Fascist Music

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Sun Dec 13 11:52:54 PST 1998


Daniel wrote:


>What if I were to claim that virtually all popular music of our time is
>fascist music. As a musician, I would be glad to discuss the basis on which
>such determinations can and should be made, but, rather than bore you all,
>why don't I just enumerate some of the more telling signs of fascism in
>music. First is loudness. Second, a relentless beat. Third, a remorseless
>bass, which together with the aforementioned beat, I like to call the "iron
>boot." These two reflect the brutishness of fascism to an astonishing
>degree. Fourth, let's not forget the glorification of folkish cultural
>streams (such as the blues, in the American instance).

Folkish? Is anything popular folkish? And why do you define loudness, relentleness, etc. as "fascist"? These are features related to the sublimity I was talking about the other day. Sure the Nazis appropriated elements of the sublime - dissolution of the self into the race. We've all seen Triumph of the Will. But why is this essentially fascist?

Doug



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list