Phil Anselmo can't be a Nazi because he's not clubbable

Phil Anselmo's Nazi salute and "white power" cry during a Dimebag Darrell memorial hasn't gone down well - and perhaps the best thing about this whole story has been the way metal fans have called him out on it.

Phil has tried two approaches now to try and explain what he might have been doing.

Attempt number one was to try and claim he was making a reference to the wine being served backstage:

He claimed at first he had been making a joke about the white wine served to performers at the event, who included Dave Grohl and members of Metallica, and said: “I fucking love everyone, I fucking loathe everyone, and that’s that. No apologies from me.”

In a lot of ways, that's probably a worse claim than the original - everyone expects Anselmo to spout Nazi bollocks, but suggesting that he was organising a protest against the backstage spritzers paints a picture of what happens when entitlement collides with too much time on a person's hands.

Still, he's realised that "I was taking wine" wasn't going to work, and he's now issued a statement:

Philip H Anselmo here, and I’m here to basically respond to all the heat I’ve been getting that I deserve completely.

“I was at the Dimebash, and it was extremely late at night. There was heavy-duty talk between myself and those who love Dime. And heavy emotions were flowing, jokes were made backstage that transpired upon the stage, and it was ugly. It was uncalled for. And anyone who knows me and my true nature knows that I don’t believe in any of that; I don’t want to be part of any group. I’m an individual, and I am a thousand percent apologetic to anyone that took offence to what I said because you should have taken offence to what I said. And I am so sorry, and I hope you just … man, give me another chance to … just give me another chance. I love all of you. And anyone who’s met me, anyone who knows me knows that I love all of you. Bless you.”

This might have worked if he'd not tried to pass it all off as vinicultural humour a couple of days earlier.

Two great problems lurk in this apology, though: the first being that jokes from backstage were "transpiring" on stage, which suggests that other performers might have been having a third-reich yukfest and only Anselmo was gauche enough to take his Hitlerian hijinks the wrong side of the curtain.

The second is that he seems to be pleading with us to believe he couldn't be a Nazi because he's not the sort of guy who joins things.

No, Phil. We'd want to know you're not a Nazi because Nazism is an odious skunk of a political ideology, not because you'd find it a faff to have to turn up to meetings and maintain your membership fees.

Amazon do a good thing

Let's start 2016 with a warm, amusing story.

Pegida, the German Nazis have released a pop song, and it's doing fairly well in terms of downloads.

That might not sound too amusing - and it isn't - but there is an upside.

Amazon, noting that they're raking in money off sales on this tatty piece of shit, came up with a fuck you Nazis plan. They're giving the money to help refugees.

Yep, they might struggle with paying their taxes, but at least Amazon have come up with a way to ensure that far-right propaganda helps fund the very people the nazis demonise.

Minaj: The Nazis were artistic nazis

The man who put together Nicki Minaj's nazi video has issued a statement:

Before I start, be clear that these are my personal views and not the views of Nicki Minaj, Drake, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, or Young Money.

First, I’m not apologizing for my work, nor will I dodge the immediate question. The flags, armbands, and gas mask (and perhaps my use of symmetry?) are all representative of Nazism.

But a majority of the recognizable models/symbols are American: MQ9 Reaper Drone, F22 Raptor, Sidewinder missile, security cameras, M60, SWAT uniform, General’s uniform, the Supreme court, and the Lincoln Memorial. What’s also American is the 1st Amendment, which I’ve unexpectedly succeeded in showing how we willfully squeeze ourselves out of that right every day.

Despite the fact heavy religious and economic themes were glossed over, there’s also Russian T-90 tanks, Belgian FN FAL, German mp5 (not manufactured until 1966), an Italian Ferrari, and a Vatican Pope.

As far as an explanation, I think its actually important to remind younger generations of atrocities that occurred in the past as a way to prevent them from happening in the future. And the most effective way of connecting with people today is through social media and pop culture. So if my work is misinterpreted because it’s not a sappy tearjerker, sorry I’m not sorry. What else is trending?

First of all: "Sorry not sorry"? Is it still 2012 in America?

Jeff Osborne, the artist who directed the “Only” lyric video, issued a statement via MySpace

Oh. I suppose if you're still using MySpace, "sorry not sorry" must seems as new and astonishing as the first time someone from Britain came face-to-face with kangaroo.

Still, it's nice to have that clarified. It's not about Nazi Nazis, it's just 'hey, aren't all regimes a little bit nazi-like, have you ever thought that OMG it's so obvious when you think about it and aren't CCTV cameras just jackboots attached to walls, right?' Nazis.

It's not unusual for Godwin's Law to apply in YouTube comments. There's more than a few piece-to-camera YouTube videos where it can be invoked. I think, though, this might be the first time Godwin can be pressed into service for a lyric video.

Hey, Jeff, here's one for you: why don't you take a picture of Obama, right, and put a little moustache on him? SEE IF PEOPLE CAN HANDLE THAT TRUTH.

Nicki Minaj embraces the Third Reich asethetic

Nicki Minaj's new video has a whiff of Nazism about it. I say a whiff, but that might underplay it:

Kinda makes Brian Ferry's frothing over Nazi architecture seem small fry, right?

Still, I'm sure Nicki can explain how this is all somehow okay.

I didn't come up w/the concept, but I'm very sorry & take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I'd never condone Nazism in my art.

— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) November 11, 2014

Just a quick thing, Nicki, starting out saying "it wasn't me" isn't the best way to start taking full responsibility.

And I don't think anyone was suggesting you were condoning Naziism, more using the imagery of a regime which killed millions to flog a few digital downloads. You were trivialising it.

In fact, the only way this could be worse is if you tried to tell us that one of your friends is... oh, hang on:

Both the producer, & person in charge of over seeing the lyric video (one of my best friends & videographer: A. Loucas), happen to be Jewish

— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) November 11, 2014

Oh, that's alright then. As you were.

Charles Moore remembers the olden days

Miley's having trouble moving on from something that happened over a week ago, but that's nothing compared to Charles Moore.

Moore still hasn't moved on from that time Russell Brand phoned up Andrew Sachs. The Telegraph's Mandrake column is happy to listen:

Brand thus displayed a peculiar lack of self-awareness when he alluded to Nazi persecution at the GQ [Men of the Year] event, given what Sachs’s own forbears had endured.

Moore drily noted that what Brand and Ross had later subjected Sachs to in their “disgusting” call also amounted to persecution. “I am not convinced that Mr Brand was ever really sorry at all for what he did,” Moore tells me.

Yes, incidentally: that is a grown-up, well-educated man who is idly comparing an ill-judged piece of childishness with the acts of the Nazis. That's surely the proof that will earn Mike Godwin the Nobel.

Fireman calls for Bauer stations to be taken off their hands

Bruce Fireman - described for these purposes as "media banker and analyst" - has demanded that Bauer be refused permission to take over Absolute and that, for good measure, it be made to give up Radio City, Piccadilly and all the rest.

The reason?

Nazis, of course.

It turns out one part of the Bauer empire publishes a magazine Der Landser, which has a rather rosy view of the Second World War and the SS in particular.

Fireman thinks this sort of thing should be used to draw attention to himself ("should bar Bauer from holding broadcast licences"):

"Bauer Parent's response to complaints made about its publication of Der Landser is that the magazine does not glorify National Socialism, nor does it downplay Nazi crimes.

It says it is lawful to publish Der Landser in Germany. That may be. That does not mean that a decently-conducted company would publish such a magazine which glorifies criminals but avoids prosecution by not mentioning the word 'Nazi' and not promoting anti-Semitism.

It is obviously unacceptable deliberately to evade the application of German law by not telling the whole truth about, and never condemning, the 'heroes' Der Landser glorifies."

Fireman reminds Ofcom that it "must be satisfied that the holder of a broadcast licence is fit and proper to do so and must consider not just the conduct of a licensee but also those who manage and control it."

Ofcom has always been a bit reluctant to use the "fit and proper person" test with any degree of seriousness - you'll have noted that James Murdoch's inability to spot what was going on under his nose didn't disqualify him - so it's unlikely that Bauer are going to have to exit the UK radio industry over a small-circulation magazine, however odious.

Justin Bieber visits the Anne Frank House

Of course, it ends in shallow disaster, as Bieber signs the guest book:

"Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber."

To adapt the words of the publisher who rejected the Diary Of Anne Frank: "The boy doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that guestbook entry above the 'curiosity' level."

Bookmarks: Amazon

[via The Daily WTF

Plan B is saying sorry

Plan B has issued something approaching an apology for his Skrewdriver tshirt.

The explanation of the genesis of the shirt - basically, he copied it from Gavin Watson's book Skins without bothering to ask exactly what it was he was copying - is in full on the Quietus, but B admits his error:

"The minute I found out what the words on the t-shirt meant I was angry with myself for not questioning them. The t-shirt is not official nor is it on sale anywhere. It was of my own doing and therefore it is my mistake, but that is all it is."

Earlier, though, he explains why he used the imagery in the first place:

I asked [Gavin Watson] if I could print shots from his book on to t-shirts. I made a number of these t-shirts. Gavin's photos are relevant to me because they represent the demonised youth of the past. Just like my generation of young people are demonised in the media to all be hoodie wearing thugs and chavs so were the skinheads in the 80's.

"Not all of them were racist but because some of them were, the rest were all tarred with the same brush. That is why I feel the images of the skinheads represented in Gavin's work are relevant to me and this generation.

I guess this proves that if you're going to play about with right-wing politics to make some sort of point, you need to be bloody certain you know what you're doing.

It's a fair point that not all skins were racists, but B is fundamentally confused if he thinks that being a skinhead in the 1980s is on a par with wearing a hoodie in the earlier 20th century. There was a distinct political outlook which had chosen the skin look as part of the badge of belonging, but the world was smart enough to know that not every skinhead was a fascist; those that were demonised were attacked for their politics, not for their cropped hairstyle - and people who felt intimidated by skinheads usually were actually being intimidated by far-right skinheads at the time.

Hoodies, though, aren't the mark of a violent, fascist subculture - the demonising of the hoodie wearer and the chav is not calling people for what they believe (or even what some people who dress like them believe) but because of who they are.

In short, then, Plan B tried a well-meaning but poorly though-through comparison, and got his fingers burned. But then, if Plan B really knew anything about the politics of skinheads, he'd have spotted Skrewdriver on his chest from the off.

The question does remain, though: if he knew that there were racist skinheads, wasn't it a bit lax to print up a t-shirt and wear it for a front cover magazine shoot when he admits he didn't know what the phrase was? Google offers over three quarter of a million responses to the word - any one of them would have flagged the folly in an instant.

Plan B chest mystery

An interesting piece over on The Quietus, pointing out the surprising tshirt Plan B is currently wearing on the front of Shortlist this week:

Yes, that's a Skrewdriver tshirt.

Yes, the skinhead Nazi Skrewdriver.

It's unclear why Plan B is wearing something like that - I don't think it's likely that he's a secret Nazi using a tshirt to send a hidden message to a sleeping bunch of racists.

It's possible he just thought it was cool, and pulled it on without thinking. Which is fantastically disappointing.

Far-right French party to sue Madonna

A couple of weeks ago, the Front National threatened to sue Madonna if she kept superimposing a swastika over the face of Marine Le Pen. Presumably they're such strict French nationalists they're appalled at the suggestion they'd need to import a symbol from another country.

Now, they're going to go ahead and sue:

[National Front vice-president Florian] Philippot said: "This is just another provocation in Madonna's world tour so that people will talk about her."

Well, thank god you didn't fall into that trap and draw attention to her, eh, Mr. Philippot?

"Marine Le Pen will defend not only her own honour but her supporters and the millions of National Front voters."

At this stage it's unclear if Madonna was also responsible for the Front National manifesto for the French elections appearing with Nazi-style symbolism all over it.

Bookmarks: Django Reinhardt

Django Reinhardt spent the Second World War in Paris. Jazz saved his life, even as it cost others theirs, explains Sociological Images:

Reinhardt, then, survived because the Nazis loved jazz music, even as Hitler censored the music and, on his orders, people who dared to listen to, dance to, or play it were encamped and members of the groups who invented it were murdered. Irony indeed.

Spotify: Now with added Nazis

Unpleasantly lurking in the belly of Spotify is hard-right band Skrewdriver and their Live At Waterloo album.

I'm sure the advertisers who keep Spotify afloat would be thrilled that you might hear their spot after listening to White Power or When The Boat Comes In (Nigger Nigger). How many companies would feel that doesn't hit their brand values spot on, eh?

You might like to suggest to Spotify they drop the race hate.

No, Mr Doherty... do Jimmy Cagney instead

Proving that - expensive education aside - he's not really that bright, Pete Doherty has been happily singing the Nazi anthem during a German gig.

Apparently, singing the Nazi anthem wasn't meant to be offensive:

In a statement released to Sky News Online, his spokeswoman said the Babyshambles singer "wanted to celebrate his appearance in Munich by assimilating and integrating with the crowd, something he tries do wherever he goes.

She added: "He was unaware of the controversy surrounding the German National anthem and he deeply apologises if he has caused any offence."

The statement went on to say: "Peter himself is from Jewish descent and has fought against racism and fascism with numerous organisations including Love Music Hate Racism.

"This is a subject he feels very strongly about."

You'd have to be a bit thick to imagine that singing the Fuhrer's anthm is going to "assimilate and integrate" you with a nation quite keen to forget that era.

Doherty was hauled off stage and off-air (oh, yes, this was being broadcast, too). Going "it's alright, I had a Jewish ancestor" hardly seems to make it alright.

Who knows the lyrics of Deustchland Uber Alles without knowing the history of the song? No, Doherty isn't a racist. But he's not as clever as we're lead to believe.

New owners of Waco tribune fire Ted Nugent

Ted Nugent, the unofficial spokesperson for things perhaps best just thought and forgotten, is less than thrilled to have been asked to stop contributing to the Waco Tribune.

The paper recently changed hands, and the new owners suggested they might welcome a more constructive line from Ted. Or "behaved like Nazis", as Ted puts it:

When the Nazis had the Americans surrounded in the town of Bastogne, they
demanded American General McAuliffe surrender or they would level the city. General McAuliffe’s reply: Nuts!

The new editor of the Waco Trib recently told me that I could only write nice things about people, that I could not be critical. Basically, that I need to tone it down. I can not, nor will not, comply with this Romper Room request. My reply: Nuts!

But, it's not just for Ted to call "Nazi" at an editor deciding that a contributor's tone doesn't sit well with his paper. Under the mistaken impression that a right to freedom of speech somehow means that anyone with a media outlet must subsidise everyone's opinions, Nugent then... well, he reaches for a comparison with himself:

I can’t envision Thomas Jefferson, George Washington or Ben Franklin
making a request of an anti-King George columnist to tone it down. I can’t imagine Martin Luther King toning down his message. It is impossible for me to fathom any American to tone down what is in his heart and soul.

Oh God, it's the Nazis versus Martin Luther King... and Nugent is King.

I criticize where I believe criticism is due. That’s what Thomas Paine
did when he published Common Sense prior to the Revolutionary War.

He did. He self-published, though, Ted.

I have criticized President Obama and liberals for what I consider to be
destructive, anti-American policies that will hurt our economy and harm your health. Not once have I criticized him personally because I have never met the man. As far as I know he is a decent enough guy, but in my opinion, is politically naive and very wrong, even dangerous for America. So do many
other Americans as indicated by the shrinking support for his takeover of the health care system and numerous other heavy handed, foolish moves.

I'm not going to personally criticise the dangerous, naive, wrongheaded man who will destroy everything we hold dear. I'm sure when he's not destroying everything he touches and killing you, somehow, he's a really nice chap.

When I have criticized President Obama, I have almost always countered
his dunderheaded, Marxist policies with a free market, more personal freedom alternative. More government control is not the answer to what ails America. Obama believes otherwise.

You see, Ted. This is probably the point, isn't it? The new owners of the Tribune are probably less worried by your trenchant views, and more that they're giving space to a man who can't tell the difference between Barack Obama and a Marxist. Sure, they might have told you it was because you were too mean, but I suspect they're really letting you go because you're a buffoon whose presence on their pages would make the Waco Tribune look like it offers a gathering for any soft-thinking whacko who cares to happen by with a closely-typed, ill-considered screed claiming to have evidence that Obama is a closet gay Muslim who will put all god-fearing Americans underground to live on bugs while he consorts with Satan and Nye Bevan on the streets of Washington. But - hey, don't take that personal, Ted, because I've never met you.

This newspaper and others should encourage spirited and lively debate
and criticism, especially when so many newspapers are losing
subscribers. I don’t support milquetoast journalism. It bores me.

Well, yes. Spirited and lively debate is a good thing. That's not quite the same thing as letting any blowhard roll up the paper and honk through it, though, is it, Ted?

Max Mosley won't be taking Lemmy's calls for a while

It's not entirely news that Lemmy has got a bunch of Nazi stuff, or, indeed, for him to be photographed dressed up in Nazi outfits.

Unfortunately, he's been using a photo of himself tricked out like a Nazi to promote a gig in Germany this weekend. Which - in a country which is quite sensitive about these things - is actually illegal.

The Guardian has dug out some thoughts Lemmy has shared about his love of the former Master Race:

"I don't only collect Nazi stuff, I collect objects from all the Axis countries."

Ah. That's alright then.

"Also from countries who aren't even mentioned anymore as former parts of the Axis. Like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Hungary."

We're sure the Latvian people will be delighted that you're ensuring their part in the Second World War gets the full attention it deserves, Lemmy.

"From the beginning of time, the bad guys always had the best uniforms. Napoleon, the Confederates, the Nazis. They all had killer uniforms. I mean, the SS uniform is fucking brilliant! They were the rock stars of that time. What you're gonna do? They just look good."

The echo of Bryan Ferry's "not that I'm a Nazi but, ooh, did you see their building work" is, we're almost certain, unintentional.

There's not a great deal thought going on anywhere here, to be honest:

"It's not a nationalistic kind of thing. Don't tell me I'm a Nazi 'cause I have uniforms. In 1967 I had my first black girlfriend and a lot more ever since then. I just don't understand racism, I never thought it was an option."

Some of your best dates were black, were they, Lemmy? It's interesting to see him treat racism as if it might be a choice - like deciding to try country music or sample a sushi bar. "I might have a go at racism today, then."

German prosecutors are investigating if Lemmy should be prosecuted, but it's unlikely he will be: it'd be like prosecuting a cat for looking a bit like Hitler.

[Thanks to James M for the link]

Summary, yes, but not quite justice

Although it's nice to hear that fans at a Hatebreed show in Columbus, Ohio weren't going to stand for a nazi whackdod throwing seig-heil salutes during the set, it's a little disturbing the resulting effect was dragging him outside and beating the crap out of him. However much you punch a calculator, you'll never get two wrongs to add up to a single right.

The aftertaste of Britpop

There was a large piece in this week's Guardian Films & Music section which looked at the Britpop second-string comebacks. It included this gloss on Kula Shaker's downfall:

Kula Shaker's Crispian Mills found the sudden, overwhelming success particularly miserable. "I think 98% of artists at the top of their game are suicidal, or lonely and depressed, or killing themselves with drugs," Mills says. "Look at Liam and Noel, trashing their marriages and fighting all the time." He believes that the huge media interest turned everyone, including himself, into "pantomime characters" - with his band's role being "psychedelic posh twats". Mills' own career was torn apart by his interest in Indian mysticism. In 1997, he told an interviewer about his dream of "great big flaming swastikas" onstage. He wanted to reclaim what was originally a Hindu peace symbol, but the Independent accused him of dabbling in Nazism. Stunned, Mills apologised. These days, he is less bashful about the episode: "Anyone who has independent thought is going to have a rite of passage".

This isn't quite as it was - nobody thought that Mills was a Nazi; the point was that he was someone who was so stupid he didn't realise that getting excited about having swastikas on stage would cause offense; a man who - like Lydon's mob before him - didn't have the capacity to understand that symbols used in the pursuit of a great wrong can't be re-assigned fluffy new meanings.

Still, it's interesting that Mills is attempting to rewrite his part in history - suggesting he was mauled for "independent thought" rather than stupidity, and that he was turned into a pantomime character rather than gleefully clambering into the back-end of a horse's costume all by himself.

Independent thought. From a man who flogged his songs to more than one car advert and beer advert.

Hitler was a Beatle

We're not quite sure why Brian Reade's got himself into such a state of excitement over claims that Hitler got as much fanmail as The Beatles. It's hardly a surprise, is it? "Hitler was popular" isn't going to make anyone hold the front page. Except Reade, perhaps:

Which makes you wonder how different we might have viewed him if he'd had a decent publicity agent who marketed Hitler wig-and-moustache sets, released a film called HEIL! and told a press conference he didn't mean any harm when he said he was more popular than Jesus Christ.

We're not quite sure if Reade really means to imply that Beatlemania and Nazism are directly comparable, but for a bit of PR spin. We know we're not fond of Lennon, but that seems a bit rich...

McLaren has an audience

It's fascinating to discover that Malcolm McLaren is on the board of Philips, the auctioneers, and somehow appropriate for a man whose career has always been about extracting as much money as possible from artists' efforts.

Whne the Telegraph goes to meet him, he's obviously puffed his ego up as much as possible; he misses the point when Nigel Farndale tries a cheeky question about how posterity will view him:

[A] man obsessed by his own self-image, I suggest.

'Completely. I have always loved the idea of being someone who can disappear, of never having an identity. It was probably due to my dysfunctional childhood.'

McClaren? Disappearing? Not if he can possibly avoid it. The man is Hereford in his own constantly redrawn Mappa Mundi:

'In the art world I am a sought-after creature,' he says haughtily. 'To participate in whatever, to endorse whatever.'

Frandale does challenge McClaren's cosy self-indulgence by asking him about his and the Pistol's obsession with the swastika. McClaren's answer isn't entirely satisfactory:

I ask about the fashion, specifically the swastika T-shirt that Sid Vicious always wore, at McLaren's behest. In retrospect does he consider it to have been a gratuitous and sick provocation? 'Not at all.' Does he think he could get away with it today? 'Probably not, but back then we were still on the tip of Sixties libertarianism.'

I suppose what I am getting at is that, well, he was Jewish. Didn't he find the swastika repulsive? 'Not at all. I didn't give a damn about all that. I thought it was just great.' He didn't give a damn about the Holocaust? 'Look, sometimes a younger generation doesn't want to inherit the history of an older generation, so we wanted to appropriate the swastika for ourselves. We wanted to have a clean slate. We decided that we liked certain icons from the past and wanted to reinvent them. We were trying to mix pop culture with politics and art.'

If you believe that Sid was thinking "I shall reclaim the Swastika for myself" when he pulled on his t-shirt in the morning, you're probably beyond saving. McClaren's defence runs counter-intuitive to the whole provocative nature of punk anyway - wearing Nazi iconography as fashion wouldn't have the power to shock if you didn't accept the then-recent history of the swastika; if the idea was reclaim and reky the swastika, what was the new message it was supposed to convey?

Clearly, McClaren doesn't want to say he didn't give a damn about the holocaust; equally clearly, when set against the opportunity to make money, he wasn't that bothered. And given that he's had thirty years to think up a justification that doesn't make him seem like someone who thought the death of millions upon million was somehow ripe for an ironic reevaluation, you'd have thought he could do better than sounding like he was in Kula Shaker.