The history of Far Right Politics in Music

What influence does music have on how young people develop their own political opinions? What influence do extreme-right musicians and bands have on different music scenes and youth cultures? Why is it well-received in some genres, but not in others? These are some of the questions we will try to answer in our fifth dossier.

The articles in this issue investigate extreme-right tendencies and their dissemination in different music scenes, examining two musical genres in particular, namely hip-hop and dark wave. We also want to point to where the causes of and reasons for the infiltration of different music subcultures may lie, and how the right’s success can be explained.

More importantly, though, is the introduction of initiatives and projects that counter this extreme-right trend, and possibilities for reproducing and integrating them. We’ll present initiatives and projects from different music scenes that want to make their own genre (e.g. hardcore, gothic or hip-hop) more resistant to nationalistic and racist ideology and infiltration.

Pop music is seen as a natural part of democratic every-day life. But extreme-right groups have long recognized the significance of everyday culture and integrated it into their concepts of political strategy. Extreme-right Kulturkampf (i.e. culture war) directly targets infiltration of different music scenes and the youth styles associated with them. Whether it’s oi, singer-songwriters, dark wave, metal, techno or hip-hop, extreme-right groups can be found in any of these scenes. Their goal is clear: to attract young people to the wolf of right-wing extremism by dressing it in a kind of cultural sheep’s clothing; political organizations alone no longer attract young followers. Traditional extreme-right music, as represented in military music and played today mostly at neo-Nazi demonstrations, suffers the same problem. These stereotypically extreme-right sounds, evoking the military, men, and marching music, are hardly popular among today’s youth. Music is itself not politically predetermined: a chord is neither right nor left; it shows neither contempt for, nor solidarity with, mankind.
Dossier #5: The articles in this issue investigate extreme-right tendencies and their dissemination in different music scenes (Hip Hop and Darkwave).

Extreme-right influence on music and youth culture
Extreme-right influence on youth music
Far-right music
(Christian Dornbusch and Jan Raabe)
Promoting nationalism through music
(Martin Büsser)
The wave and gothic scene
(Arne Gräfrath)

Music is nevertheless shaped by the way in which it is used and can thereby be a neutral form of dissemination for ideologies. Simple substitution of lyrics in the 1930s turned communist workers’ songs into Nazi fight songs (and vice versa too) – it was the military aesthetic that both parties shared that enabled »takeovers« like this. Today too, extreme-right organizations look for such aesthetic similarities before entering the genre and giving its style an interpretation of their own. In the area of dark wave, the use of pagan and Germanic symbols as an expression of mystical connectedness with their ancestors and with death is very popular – their closeness to the Germanic cult made them attractive to extreme-right influence.

The way that metal genres (heavy, black and speed metal) glorify violence and war, and the way that their lyrics are laced with Nordic mythologies, predestine these genres for (in particular, anti-Semitic) radicalization.(3)
The development of fascho-rock(4) makes it clear that fast, hard, loud music, combined with a cult of masculinity and simple racist prejudices can very well be an expression of an extreme-right, white youth culture, even if its musical roots are clearly black. Even hip-hop, the self-made culture of African Americans, was found in German far-right internet forums to be worthy of »occupation« because hip-hop with German lyrics has become so popular.
Bands like »Rammstein« and »Witt«, which are categorized as »Neue deutsche Härte« (New German Hardness) and are storming the charts, should be seen apart from politically motivated influence. They adopt the aesthetic of Nazi propaganda and symbolism in their videos and live performances primarily for commercial reasons and not out of real extreme-right convictions. Their dodgy flirtation with extreme-right consumers, paired with the music industry’s interest in a »German pop identity«, however, leaves the public unclear as to the artists’ true political intentions.(5)

Extreme-right influence – different dimensions of approach
The extreme-right’s infiltration of music scenes is not just a simple case of their entering areas of music that are new to them, but rather a much more complex social process. Extreme-right youth and pop culture comprises a many-faceted interplay of clothing, music, hairstyle, hobbies, political convictions, reading of texts, insider knowledge and knowledge of the »right« symbols. When »Rechtsrock« (far-right rock) makes headlines, usually only the genre’s spectacular and repulsive yet dazzling protagonists are reported on. The listeners and buyers are rarely the focus of attention, in part because they are hard to recognize: somebody with a »Landser« tape in his car tape-deck doesn’t necessarily look like a skinhead. If you want to deal with the phenomenon of »music as an expression of extreme-right youth culture« at a deeper level and look beyond the surface at causes, you have to answer three questions: who listens to extreme-right music? Who makes extreme-right music? Who makes extreme-right music well-known?

1. Who listens to extreme-right music?
To understand young people’s attitudes, you have to look at how are they socially, culturally and politically influenced. Social infrastructure (youth centers, local and state leisure facilities) plays an important role in how youth develop their own viewpoints. Even people who consider themselves to be more or less apolitical are sooner or later confronted by the question of whether they are »for or against foreigners«. Especially in rural areas or small towns, the position they take is not always determined by their own mindsets. Exercising cultural hegemony in connection with repressive structures is usually easier there for the right.(6
In plain words, this means that whoever does not adopt a racist world view and consume the music that goes along with it soon becomes a threatened outsider (the threats ranging from insults to physical violence). In big cities, on the other hand, there are usually more and greatly varied alternative living spaces, so that young people do not necessarily have to conform to political pressure. Of course, greater possibilities for individual cultural orientation do not preclude that people don’t come into contact with attempts at disseminating far-right ideology. Indeed, the anonymity of the big city and the usually greater tolerance of adults there for young people’s clothing styles enables the consumers of far-right music to remain within the »heart of society«.(7)
If we take a closer look at the young people who listen to far-right music, it is possible to characterize three types: a person of firm political convictions does not care what format the music’s far-right ideology takes – the main thing is that the band’s statement is far-right and one they approve of. Whether the songs are played as dark wave, singer-songwriter or marching music plays less of a role. The historical origin of the music (e.g. rock and roll as a development of black rhythm and blues) and the current context (e.g. hip-hop as migrant culture) is deliberately suppressed. The clothing style of this type does not necessarily correspond to a particular dogma.

Apolitical music fans, on the other hand, focus on individual aesthetic context – the lyrics or content of the music are secondary. Their outfit will also always be determined by the scene they are involved in. Someone who listens to heavy metal can also listen to songs from Nazi bands as long as they are typical of their genre and he or she likes them. »Love of the music« in this case, always takes precedence over the (political) statements of its makers. It is this type that is the most important target group for the infiltration efforts of the far-right music makers.
For the third type, the »authenticity« of the producers is most important: similarity of social conditions and »street credibility« play a large role. Music and lyrics as forms of expression do not have to conform to a high standard, as long as people can identify with the band members (for example because they come from the same city district or social clique). Musical quality or lyrical masterpieces are not in demand here. This type can be found for the most part in or around Nazi skinhead bands, along with a correspondingly military appearance and presentation (bomber jackets, combat boots, short hair cut).
2. Who makes far-right music?
As regards far-right music makers, we must distinguish between an independent underground and an »overground« oriented on the top ten charts. The former is marked by raw, coarse xenophobic lyrics and is not oriented on standard distribution strategies of the music industry: they copy, finance and distribute their cds, records or tapes themselves. Connections to local political groups and movements is close. The lyrics are not legally checked by their lawyer friends, as is the case with the sales-driven bands. Nevertheless, the underground bands (Oiphorie, Landser) enjoy great popularity in the far-right scene precisely because of their extreme and drastic lyrics.(8) With legally unobjectionable ambiguities in their lyrics, the representatives of the overground (e.g. Böhse Onkelz) try to attract as many listeners and buyers as possible. Instead of national socialist lyrics, they sing with a strong, emotional German nationalist patriotism. Recently the lyrics have contained a nationally motivated but simple critique of capitalism, globalization and the media. Arrangement and production conditions are high-level and in no way behind those of the popular mainstream.
3. Who makes far-right music well-known?
In 1992-93 attacks on foreigners in Germany (e.g. in Hoyerswerda, Solingen, Mölln) caused the mass media to take on the issue of the far-right subculture and its various forms. The media obviously found the most interesting form of the far-right youth’s self-expression to be their rock bands, with their bristling Nazi ideology. »Fascho-Rock« became the subject of media hype, turning into a trendsetter even the lowest-ranking garage band of the really quite clearly-organized far-right music scene. In so doing, they made this musical form of the far right’s »expression of opinion« really popular for the first time, and had the public believe that Nazi bands were a mass phenomenon. Television refused to acknowledge, or didn’t recognize, the amplifying function this had. Audience share and the hunt for the scandal of the day were always the first priority as regards the way the news was prepared. It’s not surprising that with the reduction in the numbers of attacks on refugee housing, the issue’s »attractivity« decreased for the media. In the mid-1990s, the public thought that this »uncomfortable issue« had been dealt with. This did not reflect real developments, however, as producers in the far-right music scene knew to exploit the media slipstreams and expanded sales, communication regarding methods of productions, and arrangements concerning concert organizations. During this time, the scene split in two: on the one hand, into the mainstream-oriented overground and on the other, into the underground, who did not resist the banning of their songs. Media coverage has become rarer, but the focus on the creepy, spooky appearances of »fascho rock bands« is still problematic: bad video recordings that federal institutions make of illegal Nazi skinhead concerts, as well as pictures of CD covers with military designs tend to attract, rather than repel, potentially interested people. Little attention is paid to the real, explosive importance of these concerts: as meetings of like-minded people, the concerts strengthen feelings of community and also serve as communication centers and forums for making contacts and exchanging information.(9)

Apolitical music fans are undeniably confronted with far-right politics and the rites associated with them (chanting of neo-Nazi battle cries and the singing of relevant refrains). Instead of addressing these issues, the mass media usually only connects (or assumes a connection between) far-right music makers and consumers when criminal youths wear outfits that clearly belong in the far-right category and when they listen to music that ostentatiously glorifies violence. One can hardly claim that the media deals analytically and responsibly with the issue, »far-right influence on the music of youth culture«.

Strategies against neo-Nazi infiltration concepts
Working strategies and initiatives against the far right’s efforts to infiltrate youth music culture usually come from the affected genre itself: activists’ experience shows that less superficial involvement with the origin, forms of expression, and history of development of the targeted culture can be worth it (see also the article on »good night white pride«). Awareness of the history of one’s own forms of cultural expression can clarify one’s understanding of far-right influences and have a preventative effect: »Goths« interested in dark wave will thus be better able to see what a fine line between art and politics their favourite bands are walking with issues like occultism and neo-paganism (see the article on »Goths against the Right«). Well-respected people within the scene can also have a successful symbolic effect by issuing written statements rejecting infiltration and re-interpretation concepts.(10)
If popular artists publicly insist on authenticity and integrity within their own genres, they educate the listeners of their music and draw their attention to the problem of infiltration (see also the interview with Brothers Keepers). As regards the extreme right’s intent to infiltrate current music styles and reinterpret them as expressions of far-right youth culture, it should be said again: neither far-right nor xenophobic positions can be found in the roots of hip-hop, rock’n'roll, techno, and reggae. Nevertheless, more or less successful attempts were and are made in all these areas. The charge of permanent plagiarism, i.e. the assimilation of forms of expression that are definitely »ungerman« and not racist, must hit the Nazis hard. The creative origin of almost all music genres is to be found among people that they actually want to oppose.

One can ascribe to some music genres a certain rebellious character, which ultimately mirrors youthful rejection of conservative social conditions, but the music itself does not have any political attributes. On the other hand, music is not without history – today, in fact, there is a veritable battle for the control of the stylistic devices used. Were it not for the lyrics, Nazi rock could hardly be distinguished from punk rock. While the pioneers of punk rock (like the Sex Pistols in the 1970s) refashioned safety pins as earrings and wore swastika T-shirts provoke the establishment, today fascist symbols are generally condemned. Right-wing extremists have adopted the rebellious and easily played 3-chord songs, not least because they grew up with them. Burkhard Schröder writes in »Der lange Marsch in den Mainstream« that »Rechtsrock is on the one hand an initiation ritual for the protesting underdogs on the margins of the affluent classes. (…) On the other hand, far-right music is one of the last refuges for young rebels, which is the source of its attraction.« But not only Nazis exploit this rebellious stylistic device: the music industry has been creating »punk bands« for some time, which, naturally more polished, have become an integral part of pop music.

The significance of this struggle for cultural identity, or hegemony over the stylistic devices and symbols of youth culture, should not be underestimated. First of all, though, we must become aware of it. The debate regarding original styles and their believable adoption and use can be an effective precondition for resisting appropriation by right-wing extremists or commercialization: by strengthening one’s own genre, through active creative cooperation and through a sense of responsibility towards the members and fans of the genre »Vernetzung in Sachsen« und »No Backspin«. (Links to the German area of this Dossier)

For a long time, far-right rock was exclusively associated with the extreme-right skinhead scene. But in the meantime, extreme-right tendencies seem to have established themselves in other subcultures as well.

Today’s far-right rock bands like »Landser« (Berlin) or »Noie Werte« (Stuttgart) are no longer made up only of extreme-right skinheads. For a long time now, young men who don’t feel bound to this subcultural style have been playing in bands like these. In the 20-year history of this music, both its content and style have changed. In the 1980s, standard extreme-right topics were »collective drinking«, football and violence, women and sex; after the so-called reunification, however, the lyrics usually focused on »Germany«.

Racist slogans became the norm and the general tone became more and more openly neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic. In the last few years, current political events are increasingly the subjects of far-right songs. The majority of German far-right rock bands still favour a mix of hard rock and raucous German-language singing. Clear qualitative improvements are mostly to be noticed in bands that have been around for years. Among others, far-right singer-songwriters like Frank Rennicke or his female counterpart, Annett Moeck, have contributed to a stylistic differentiation in this music genre, and the far-right subculture is composing its own ballads about national myths and heroes.

Taking their musical cue from hardcore or hatecore, as it’s played by American neo-Nazi bands like the »Blue Eyed Devils«, the music has become faster and more aggressive. Although this musical style developed from punk, they abandon punk’s emancipative and progressive approach in favour of extremely racist and anti-Semitic lyrics. The song, »We Believe«, recorded by the project, »Strength thru Blood«, comprising members of the English band, »Razor’s Edge« and the Bamberg group, »Hate Society«, begins, for example, with the declaration: »We believe in National Socialism. We believe in white supremacy. We believe we’ll smash Zion’s occupation.« NS black metal bands are just as explicit. Their musical style, however, is much more brutal and although they have the same reputation for glorifying violence and war, they are often deeply nihilistic and misanthropic. They contrast current social order with that of a pagan society which is inspired by Nordic mythology and which legitimates supposed laws of nature and the principle of »might is right«. »We are marching into a new age that will free us from Jews and Christians,« sings the NS black metal band, »Magog’s« (from Pirna in Saxony) in their song, »Feuer der Dunkelheit« (Fire of Darkness). This new age, according to the logic of this music scene, can only be brought about by the »total annihilation of the existing Jewish-Christian system.«
Although pagan themes like these can certainly be found in the »black scene« of dark wave, that sub-genre does not strike such openly neo-Nazi notes. More in keeping with the sophisticated pretensions of the far-right neo-folk subculture, bands like Markus Wolff’s »Waldteufel« prefer to address mythical and classically ethnic themes. »Der Blutharsch«, the band led by Albin Julius (legal name: Martinek) from Vienna, combines electronic sounds with rhythmic drums. Martial manliness prevails in this supposedly cultivated subculture and an old, military tone from the past World Wars dictate the song lyrics: »fight, victory or death!«.

Echos of neo-Nazism are spreading in parts of the techno scene, especially in the genres of gabba and hardcore techno. Music that has an extremely fast beat of at least 180 bpm (beats per minute) and is seen as left-wing in some places, has become a sort of romping place in the Ruhr for a developing right-wing techno-subculture. A development that was also found in the mid-1990s in the Netherlands, where Gabba was created. For a long time, the extreme right’s image was defined by a specific dress code. It wasn’t until 1996, when Hitler’s speeches were sampled by the Dutch DJ group, »88 A.D.R.«, that music started playing a role. Today’s German gabba DJs like »Kahlkopp« (now »WHIPO«) seem to have taken them as their role-model. In classic dancefloor, too, DJs with clever names like »DJ Adolf« have taken to sampling Hitler’s speeches.

In hip-hop, which until the mid-1990s was a pretty cosmopolitan genre, there are now also cases of racist rhyming and the use of metaphors that relativize the Holocaust. Just recently, »McPain« from Kiel (in northern Germany) rapped the following lyrics, which were propagated over the internet: »Turks are getting richer and richer, and Germans are getting poorer and poorer«. He fears conspiratorially that »it will go so far that a Turk will become chancellor here.« Even if messages like these are rare in hip-hop, or if the techno scene has more of a drug problem than a problem with right-wing extremism, these tendencies still show that a far-right Zeitgeist is gaining entry to various different musical genres. Just as racism has always been a social problem, it seems that it is unfortunately only a matter of time before racist and nationalist tendencies infiltrate other music scenes.

None of these bands, however, see themselves as explicitly far-right. But it wasn’t for nothing that two video clips started a discussion about the degree to which these bands are making a far-right aesthetic (at a symbolic level) socially acceptable. »Stripped«, a Rammstein video, is a montage of film sequences from Leni Riefenstahl’s propagandistic Olympics film, uncommented and produced without any exact reference made to its historical context. The video for Joachim Witt’s »Die Flut« (The Flood) showed a »member of the master race« dressed in white, who moves towards a boat, striding over masses of subhuman creatures (»Untermenschen«) crawling through mud on the ground, and sings of a great flood that will wash away all the mud. Images spring to mind that are associated with the slogan of populist parties – »the boat is full« -and with anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda, like the representation of Jews as a rat plague.

In order to understand how an aesthetic like this, with all its political implications, could gain ground in mainstream pop, it’s necessary to take a brief look at its past history. In the mid-1990s, at a time when, here in Germany, the media was dominated by one youth culture, namely the murdering, arsonist neo-Nazis, some of the people working in the music industry could think of nothing better than calling for the re-evaluation of German-language music, in the sense of a »German pop identity« (Dieter Gorny). In an interview with the »Spiegel«, Heinz Rudolf Kunze called for a quota of German-language music in the radio, along the lines of the French system, and regretted that after the Second World War, the German musical world was taken over by »foreign trash«, as though German pop music was ever free of the – questionably subjective – category, trash. The old rocker, Achim Reichel, was in even sharper in his formulation: »Now that the victorious powers have withdrawn their occupying troops, it must be the interest of every party not to deprive our country of its own current popular culture.« He speaks in the industry periodical, »Rockmusiker« (1996), »of an unprecedented act of destruction against our native music.« The head of »Viva« (German MTV), Dieter Gorny, met the quota in the end, and proudly told everyone, whether they wanted to hear it or not, that 40% of the music played on his channel were German productions.

This is not the place to analyze the causes of such a concentrated renationalization attack in the pop industry, in which more or less restrained chauvinism went hand in hand with profit interests. It is however interesting that it was precisely this debate that inspired the emergence of the »Neue deutsche Härte«, i.e. of a pop aesthetic that established a completely new (and on the other hand, all too familiar) picture of being German, of »German pop identity« in the charts and video channels.

It does not make much sense to want to read the lyrics of bands like »Rammstein« for explicitly far-right content; the level of new body images is much more expressive of reactionism and fascism, where manliness and athletic bodies are heroized as values in the sense of »survival of the fittest«. In an interview with the events magazine, »Concert«, Rammstein says, »we’re a pack. A pack where the ones who bark the loudest get their way.« The picture of women that Rammstein presents is correspondingly oppressive and focused on obedience. It can be heard in the song »Rein raus« (»In out«) on their latest album, called »Mutter« (»Mother«):

I am the rider
you are the horse
I mount
We start to ride
You moan, I tell you
an elephant in the eye of a needle
In out (…)
The ride was short
I’m sorry
I’m getting off, don’t have any time
have to go to the other horses
want to be ridden too
The »Neue deutsche Härte« is playing with fire in many ways, and at the same time is trying to shirk any political responsibility. In an interview with »Visions«, Rammstein said: »Motor (the record company) demanded right at the beginning that we paint a crossed-out swastika with a trash can on our records, like the Krupps, because EBM was considered far-right. But we’re not like that. Why should we apologize in advance for something that has nothing to do with us?« This statement is laughable; if any band is associated with a far-right aesthetic, then it’s »Rammstein«, not »The Krupps«. But it suits the newly strengthened nationalism to see the fire, muscles and drum roll aesthetic as though it could be completely separated from the political traditions and rituals associated with it. The director of Rammstein’s notorious »Stripped« video asserts that he deliberately ensured that not only swastikas were cut out, but also all other elements that refer to the historical context (the time of Nazi rule). It is precisely this decontextualization that lends the Nazi aesthetic a timeless charm and divests it of any political dimension. This differentiates the »Neue deutsche Härte« from Rechtsrock (far-right rock): it does not exploit far-right ideology, but »only« far-right pictures in the naive conviction that without their ideological underpinnings, their fascination is harmless, in the end even apolitical.

To start out with, an explanation of the term, »wave and gothic scene«, or »subculture«: in the following essay, this term refers to the whole spectrum of the so-called »black scene« with all its sub-genres like dark wave, gothic, EBM, industrial, fetish, etc. This is done knowing that some will therefore be forced into a niche where they don’t belong.

Since about the end of the 1980s, far-right tendencies have been observed again and again in the bands of the wave and gothic scene. But neither general (far-right) developments can be defined in the wave/gothic scene (WGS), nor can the attitudes of or statements made by groups or individual people be seen to be representative of the musical and cultural scene as a whole. This article addresses accepted phenomena and appearances within the scene.

Far-right influences in the wave and gothic scene
Neo-Nazi attempts to infiltrate the wave scene have been around as long as the musical genre has. The wave/gothic scene developed out of the punk movement of the seventies – it saw itself however as an apolitical counter-culture. Every opinion that possessed connecting elements to the wave scene was tolerated (thereby allowing the extreme right’s first successes). It is striking in this context that tolerance is often confused with ignorance, disinterest and lack of criticism. It is the lack of criticism towards neo-fascist opinions and content that makes the contradiction within the scene so obvious – on the one hand, the WGS sees itself as a critique of and counter-culture to a technocratic society that is contemptuous of human life; on the other hand, it flirts with symbols that cannot be more contemptuous of human life. It shares with the neo-Nazi subculture elements of esotericism, occultism and neo-paganism.
Dossier #5: The articles in this issue investigate extreme-right tendencies and their dissemination in different music scenes (Hip Hop and Darkwave).

Extreme-right influence on music and youth culture
Extreme-right influence on youth music
Far-right music
(Christian Dornbusch and Jan Raabe)
Promoting nationalism through music
(Martin Büsser)
The wave and gothic scene
(Arne Gräfrath)

When The Cure released the song »Killing An Arab« in 1979, the British neo-Nazis (belonging to the BNP or British National Party) made their first attempts to break into the punk/wave scene and to claim the song and band for themselves. These attempts failed, however, thanks to The Cure’s immediate and vehement opposition to this development and due to regular conflicts between neo-Nazis and goths at concerts.

As so-called neo-folk bands became popular towards the end of the 1980s / beginning of the 90s, the WGS’s iconography was increasingly marked by paganism and elements of fascist ideology. A clear interest in the goths’ counter-culture could be seen on the part of the so-called »new right« (and especially the far-right newspaper, »Junge Freiheit« or »Young Freedom«).

Roland Bubik, recipient of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s grant and a writer for the Junge Freiheit (JF), wrote in JF’s Culture section in the fall of 1993: "the youth culture of today offers promising approaches (..) A curious consciousness of living in a phase of decline is virulent. The »age of destruction« is spoken of. Parties in the techno scene are like macabre funeral ceremonies for the era. One (…) mistrusts the explicability of the world, turns backwards even, for example in the forms of the various independent scenes." In his texts, Bubik refers to the Italian cultural philosopher and representative of Anti-Modernism, Julius Evola (1898 – 1974), whom Umberto Eco called a »fascist guru«. Bubik believes he recognizes Evola’s »Revolt against the Modern World« in the dark wave scene.

After Bubik’s dreams of the techno scene (»Stahlgewitter als Freizeitspaß«, or in English, »Storm of steel (i.e. battle) as a leisure activity«) turned out to be nonsense (»mental rape by beat-computers and the masses«), he thought he found links in the neo-folk and gothic scene. He points to bands like Dead Can Dance or Qntal, whose »medieval ’music’ [speaks] a different, non-modern language«. The truth is that neither of the bands has anything to do with far-right ideology. Qntal belongs in the same category as German dark wave bands (e.g. Deine Lakaien, Estampie, Das Ich), which repeatedly and vehemently speak out against the far-right Kulturkampf (cultural war) (see also »Aufruf zum Dark-X-Mas-Festival 1992«). And Bubik’s co-editor, Peter Bossdorf (see below) had to concede that Dead Can Dance know no (musical) borders and cannot be reduced to the category of medieval music. On the release of their CD »Spiritchaser« (4 AD/Rough Trade 1996), he is disappointed to find that: »the Orient is parodied in an affected pose, (…) accompanied by unsurpassably boring, jungle-type percussion. (…) If this is supposed to be world music, the world is not to be envied.« (JF 29/96)

But the scene did have real connections to the extreme right: Bubik’s girlfriend, Simone Satzger (alias Felicia), singer in the gothic band called Impressions of Winter, propagated far-right cultural instrumentalization in 1995, recommending that one »open oneself to current cultural and political phenomena in order to use them for one’s own purposes«(1). Beyond that, there existed even then a number of bands which were genuinely far-right. The gothic scene’s tendency towards mysticism was of particular interest to the »new right«. The relation to romanticism, paganism and esotericism on the part of certain gothic subcultures is also of interest to the right, as it can be exploited for the purposes of far-right propaganda.

Bands, publishers, fanzines – the combination of commerce and ideology
»Operation Dark Wave« took its course in the Junge Freiheit (a far-right newspaper). A writer who was familiar with the dark wave scene could be found via a »competition for new blood«; she soon threw in the towel. In an open letter to Rainer »Easy« Ettler, the publisher of a fanzine called Zillo, she urgently warned of a far-right culture war and advised the goths that, for the right, they are only »useful wackos on the path to power.« (Unfortunately the letter was never published by Zillo, although it belonged right there in 1996 and a wider debate on the issue still hasn’t taken place.)

In the mid-90s, Peter Bossdorf, a Junge Freiheit editor who can look back to a long history with, among other institutions, the Thule Seminar and the Republikaner Party, was hired by the magazine, which had the highest circulation in the »independent scene«: Zillo was not above repeatedly printing far-right ads, among others for the Junge Freieheit (Zillo 2/96). Cooperation between Zillo and Junge Freiheit was well known due to protests within the scene: the Hamburg wave label, »Strange Ways«, (producer of the band, »Goethes Erben«, among others) and the distributor, Indigo, made the scandal public. After Rainer Ettler, Zillo’s editor-in-chief, died, Peter Bossdorf was finally thrown out in the spring of 1997.

But that does not signal the end of the far-right Kulturkampf. In the meantime, solid structures and networks have been developed. Publishers, magazines and a great number of bands have gained attention for their continued work for a far-right »cultural revolution«.

Excursus: Death in June
Death in June are the most important name in this context. They achieved a »first«: in 1997 an article on the band appeared in RockNord, the Nazi skinhead equivalent of »Bravo« (German teen magazine). The band’s name is their platform: they openly refer to the »national Bolshevik« wing of the NSDAP, led by the head of the SA, Röhm, who was killed in the so-called Night of the Long Knives on 30 June, 1934, by order of the NSDAP leadership.

Also worthy of mention is the fanzine, »Sigill« (subtitled »Magazine for Europe’s Conservative Cultural Avant Garde«), which in its conception is perhaps the magazine most worthy of being taken seriously in the so-called »black scene«. The nucleus of the dark wave scene’s far-right faction expresses itself here: Death In June, Sol Invictus, Radio Werewolf, Kirlian Camera, Orplid, Strength Through Joy, Allerseelen, Forthcoming Fire, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud, etc. Even if Sigill places great value on not being seen as a Nazi publication, the choice of authors, including Markus Wolff (Waldteufel), Kadmon (Allerseelen) and Martin Schwarz, who also writes for the NPD (the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany) publication, Stimme, tells another story. So do their articles, fed as they are through the »German machine«: compact discs are not called CDs as they usually are, but the German literal equivalent of »Lichtscheiben«. This is linguistic preparation for what Sol Invictus has joyfully sung about: »The Death of the West«. The far-right label with an affiliated book publishing house, VAWS, is another example.

Many members of far-right neo-folk and industrial bands also work part-time for far-right publishers and magazines that intellectually deepen the far-right ideology already present in their lyrics. In the long run, fans don’t just buy the records of their favourite artists, but are also interested in what they have to say in writing. Almost all the magazines named above share a mix of reporting on new far-right band projects from neo-folk, black metal and industrial genres; pagan issues; Germanic, Celtic and Viking cults; the study of runes; and more or less clearly Nazi, anti-Semitic or national/revolutionary issues. They recurrently appeal to »freedom of expression«, »artistic freedom« and »free thought« independent of »clichés« like left and right. At first glance, this makes things very confusing and contradictory, when people like Moynihan called themselves »anarchists« while at the same time using liberal and democratic freedoms to spout Social-Darwinist, anti-Semitic and racist »Blood and Soil« drivel, and to associate or even found far-right circles.

Even if the circulation of all far-right »wave« magazines are not a cause for panic, they are still important links between the far-right Kulturkampf and goths who are interested in featured bands or in paganism. The extreme right uses these links to rehabilitate the whole esoteric/mystical side of the Nazi regime (for example the SS Ahnenerbe and the school connected with it, Wewelsburg bei Paderborn); the national/revolutionary factions of the NS, like the SA; Italian fascism and the artistic genre of futurism that is so closely connected with it; the fascist Iron Guard from Romania and its founder, Corneliu Codreanu; Nazi artists like Riefenstahl, Thorak and Speer; Germanic cults; Social Darwinism; and anti-Semitism, and thereby the decisive ideological components of fascist, national/revolutionary and national socialist groups and organizations. Through the often playfully disguised removal of taboos associated with symbols like the swastika and the cross potent, and the establishment of Germanic runes, the extreme right is also trying step by step to change views on the Third Reich and ultimately world history in accordance with their own.

The magazines that have been mentioned can be obtained at certain festivals, like the International Wave Gothic Meeting in Leipzig, at concerts and in record stores. The records can be also be found in stores whose owners or managers are neither far-right nor unaware. Commercial interests make it especially easy for the far-right Kulturkampf.

It must be mentioned in this context that a large number of fans of bands like Death in June, Sol Invictus or Kirlian Camera are themselves not far-right, but simply enjoy these neo-folk bands’ music. Most people are aware of the bands’ »far-right image«. But especially in Germany, the fans fall back on the bands’ excuses and statements of disassociation that are published in music magazines and that claim their critics »misunderstand« them. There are, however, documented cases of fans who, through their involvement with neo-folk bands, suddenly became interested in sponsored ideologues like Ernst Jünger or Julius Evola and, as a result of their fascination with them, became part of the far-right Kulturkampf themselves. Fans who sincerely don’t want to have anything to do with it often have real difficulties parting with »their band«. Again and again, we could observe genuinely painful parting processes, which anyone can understand who imagines »having to« disassociate themselves from their own favourite band.