Nazi Punk: The Definitve History

A Nazi punk is a neo-Nazi who is part of the punk subculture. The term can also describe the kind of music they play.
Nazi punk music is similar to most other forms of punk rock, although it usually differs by having lyrics that express hatred for minority groups such as Jews, blacks, multiracial people, and homosexuals. Nazi punk bands have played several styles of punk music, including Oi!, streetpunk and hardcore punk. Nazi skinheads who play music similar to hardcore, Oi! or heavy metal are considered part of a separate genre called Rock Against Communism or hatecore.
Nazi punks often wear clothing and hairstyles typically associated with the majority of the punk subculture, such as: liberty spike or Mohawk hairstyles, leather rocker jackets, boots, chains, and metal studs or spikes. Nazi punks should not be confused with early punks, such as Sid Vicious and Siouxsie Sioux, who incorporated Nazi imagery such as Swastikas but are commonly thought to have done it purely for shock or comedy value.

Contents
1 History
2 Footnotes
3 Bibliography
4 See also
5 External links


History
In 1978 in England, the white nationalist National Front had a punk-oriented youth organization called the Punk Front.[citation needed] Although the Punk Front only lasted one year, it recruited several English punks, as well as forming a number of white power punk bands. The white power skinhead subculture took over as the leaders of the white power music movement following the demise of the Punk Front in 1979. However, the Nazi punk subculture sparked up worldwide soon after, and appeared in the United States by the early 1980s, during the rise of the hardcore punk scene.
The white power skinhead band Skrewdriver started off as an apolitical punk rock band, although some accounts show that vocalist Ian Stuart Donaldson held racist views during the band's apolitical years.[1] In the early 1980s, the white power skinhead band Brutal Attack temporarily transformed into a Nazi punk band.[2] They said they did that in the hopes of getting public concerts booked easier, but this tactic didn't work, and they soon returned to being a racist skinhead band. The punk band The Exploited has been accused several times of being Nazi punks, due to wearing of swastikas, racist remarks and behavior of the singer Wattie Buchan, and because of alleged personal connections to members of the far right. However, none of the band's song lyrics support Nazism or fascism.

Footnotes
^ Interview with and memorial to Ian Stuart Donaldson
^ "The Straps: History"

Bibliography
Punk Rock: So What? by Roger Sabin.
American Hardcore: A Tribal History by Steven Blush.
The Punk Front: 1978-79. British National Front production.
Memoirs of a Street Soldier: A life in White Nationalism by Eddy Morrison.
Condemned Magazine issue #2.

See also
Punk ideologies
Punk subculture
National Socialist black metal
Nazi chic
"Nazi Punks Fuck Off!" - song by Dead Kennedys
Rock Against Communism
White power skinhead

External links
National Socialist Punk Nazi punk history, ideology and music
Nazis & Punks Spanish Nazi punk site outlining the history and ideology of the subculture
Punks NS Spanish Nazi punk site containing information on Nazi punk ideology