle. In 1988 they released an album called Swastikas for Noddy, based on a drug-addled theory of Tibets that Noddy was a Gnostic icon.[1] One of Tibets early collaborators, Douglas Pearce, and his project Death in June, became one of the most controversial acts in the post-Industrial underground. DIJ came out of the left wing politico-punk band Crisis,[2] which had played Rock Against Racism concerts. Despite this, Pearce has remained notoriously cagey about his politics in the face of accusations of Nazi sympathies. However, as Obodda argues, The lyrics can hardly ever be interpreted as having anything to do with Nazism, they usually speak of more introspective or personal matters. Those that do refer to Nazism either seem gloomy or threatening.[3] The bands name has been seen as referring to the killing of Ernst Rhm, commander of the S.A, supposedly murdered by the Nazi party for his homosexuality (Pearce is openly gay) and for the leftist tendencies of the S.A.[4], although Pearce has denied this explicit connection. The band has used the SS Totenkopf symbol with the number 6 as their logo, the skull representing death and the 6 representing June. They have referenced the Holocaust in an album title. But DIJ really cannot be accused of promoting Nazism by using this imagery. The context of these references, Douglas Pearces personal mythology, forces a close reader to re-interpret.[4] Although he prefers to let his work speak for itself, Pearce has, on occasion, been forced to discuss DIJs political ambiguity. In 2006 he was compelled to make statements to the German government, in which he stated: In the 24 years of Death In Junes existence I have never explained my work. I feel that would make my art ordinary and stillborn and panders to elements within society that seek to control freedom of expression and thought, abstract or otherwise. All art, whether it be in the form of music, literature, painting etc. worth a grain of salt should be open to interpretation. In turn, this also makes it open to misinterpretation; sometimes good, sometimes bad. It is in the nature of art that challenges or confronts the consumer, or potential consumer, to be misunderstood.[5] Despite his attempts to cooperate with the German government, DIJ records have been banned in Germany, and DIJ concerts have been cancelled. The album Brown Book was placed on the B List. This means that it cannot be imported, exported, sold or promotied in Germany.[6] The album design incorporates the Totenkopf emblem. The title track of the album manipulates the Horst Wessel Lied the anthem of the Nazi party. Pearce explains that this song reflects the atmosphere to a narration juxtaposing the homophobia of a Nazi stormtrooper to the suicidal fatalism of his [Jewish] sexual partner The title comes from the name of the book the Communist authorities of former East Germany kept listing ex-members of the N.S.D.A.P. and S.S. etc. and their positions held in government and other work places in West Germany. [It is] a thought provoking song with many contradictory themes which is typical of Death In June. Pearce also notes that this song is related to the Ernst Rhm affair.[7]

Death in June - Brown Book (1987), Death in June - Rose Clouds Of Holocaust (1995)

The Guilty Have No Pride

 Pearce has gone from playing Rock Against Racism gigs to fending off accusations of fascist sympathies. But close reading of his lyrics and interviews show that his intentions are not political, but rather very personal. DIJs oeuvre is based on a complex and difcult personal mythology, where elements of Nazi history are appropriated to discuss topics more traditionally used in song-writing. Themes of love, death, betrayal and so on are ltered through Pearces particular set of references, to the point they can only be understood as such by the dedicated fan.

Douglas Pearce

[1] http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20050712131 249999 [2] http://wweek.com/html/leada081600.html [3] Coogan, 1999 [4] http://wweek.com/html/leada081600.html

Two groups have garnered almost as much controversy as Death In June, while being even more obscure and underground. They are Austrian band Der Blutharsch and U.S. group Blood Axis. Both groups have made heavy use of references to Nazism. Der Blutharsch is Austrian slang for scab. It was also the name given to Swiss mercenaries in the Swedish wars.[1] Der Blutharsch initially used a Sig rune (half of the S.S. emblem) as their band logo, later changing to using an Iron Cross. Blood Axis use a Kruekenkreuz, an ancient cross adopted by some Christian Crusaders and Austrian nationalists (but banned by the Nazis).[2] Individual tracks by Der Blutharsch have never been named (they are only numbered in Roman numerals) and lyrics have never been provided. The music is comprised of martial drumming, droning noise, folk elements, and various sampled sounds, including WWII-era German dialogue, speeches and musical elements. The songs subject matter and imagery are largely derived from the history of Germanic Europe. Der Blutharschs founder Albin Julius has denied there is any political meaning to his work. When asked by Industrial music website Heathen Harvest, Do you use your music as a means to communicate personal political views?, Julius response is a simple, yet resounding, No. The interview continues with the question: And for the record to put this subject to bed once and for all have you or any artist you are aware of ever sought a political assignment, been assigned to a political ofce or position, campaigned for a political organization, formed a political party or been actively involved in politics on a local or national level? Julius responds, Not to my knowledge. And I wouldn`t care All my friends have their personal view of life and I accept every opinion Even if it might not be mine. The work of Blood Axis is a little harder to pin down thematically. Like Death In June, their music comprises folk elements, martial drumming and samples, including readings by Ezra Pound (who was a Fascist sympathizer and an anti-Semite). But again, there are very few explicit references to Nazism or similar movements. Blood Axis attracts controversy due to the other activities of their founder member Michael Moynihan. Moynihan is the author of a controversial book about the black metal movement in Norway, a music scene often associated with Satanism, Neo-Odinism, and a resurgence of National Socialism and anti-Semitism. He has also distanced himself from socalled aesthetic fascists, such as his former friend and collaborator Boyd Rice of NON. Im sick of people saying theyre not political, as I think this is a cop-out if youre going to espouse fascist ideas, then I believe you have to accept some of the responsibility for their application in the real world.[3] However, Moynihan has emphatically distanced himself from neo-Nazism. When asked point-blank if he is a neo-Nazi, Moynihan replied that he is not. He also bashes white supremacy and fascism. I dont see white people doing anything particularly noble these days, so why on earth would I be a white supremacist? What does fascism have to do with anything thats going on? The far right is a bunch of isolated losers. I probably have far more in common with anarchists than I would with any right-wing person, and they would probably agree..[4]

Original Der Blutharsch logo, Michael Moynihan with Blood Axis logo

When All Else Fails

[1] http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-moral-panic.htm [2] http://www.metamute.org/en/Fascist-Bands-at-Slimelight [3] http://www.sanctuary.ch/report/DeathInJune/entree.htm [4] http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/500908/08311998/ rammstein.jhtml [5] Moore, 2002

Does the negative reaction to Industrial music t in with the history of moral panic around other forms of music? Controversy has followed Industrial music and its fans since the birth of the genre, especially pertaining to the frequent use of extreme imagery. On occasion protests have caused concerts to be cancelled and records to be banned. This is nothing new. Similar moral panics have been induced by new varieties of music and their fans. From ministers condemning the evils of rock and roll to signicant news coverage of the hippie culture and from Kurt Cobains death to the Goth movement, people may become signicantly afraid that a corruptible inuence is likely to cause harm to their children and their way of life. These concerns are often inated by excessive coverage in the media.[1] The debate about music leading astray its listeners to lives of moral depravity has raged since at least the 1950s. From rock and roll to ower power to punk to heavy metal to rave to goth, musical movements have served as targets of accusation upon accusation of having a bad inuence not just on the fans but on society as a whole. At various times, Industrial musicians have created similar moral panics. The debate can be followed on numerous internet message boards and mailing lists, and mostly consists of simplistic accusations and nger-pointing. These range from the supercial so-and-so must be a Nazi because they look like one to the slightly more complex regardless of the intention of the musicians, using this kind of imagery is tantamount to celebrating it, and therefore shouldnt be allowed. Self-appointed anti-fascist police state as fact that concerts by these bands provide a real and malignant catalyst for far right extremists to gather, network and recruit.[2] Protests by anti-Fascist groups led to the cancellation of at least two Death In June concerts , most notably in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the 19th of November, 1998[3], although their accusations against the bands amounted to little more than name-calling. But Industrial music, neofolk and the like has had very little attention payed to it by the wider world, and so has caused nothing like the moral outrages elicited by more populist music. A few artists marginally associated with the Industrial genre have made it into the mainstream consciousness. They often face controversy due to ignorance or supercial misinterpretation of their work. German Industrial metal group Rammstein have been accused of Nazi leanings due to singing in German a problem also faced by Laibach. More troublesome was their use of images from Leni Riefenstahls Olympia in one of their videos.[4] Much more well-known is the shock-rocker Marilyn Manson. His schlocky persona is caried through into the visuals used in the bands releases and in their stage show. Manson continues the tradition of over-the-top rock theatricality. The traditional moral panic has followed. Mansons music was implicated as an inuence on the Columbine school shootings. Interviewed in Michael Moores 2002 film Bowling For Columbine, Manson states, I denitely can see why they would pick me. Because I think its easy to throw my face on the TV, because in the end, Im a poster boy for fear. Because I represent what everyone is afraid of, because I say and do whatever I want.[5] Manson has used visuals that allude to Nazi symbols, including a lightning shock logo in black, red and white on his 1996 album Antichrist Superstar. According to Obodda, The stage show during this

Rammstein logo, Marilyn Manson Antichrist Superstar logo

Viele Feinde - Viele Ehre

tour included what resembled a fascist rally, employing the symbol on long banners As the bands bassist and keyboardist played on his left and right in shiny plastic army helmets, Manson stood in the middle, elevated on a podium also emblazoned with the shock logo.[6] When asked if he was worried about being misunderstood, Manson replied, Some people thought it was geat satire, others thought I was a fascist, others just blindly pumped their sts and didnt notice the irony.[7] Marilyn Manson is probably one of the most controversycausing musicians of recent times, with his over-the-top stage persona and use of extreme imagery, both political and otherwise, generating a lot of media attention and moral panic. But the bands videos are played on MTV, and his live appearances are frequently in the stadiums and arenas of the traditional rock tour circuit. The closest other Industrial musicians have come to this level of public exposure, and public moral panic, was when Throbbing Gristle/COUM held their Prostitution show at the ICA in 1976. This show famously led Tory MP Nicholas Fairbairn to label the work on display as a sickening outrage. Sadistic. Obscene. Evil Public money is being wasted here to destroy the morality of our society. These people are the wreckers of civilisation.[8] Though this statement was clearly hyperbolic, it reected a real moral fear at the time. One simply cannot nd comments of similar weight about the musicians in the Industrial and neofolk underground, because they do not reach an audience anywhere near the size of Marilyn Mansons, or have the backing of institutions such as the ICA. It is almost impossible to believe that the use of certain images could inuence the political beliefs of the audience. But clearly the use of any image carries certain connotations for the audience, whether implicit or explicit, intentional or coincidental. The context the image is presented in, and the intent behind the use of the image plays an important part. The craft with wich the images are handled is also important. The careless or thoughtless use of such powerfully charged images has produced pieces which are more offensive due to their crassness than their political connotation.

[6] Obodda, 2002, 31 [7] Mulholland, 1998 [8] Ford, 1999, 6.22
COUM Transmissions - Prostitution flyer

So are these musicians promoting any particular ideology through the use of related images? In the majority of cases, they are not. However, there is a broad range of apparent intentions, ranging from total disengagement, to artistic ambivalence, to subversive criticism, to full-throated propagandizing. Some artists simply want to augment the dark mood of their work. Others want to discuss ideas deemed unappealing by the mainstream, even in completely supercial ways. They may want to shock and disturb, or to provoke thought and debate. For the early Industrial bands, being shocking was often an end in itself. Ambivalent use of extreme imagery is often enough to elicit this response in their audience. Throbbing Gristle dened their own career and an entire genre of music in this way. This created a feedback loop, with audiences seeking ever more shocking material, which opened the gates for the ambiguous and ambivalent works to come. Some groups did use the shocking potential of political imagery to ght for a cause. Test Dept did this openly, while Laibach employ more subversive and covert means. In either case, the shock tactics were intended as a call to action. Test Dept wanted their audiences to join them on the picket lines, to become more socially aware and socially active. Laibachs intent has always been a little more difcult to discern. But it is clear that one of their main aims is to draw attention to the dangers of totalitarian regimes and the possible connections between totalitarianism and popular culture. But the rest of this musical eld, the martial, folk-inuenced post-Industrial bands, seem determined to produce their dark art with no commentary, only aesthetic reference. As the majority of these bands are reluctant to openly discuss their true political beliefs, or even to conrm or deny any meaning inherent to their work, it is impossible to say for sure. Allusion and ambivalence rule. Explicit opinions and beliefs are obfuscated and confused, even when there is a point to be made. The use of these images is an appropriation of already existing connotations and implications. The potentially shocking imagery of totalitarianism can be seen as ready-made building blocks of meaning, employed by the musicians to easily generate a powerful response in their audience. These cultural connections are complex and often unpleasant to analyze. These images, visual, sonic and lyrical, are manipulated, layered, and combined in ways that defy their original context. It is up to the audience to seek out any meaning or message hidden in the music. The one clear intent of the artists is to generate a reaction in the audience, be it shock or fascination. The more potent and loaded the imagery, the more extreme the reaction. In the world of Industrial music, where shocking and transgressive imagery is almost expected, the initiated audience is prepared to deal with ever more taboo subject matter.

Final Muzak

Anon (2007) Fascist Bands at Slimelight Metamute.org <http://www.metamute.org/en/Fascist-Bands-at-Slimelight> Bracken, L. (1997) Guy DeboldRevolutionary. Venice, CA: Feral House. Burkholder, H. (2008) An Interview with Douglas P., Part I. < http://monkeyhouse-recordings.co.uk/JK2CMS/index.php?option=com_content&tas k=view&id=1056&Itemid=38>. Coogan, K. (1999) How Black Is Black Metal? Hitlist, Vol. 1, No. 1. Debord, G. (1995) Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone Books. Duguid, B. (1995) A Pre-History of Industrial Music. <http://media.hyperreal.org/zines/est/articles/preindex.html >. Dundas, Z. (2000) Lord of Chaos. Willamette Week, August 16. Ellis-Christensen, T. (2003) What is Moral Panic? Wisegeek <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-moral-panic.htm>. Ford, S. (1999) Wreckers of Civilisation: The Story of Coum Transmissions and Throbbing Gristle. London: Black Dog Publishing, Inc. Griffin, W. (1999) Laibach: The Instrumentality of the State Machine. <http://www.artmargins.com/content/feature/griffin1.html>. Hebdige, D. (1988) Hiding in the Light: On Images and Things. London: Routledge. Hegarty, P. (2008) Noise/Music: A History. London: Continuum. Keenon, D. (2003) Englands Hidden Reverse: A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground. London: SAF Publishing. Laibach (1983) Ten Items of the Covennat. Nova Revija, No. 13/14. <http://www.laibach.nsk.si/t3.htm>. Marcus, G. (1990) Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century. Boston: Harvard University Press. Monroe, A. (2005) Interrogation Machine: Laibach and NSK. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Mulholland, G. (1998) Talk of the Devil in Time Out: Londons Living Guide April 8-15, 1998. Neal, C. (1987) Tape Delay: Confessions From the Eighties Underground. London: SAF Publishing. Novotny, P. (1997) No Future! Cyberpunk, Industrial Music, and the Aesthetics of Postmodern Disintigration in Hassler, D. and Wilcox C., Ed. Political Science Fiction, Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press. Obodda, S. (2002) Sordid Allusion: The Use of Nazi Aesthetic in Gothic and Industrial Genres. Princeton, NJ. Pearce, D. (2006) Rose Clouds of Holocaust banni en Allemagne - dclarations de Douglas P. < http://www.deathinjune.org/modules/news/article. php?storyid=70> Reynolds, S. (2005) Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984. London: Faber and Faber. Russolo, L. (1986) Arte dei rumori (The Art of Noises). New York: Pendragon Press. Savage, J. (1983) Introduction, RE/Search: Industrial Culture Handbook. #6/7 Savage, J. (1991) Englands Dreaming: Sex Pistols and Punk Rock. London: Faber and Faber. Thorn, M. (2005) Der Blutharsch Interview: Time is Thee Enemy. <http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20050712131249999>. Various (2008). Situationist International. Wikipedia.org. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situationist_International>. Zizek, S. (1993) Why are Laibach and NSK not Fascists? MARS Vol. 3/4. Ljublijana: Moderna Galerija.