Nazi punk

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Two 'Punk Front' members (1978).

Nazi punk refers to neo-Nazis who claim to be a part of the punk subculture.

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, mestizos, and homosexuals. Nazi punk bands have played several styles of punk rock, including Oi!, streetpunk and hardcore punk. Nazi skinheads who play music similar to punk rock or heavy metal are considered part of a separate genre called Rock Against Communism.

Nazi punks often wear clothing and hairstyles typically associated with the majority of the punk subculture, such as: liberty spike or mohawk hairstyles, leather jackets, boots, chains and metal studs or spikes. Nazi punks tend to incorporate Nazi imagery into their appearance, however some forgo these symbols in order to avoid stigma from anti-fascists, who make up the majority of the modern day punk scene.

Other names for Nazi Punks include: White Power Punks, WP Punks, National Socialist Punks, NS Punks, and Hate Punks. "Punk's Not Red!" is a slogan used by some Nazi Punks. It is a play on the expression "Punk's Not Dead!", which was popularized by the band The Exploited. This slogan is also used by some anti-political punks who want the punk subculture to be apolitical.

German Nazi punks participating in an anti-immigration rally along side other neo-Nazi youths.

[edit] History

Ian Stuart as a punk (1977).

Although the numbers of Nazi punks have always been small, they may have existed since the beginning of the punk subculture. The history of this faction within the punk subculture dates back as early as 1978, with an organization in England called the Punk Front. This group was a youth division of the racist National Front. Although the Punk Front only lasted one year, it was successful in recruiting several English punks, as well as forming a number of racist punk bands^[1].

The Nazi 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 neo-Nazi band Skrewdriver started off as an apolitical punk rock band, although some accounts show that vocalist Ian Stuart Donaldson held racist views at the time^[2]. In the early 1980s, the white power skinhead band Brutal Attack transformed into a Nazi punk band^[3] The reason they cite is that they were hoping to get public concerts easier. This didn't work and shortly after they returned to being a racist skinhead band.

The punk band The Exploited has been accused several times of being Nazi punks, due to racist remarks and behavior of the singer Wattie Buchan, and because of alleged personal connections to members of the far right^[4]. However, none of the band's lyrics support Nazism or fascism.

[edit] References to Nazism within main punk subculture

• The Ramones first album, Ramones, has two explicit Nazi references. "Blitzkrieg Bop" compares the band's loud and fast music to the Nazi war technique Blitzkrieg. The song "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World," includes the line "I'm a shock trooper in a stupor, yes I am, I'm a Nazi schatze, you know I fight for the fatherland." Some members of the Ramones had Jewish heritage, and their use of Nazi imagery might be similar to the feminist approach of reclamation or reappropriation^[5]. However some people in the New York City art scene took the band's approach seriously, and did not think of the lyrics as inverted-camp or anti-kitsch^[6].
• In the early days of the British punk subculture (circa 1976 to 1977), it was not uncommon to see punks wearing Swastikas and other Nazi regalia as a shock statement, having no belief in Nazism or racialism. Some of the most famous people to do this were Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and The Banshees, and Captain Sensible of The Damned. These individuals are not to be confused with Nazi punks.
• The Dead Kennedys song "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" is featured on the band's record, In God We Trust, Inc. The lyrics criticize not only actual Nazis, but also those who engage in senseless violence within the punk subculture. The band also criticized people engaging in Nazism as a trend.

[edit] Nazi punk bands

Various Nazi punk CDs.

• A.B.H. (UK)^[7] - formerly white nationalists and have since changed their racist views^[8].
• Arma Blanca* (Spain)^[9]
• ChaoSS Hellas (Greece)^[10]
• The Dentists* (UK)^[11]
• The Dirty White Punks (USA)^[12][13]
• Fight For Freedom* (USA)^[14][15]
• Forward Area (USA)^[16]
• The Italian Dogs (Italy)^[17]
• Midgårds Söner (Sweden)^[18][19]
• Rusty Nailbomb (Finland) ^[20]
• Skrewdriver (UK) - mostly known as a racist skinhead band, but started out as a non-racist punk band^[21].
• The Ventz (UK)^[22]
• Warfare 88 (USA)^[23][24]
• White Pride (USA)^[25] - perhaps the first American Nazi punk band.

*There are other bands with the same names which have no connection to extremist politics.

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] Bibliograpy

• 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.

[edit] See also

• Punk subculture
• Punk ideology
• Punk-skinheads
• Nazi-Skinheads
• Rock Against Communism
• National Socialist black metal