• Fascist Music
FASCISTMUSIC.com

FASCIST MUSIC

ice cube - War & Peace Vol. 1 (Tha War Disc)

5/23/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
In this grim and bizarre image, Cube is styled as a top-hatted (!), cassocked ruler of a dystopian hellscape. A tank rumbles through the smoky ruins of a city, presumably commissioned by Cube to polish off the survivors. Cube, meanwhile, is insulated from the madness in some kind of iron structure that nonetheless boasts the ornate trim befitting a ruler of some kind. Cube holds a staff, crucial for the works he'll conduct as leader of this post-apocalyptic world, and with his right hand offers some sort of Illuminati salute. To top everything off, this CD cover is "3D," in the late-1990s sense of "tilt this CD back and forth, and you will perceive motion." In 1998, this packaging was neither modern nor particularly impressive, but it was expensive and maximalist. You wouldn't be crazy to consider this to be "peak CD cover."

Ironically, Cube's persona on the album is the opposite of this totalitarian figure. The same bleak, fascistic atmosphere prevails, but Cube's role is that of a quasi-revolutionary on the run, working shadowy angles to defeat his enemies. With the dubiously valuable assistance of his sidekick Mr. Short Khop, Cube talks surreptitiously on cell phones, gets crippled by an assassin's bullet, and eventually slinks around the United States attempting to avoid extradition. Sure, he enjoys good moments smoking marijuana in the Hotel Niko sauna and owning "a mansion and a yacht," but he is not the solemn power figure of the cover. Maybe the cover is meant to represent Cube's successful fate following the events of the album. If so, it's a poignant reminder that deposing fascism often leads to nothing but more of it.

0 Comments

OneRepublic

5/1/2014

0 Comments

 
For OneRepublic, start with the name. "One Republic" is the antithesis of a libertarian, devolved democracy, a.k.a., fascism by definition. Fear of a single world government has mostly been the provenance of raving Tea Party truthers, but it's hard to deny the logic: If fascism is an inevitable product of concentration of power, then concentration of all power can (and eventually will) spawn the most forboding fascism of all. Plus, these assholes omit the space between their words, making their band name look like a 31st-century dystopian brand name.

Picture
OneRepublic furthers their fascistic case with music that can be best described as "aggressively mainstream." It's 90s alternative rock songs with an EDM-lite beat akin to jackbooted thugs kicking at your eardrums.  This kind of music is so mainstream that it's barely even made anymore, as most other artists tend to make token acknowledgments of the concept of originality. Not OneRepublic. They're the robot clones of contemporary pop/rock.
0 Comments

    What is fascist music?

    In Dave Marsh's 1979 review of Queen's Jazz, he wrote, "Indeed, Queen may be the first truly fascist rock band." No other word so neatly expresses supremacy of the powerful and devaluation of the individual.

    Music expresses desires. When artists are young and poor, it is credible that they could have yawning chasms of desires that are not being fulfilled. As they age, particularly if they are successful, they are increasingly performing from a position of wealth and power. So to hear them demand love, money, respect, or fame is dissonant. These guys won. At the pinnacle of their power, they are still greedy for more, boxing out desperate young strivers in the process. That's fascism.

    I rather enjoy fascist music. It'll be the soundtrack to our lives when the machines take over, so we might as well develop an appreciation now.

    Archives

    August 2022
    March 2022
    May 2020
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2016
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014

    Categories

    All
    1970s
    1980s
    1990s
    2000s
    2010s
    Actual Fascism
    Bloat
    Check The Name
    Classic Rock
    Cruel Misappropriation
    Facelessness
    Images
    Misery
    Pop
    Rap
    Rock
    Seizure Of Power
    Selling Out
    Session Musicians
    The Ever Tightening Noose
    The Music Sucks
    Tragedy

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.