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This ain’t rock n’ roll: Pop music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich

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Author:Daniel Rachel

“This ain’t rock n’ roll…” (TARR) is a polemical history of the use of Nazi imagery and semiotics in rock music, particularly covering the 1970s onward. You get an idea of where it is coming from by Billy Bragg having written the forward (though this is not a topic which invites a dispassionate analysis given the awfulness of what the Nazi’s did, and inspired in others).

TARR documents some grim quotes and style errors by lot of national treasures regarding their complicity and airheadedness about appropriating swastikas, recommending (or at least trying with plausible deniability to consider) right-wing authoritarian leaders, and generally observing that those Nazi’s had a lot of style (which brought to mind PJ O’ Rouke’s observation that “be that as it may be, nobody ever had a sexual fantasy about someone dressed as a communist”).

The author of TARR would not find that funny; as though Nazi ideology is ostensibly not a topic to joke about. But it really is. People laugh at death and that which they fear, “dark humour” being a classic defence mechanism, and over 50 years on, “The Producers” remains a fantastically subversive response to Nazis and the boneheads who » Continue Reading.

Shrinkers and no longer being able to make it work.

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Complementary to “growers” (paging Moose!) are “shrinkers”: bands and artists you once venerated, and eventually had to let go of, even though it had been a long and loving relationship. Bands that are at that stage for me are the no-hits Clash, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Genesis and Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd (including Dave and Roger’s solo work), The Who (MAYBE “Quadrophrenia”), and,l dare I say it, The Beatles. Overexposure is part of it.

RIP Mark Volman

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Obituary

“World-famous funny fat person” (as Frank Zappa churlishly described him), Mark Volman has joined the choir eternal, which is appropriate given he and Howard Kaylen were go-to vocalists on many famous songs, including hits by Marc Bolan, Alice Cooper, Bruce Springsteen, and david Cassidy. Volman later cleaned up his act and taught music business at an American university; I believe he found De Lawd as well – “whatever gets you through the night”. I saw “Flo and Eddie” at “The venue” in 1981, and very amusing they were, too. Less sordid groupie tales, and more parodies of the current big things, including Devo and “The Wall”. See below:

Budgie – The Absence

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Author:Budgie (Peter Clarke)

I always regarded “Siouxsie and the Banshees” as the last of the great glam rock groups, an arty confection proud to reach beyond themselves (pretentious, moi?), clearly looking in a variety of directions beyond the punk ramalama which often reduced to hard rock without the hair, shrieking, and guitar solos. The tribal drumming of the Banshees was a lot of it – clearly a beat, but with a conscious intelligence and taste rarely heard in drummers beating the crap about of the skins to drive the song along. I’d heard Budgie before he replaced Kenny Morris in the Banshees as I saw The Slits a few times. The Slits of 1977-78 really portended the future of music to me. They were “punk” in that skilled playing was not the thing so much as attitude, and their flavours of dub and soul were far more sincere that, say, The Clash’s efforts at something similar. Clearly feminist in the best ways, The Slits nevertheless replaced all-girl Palmolive with, as it were, a male Budgie. (A bloke replacing a woman in a feminist band? At least he had a bird’s name.) Any man doing this needed the right attitude, and » Continue Reading.

ATM – Todd Rundgren gigs

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Odd Todd the Godd is playing London and Birmingham in the Autumn. I am aware a number of folks here “dig” him. I’m a big fan. I’ll be going to Birmingham for the concert on 28th October, 2025 (if we are all still here). Seems to me, this could be an excuse for an earlier Midlands Massive Mingle, in the AW-friendlily-named “Seoul Kitchen”. Alternatively, you guys go, and try to avoid me.

https://www.atgtickets.com/shows/todd-rundgren/the-alexandra-theatre-birmingham/

Just Backdated – Chris Charlesworth (MM) blog

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I am often late to the party, but just wasted a good 3 hours reading through choice morsels from Chris Charlesworth’;s memoirs of 70s rock journalist life. Oh what fun they had, and we aspired to have from these naughty older brothers. Truly another time.

Any other rock n’ roll blogs I should have seen?

https://justbackdated.blogspot.com/

Hawkwind – live at the Royal Albert Hall – DeLuxe boxset

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What does it sound like?:

If you know Hawkwind, you already know what this sounds like; riffs, spacey wooshes, proto-punk/ metal/ rave riffs with space and fantasy-themed lyrics, declamatory vocals. Over the years, Hawkwind have become ever-tighter, which, like “The Fall”, is a reflection of discipline, not repetition (along with less jollop before the show, [possibly]). Wikipedia indicates this is Hawkwind’s 28th live album. A lot of them will have been much the same as my description. Whether you think this is excessive, is up to you. I couldn’t possibly comment. I certainly don’t have all of them, but there will be some proud TRUE FANS out there who do. Sir, we salute you.

I love the band, their attitude, and their fans, and their conscious and their shameless indifference to fashion or style, though, like many fans, I have a favourite era, personally missing Robert Calvert as Biggles in space. This 2023 gig was promoted as the 50th anniversary of “Space Ritual” – itself a live album, and definitive of the band. But 2023 concert here was not a full “Space Ritual” anniversary show – which occurred in 2014, and was later, yes, a live album. (Do keep » Continue Reading.

What ISN’T cool

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Fascinating debate by us movers-and-shakers as to what is cool.

I reckon it’s easier to say what it isn’t:

1980s post-Hackett Genesis Barclay James Harvest The Anti-Nowhere League Kenny G Chris de Burgh Vanilla Ice Clothes from “Foster’s menswear” “Mind Your Language” DVD box sets

Reader’s contributions, or have I said it all?

Rock n’ roll, I gave you the best years of my life

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This authenticity thing in rock music really irritates me, given it’s modern folk music turned into show biz and display for the mass market. All entertainment is artefice and exaggeration, and that’s what makes it fun. Being noisy and cross in front of other people who clap and give you drinks, particularly so. Maybe Crass or The Clash should have paid the audience?

https://www.the-fence.com/death-of-a-sellout/

“Interesting” hair

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The irrational band hatreds thread has been jolly interesting and amusing. I note that “interesting” hair is SO OVER. I must say, it always looked suspect to me, and the more “interesting”, the more suspect it was. A regular spikey top, mullet, or quiff, ok. But once it gets like Fruitbat, George Clinton’s crackpipe stage, Robert Smith’s current pissed gran-do, or weird shavings and colours … I’m not saying I didn’t have any of these, but the way of wisdom after 22 is a sensible barnet. An awful lot of weak music seems to be created when the dodgy rug is kidding you that you are an unrecognised genius with 3 chords and the truth aiming to wow the girls who listen to John Peel.

Phones playing music on trains

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This thing of young people playing their music on trains through the phone speaker really annoys me. Whatever the music, I think it is inconsiderate to others. Given the unpredictability of modern social life, asking them to turn it down, it could end up a scene, or worse, making the situation worse for everyone. It’s like smoking in a non-smoking area. Where did it come from, and how does one manage it effectively? Can’t they use their headphones? Massive, is there anything you do that will lead folk to show consideration for others? Can this be made as socially unacceptable as picking your nose in public?

Hawkwind – Doremi Fasol Latido – DeLuxe boxset

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What does it sound like?:

Hawkwind’s epic 1972 “Doremi Fasol Latido” is choc-full of bikerdelic belters; “Brainstorm”, “Space Is Deep”, “Lord of Light”, “Time we left the World today”, The Watcher,” are just some of the spicy little numbers. A single of the time – proto-punk “Born to Go” is added, along with the naughty “Urban Gorilla”, and “Brainbox Pollution”. Yes, an awful lot of this ended up on the mighty and still formidable “Space Ritual”, not that this is a bad thing. I still wonder how, given the band’s alleged consumption of hallucinogens, they kept the show as tight as they did – maybe Lemmy mostly keeping to speed helped. If you know Hawkwind, you know this album or the tracks, many of which remain mainstays of their live set. Not uncoincidentally, a legendary live set at the Greasy Truckers Party on 13th February 1972 is also included – note my observation re keeping it together.

The album has been give a remix which makes it a bit cleaner, enabling a spot of definition in the synths and bass, but over my aged ears and mediocre computer speakers, it was wasted (which I wasn’t – another problem » Continue Reading.

“Style” mags in the 80s

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So, who was a fan of “The Face” or “iD”? They were echt-hip back in the day. At university we’d affect Nevil Brody typography on our student union posters, and suddenly fashion was a thing. I was at Goldsmiths, which may have been relevant. Rock was viewed with even greater disdain than it was in a 1982 NME. “The Face” had some good writing, but, my dear, the superior attitudes. And the fashion spread on terrorist style … Oh dear. With their Robert Elmsy superiority complex, sometimes I think they put the ” fascist” into fashion, even though they fancied themselves more “Red Wedge”. I think my high point was seeing an ex girlfriend in the street fashion section of iD.

Bands with no original members left

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I’m sure we’ve discussed this before, but some acts are now completely “Trigger’s Broom” (in fact an act should be called that). I read that “Foreigner” are currently playing a tour of the USA, and there is not a single original member now. Dr Feelgood and Lynyrd Skynyrd are other bands with the same situation. Inevitably, all acts will become this eventually. Might it be better if they admit they are tributes to the band, unless they are recognised as a brand? I thing the current “Gong” is in the spirit of the original, but for anonymous faces slickly banging out the big numbers is more common. Should there be a copyright mark?

Frank Zappa – Apostrophe (50th Anniversary edition)

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What does it sound like?:

Anyone who likes Frank Zappa should know “Apostrophe”; it’s one of his most accessible albums, where he fully demonstrated his mid-70s satirical funk to the amusement or irritation of the TRUE FANS. The track listing, including the unforgettable “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow”, “Nanook Rubs It”, “Cozmik Debris”, and “Stink-Foot” are a statement of intent. This is comedy music, and complementary to the reciting of Monty Python skits to admiring girls in the 4th form, and hoping your hair is starting to get good at the back. These times are now past, and though doubtless there is some adolescent comedy surrealism to take it’s place, I’m not sure there is a modern equivalent of Frank Zappa. Maybe, given Moon Unit’s recent autobiography, that’s not such a bad thing.

The playing on “Apostrophe” is tight, the weirdness is reasonably constrained, and songs become ruder later in the 70s. The band shines; George Duke gives it swing, funk, and soul on keyboards, as does Napoleon Murphy-Brock; a pre-Genesis Chester Thompson beats the crap out of the drums, and on the title track, there is that perrential thing of wonder, a bass solo, here performed by » Continue Reading.

Moon Unit Zappa – Earth to Moon

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Author:Moon Unit Zappa

Moon-Unit Zappa’s memoir of growing up in the Zappa family household is both fascinating and disturbing. It very much fits with Tolstoy’s observation, now almost a cliche, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” My 40+ years of being a psychologist prepared me for the abusive household, awful hippie parenting (by her mother, Gail, dad often being distant, away, or focussed on one of the many affairs and groupies who Gail tolerated, but used as a stick to control Frank and take out on the family), Laingian scenes, parental favouritism, and resultingly Moon-Unit’s disturbed attachment and the need for therapy. I’m used to it, other readers may find it shocking (not that troubled families and painful family dynamics are unusual.)

Moon-Unit mostly writes well – her recourse into therapy speak at points is hard work to a Brit (even one in mental health), but probably comes with the territory, and helps her to live with what she lived through. The book can be very funny, and for those of us immersed in all things Zapparian, it is interesting to see the “conceptual continuity” that influences Zappa’s subsequent work (Gail’s » Continue Reading.

More trouble every day

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Hot weather, injustices in each direction, and it’s kicking off. Politicians trying to sound like a stern headmaster never convince me, any more than the headmaster did. From months of apathy and boring keyboard belligerence, to numbskulls using a significant mass killing by a mentally disordered offender to shift the concern from poorly managed mental disorder in the community, to the beefs stirred-up and aggravated by bad actors on social media. When people are angry and upset, telling them “you’re wrong, now go home” is generally an excellent way to REALLY piss them off. Are the folk kicking off correct to object to the two-tier system they claim means immigrants get away with offending in a way the dispossessed white working class are not? Is this one of those situations where there is a conflict between fair and equal?

Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the heart

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Venue:

Northampton Roadmender

Date: 17/05/2024

This was a tremendous gig; some seriously good re-workings of PiL’s “Metal Box”, the theme from “Midnight Cowboy”, and a couple from the first album turned inside out, upside down, and played straight, all at the same time, and mixed by the sound engineer with serious appreciation of the importance of bowel-loosening reverberations (the previous curry didn’t help) and dubwise tricks, often shouted by Mr Wobble as he was going along. The band were excellent with an ex-Banshee from the latter years doing the scratchy bits, and the “gorgeous and handsome” keyboard player (as Jah W insisted on introducing him) being distinctly proggy at points. The youthful drummer was not the PiL drummer of yore, but he was bloody good. At one point JW was playing timbales for a jazzier workout of a post-punk great, another time it was ALMOST heavy metal (but not really). You really didn’t know what was coming next, though we all knew the original album inside out. This is the way to play a classic album, and fair dues to JW for indicating the way forward.

The audience:

A mix of post-punk types now late-middle aged and more sensible » Continue Reading.

Brian Wilson has dementia

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Sad news. Long troubled, when I saw him in 2002 was touched but disturbed by his state given the joy of the music, the affection of the fans, and his vulnerable state. His mental illness has been long known, but dementia is a new thing – though maybe to be expected given all that problematic brain activity.

I saw written that Yoko Ono has dementia, too.

Musical abilities sometimes hold relative to the decline of intellect in dementia patients. I will resist the obvious gag based on Brian and yoko.

https://theblast.com/578724/beach-boys-brian-wilson-conservatorship-filed-suffering-dementia/

My heart sinks and I feel a little nauseous

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Here’s hoping Steely Dan seize the moment to do a few gigs on their own whilst they are over here. They’d easily sell out the RAH. I’d be disappointed if the ‘Dan were SUPPORTED by The Eagles.

“People think I’m crazy, but I’m just growing old.”

https://planetradio.co.uk/planet-rock/news/rock-news/eagles-manchester-co-op-live/