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Re Tom O'Lincoln's article at http://www.sa.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3060:rammstein-heartbeat-on-the-left&catid=220:culture-and-reviews&Itemid=223 Thanks for that Tom, very interesting. From what I've heard of the band on the radio they seemed so over the top I assumed there was some self-parodic elements there, like a fair bit of metal/heavy rock. Generally the whole blood and iron schtick of metal plus the lingering influence of early, more "cosmic" bands line Black Sabbath and Deep Purple who came out of psychedelia, seems to lend itself to a crypto-Nazi paranoid cosmology. There have also been those who adopt a bit of an ambiguous pseudo far right look as an ironic postmodern pose (Joy Division, the seminal Australian indie rock band Radio Birdman). But those within heavy rock who are really far rightists are hard to miss: the nasty, explicitly far right wing of the oi! sub-genre of hardcore punk (best known to Australian audiences through the movie Romper Stomper). I can't think of any metal bands per se one would describe as leftist, apart from maybe the Brazilians Sepultura who seemed to promote environtentalism and Indigenous rights. Interestingly those clearly leftist musos who use some elements of metal are very into hybridity: e.g. Rage Against the Machine (metal-grunge-hip hop), System of a Down (metal-punk-Armenian folk) and Gogol Bordello (metal-punk-Roma folk). Actually from memory I think Sepultura brought in some Indigenous and traditional music when they went more political. I was though sort of tempted to see the recent heavy rock extravaganza 'No Sleep till Melbourne', to see the Drop Kick Murphys but also in the hope that Megadeath would play their slightly adapted Sex Pistols cover, Anarchy in the USA. Brilliant! From Tom's article: "their arms are outstretched, but not in a Nazi salute; it’s a satanic gesture common in “alternative” audiences. Even so it’s too close to the edge for my liking." Well I assume you mean the forefinger and little finger salute which is closely associated with metal (and sometimes used somewhat ironically at other rock gigs), and is politically harmless I think. As an historical aside, on the HBO-BBC drama Rome a character did exactly this gesture as a very serious curse. The show was touted as a very accurate representation on ordinary life among the different classes in ancient Rome, and so I suppose this was a real gesture and there's been some weird transmutation to what it means today. Watching it I burst out laughing and wondered how many takes the actor needed to do before he could spot thinking of Spinal Tap or Wayne's World and keep a straight face. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
