The Long Evolution of Extreme Right Music in Italy and Germany

Abstract

The importance of music in extreme right political culture is acknowledged in recent academic and non-academic contributions in Italy and Germany. Patterns of music development in different European contexts reflect the prevailing ideological dimension of the role of this cultural expression in the extreme right context (Dyck 2016). Labels such as White power music, Rechtsrock and Reichsrock all point to various trajectories in the recruitment and socialization functions of extreme right music. In Italy, the concept of identitario designates the most successful form of music production by well-known bands directly linked to political movements. However, identitarian rock is only the arrival point of a long tradition of music development within the Italian Extreme Right. In Germany, recent investigations of the Rechtsrock phenomenon have highlighted the intense internationalization of networks of extreme right movements that mostly mobilize cultural manifestations of extreme right ideologies. The analysis comprises a diachronic enquiry into the development of extreme right music in Germany and Italy. From a comparative perspective, the paper will highlight how – no different from other political languages – changes in music production both reflect and go along with the transformation of the Italian and German Extreme Right from an organizational, political culture and strategic perspective.