This video made me think of something I heard I think was in the Debutante by Jon Ronson (or some interview he gave about it) about Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth playing the role of nazi and that making you a nazi in end or something like that. He might been quoting Genesis P-Orridge but I’m not sure.
Does anybody have any idea what I’m talking about?
Vaguely… when I saw Pigface for the second time, they played a video of Gen dressed up as a Eva Braun merged with Hitler, screeching about BIER!!! Drank der BIER… Lots of people from the 70s and 80s underground scenes loved to play with Nazi imagery, and it could be hard to tell who was doing it as a meta-commentary (Laibach) and who was doing it because they loved the Nazis (Boyd, probably Death in June, etc). I think Gen was in the former category, but she was also often a bit of an asshole for much of her life.
It also strikes me that the post-TG Psychick Youth stuff was really about exploring that space of cults and how they work, and maybe being a bit of a cult, too. And to some degree, the walking of that line was part of the point, I guess? And what was more cult-like than the Nazis? It’s a rich vein of culture to actually try and study and understand, how can one create an entire society deeply imbued with that kind of violent death wish, that will willingly wipe out millions of people in order to “save” themselves… it’s scary as hell (probably the scariest thing in history) and it’s fucking weird, too. People who see themselves as creating commentary on the world via art, I can see them wanting to figure out the why that happened and who might be vulnerable… clearly, some of those people were themselves vulnerable to it.
I don’t know… I’m kind of rambling now. But I don’t think that Gen was a legit nazi, just a sort of angry, anti-establishment person who was interested in the shocking and perverse.
Yeah it’s always been hard to distinguish between “utilizing nazi imagery” and being a fucking nazi and there was always a lot of overlap / greyspace because these were kids. I knew anti-Nazi skinheads and pro-Nazi Black kids and that was in my backwater, backwards rural redneck town.
My personal take (not that I ever met any of these people) is that TTOPY was more a personality cult based around GPO, Death in June is 100% more Nazi than them or even Boyd Rice, and the only 100% non-Nazi people you should buy records from post TG are Chris & Cosey and Coil.
You know what definitely is Nazi though? Today I tried to google up some of Cosey Fanni Tutti’s old videos and every platform said YOU ARE IN TENNESSEE YOU MUST HAVE A WEB ACCESSIBLE CAMERA AND PRESENT YOUR PHOTO ID TO PROVE YOUR DOB TO ACCESS THIS AGE RESTRICTED CONTENT
Well, yeah, the roots of skinhead culture were never racist, given it’s origins in rudeboy cultures…
A bunch of Kanyes…
Yeah, for sure… but I see it as an artistic exploration that got out of hand… maybe not, though.
For sure…
So everyone, but Gen…
WTF… 
To be clear, I’m not accusing GPO of anything, (although Cosey did accuse him of past abuse in her book) just saying the more outspoken ANTI-nazis are C&C and Coil, and besides that their music is WAY BETTER (IMO)
oh, I agree with you totally. Gen had a reputation as a real asshole, and I think that Cosey’s charges of abuse are probably very true. Besides that… Gen really played that shit in a way that it was hard to disentangle her intention from her pose, if you get me. I think, pretty much, the only folks who have successfully navigated that divide has been Laibach, and I think that the context in which they emerged helped there. 1980s Yugoslavia had… a lot was happening with regards to violent ethnic nationalism, post-Tito communism, and the ever encroaching appeal of western capitalism that made what they were doing much more obvious without them having to explain anything. Again, I think events after 1990 helped make what they were trying for much clearer… It was clear that they were anti-establishment across the board of all of that, all while playing with all these symbolic languages/imagery from all of that. I think here in the west, they just came off as another European martial industrial band, but they managed to pull of a minor miracle in how they were able to inhabit a space that makes clear their intentions while playing it straight up.
Them being able to get a gig in North Korea is definitely a “you can’t make this shit up” moment.
Why didn’t I know about Crazy Horses by the Osmonds. WT actual F!!! There is an alternate universe where they continued to make albums like that and were remembered as one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Holy shit. How the hell did they make an album like that? Like…it’s not the greatest rock album of all time, by any means, but it’s a legit rock album. And the song Crazy Horses goes pretty hard. Especially considering it’s the fucking Osmonds! And why didn’t they keep making music like that?
Gen and Paula lived next door to a girlfriend in Hackney in the 80’s, she and her housemate often visited and chatted with them. She said that they were both sociable but that Paula was far more friendly, I only met them a couple of fleeting times. Paula’s story reveals more assholery
Sidenote: Their old house in Hackney still has the Psychick Cross in studs on the front door.
The full headline:
Trey Anastasio Talks Phish’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nomination (and Why He’s Not Voting for His Own Band)
This month we hear from the makers of the five films nominated for the Academy Award for best feature documentary. Today, Johan Grimonprez, director of “Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat”, discusses his film’s “fusion of jazz and geopolitics” that touches on colonialism, racism, the 1961 assassination of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba, and a State Department-backed goodwill tour by jazz musicians like Louis Armstrong and Nina Simone.
Doechii at the Grammy’s
Her Tiny Desk Concert - what a tour de force!
Doechii on Colbert - she choreographed this in just 4 days
This is lovely and inspiring
In Chuck Eddy’s rather eccentric tome Stairway To Hell: The 500 Best Heavy Metal Albums In The Universe (it includes albums by Miles Davis and Teena Marie!) Crazy Horses the album ranks at #66.6.
I’m more of a Deathtöngue fan.
