Magma´s ideology controversy. Read this!

@ Dok: On the contrary, in the last link they clearly say they belong to NO ideology and that all such accuses are not true.

Hmmmm...hmm.

That was a good post from a German fan, and touching at that.

A few thoughts of mine:

Lot's of contemporary artists, coming from metal, punk, prog, gothic, industrial etc. are somehow resembling  a certain...'Nazi kunst' spleen to their artist identification, be it musical, visual, or both. Many of them are NOT sharing the seemingly sinister (actualy ultra-right winged, excuse the pun) political ideas and motivations - Laibach springs to mind, with their lobotomized visual aesthetics, military uniforms, album titles such is 'Occupied Europe Tour' etc. They were often being accused for embracing Nazi ideology, while the situation is exactly the opposite - they are using the tools for provocations - while deeply behind their artistic statement is nested a political and philosophical one, which is opposite, criticism and warning. There are many artists sharing the same sharp and penultimate provocative aesthetics, and tagging them as Nazis is equally narrow-minded - or at least hasted - as calling 99% of metal artist 'Satanists'. Of course, there are bands that are actually wallowing in Nazi ideology and believing in it, but that's beside the point and I won't talk about them.

I'm not defending Magma, and I'm not accusing them neither.

I utterly despise Nazi ideology - I consider myself a humanist, but, as far as the art goes, I don't mind anyone to shout their angst in the most pervert way as possible: call for hatred, call for murders, rape, defecate on stage if you want. Make people sick and uncomfortable. Call for every shocking and horrifying thing that humanity, unfortunately, did experienced and still does. As long as there's an explicit line between what are you doing in the name of art and your private life and beliefs. Such an artistic exposure could be irony, parody, allegory, provocation, shock for the sake of shock. But if someone believes and defends all that off the stage, then I do pity such an individual.

Speaking of Magma, it seems the band members are intelligent individuals, sharp and bitter about dull and dumb everyday life and establishment surrounding. But it's true, they hadn't explicitly answered 'yes' or 'n' to accusations directed towards them. I hope that's for the sake of keeping the provocative edge sharp rather than hiding what Vander & co. actually think about such ideology, if it's true.

And if it's true, well...I don't know. Here's an example I'm familiar with: during the political storms of Yugoslav wars, madness and hatred, many  Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian rock fans experienced too radical statements from certain artists (no matter the side) - some of theme continued to listen the music, some just stopped listening to artist(s) altogether, some embraced the 'they're a****les, but they make good music' attitude. You can't predict it unless it actually happens.




Edited by clarke2001 - January 18 2010 at 12:20

d.o.k wrote: The saddest part is that there is NO answers from Magma members rejecting and denying whats been said before.

harmonium.ro wrote: Completely offtopic, César, don't you think your banana sig pic has lived its life and can now be replaced?

My girl said that this banana picture is weird.

To topic: Isn't it something almost wished, in dream-like scenarios ? Like Stairway to Heaven with satanic message when playing backwards ?

fascinating.

Actually this is rather old news....the truth is not easy to determine, the main argument against the accusations seem to always be that Vander was/is a huge follower of Coltraine and that "coloured" and Nazism don't mix....go figure....Personally, I tend to always focus on the music and not on the personality/beliefs of the artist, although I must admit it's not always easy.

 

fuxi wrote:   I've always wondered if the sleeve of Little Red Record wasn't meant as parody.

I doubt it.

Back in those days, laughter was banned as the subversive middle class thing it was. 

Edited by toroddfuglesteg - January 18 2010 at 13:11

The music of Magma always makes me think of rallies, marches, uniformity, and creepiness.

Or even "Milch, Dreieinhalb, Krankenkasse" 

Why would it be Murder Death Kill anyway? That's a stupid acronym. Murder, Death, or Killing would be sufficient for your nefarious purposes.