Musician reflects on the practice, common at the beginning of the movement, and states that it was a way of counteracting “conservative forces” in England
Billy Idol He reflected, in a recent interview with the Podcast Turned Out to Punk (via NME), about the use of swastines at the beginning of the punk movement in England.
According to him, this practice was like “fighting fire with fire,” in the sense of using traditionally conservative elements to counteract “conservative forces.”
The musician cited the decisive role of the designer Vivienne Westwood In the development of punk aesthetics and recalled that she, even though she had no sympathy on Nazism, implemented the use of swastika in the London scene clothing:
“Vivienne Westwood combined the swastika with communist symbols, with Karl Marx. And that was a bit like a” fuck “for conservative forces in England, which we kind of felt fascist. So we thought, ‘Ah, if you will become fascists, then let’s reflect it back to you.”
Then he complemented the reflection:
“It was a kind of reflection on the constituted powers. ‘Is that what you want us to be? We want us to be fascists? Oh, how about we dress like this to scare you?’ And it worked. ”
Although the intention is the best possible, Billy Idol admits that, at times, the practice was not welcomed, especially outside England. The artist remembered an episode in which he and Siouxsie siouxanother fundamental character in the English punk scene, were harassed in a show of Sex pistols in Paris, France.
“Siouxsie was wearing her night -gate costume, with printed swastika, and was leaving these leftist French crazy because they didn’t understand that it was a kind of performative art. They just thought she was anti -communist – because they were practically communists. They didn’t realize that it was part of punk refineatic art.”
He added, punctuating that this distinct view of fashion inserted into the musical context was a remarkable difference between the punk movement in England and France.
“They just didn’t understand the performing artistic aspect of London fashion present in punk. We were reflecting on what British society was doing with us by using this kind of political symbol.”
Punk Suastic
*Text by Paula Lepinksi for the adventure website in history.
The British punk came to shock. Speated hair, leather jackets with rivets, messages on clothes, piercings, boots, pins, pins and chains. It was worth everything not to look like the previous generation of hippies, whose ideas had been so swallowed by the mainstream that TV anchors were present with long hair.
Shown in bands, t -shirts and even paintings on the face, the swastika became part of the punk culture at the beginning of the movement. But swear the punks, the intention was not to alienate Jews or spread an anti -Semitic message. At least not for most of them.
Siouxsie Sioux, one of the greatest icons of the time, said Jon Savage in the bookEngland’s Dreaming.
“It was something anti-dwarf and anti-pais. We hated older people hammering on Hitler ‘we showed him’, and that smug pride. It was a way of seeing these people getting red with indignation.”
Sid Vicious, from Sex Pistols, also displayed the Nazi symbol as an act of rebellion, and that was not even close to his ideals – by the way, his girlfriend, Nancy Spungenit was Jewish.
The guitarist Marco Pirroniwho worked with Siouxsie, talked about the subject in 2001, as reflected by the Punk 77.
“We were trying to look decaying and imperfect to the point of annoying everyone, even the Nazis. We were not Nazi or we had political tendency. We had no problems with Jews, Pakistani, gays or any group, we only hate everyone who lived in a right world.”
But few understood this, so much so that the British National Front, a political party of ultra -direct and racist orientation, tried to recruit young members of the punk movement in the 1970s.
That’s when the Oi style came up! (with exclamation). They were skinheads – working class young people who hitherto listened to Jamaica sounds, and because they couldn’t work with fashion hair, scraped them. And absolutely not all skinheads were white supremacists. But some were, and the image of the bald neo -Nazi would always be associated with Oi!
This made the other punks seek to distance themselves from any connection with Nazism. Rock Against Racism and the Anti Nazi League emerged – with members among the skinheads. The “joke” with swastika would be left behind.
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Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
