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CONSTRUCTIONS OF IDENTITY THROUGH MUSIC IN EXTREME-RIGHT SUBCULTURES Joe Stroud A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Music The University of Edinburgh 2014 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis, submitted in candidature for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, and the research within it is my own work, except where explicitly stated in the text, and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. ——————————————— Joe Stroud 9 January 2014 i ii List of Figures vii Abstract viii Acknowledgements ix List of Abbreviations x Introduction: Constructions of Identity Through Music in Extreme-Right Subcultures 1 Terminology 11 Literature Review 14 Methodology 18 Chapter One: What “Extreme Right” Means and Who It Describes: Context, Definitions and Histories 25 Fascism, Nazism 27 Neo-Fascists, Neo-Nazis 31 Populism 31 Extreme Right 33 Far Right, Radical Right 36 The Big Four 37 Great Britain 41 Germany 52 West Germany 52 East Germany 58 Reunited Germany 60 Sweden 65 United States 75 Contending with Censorship 89 Conclusion 95 iii Chapter Two: The Paranoid Style and Popular Music: Extreme- Right Narratives of Conspiracy and Mass Media 97 Theorising Conspiracies 98 The Place of Conspiracies 103 Common Conspiracy Theories of the Extreme Right 106 Hidden Meanings and Feelings of Superiority 112 Constructing Conspiracies from Musical Moral Panics 114 Music as Part of the Partisan Media 118 Establishing an Alternative Media and Music 122 Conclusion 124 Chapter Three: Genre and the Construction of Whiteness 127 Whiteness and Race 130 Classical Music and Elite Culture 136 The High/Low Divide 138 What’s white? 141 Punk and Oi! 144 Rock 149 Metal 151 Folk 156 Country 161 Conclusion 167 Chapter Four: Populist Music: Genre, Lyrics and the Construction of Class 171 Populism and the Extreme Right 173 Economic and Cultural Class in Extreme-Right Ideology 174 Making Elitism Racial 177 Representing the “Ordinary” 181 iv Hostility to the Class Outsider 184 The Sound of the Street 188 Voice, accent and lyrics 190 Conclusion 196 Chapter Five: Violence is in Style: Music, Masculinity and Violence 199 Masculinity, Music and Violence 201 Masculinity and Violence: White Warriors 206 Maintaining the Masculine Norms of the Extreme-Right 209 Masculine Identity: The skinhead 217 Keeping the Skinhead Straight 220 Music to Imagine Violence: Revenge Fantasies 223 Music to Imagine Violence: The Coming Revolution 228 Music to accompany violence: Gigs 231 Music to accompany violence: Acts of violence associated with extreme- right music 237 Conclusion 240 Chapter Six: “Saga Music”: Paganism, Myth and Fantasy in the Extreme-Right Music Scene 247 Myth, past and present 249 The lure of the Vikings 253 Arthurian Nationalism 264 Mythologising Nazism 266 Making a Mythic Thread 268 Appropriating Fantasy 272 Conclusion 275 v Chapter Seven: “And for those of you who don’t like metal…”: The softer side of extreme-right music 279 Softening Strategies 281 Softer Success: Ultima Thule 283 A History of Softening: The Case of the BNP 285 The “Softer” Sex 290 The Softening Sell: Music for Youth 294 Broadening the Audience: Saga and Breivik 298 Conclusion 301 Conclusion: What Music is Doing 303 International Generalities, National Specifics 304 Making money; a secondary concern 305 Integration/indoctrination/recruitment into a community 306 Connecting the Community 307 Defining the community 308 Taking Things Further 312 Bibliography 317 Extreme-Right Websites 317 Extreme-Right Written Sources 318 Extreme-Right Magazines 319 Anti-Fascist Sources 319 Journalistic Sources 320 Books, Book Chapters, Journal Articles and Theses 324 Media 341 Conference Papers 341 vi List of Figures Fig. 1: Women on the cover of Resistance Magazine, Issues 17 (Winter 2002), 25 (Winter 2005/6) and 26 (Summer 2006). 213 Fig. 2: Cover of Ortel’s album Pro Vás A Vaše Ženy!, 2006. 215 Fig. 3: Strength Thru Oi! album cover, 1981. 221 Fig. 4: Ultima Thule’s album För Fäderneslandet, 1992. 258 Fig. 5: Skrewdriver, Warlord, 1989. 260 Fig. 6: No Remorse’s This Time the World, 1988. 271 Fig. 7: Contrasting covers of Dirlewanger’s Rocking for the Golden Race (1989) and Ultima Thule’s Vikingabalk (1993). 284 vii Abstract This thesis examines the musical cultures associated with extreme-right politics, considering not only what this music projects about extreme-right ideology, but also the various ways in which music functions as part of a political subculture. This analysis extends beyond the stereotypical extreme-right music associated with the skinhead subculture, often referred to as Oi!, to incorporate extreme-right engagement with genres such as metal, folk, country and classical music. The chapters explore various aspects of identity—including race, sexuality, gender and class—and their significance to and reflection through extreme-right music, as manifested in genre choices, lyrics, album artwork and the features of the music itself. The thesis also considers the way in which less explicit content is produced and the motivation behind this, the importance of myth and fantasy in extreme-right music, and the way that the conspiracist mindset—which is prevalent, albeit not homogeneous, in extreme-right culture—is articulated both in extreme-right music and in the interpretation of mainstream music as antagonistic to extreme-right goals. Music is significant to extreme-right politics for a number of reasons. It is generally understood to be an effective tool in the indoctrination and recruitment of individuals into extreme-right ideology and politics, which is why music is sometimes freely distributed, particularly to youths. The very existence of this music can act to legitimise extreme-right views through the implication that they are shared by its producers and audience. Music also acts as an important tool for the imagining of an extreme-right community through its creation of a space to meet and create networks, a function consolidated by the media surrounding music, particularly websites, forums and magazines. As well as constructing the spaces for extreme-right communities, this music plays an important role in identifying the characteristics of those communities, in articulating what it is to be “us” as contrasted to “them.” Analysis of this music suggests that it has the ability to resolve the ideological contradictions which define the extreme right, even as this analysis reveals such contradictions. viii Acknowledgements My name is on the title page, but I know that this thesis wouldn’t have been possible without the contributions of others. First, I thank the staff at various institutions and archives, particularly the National Library of Scotland, the apabiz archive in Berlin, the British Library and the University of Edinburgh Library. Funding assistance was gratefully received from the Richard Brown Scholarship and the Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst. A number of people were very helpful in responding to my enquiries and assisting my research, and among those who deserve thanks are Roger Eatwell, Matthew Goodwin, Nigel Copsey, John Powles, Dai Griffiths, Holly Holmes, Johan Förnas, Jan Raabe and Christian Dornbusch. I am especially grateful to Kirsten Dyck for sharing her resources with me and for interesting conversation. Spending time in Germany wouldn’t have been nearly so enjoyable without the warm reception I received. For this I’m grateful to everyone at the Music, Conflict and the State Research Group at the University of Göttingen, but above all I thank Professor Morag Grant for encouraging my trip, for helping with the details and for making me feel welcome (her Scottish accent also ensured I didn’t get too homesick). In my own department, there are a similarly large number of people who made this process more enjoyable, but particular thanks go to Tami Gadir for proofreading and Ninian Dunnett for football, and to both for their good company. In terms of scholarship, my greatest debt is to my supervisors, Professor Simon Frith and Dr Elaine Kelly, whose guidance, encouragement and insight have been indispensable. I was exceptionally fortunate to have them as my advisors. Many thanks go to my friends and family for their support, understanding and distraction, for helping me with my work and reminding me that there’s a life outside it. I owe the most to my parents, who gave their support in all forms and beyond all expectations, and to my wife, who has done more for me than she can ever know. I would dedicate this work to them if that felt like a pleasant thing to do. ix List of Abbreviations This list covers those abbreviations