> The Nat'l Socialist Black metal (NSBM) thing is
> actually unfortunately pretty pervasive in the metal
> underground.
Sure but... so what? No offence, but youth/popular culture is less important politically than people think, metal is a small - if persistent - subculture within youth culture, black metal is a tiny sub-group within that and on and on it goes until we're talking about three people in some hut in a forest somewhere in Norway - hey, just about enough to start a fasicst 'mass movement' (or a socialist one, for that matter).
> There's a community I'm in online, "Black Metal
> Anarchists," for those of us who like some black metal
> but don't want to inadvertently end up supporting the
> lots of neo-fascist stuff that is in the genre.
You must admit though, on the whole metal is pretty dumb. I wonder why? (Honestly, serious question.) I remeber hearing the last album by the Fatima Mansions, Lost in the Former West, and you could barely put a cigarette paper between much of it and metal musically but the lyrics instantly turned off metal fans.
Not an important question, I might add. Besides, I know nothing about contemporary popular music and I don't care what John Coltrane's politics are (or what Cathal Coughlan's are, for that matter) - if I like the music, I like the music.
The thing is - and I'm conscious of the possibility of over-reaching here - wasn't metal, historically speaking, a working class subculture dedicated to getting loaded after a hard day's work and getting the agression out? A relative of mine was a metal-head once, hence my vague interest.
> A lot
> of times, yeah, a band labeled "NSBM" is just some
> idiots opening their stupid mouths during interviews.
> But sometimes the liner notes and lyrics do promote
> Nazism -- it's a real phenomenon, unfortunately.
Again, yes and, so what? A buch of idiot bands listened to by a handful of kids, most of whom will probably grow up and the rest of whom would probably have been racists anyway for whatever reason. I doubt that it is the music that makes them into footsoldiers for the phalange. Or even if it did, how much it would matter in the prevailing 'historical circumstances', if I may be so crass.
Your use of the term Nazism is instructive - and correct. They are Hitler-worshipers disconnected from political reality more than they are 'really existing' fascists.
> And the folks
> who try to go back to ye olde timey Nordic religions,
> I believe that's known as Asatru:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asatru -- and that does
> seem to be interwoven a lot with the NSBM thing,
> though not by definition.
Mostly because they got bored with LaVeyian cod-Satanism, or to put it another way, they grew tired of the organ grinder and hunted high and low for a monkey.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan_Takes_A_Holiday
Jason.