White power music is

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

that promotes

white nationalism White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwo ...

. It encompasses various music styles, including rock,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

, experimental music and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...

.Messner, Beth A., Art Jipson, Paul J. Becker and Bryan Byers. 2007. "The Hardest Hate: A Sociological Analysis of Country Hate Music: From Rebel Records to Prussian Blue: A History of White Racialist Music in the United States". ''Popular Music and Society''. 30(4):513-531. Ethnomusicologist

Benjamin R. Teitelbaum Benjamin Raphael Teitelbaum (born January 27, 1983) is an American Ethnography, ethnographer and political commentator. An associate professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Colorado, Boulder and former Head of Nordic Studies at the same ...

argues that white power music "can be defined by lyrics that demonize variously conceived non-whites and advocate racial pride and solidarity. Most often, however, insiders conceptualized white power music as the combination of those themes with pounding rhythms and a charging punk or metal-based accompaniment." Genres include Nazi punk, Rock Against Communism, National Socialist black metal,Pulera, Dominic J.,''Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America'', pp. 309-311. and fashwave. Barbara Perry writes that contemporary white supremacist groups include "subcultural factions that are largely organized around the promotion and distribution of racist music." According to the

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body funded by, but oper ...

"racist music is principally derived from the far-right skinhead movement and, through the Internet, this music has become perhaps the most important tool of the international neo-Nazi movement to gain revenue and new recruits." An article in ''Popular Music and Society'' says "musicians believe not only that music could be a successful vehicle for their specific ideology but that it also could advance the movement by framing it in a positive manner." Dominic J. Pulera writes that the music is more pervasive in some countries in Europe than it is in the United States, despite some European countries banning or curtailing its distribution. European governments regularly deport "extremist aliens", ban white power bands and raid ''organizations'' that produce and distribute the music. In the United States, racist music is protected

freedom of speech in the United States In the United States, freedom of speech and expression is strongly protected from government restrictions by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, many state constitutions, and state and federal laws. Freedom of speech, also ca ...

by the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

to the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the nation ...

.Eatwell, Roger and Cas Mudde, ''Western democracies and the new extreme right challenge'' (Psychology Press, 2004) , , pp. 54-5.

White power country music

Several subgenres of white power music have been spawned, including country music — also referred to as ''segregationist music'' — which was developed in response to the

American civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...

. The songs expressed resistance to the federal government and civil rights advocates who were challenging well-established white supremacist practices which were endemic in the American South. During the 1940s and 1950s, changes also occurred in the music recording industry that allowed regional recording companies to form across the United States, addressing small specialized markets.Tucker, 1985. B.C. Malone writes: "the struggles waged by black Americans to attain economic dignity and racial justice provided one of the ugliest chapters in country music history, an outpouring of racist records on small labels, mostly from

Crowley, Louisiana Crowley (Local pronunciation: ) is a city in, and the parish seat of, Acadia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 United States census, Crowley had a population of 11,710. Crowley is the principal city of the Crowley micropolitan ...

, which lauded the Ku Klux Klan and attacked

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

in the most vicious of stereotypical terms." The artists often adopted

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s, and some of their music was "highly confrontational, making explicit use of

racial epithets The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or ot ...

, stereotypes and threats of

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...

against civil rights activists. Much of the music "featured blatantly racist

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

that

dehumanized Dehumanization is the denial of full humanness in others and the cruelty and suffering that accompanies it. A practical definition refers to it as the viewing and treatment of other persons as though they lack the mental capacities that are c ...

African Americans", equating them with

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

s or "using cartoonish imagery associated with " Jigaboos"". Lyrics warned of white violence on African Americans if they insisted on being treated as equals.Messner, et al., 2007. Other songs were more subtle, couching racist messages behind social critiques and political action calls. The lyrics, in the tradition of right-wing populism, questioned the legitimacy of the federal government and rallied whites to protect "Southern rights" and traditions. The song " Black Power" includes the lyrics:

Reb Rebel Records

In 1966, businessman Jay "J.D." Miller created a niche record label for his company, the defiantly

segregationist Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Interna ...

Reb Rebel Records. It was arguably the most notable of the racist country music record labels.Herman, 2006. Reb Rebel released 21 singles and ''For Segregationists Only'', an album of its ten bestselling songs, four of which were Johnny Rebel's.Broven, John, ''South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous'' (Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican, 1983) p. 252, The label's first single, "Dear Mr. President" (referring to then-president

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

), by Happy Fats (Leroy Leblanc), sold more than 200,000 copies. The song parodied Johnson's

Great Society The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Universit ...

programs, which aimed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. Other songs were primarily about

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

or the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

, "but they never really attacked black people." The studio's second release, "Flight NAACP 105" by "the Son of Mississippi" (Joe Norris), was the label's bestseller; the track was a "spontaneous skit in the vein of ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...

''." It was the first in a series of "highly racist take-offs" of ''Amos n' Andy''. Few of Miller's racist records were played on the radio in Louisiana.

Johnny Rebel

Johnny Rebel Johnny Reb is the national personification of the common soldier of the Confederacy. During the American Civil War and afterwards, Johnny Reb and his Union counterpart Billy Yank were used in speech and literature to symbolize the common sold ...

, the pseudonym that Cajun country musician Clifford Joseph Trahane used on racist recordings issued in the 1960s, became the "forefather of white power music."Bernard, Shane K.,''The Cajuns: Americanization of a People'' (Jackson, Miss: University Press of Mississippi, 2003) p. 63. Johnny Rebel's six singles (12 songs altogether), frequently use the racial epithet ''

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...

'', and often voiced sympathy for

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), such as his first B-side "Kajun Ku Klux Klan", which was a "cautionary tale centered on the story of 'Levi Coon' who dared to demand that he be served in a café." The songs were "vehemently anti-black, its pro-segregationist lyrics set to the twangs of the era's swampbilly craze."Pittman, Nick,
Johnny Rebel Speaks: The true-to-life story of how a South Louisiana man with a guitar and a belief became a forefather of white power music.
, in: ''Times of Acadiana'', Lafayette, Louisiana, ca. 2000. Because of bootlegged records and Internet interest, Johnny Rebel's career continued; in the late 1990s he was rediscovered, and he re-released his music on CD and promoted it with his own website. The site, however, did not spark new interest outside his fanbase until

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

of 2001. Johnny Rebel recorded and released "Infidel Anthem", about "the whipping America should lay on Osama bin Laden," leading to an appearance on ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...

'', where his new compilation CD and the new song were promoted. At the time, Stern's show had a peak audience of around 20 million. Michael Wade argues that Johnny Rebel "influenced British racist musicians, notably the band

Skrewdriver Skrewdriver were an English punk rock band formed by Ian Stuart Donaldson in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, in 1976. Originally a punk band, Skrewdriver changed into a white supremacist rock band after reuniting in the 1980s. Their original l ...

, which inspired other right-wing musicians".

White power rock

Nazi punk music is stylistically similar to most forms of punk rock, although it differs by having lyrics that express hatred of

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

homosexuals Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

, anti-racists and people who are not considered

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, as opposed to the often left-wing lyrics of punk rock. In 1978 in Britain, the

white nationalist White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwoo ...

National Front (NF) had a punk-oriented youth organization called the Punk Front. Although the Punk Front only lasted one year, it included a number of

white power White pride and white power are expressions primarily used by white separatist, white nationalist, fascist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist organizations in order to signal racist or racialist viewpoints. It is also a slogan used by the prominen ...

punk bands such as The Dentists, The Ventz, Tragic Minds and White Boss. The Nazi punk subculture appeared in the United States by the early 1980s during the rise of the

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...

scene. The Rock Against Communism movement originated in the British punk scene in late 1978 with activists associated with the NF. The most notable RAC band was

, which started out as a non-political punk band but evolved into a

white power skinhead White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations and ...

band after the original lineup broke up and a new lineup was formed. They were the "most dominant white racial extremist band" and were idealized in the "emerging movement that arose in response to perceptions of political liberalism, diversity, and the loss of a power in the white community." Skrewdriver advocated on behalf of

extreme right-wing Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

and racist politics, and its frontman Ian Stuart Donaldson identified himself as a neo-Nazi. The group performed mainly for other white power skinheads and "asserted the need for extremist political violence." Bands that followed their lead also "fused racist ideology, heavy metal and hard rock styles", embracing "aggressive

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...

and

ethnic nationalism Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric (and in some cases an ethnocratic) approach to various politi ...

". National Socialist black metal (NSBM) is

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

that promotes National Socialist (Nazi) beliefs through their lyrics and imagery. These beliefs often include:

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

, racial separatism,

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

heterosexism Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of female–male sexuality and relationships. According to Elizabeth Cramer, it can include the belief that all people are or should be heterosexual and that heterosexua ...

, and Nazi interpretations of paganism or Satanism ( Nazi mysticism). According to Mattias Gardell, NSBM musicians see "national socialism as a logical extension of the political and spiritual dissidence inherent in black metal.Mattias Gardell, ''Gods of the Blood'' (2003), p.307 Bands whose members hold Nazi beliefs but do not express these through their lyrics are generally not considered NSBM by black metal musicians, but are labelled as such in media reports. Some black metal bands have made references to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

purely for

shock value Shock value is the potential of an image, text, action, or other form of communication, such as a public execution, to provoke a reaction of sharp disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions. In advertising Shock advertising or Sh ...

, much like some punk rock and heavy metal bands. According to Christian Dornbusch and Hans-Peter Killguss, völkisch

pagan metal Pagan metal is a genre of heavy metal music which fuses extreme metal with " the pre-Christian traditions of a specific culture or region" through thematic concept, rustic melodies, unusual instruments or archaic languages, Wiederhorn 2009, p. 6 ...

and neo-Nazism are the current trends in the black metal scene, and are affecting the broader metal scene.Unheilige Allianzen, page 290 Mattias Gardell, however, sees NSBM artists as a minority within black metal.

References

Bibliography

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Klassic Klan Kompositions
(2003). Retrieved February 1, 2006. * Joseph, B.W. (2002). "'My Mind Split Open': Andy Warhol' Exploding Plastic Inevitability", ''Grey Room, 8'' (Summer), 80–107. * Lawler, J. (1996). Songs of life: The meaning of country music. Nashville, TN: Pogo Press.

(no date). Cajun French Music Association. Retrieved June 17, 2006. * Mackay, J. (1993). Populist ideology and country music. In G. H. Lewis (Ed.), All that Glitters: Country Music in America (pp. 285–304). Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. * Malone, B. C. (2002a). Country Music, U.S.A. (2 nd ed,). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. * Malone, B. C. (2002b). Don't Get Above Your Raisin': Country Music and the Southern Working Class. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press. * Messner, B. A., Becker, P. J., Jipson, A., & Byers, B. (in press). The hardest hate: A sociological analysis of country hate music. Popular Music and Society. * Pittman, N. (2003). Johnny Rebel Speaks. Retrieved February 1, 2006, fro
"Present at the Creation."
(2001, Fall). Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report. Accessed November 1, 2006. * Sample, T. (1996). White soul: Country music, the church, and working Americans. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. * Tucker, S. R. (1985). Louisiana folk and regional popular music traditions on records and the radio: An historical overview with suggestions for future research. Louisiana Folklife: A Guide to the State. 222–240.