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Another review of Rammstein which looks at the politics: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/70014 I am not a big Rammstein listener, and I certainly can see the fascist references in their imagery and music but it seems to me that when a particular controversy (such as after Columbine or after the 'Stripped' video) has arisen around them they generally have responded and clarified their stance as being non fascist or racist. If they have been actively promoting or encouraging the far right at their shows or their lyrics are openly racist (which would be news to me and contrary to everything I have heard about them) then that would be a problem and the Anti-Fa should shut them down. Of course use of fascist-ish imagery does lend itself to ambiguities and I would agree that those ambiguities are inherently problematic. But they are also fundamental to how their particular art-form operates. It depends on transgression, reversal, pushing boundaries. Asking them to clear up the ambiguities in the art itself is a bit of having ones cake and wanting to eat it too. It is the transgression, the ambiguities, which give them much of their artistic power and it is a big part of why we listen to them. Yes it makes us uncomfortable, but we like that, we like having our boundaries pushed. If they were to clear all that up then we would no longer feel compelled to write tortured reviews of their music (On the other hand, if you can manage a good series of political interviews with them, go for it, more power to you). On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 10:06 PM, Tom O'Lincoln <[email protected]>wrote: > ====================================================================== > Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > ====================================================================== > > > Thanks for the many intelligent comments. Yes, I also dislike the fatuous > Euro-nationalist song "We're all Living in America". > > More important I agree with those who, like Dave, emphasized that we need > "a > certain recognition and tolerance for ambiguity at the expense of clear > statements." If I didn't have such a tolerance I wouildn't love listening > to Rammstein. But to tolerate it is not the same as to say it's always good > enough. We are talking about a very, very popular band whose work is very, > very ambigiouis and has been borrowed by the far right. If youi're in that > situation you have responsibilities. And I feel it's a bit precious to > doubt > we can discharge them without damaging the sanctity of art. An on-going > series of interviews ought to do it. > > My 3-volume book on Abba will appear in June. (Joke!) > > > > > > > ________________________________________________ > Send list submissions to: [email protected] > Set your options at: > http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/dave.xx%40gmail.com > ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
