White power music
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White power music is music that promotes white nationalism. It encompasses various music styles, including rock, country, and folk.[1][2] Ethnomusicologist Benjamin R. Teitelbaum argues that white power music "can be defined by lyrics that demonize variously conceived non-whites and advocate racial pride and solidarity. Most often, however, insiders conceptualized white power music as the combination of those themes with pounding rhythms and a charging punk or metal-based accompaniment."[3] Genres include Nazi punk, Rock Against Communism, National Socialist black metal,[2] and fashwave.[4][5]
Barbara Perry writes that contemporary white supremacist groups include "subcultural factions that are largely organized around the promotion and distribution of racist music."
Dominic J. Pulera writes that the music is more pervasive in some countries in Europe than it is in the United States, despite some European countries banning or curtailing its distribution.[2] European governments regularly deport "extremist aliens", ban white power bands and raid organizations that produce and distribute the music.[2] In the United States, racist music is protected freedom of speech in the United States by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[9]
White power country music
Several subgenres of white power music have been spawned, including country music — also referred to as segregationist music — which was developed in response to the American civil rights movement.[1][10] The songs expressed resistance to the federal government and civil rights advocates who were challenging well-established white supremacist practices which were endemic in the American South.[1] During the 1940s and 1950s, changes also occurred in the music recording industry that allowed regional recording companies to form across the United States, addressing small specialized markets.[11] B.C. Malone writes: "the struggles waged by black Americans to attain economic dignity and racial justice provided one of the ugliest chapters in country music history, an outpouring of racist records on small labels, mostly from Crowley, Louisiana, which lauded the Ku Klux Klan and attacked African-Americans in the most vicious of stereotypical terms."[1][12]
The artists often adopted
The ones who shout "Black Power"
Would bury you and me.
Yeah, the ones who shout "Black Power"
Should let our country be...
White men stand together and register to vote.
Don't let them take away our land.
We've still got lots of hope.[1]
Reb Rebel Records
In 1966, businessman Jay "J.D." Miller created a niche record label for his company, the defiantly segregationist Reb Rebel Records. It was arguably the most notable of the racist country music record labels.[1][11][13] Reb Rebel released 21 singles and For Segregationists Only, an album of its ten bestselling songs, four of which were Johnny Rebel's.[14][15] The label's first single, "Dear Mr. President" (referring to then-president Lyndon B. Johnson), by Happy Fats (Leroy Leblanc), sold more than 200,000 copies.[13][14] The song parodied Johnson's Great Society programs, which aimed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.[14]
Other songs were primarily about civil rights or the Vietnam War, "but they never really attacked black people."[14] The studio's second release, "Flight NAACP 105" by "the Son of Mississippi" (Joe Norris), was the label's bestseller; the track was a "spontaneous skit in the vein of Amos 'n' Andy."[14] It was the first in a series of "highly racist take-offs" of Amos n' Andy.[1] Few of Miller's racist records were played on the radio in Louisiana.[1][16]
Johnny Rebel
Because of bootlegged records and Internet interest, Johnny Rebel's career continued; in the late 1990s he was rediscovered, and he re-released his music on CD and promoted it with his own website.[14] The site, however, did not spark new interest outside his fanbase until September 11 attacks of 2001.[14] Johnny Rebel recorded and released "Infidel Anthem", about "the whipping America should lay on Osama bin Laden," leading to an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, where his new compilation CD and the new song were promoted.[14] At the time, Stern's show had a peak audience of around 20 million.[19][20][21]
Michael Wade argues that Johnny Rebel "influenced British racist musicians, notably the band Skrewdriver, which inspired other right-wing musicians".[22]
White power rock
The Rock Against Communism movement originated in the British punk scene in late 1978 with activists associated with the NF. The most notable RAC band was Skrewdriver, which started out as a non-political punk band but evolved into a white power skinhead band after the original lineup broke up and a new lineup was formed.[27] They were the "most dominant white racial extremist band" and were idealized in the "emerging movement that arose in response to perceptions of political liberalism, diversity, and the loss of a power in the white community."[1] Skrewdriver advocated on behalf of extreme right-wing and racist politics, and its frontman Ian Stuart Donaldson identified himself as a neo-Nazi.[1] The group performed mainly for other white power skinheads and "asserted the need for extremist political violence."[1] Bands that followed their lead also "fused racist ideology, heavy metal and hard rock styles", embracing "aggressive racism and ethnic nationalism".[1]
Availability
The controversial nature of white power music has led to many online platforms, such as Bandcamp, refusing to list white power artists' work.
See also
- George Burdi
- Coon song
- "Das Judenthum in der Musik" ("Jewishness in Music") – an essay by the German composer Richard Wagner
- Far-right politics
- Far-right subcultures
- Landser (band)
- List of Fascist movements
- List of Ku Klux Klan organizations
- List of National Socialist black metal bands
- List of neo-Nazi bands
- List of neo-Nazi organizations
- List of organizations designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as hate groups#Neo-Nazi
- List of white nationalist organizations
- Louis and the Nazis - a 2003 documentary about American neo-Nazis which was produced and hosted by Louis Theroux
- Prussian Blue (duo)
- Johnny Rebel (singer)
- National Socialist black metal
- Resistance Records
- Westboro Baptist Church music parodies - homophobic (and occasionally antisemitic and anti-Catholic) songs by the Westboro Baptist Church which are also considered hate music.
- Radical right (Europe)
- Radical right (United States)
- Right-wing populism
- Right-wing terrorism
- Terrorism in the United States
- Domestic terrorism in the United States
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Messner et al. 2007.
- ^ a b c d Pulera, Dominic J.,Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America, pp. 309-311.
- .
- ^ Hann, Michael (December 14, 2016). "'Fashwave': synth music co-opted by the far right". The Guardian. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016.
- ^ Farrell, Paul (March 18, 2018). "Fashwave: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Archived from the original on May 23, 2020. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-275-99569-0, pp. 51-2.
- Cyber racism, Race Discrimination Unit, HREOC, October 2002.
- ISBN 978-0-237-52717-4, p. 29.
- ISBN 978-0-415-36971-8, pp. 54-5.
- ^ Malone, 2000a, 2002b.
- ^ a b Tucker, 1985.
- ^ Malone (2002a), p. 317.
- ^ a b Herman, 2006.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pittman, Nick, "Johnny Rebel Speaks: The true-to-life story of how a South Louisiana man with a guitar and a belief became a forefather of white power music.", in: Times of Acadiana, Lafayette, Louisiana, ca. 2000.
- ^ ISBN 0-88289-608-3
- ^ Malone (2002b) and Pittman (2003).
- ^ Bernard, Shane K.,The Cajuns: Americanization of a People (Jackson, Miss: University Press of Mississippi, 2003) p. 63.
- ^ Pittman, 2003; Johnny Rebel – Klassic Klan Kompositions.
- ^ Condran, Ed (July 31, 1998). "Stern Producer Flourishes By The Skin Of His Teeth". The Morning Call.
- ^ James, Renee A. (October 1, 2006). "Hmmm? Stern's critics are plugged into regular radio". The Morning Call.
- Today.com.
- S2CID 144219004.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-14-303672-2.
- ISBN 978-0-203-75664-5.
- ^ Andersen, Mark. Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. Akashic Books, 2003. p. 159
- ^ Flynn, Michael. Globalizing the Streets. Columbia University Press, 2008. p. 191
- ^
*"Skrewdriver- A Fan's View". Punk77.co.uk. Retrieved 31 August 2010..
"Skrewdriver- Press Cuttings". Punk77.co.uk. Retrieved 31 August 2010..
Diamond in the Dust – The Ian Stuart Biography Archived 2009-04-27 at the Wayback Machine - ^ a b Mattias Gardell, Gods of the Blood (2003), p.307
- ^ Rechtes Neuheiden-Festival mit Nazi-Runen im "SO 36"
- ^ Unheilige Allianzen, page 290
Bibliography
- Apel, W. (1969). Harvard Dictionary of Music, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
- Brake, M. (1980). The Sociology of Youth Culture and Youth Subcultures, Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll?, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- Fox, Kathryn Joan (October 1987). "Real Punks and Pretenders: The Social Organization of a Counterculture". Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. 16 (3): 344–370. ProQuest 1292921337.
- Fryer, Paul (January 1986). "Punk and the new wave of British rock: Working class heroes and art school attitudes". Popular Music and Society. 10 (4): 1–15. .
- Grout, D.J. (1960). A History of Western Music, New York; W.W. Norton & Co.
- Hebdige, Dick. (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style; London, Methuen; Fletcher & Son ltd, 1979..
- Johnny Rebel – Klassic Klan Kompositions. (2003). Retrieved February 1, 2006.
- Joseph, Branden W. (2002). "'My Mind Split Open': Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable". Grey Room. 8 (8): 81–107. S2CID 57560227.
- Lawler, J. (1996). Songs of life: The meaning of country music. Nashville, TN: Pogo Press.
- Leroy "Happy Fats" LaBlanc. (no date). Cajun French Music Association. Retrieved June 17, 2006.
- Mackay, J. (1993). Populist ideology and country music. In G. H. Lewis (Ed.), All that Glitters: Country Music in America (pp. 285–304). Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
- Malone, B. C. (2002a). Country Music, U.S.A. (2 nd ed,). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
- Malone, B. C. (2002b). Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working Class. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.
- Messner, Beth A.; Jipson, Art; Becker, Paul J.; Byers, Bryan (October 2007). "The Hardest Hate: A Sociological Analysis of Country Hate Music". Popular Music and Society. 30 (4): 513–531. ProQuest 208063554.
- Pittman, N. (2003). Johnny Rebel Speaks. Retrieved February 1, 2006, from "Present at the Creation." (2001, Fall). Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report. Accessed November 1, 2006.
- Sample, T. (1996). White soul: Country music, the church, and working Americans. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
- Tucker, Stephen R. "Louisiana Folk And Regional Popular Music Traditions On Records And The Radio: An Historical Overview With Suggestions For Future Research". Louisiana Folklife Program.
- Kim, T. K. (1970, January 1). A look at White Power Music today. Southern Poverty Law Center. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2006/look-white-power-music-today
- Flock, E. (2017, August 18). Spotify has removed white power music from its platform. but it’s still available on dozens of other sites. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/spotify-removed-white-power-music-platform-still-available-dozens-sites
- The sounds of hate. ADL. (n.d.). https://www.adl.org/resources/report/sounds-hate
Further reading
- Shekhovtsov, Anton, and Jackson, Paul (eds) (2012), White Power Music: Scenes of Extreme-Right Cultural Resistance. Ilford: Searchlight and RNM Publications.
- Farmelo, Allen (March 2001). "Another history of bluegrass: The segregation of popular music in the United States, 1820–1900". Popular Music and Society. 25 (1–2): 179–203. S2CID 190723735.
- Hill, Jane H. (2008). The Everyday Language of White Racism. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
- Musial, Jennifer (2019). "'We're Country': Britney Spears, Southern White Femininity, and the American Dream". Feminist Formations. 31 (3): 72–94. ProQuest 2368696622.