Thousands of purveyors of neo-Nazi tunes just had their day ruined by a crew of enterprising Scandinavian anti-fascists.

  • RecallMadness@lemmy.nz
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    11 months ago

    I like folk music and industrial music. The overlap of the two seems to also have a disproportionate overlap of … what’s the best way to put it?… fascist-adjacent music. Imagery, themes, etc.

    Am I a fascist? No.

    Are the artists fascist? I don’t know, Boyd Rice Douglas P/Death In June sure has had some controversies about him, but he’s not been banned from streaming services. But In some ways I don’t care, I don’t have the time to unpick every lyric, image and interview from the artists I listen to, to make a decision on their political views. I just like the music. Open a public playlist and listen.

    None of the music I listen to appears to be sold on Midgard. But does that mean they’re not fascist?

    • orgrinrt@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Probably no need to worry. I like folk and especially nordic folk music (as in Wardruna, not Bob Dylan), which is very obviously something a neo-nazi would also probably like, if only for the superficial themes at play. I used to feel a bit afraid I might accidentally like and support someone I wouldn’t want to, but I’ve come to learn that these shops like midgard, they don’t have those kinds of “normal” releases usually, since they as a shop are often also banned on distributors’ side, so they couldn’t even get them if they wanted. At least eventually that’d kick in, as people report the shop to the bands or labels.

      The music and merch these shops sell are… very obviously neo-nazi. I recommend you take a look at the shop just to get an idea, though obviously a content warning is necessary here.

      This is all to say that unless the music you listen to is very obviously racist or neo-nazi or otherwise explicitly problematic, I wouldn’t worry.

      Of course I might myself be wrong here, but I’ve tried to keep up and stay up to date as to which bands I like could be or turn out problematic.

      None have so far, at least as far as I’m aware.

      They’d have to be very explicit. I think you’d know for sure, if that was the case.

      I listen to a lot of music like wardruna, I simply love the mysticism and the atmosphere of history, magic and rawness, but all of the ones I listen to are actively and publicly denouncing their music being used or approbiated by neo-nazis or other far-right movements or groups.

      I think a lot of people would make a lot of noise, if one of the more popular ones would refuse to publicly denounce that. Or otherwise dodged these questions. Some, like Wardruna, are very actively and explicitly fighting those forces and are in a sense “reclaiming” some of the themes and fascinations that nazis and neo-nazis used to have, especially in norse mythology and history and their themes.

      I am no longer anxious about being associated with wrong music. I think it’ll be very obvious if a band or a brand otherwise, takes a dodgy stance or especially very explicitly supports those dangerous ideals.

      Which is to say, I wouldn’t worry, unless the lyrics, branding and themes are very explicit in their meaning.

      • RecallMadness@lemmy.nz
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        11 months ago

        It’s not entirely clear cut.

        Douglas P of Death in June (who I meant to reference in my original post) sells (sold?) Algiz Rune pins, and stickers of Totenkophs on rainbow backgrounds (but, he’s openly homosexual) as band merch.

        Sol Invictus was formed by Tony Wakefield, who got kicked out of Death in June for being too right wing; and then he subsequently went on to create Above the Ruins for the National Front (interestingly, used to be banned but is back on Spotify), (but now regrets it).

        Von Thronsthal use a logo very close to the Schwarze Sonne, and self-published under “Fasci-Nation Recordings”.

        Both are on Spotify with no problems.

    • PoliticalAgitator@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      You don’t need to be a fascist to make excuses for fascists, but it’s bizarre that you read my comment about all the apologists the decided “he just hasn’t heard my brilliant apologise yet”.

      You can drop the “it could happen to you” act because it almost certainly won’t. For this site and those albums, “I just didn’t have time to unpick what the lyric ‘until every kike is dead’ meant” isn’t even a remotely plausible excuse.

      Stop defending them.