Boomer era rockers and Nazi regalia

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Betcha didn’t know that Adolf Hitler is on the cover of The Beatles’ most revered album.

That’s right. When art director Robert Fraser and designers Jann Haworth and Sir Peter Blake began working with the band to conceptualize the cover art for “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” they told each Beatle to compile a list of people they admired. Their idea was to create life size cardboard models of these characters and place them in the background, as an “audience” behind the Pepper band. The affable Ringo forfeited his choices to the others, who settled on such diverse characters as Shirley Temple, Carl Jung, and Lenny Bruce. The ever sardonic John Lennon suggested two historical figures bound to cause controversy: Jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler. Excluding JC from the cover was a no-brainer: John’s 1966 “Beatles are bigger than Christ” remark had already caused enough of a brouhaha. But convincing him to forgo Hitler took some persuading. The designers went so far as to create and place a cardboard model of the Nazi leader on the set. A picture from a March 30, 1967, photo session clearly shows a non-uniformed Hitler standing to the right of hand-waving writer Stephen Crane. In fact, Der Führer remained in the final shot, unseen, hidden behind Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller, who stands directly behind Ringo.

What was John thinking? Sure, he loved black humor, but this clearly crossed the boundaries of satire. I guess the bigger question is: Why have so many British artists had a fascination with Hitler, with Nazi fashion and, in some cases, with fascist philosophy? It’s intrigued me for years. In this two-part article I’ll attempt to provide some insight — hopefully, without appearing to excuse, justify or make light of truly bad behavior.

Let’s start with the Nazi uniform itself – one of the Third Reich’s greatest works of propaganda. Its dashing look was designed to attract followers and instill fear in the enemy. It conveyed German power, pride, and superiority. Quite simply, it was a “bad ass” uniform. Perhaps that’s one reason so many British rock rebels have donned Nazi garb through the years. Or is there more to it than that? Were they merely mocking Hitler? According to journalist Nigel Farndale, in a column that appeared in the January 2005 issue of The Telegraph following the uproar over photos of Prince Harry in full Nazi regalia: “Dressing up as Nazis…belongs to a long British comedy tradition dating back to [British sitcoms] Dad’s Army, ‘Allo ‘Allo’ and Fawlty Towersand, before them, to Charlie Chaplin.”

Oh, now I get it. Combine British tradition with mind-altering drugs and machismo posturing and you get stage-strutting rock stars sporting SS attire of all types. Led Zeppelin guitar god Jimmy Page Nazi-fied himself during at least one 1977 concert, wearing knee-high jack boots, black shirt and pants, a white scarf, sunglasses, and an SS officers cap, complete with the Nazi “death head” insignia. According to über-groupie Pamela Des Barres, who spent many a night with Page, his fetish extended beyond the stage; she said he liked to visit transvestite clubs dressed in full Nazi regalia.

Rolling Stones bad boy Keith Richards’ motto is “keep it dark,” and that philosophy applies to his fashion sense, as well. British blues singer Terry Reid described the guitarist’s attire following the wedding of Mick and Bianca Jagger in 1971: “By and by we could hear a clanking noise growing ever louder. It was coming down the corridor towards us. Clanking and rattling; very weird. All of a sudden it stopped right outside. The door swung open, and everyone did a double take. A man stood on the threshold. He was in full Nazi uniform. He seemed to be standing to attention, all SS tunic, with an Iron Cross or two dangling round his neck, and black jackboots. It was Keith.” Mr. Richards’ penchant for Nazi fashion began early: In 1965 he appeared with the Stones on the Ed Sullivan show, wearing a German Panzer Division tunic.

Even the less rebellious Mick Jagger, now Sir Mick, was once spotted wearing a swastika t-shirt. But former Rolling Stone Brian Jones went much further. He loved to play dress-up and probably thought he looked quite fetching in his form-fitting Nazi garb.

Supposedly, his then-girlfriend, Italian-German actress Anita Pallenberg, persuaded him to don the uniform in 1966 for the cover of Danish magazine Børge. It’s worth noting that Anita was just as scary as many Nazis. It was probably her idea to have him crush the doll with his foot.

In a January 1967 interview with music journalist Keith Altham, Brian defended himself, saying: “Really, I mean with all that long hair in a Nazi uniform, couldn’t people see that it was a satirical thing? How can anyone be offended when I’m on their side? I’m not a Nazi sympathizer.” Yet, sources say the long gone Jones slipped into his SS gear on more than one occasion. I can just picture him swooning over himself in the mirror.

But it was Who drummer Keith “the loon” Moon who played the Hitler role to the hilt, sometimes staying in character for days on end, according to his ex-wife Kim. He loved to visit pubs and restaurants decked out in full Nazi attire, often accompanied by sidekick Viv Stanshall of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. The two created quite a disturbance with their alcohol-charged “heil Hitlering” and boot heel-clicking. In an extraordinary display of bad taste, he even paraded around London’s Jewish neighborhoods in the get-up.

There’s no evidence that Moon embraced Nazi ideals — or any ideals, for that matter. Booze-related delirium turned him into a class clown gone berserk. He was convinced an Indian couple, a Mr. and Mrs. Singh, was living in his head, spurring his destructive behavior. Whether or not they commanded him to dress like Hitler, we’ll never know. He died from his excesses in 1978.

And then there’s Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. With his mutton chops and saggy mole-ridden face, he would never be considered a man of vanity (I mean, it would take a dermatologist exactly 2 minutes to remove those marble-sized moles). Yet, when it comes to clothing and accessories, he values “the look” as much as any performer.

Says Lemmy, “From the beginning of time, the bad guys always had the best uniforms. Napoleon, the Confederates, the Nazis. They all had killer uniforms. I mean, the SS uniform is f…king brilliant! They were the rock stars of that time.”

Hmmm. Despite the fact that he collects Nazi memorabilia, has an Iron Cross encrusted on his bass guitar, and frequently dons a Nazi cap (for which he was almost arrested in Germany, which forbids the wearing of Third Reich items), he maintains that he is “anti-communism, fascism, any extreme.” He says he collects Nazi paraphernalia as “a safety valve to stop that form of government ever existing again.” Okay, whatever. It’s still tasteless. I would bet my life that American rednecks do not display confederate flags as a “safety valve” against slavery ever existing again.

In the mid-1970s, Third Reich symbols became part of the uniform of the burgeoning punk rock movement. You can put some of the blame on designer and Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. Imagine, a bar mitzvahed boy who spent 6 years in a private Jewish school churning out Nazi-inspired fashion! His Jewish grandmother told him, “to be bad is good, and to be good is boring.” He and his partner, now-Dame Vivienne Westwood, sold items such as swastika-embellished clothing, SS handkerchiefs, and Gestapo buddy rings in their shop called Sex.

Westwood said they aimed to de-mystify the swastika. That subtle concept was lost on the likes of headline-grabbing Sex Pistols Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious, who loved Nazi gear.

Most disturbingly, the Pistols released two tasteless songs that referenced an infamous Nazi concentration camp: “Belsen is a Gas,” and “Holidays in the Sun” (I don’t wanna holiday in the sun / I wanna go to the new Belsen / I wanna see some history). In a January 25, 2005, article for The Telegraph, journalist Nigel Farndale asked former Pistols guitarist Steve Jones to explain the band’s thinking with regards to Nazi imagery. Jones replied, “We weren’t finking [he means thinking]at all. It just seemed like a good way of shocking people and having a laugh.” Seriously, who laughs at songs about concentration camps?

Punk rocker Siouxsie Sioux of The Banshees sums up the Nazi fascination this way: “It was an anti-mums and dads thing. We hated older people always harping on about Hitler – we showed him and that smug pride. It was a way of watching someone like that go completely red-faced.” She goes on: “The culture around then, it was Monty Python, Basil Fawlty, Freddie Starr, The Producers’ Springtime For Hitler…And you know what? I have to be honest, but I do like the Nazi uniform. I shouldn’t say it, but I think it’s a very good-looking uniform…It’s almost like you feel like saying, ‘Aw, come on. Nazis — they’re brilliant.’ Political correctness becomes imprisoning. It’s very…what’s the word? It’s being very Nazi! It’s ironic, but this PC-ness is so f..cking fascist.” Now there’s a pretty convoluted take on freedom of expression.

Joy Division was another Nazi-conscious punk rock group from that era. The band’s name sprang from a 1955 novella called House of Dolls, by Holocaust survivor Yehiel De-Nur. (He used his prisoner number – Ka-tzetnik 135633 – in his pen name.) In his book he refers to concentration camp “Joy Divisions” (a fictitious name for actual camp brothels), in which Jewish women were kept as sex slaves for Nazi officers, guards, and favored prisoners. Supposedly, the band members’ fathers fought in World War II, and they wanted a name that referenced the audacity of the Holocaust. I fail to see the point. Furthermore, the band’s “An Ideal for Living” LP featured a drawing of a Hitler Youth member on the cover! Joy Division incited even more controversy when they renamed themselves “New Order,” a concept that was featured in Hitler’s Mein Kampf Yet, band members maintained that they never had Nazi sympathies.

I do need to point out another type of punk rock that clearly was anti-Semitic, performed by neo-Nazis and white supremacist “skinheads” who proudly publicized their fascist fanaticism. These bands are so obscure and disgusting that their names aren’t worth mentioning. Even Jello Biafra, a man with the gall to name his punk band The Dead Kennedys, deplored these haters, penning a song with the title, ”Nazi Punks F..k Off!” The Nazi skinhead punks were giving the so-called mainstream punks a bad name. Imagine that.

Whole article without a mention of Bowie?

I think you're right that these people weren't motivated by National Socialism, it's just black humour. Lennon was a "soft" antisemite in the sense that he complained about Jews controlling show business but was on good terms with many of them (most famously Brian Epstein). I don't really think anyone would doubt the anti-fascist credentials of Roger Waters, but he's made similar sorts of comments.

Bowie is the outlier in that he had a deeper fascination with fascism, just enough knowledge of Nietzsche and Heidegger to be dangerous, and his drug of choice was cocaine. He wasn't an egalitarian, particularly in his creative pomp, and thought some people were better than others. When he was coked up, he praised Hitler and said he wanted Britain to become a fascist state. He later recanted that, but he's definitely the mainstream rocker to go furthest with Nazi iconography.

Should I trash my entire collection of David Bowie recordings because I abhor the fascist comments he made over 30 years ago? In part 2 of an article examining British rock stars’ fascination with Nazi imagery, we’ll take a look at three English superstars who’ve have made some mighty disturbing comments over the years.

The innately-suave Bryan Ferry, leader of the popular U.K. band Roxy Music, used to refer to his West London recording studio as “The Führerbunker,” which was the name of Hitler’s Berlin bunker. He once told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag:The Nazis knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves. The way in which the Nazis stage-managed and presented themselves, my gentleman! I’m talking about Leni Riefenstahl films and Albert Speer’s buildings and the mass rallies and the flags – simply fantastic.” At the time of the interview, Ferry had been contracted by British retailer Marks and Spencer (founded by Russian Jewish refugee Michael Marks) to model its “Autograph” menswear line. England’s Jewish community was appalled by his comments and demanded the House of Commons make a motion urging people to boycott M&S and refuse to buy Ferry’s albums. He responded with a statement: “I apologize unreservedly for any offense caused by my comments on Nazi iconography, which were solely made from an art history perspective. I, like every right-minded individual, find the Nazi regime, and all it stood for, evil and abhorrent.” Despite his mea culpa, Marks and Spencer cut all ties with him. That’s some heavy karma for a fashionista like Bryan.

While guitar virtuoso Eric Clapton never extolled the tenets of Nazism per se, he’s certainly expressed some very fascist views. In a drunken rant during a concert in Birmingham, England, in August 1976, he voiced his support of Britain’s conservative minister Enoch Powell, who had denounced the country’s anti-discrimination legislation and liberal immigration policy. Clapton told the audience: “Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I’m into racism. It’s much heavier, man. F..king wogs, man. F..king Saudis taking over London. Bastard wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back.” Booze notwithstanding, what motivates a seemingly normal person to lash out like this? Admittedly, England was a mess in the ’70s. It’s a fascist’s nature to seek scapegoats during times of trouble. Clapton clearly took a lesson from their book, and vented his wrath on the immigrants.

His outrageous diatribe helped mobilize the creation of Rock Against Racism (today known as Love Music Hate Racism), an organization spearheaded by British photographer Red Saunders, Roger Huddle and members of Kartoon Klowns. Clapton later apologized, saying his remarks were meant as a joke, and that he was ignorant of politics at that time. Yet, in 2007, he told a reporter that he is still a fan of Enoch Powell, whom he does not consider a racist.

And finally, there’s The Thin White Duke, David Bowie, who may have taken the “white” thing a bit too far. In April 1976, he was traveling by rail when customs officials at the Poland/Russia border held up the train for several hours while they seized his collection of Nazi books and memorabilia. Bowie claimed he was using the material as research for a possible film project about Nazi PR meister Joseph Goebbels. A worthy try on his part, but it’s hard to believe that claim after reading his comments in the press decades ago. In an interview conducted by Cameron Crowe for the September 1976 issue of Playboy, Bowie declared, “Britain is ready for a fascist leader…After all, fascism is really nationalism.” He went on to say, “Adolf Hitler was one of the first rock stars” and “You’ve got to have an extreme right front come up and sweep everything off its feet and tidy everything up.” To quote a Bowie song, this bordered on rock and roll suicide.


I was, and still am, a huge Bowie fan, and only recently learned of his dabbling in fascism. Of course, he eventually apologized for his statements, blaming his outlandish behavior on his preoccupation with the occult, excessive cocaine use, and his fascination with German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who coined the term Übermensch (super-man) – a word used by Hitler to describe his Aryan master race. (Nietzsche himself was not anti-Semitic and deplored German nationalism.) Bowie told an interviewer, “I have made my two or three glib, theatrical observations on English society and the only thing I can now counter with is to state that I am NOT a fascist.”

So, what are we to make of these rockers and their interest in Third Reich nostalgia? A number of my close family members are Jewish. Should I feel a sense of guilt about admiring some of the performers cited in this article — many of whom have long inspired me with their music and fashion? I want to believe these people were merely acting up (often with the aid of chemicals), experimenting with shocking, subversive personae, and flipping the finger to mainstream society – as most rockers are destined to do. I admit I’m conflicted.

A hundred years before the birth of rock and roll, German composer Richard Wagner was all the rage in Europe, with his soaring, richly orchestrated operas. He was an anti-Semite, harshly critical of Jewish artistic contributions to German culture. Many years later Adolph Hitler would embrace Wagner’s music as the perfect soundtrack to his nationalist movement. Woody Allen once joked, “I just can’t listen to any more Wagner, you know…I’m starting to get the urge to conquer Poland.” His music was extremely controversial among Jews and was completely banned in Israel for many years. However, in recent decades many Jews have come to recognize that it’s possible to distinguish between the racist nature of Richard Wagner and the beauty of his creation. In 1981, Zubin Mehta performed parts of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde as an encore at a concert in Tel Aviv. Many audience members walked out, but most stayed till the end. In 2000, Holocaust survivor Mendi Rodan conducted Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, and in August 2001 Daniel Barenboim conducted a concert in Tel Aviv that included an excerpt form Tristan und Isolde. While Wagner’s music still incites controversy in Israel, his works are broadcast on government-owned radio and television stations.

A very liberal friend of mine once trashed all of her Van Morrison CDs when it was rumored he planned to perform at George Bush’s 2001 inauguration (he didn’t). Should I, a staunch proponent of civil liberties, burn my beloved collection of Bowie and Clapton LPs because I loathe the views they expressed three decades ago? No. Because, despite what many artists would like to believe, they’re imperfect humans like everybody else — not “gods,” as the Clapton graffiti adorning a London train station once declared.

When it comes to accepting or banishing British rockers for their fascination with Nazi imagery and ideology, I leave it to you to come to your own conclusions.

Bowie is the outlier in that he had a deeper fascination with fascism, just enough knowledge of Nietzsche and Heidegger to be dangerous,

It's weird because Heidegger also believed humans were naturally good and acted in ways that sought to improve themselves toward some altruistic goal. Some even call him the godfather of positive psychology (although he was a philosopher not a psychologist).

Heidegger get's a pass for me

But most of it was just hot air. Artists often dislike and rebel against censorship that has no obvious reason. There's a certain downside to the fact that society is creating tons of new rules that make life even more cumbersome and confusing for older people who already have enough to contend with as their brains and bodies begin to fall to bits.

Problem with the punk era is that it promoted some level of normalisation of elements of fascism in impressionable kids so that didn't turn out so well for some. Society today is a little more aware of the consequences of unfettered presentation of symbols that trigger trauma in people.

Those were different times. I lived through them and remember hearing and saying scores of things that would be completely taboo in many circles today. But most of it was just hot air. Artists often dislike and rebel against censorship that has no obvious reason. There's a certain downside to the fact that society is creating tons of new rules that make life even more cumbersome and confusing for older people who already have enough to contend with as their brains and bodies begin to fall to bits.

A couple of other writers I know are essentially progressive, but they've loudly endorsed Anti-Woke sentiment, especially when drinking. For a time, they even loved Elon Musk's actions on X, seeing it as sticking it to the "Woke establishment." Since, reality's slapped them in their faces.

Punk has been pretty militantly anti-fascism since quite early in it's history.

Unless someone's only touchstones were the Sex Pistols and Siouxie Sioux the message has largely been against normalizing fascism.

Punk has been pretty militantly anti-fascism since quite early in it's history.

Unless someone's only touchstones were the Sex Pistols and Siouxie Sioux the message has largely been against normalizing fascism.

Punk bands if they have been political have been mostly left wing but there have always been right wing elements most notably the skinheads.