Varg Vikernes talks to the world mostly through email interviews now. Last year, we tried to ask him your questions and was ignored/rejected for whatever reason. This time, he replied to my questions. The interview instructions prohibited questions about family, prison, or politics, as his interviews for previous album Belus covered those topics thoroughly. Burzum’s new album Fallen is out now on MP3
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What did you wish to accomplish with Fallen?
Make an album I could listen to without growing tired of it.
Judging from the English translations of your lyrics, death is a dominant theme in Fallen. Does mortality weigh on your mind now?
No, not at all, and I may add that the death you see on Fallen is also a rebirth – an eternal cycle. There is no definite beginning and end in the European world view, as is the case with Judeo-Christianity (Eden and Judgment Day), and death is not as much a taboo, either.
You said that you mastered the album “as if it was classical music”. What did that involve?
It means that the sound is more dynamic, and less suited for play on the radio. It means that the dynamic sound in Burzum is as much a part of the music as the melodies themselves.
In your gear list for Fallen, you noted the years of your amp and drum kit. What significance does vintage gear have for you?
None whatsoever; I just made this list to make sure I will not receive hundreds of e-mails from musicians who want to know what equipment I used on the recording like I did when we released Belus.
“The Message” is a call to war invoking “the gods of the past”. Who is the enemy in the song?
The parasitical low-lives leeching on mankind and turning our species into slaves and sub-human scum.
What are you listening to these days?
When not listening to unfinished Burzum music, I mostly listen to The Cure. Especially their Disintegration album. Fantastic music!
What are you reading these days?
Well, interview questions mostly… I am very busy promoting the Fallen album. I also find the time to proofread my own Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia, which I try to find a publisher for these days.
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On Belus, the Burzum logo changed from its classic font. On Fallen, “Burzum” has no real logo, only text in typeface. What was the purpose behind these changes?
Burzum never had a logo, only a Gothic font, then some other font, and this time I simply used Times New Roman. The purpose behind changing the font was to stress that Burzum has no logo, and that you should all focus on the music, and not logos. The cover of a book does not matter; the contents does.
What lies ahead for Burzum?
When done promoting Fallen, I will start making a new album, and possibly start working with a compilation that will be made up of re-recorded tracks from Hvis Lyset tar oss and Filosofem (and possibly Aske). We have another release next September, a compilation called From the Depths of Darkness, made up of re-recorded tracks from the debut album and Det som engang var, so I might need some time to promote that one as well. Well, that’s all the plans for now. What comes after this, only time can tell.
After your time on earth, how do you wish to be remembered?
Not sure if I will have any wishes at all after I am dead…
Now, I don’t want to be (even more) difficult or anything, but I do believe that I will actually stay on Earth even after I am dead… it is not like they will place my remains in a rocket and send me to outer space or anything like that… (Or do you know something I don’t know? : -o)
So, I’ll probably never leave this Earth; only die, become a part of the soil, water, and air on this planet, and possibly plants and animals as well, or even humans. If they still exist, that is, after being such a pain in the behind for Mother Earth for so long. She might have rid herself of all of us by then.
. . .
“Valen”
from Fallen
. . .
BUY FALLEN
Amazon (MP3)
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (LP)
Relapse (CD, LP)
. . .
I’m a novice at this, but I think a ” : -o) ” is not very kvlt?
Every interview with Varg raises, for me, the dilemma of separating the music from the artist.
For example, his particular views and actions are well-documented and generally disapproved of – yet in an “extreme” genre one must expect “extreme” world views at times. I’m not justifying them, just highlighting the divide between what we see as extreme, non-conformist, aggressive music and the types of rebellion/non-conformity we will actually allow. Of course one could suggest that issues of race, gender, etc, aren’t issues of conformity or political correctness at all.
Problematically I have found a few artists in my own collection whose political/social views are… questionable and as such I am uncertain as to my position on them as people and them as musicians.
Even more problematic is when one considers the more “acceptable” world-views of certain artists; it’s also well-documented that Phil Labonte of All That Remains (terrible example I know, but bear with me) is a die-hard Republican and massively pro-American (not that there’s anything wrong with being American, it’s more that he is the type who massively fetishises his own country’s value system, whilst ignoring any others), but metal is *generally* quite a liberal, non-conformist (there’s that word again) genre, so occasionally I find the jingoism of him and his ilk equally difficult to reconcile with the music and standards of metal.
Food for thought.
ahem Andy; “liberalism” “non-conformist” “problematically”, relax dude, no-ones judging you for listening. Enjoy or don’t, agree or not, admit you like the frission of facism (or not). Worry about other stuff.
Best.
I’m able to seperate the music from the man, but in these interviews he just comes across as an ass which is maybe just who he is. He lists his equipment because hundreds of fans ask him what he uses and doesn’t want to be bothered? I’ve never understood folks who have some sort of popularity or following but hate being ‘bothered’ with fans. If you don’t want fans, make the music and give it away and don’t do interviews or sign with a label. Hardly anyone will bother you I promise.
He never asked or wanted ‘popularity’ as you say. In fact i doubt he really cares about the ‘fans’ one way or the other. It’s about the musik. he does it for himself. If it didn’t sell then im sure he would keep making it for himself and be happy living on his farm.
“The parasitical low-lives leeching on mankind and turning our species into slaves and sub-human scum.” – Still utterly enslaved by a pre-adolescent conception of humankind and, by extension, an insipid and misinformed lack of any comprehension of the Christianity he so vehemently professes to hate.
Andy: what you mean metal is for non-conformists? Have you ever been to a metal show? Metal is about conformity to an cultural norm thats alternative to a mainstream, but still wholly structured. I mean honestly at deicide recently i felt like part of the ‘One’ all out there long hair, black shirts, metal vests. Its a uniform. Feels good to be part of something.
off topic though, I really like the production on the new song. Belus seemed half-hearted to me. And varg can do and say what he wants frankly, I mean i like my democracy more than i like shutting people up. Or complaining that our views don’t quite match.
I refuse to so much as listen to Burzum, and not because of his views but because of his past actions, and his lack of remorse for those actions. Yet I’m always fascinated to read his interviews. As Chris Dalton observed, Varg has an incredibly immature view of the world; that’s easily ascribed to his (diagnosed or not) anti-social personality disorder. Varg once said something about no good having ever come from Christians, yet where do you think he got his band name?
Andy Synn, you make a lot of good points, but I think people buy into the non-conformity idea too much. It’s very much conformist in some ways. There’s nothing wrong with right-wind ideology as compared to left-wing ideology, both being equally valuable and flawed in turns. I’ve never been able to figure out why left-wing ideology is preferred in metal, though. Metal has a great deal of respect for tradition, and doesn’t speak to compassion or tolerance, but instead to clear views of right and wrong, with a strong sense of swift (and sometimes violent) justice. These are all very right-wing traits.
Anything concering Burzum now can best be summed up by the latest review from Dark Legions Archive. Sure it sucks and is unoriginal to just copy and paste another reviewers blurb as a reply but I think this says everything there is to say about new Burzum:
“With luck, you can hear the samples above, and draw your own conclusions. Mine are: Varg correctly understands the new black metal audience, which is to say he recognizes that they cannot tell the difference between three random droning chords and well-composed music. So he’s cashing in, because he just got out of jail and needs some way to pay for himself and his future. Unfortunately, in doing so, he has done something very stupid, which is let a highly visible minority (black metal fans) speak for his entire potential audience (all who like good music) and by doing so, he has let his bitterness obliterate his talent and instead of making a series of quality albums that will sell for decades, he has pumped out the droning crap and now has ruined the Burzum name and will find that people ignore this stuff after another few years. Short-term thinking at work. Sorry to hear life is so bad for you, Varg. Maybe you should reconsider who you consider your friends.”
I am thoroughly unimpressed by Fallen. Enjoyable, that’s as far as I’ll go. Why people continue to worship this guy is beyond me. He is a talented bigot and that’s about it.
what a douchebag!
cool music though.
Sorry all, I was meaning to suggest that metal comes with an air of non-conformity, not that by being metal you’re being non-conformist. Then I was just trying to get people’s opinions on the contradiction between the supposed open-ended nature of the musical expression and the more unconscious limits we actually put on it (like has been said above, often very liberal leaning bands are accepted, but non-liberals get a backlash from the “metal elite” who characterise them, and their fans, as right-wing rednecks and such).
And I know that people generally don’t judge one by the ideals of the albums one listens to, but then again when I find a band that has links to NSBM (for example) I feel less comfortable in my listening. Even though there is a lot of violent, anti-establishment rhetoric in a lot of more *accepted* metal anyway.
“I’ve never been able to figure out why left-wing ideology is preferred in metal, though. Metal has a great deal of respect for tradition, and doesn’t speak to compassion or tolerance, but instead to clear views of right and wrong, with a strong sense of swift (and sometimes violent) justice. These are all very right-wing traits.”
This is nicely put. I don’t necessarily agree with all of it, but it makes some VERY valid points. I could actually point to a recent interview with Watain I read recently (I know mentioning that band is like a rag to a bull, but still…) which effectively said that extreme bands living or promoting a satanic or “evil” ideology (relative term I suppose) often found themselves on the receiving end of pressures to tone down such aspects, regardless of the strength of their artistic statements. It just seemed such a contradiction that *extreme* music has only a narrow confine of “acceptable” extreme topics. Not that I’m any better or different of course. It’s just something I like to think about and NOT necessarily something I’m saying needs to change, sometimes things jsut exist in a necessary state of contradiction.
Sorry again, it’s just been something I’ve wanted to get off my chest for a while and this seemed like a good time and place to do it whilst also getting some feedback from other commentators.
There are some okay bits on the track that sound like they’re probably lifted from some other Burzum song that I can’t identify (ie around 5:50-6:00 and the same riff that closes out the track), but really, if you take the man away from the music you’re left with something utterly mediocre, if not straight-out bad, here.
I honestly don’t give a shit about Varg’s opinions so long as, by buying his music, I don’t inadvertantly support some nefarious cause (which I won’t, as he’s still paying the Norwegian government for the churches he burned); for me, the music itself is what matters. That said, this track is not very good; had it been released by a 19 year old Varg in 1992, it might have been acceptable, but for a 38 year old Varg after 18 years of black metal’s evolution as a genre this is a shoddy exercise. I liked Belus because he seemed to be starting to update his sound a little, but this is a very large step back.
I should come back and say I’m in no way saying I’m offended by Varg, his actions or opinions, I think the classic albums still stand and I believe he’s still an intelligent insightful guy. I say this without nervously looking over my shoulders to see if the PC brigade is watching. I am disappointed he’s putting such lousy typical riffs on his albums when he could be capable of much more.
all joking aside, the cure thing makes a lot of sense. i also like the idea of him twirling around in his living room to “fascination street”.
“Problematically I have found a few artists in my own collection whose political/social views are… questionable and as such I am uncertain as to my position on them as people and them as musicians.”
this is an understandable topic to wrestle with. you’re giving them cheddar, so in a small way you’re contributing to the perpetuation of their worldview. and it’s probably far more real a concern with political viewpoints than the horror/gore/violence package of various (aesthetically) death-obsessed metal artists – cannibal corpse being neither cannibals nor corpses, etc.
but on the other hand our culture gives artists an incredibly outsized (and largely detrimental) level of influence in terms of validating their opinion on politics, religion…even medicine.* which is absolutely ridiculous. journalists will record the economic ideas, no matter how scattered, of someone who can play an instrument or sing and give them actual weight, even when their opinions are so simplistic a high school debating team could ream them seven ways to sunday without breaking a sweat.
yet journalists rarely ask economists or sociologists to weigh in on the latest and greatest releases because that would be silly. and it would be silly, for sure – yet the reverse is never seen as such.
black metal is interesting in that it’s one of a few musical genres historically associated (correctly or not) with a non-liberal/non-left-ish outlook and heavy focus on non-christian or pagan romanticism. (shorter version: more evola, less rawls)
* jim carrey and jenny mccarthy have arguably helped sicken and kill children – both living and yet to be born – through measles and mumps outbreaks by discrediting vaccination in some, mostly “educated”, populations.
Varg is NOT repaying his church burning debt. He does not have an income and any money made from Burzum merch is directed to his mother or his wife.
Hate and misanthropy are OK as long as no one gets specific about it
Varg strikes me as someone whose loss of youthful piss and vinegar has not been beneficial to his music. As much as a I hold his early stuff (except s/t) in high regard, new Burzum sounds…tired to me.
I would like to get to the bottom of his fascination with goth-rock though.
I think that is quite insightful. Also: youth culture is a method of co-opting non-conformity, not nurturing it. If you adopt non-conformity and make it harmless, it becomes a potent method of control.
I like this a lot! It is kind of un-spectacular, but hey, depending on the timeframe, it’s not always appropriate to strive for monumental greatness. I’ve had distasteful experiences lately with “impressive” albums. I appreciate the calm, patience, and general pleasantness of new Burzum.
There just aren’t enough reasons to support this guy’s work…as there are so many other AMAZING artists out there. I’m one of those who feel that, like lyrics, the thoughts and politics of the artist do matter to the overall feel and emotion of the music. This was an interesting read…but I’ll be skipping this garbage.
yerp, song is boring as bat shit. What a relief, now can we just move on please?
Say what you will about the man’s ethics and murderous rampages, but you have to admit whoever took Varg’s most recent round of press photos did a killer job.
wow, why do people STILL get bent out of shape about all this??? Like what the FUCK!? Did anyone EXPECT any different from the man?? I think we all have more similarities than differences, now stick that in your pipe and fucking smoke it. Good interview, I still listen to Burzum regularly, and will never be afraid to defend my MUSICAL taste.
Words, words, words. Fuck this racist piece of shit. Period.
Sorry, but what a fucking clown. I can’t help but believe that a joint and a lap dance from a black stripper would just blow his world apart.
And guys, seriously, stop bothering the Count with your hundreds of emails about what gear he uses. DUDE IS EDITING A BOOK!!!
Cosmo, nothing exemplifies your “divided into camps” remarks more than a post about Varg and/or Burzum.
Whatever happened to Mayhem?
“mastered as classical music” – dont hold out for any jobs as a sound engineer on the Bergen Philharmonic, Varg – this album sounds like it was recorded in your garage like all the others. I produced a better album on the toilet this morning with only a horn section.
If you’re asking us to judge this on the quality of the music alone, my advice to you would be to work harder chosing a better logo font.
I’ll probably never leave this Earth; only die, become a part of the soil, water, and air on this planet, and possibly plants and animals as well
This was the only notable statement for me in the entire interview, just because I like the sentiment of it. The rest of it sounded like the same stuff he’s been saying all along, which is too bad. He’s like the really interesting, charismatic guy in high school who years later is still that guy, instead of who that guy grew up to be.
His politics and his past are uncomfortable to say the least, and before I purchased any of the early albums I thought long and hard about it, but it didn’t sound like anything else out there to me and I thought that was worth it. Had he recorded for Resistance or Rock-O-Rama, I wouldn’t have done, simply because then I’d know my money was going to directly to politics I don’t support to a degree I can’t allow. As it was, yeah, he was an asshole who’d done terrible things, but he was an asshole who’d done terrible things and also made really interesting music.
There’s also this weird tension there that pagan/folk metal really draws out – is it possible to hate what has been done in the name of the Judeo-Christian god without hating Christians and, yeah, Jews? It’s ideologically consistent but if Christians are identified as a faith and Jews are identified as both a faith and an ethnicity, then what could have been constructed as cultural resistance (don’t replace my god with yours) becomes race hatred. Once again, the white supremacists find their way in because they’ve pretty much monopolized the discourse on cultural pride for whites. The more prosaic upshot is that for once, you get bands more or less identified with National Socialism who are actually making non-shitty music. It’s easy to boycott white pride bands when 99% of them are really shitty. But Drudkh? Wodensthrone? Burzum? That’s tougher.
“I believe he’s still an intelligent insightful guy.”
After reading a couple of these interviews, I have to ask why people still think this. It’s amazing to me that people will call him a genius because he parrots a couple of extremely basic posts about Asatru and Odinism and paganism or whatever. And keeps referring to “classical” when talking about his simplistic 4/4 repetitive minor chord verse-chorus-verse music. What exactly is intelligent or insightful about anything he does? Nothing in this interview points to that.
“Now, I don’t want to be (even more) difficult or anything, but I do believe that I will actually stay on Earth even after I am dead… it is not like they will place my remains in a rocket and send me to outer space or anything like that… (Or do you know something I don’t know? : -o)
So, I’ll probably never leave this Earth; only die, become a part of the soil, water, and air on this planet, and possibly plants and animals as well, or even humans.”
Yeah, deep. If you’ve never taken science in elementary school.
Disclaimer: I think Burzum is the most overrated black metal band in existence.
Same old Varg, no need to throw a hissy fit. Liking the album, though.
It’s kind of interesting how he’s going back to his older recordings for inspiration. I wonder how much they still mean to him. Those things were recorded a long time ago now…
Everyone is a conformist to something, whether it be left-wing values or NS nonsense, or wearing clothes so as to identify oneself as “metal” or different or what have you, if you’re over 30 and this hasn’t dawned on you than you’re most likely retarded.
Second, anyone who buys his material moving forward is helping him pay his debt to Norway…obviously he’s doing enough stuff through a traditional label and marketing venues to be drawing an income despite his claims in Until The Light Takes Us…he’s also making music that in several places he has stated that he wants nothing to do with either musically or ideologically, you’re all being suckered by falseness!
I’ve always thought his music overrated, and his charisma non-existent. He used to be a the ‘enigmatic’ kind of guy who impresses kids. He seems to be playing the same role now, which is just ridiculous at his age.
Belus was a snoozefest and this is even worse. Total cash grab from the pockets of the kiddies who adore him. I can see them now; blowing their allowance on some limited edition import white vinyl or whatever for like 80 bucks. Sad when you think about how much great metal is out there. Unless that sample song had actually ripped, It’s time to stop caring about Varg and his little Burzum basement project.
Cliff: Tricky, yes.
I’ve purchased Boyd Rice works despite having the very strong suspicion that his posturing and reaction-seeking might mask something genuinely unwholesome at the deepest level.
Mainly because he is, himself, pretty much harmless – and also because people who know him personally and I know to not be unwholesome bigots [David Tibet, Douglas Pierce] haven’t anathematized him.
On the other hand, despite the music being brilliant, the only reason I’ll pay for a Muslimgauze album now is that Bryn Jones is dead and thus unable to donate profits to Hamas.
I’m okay with questionable imagery, so long as the content makes it clear it’s not wicked (thus my willingness to buy Death in June records).
I’m not going to give money to someone I know is literally funding terrorists.
There’s a lot of grey area in between – and thus Burzum.
I won’t be buying the latest Burzum album, not because I think Varg will use the money to attack people, however, but because I haven’t been impressed with his output since Det Som.
Alee wins the award for most perfect thing to say about Burzum. I shall not compete.
Chimp-O-Neg said this: “mastered as classical music” – dont hold out for any jobs as a sound engineer on the Bergen Philharmonic, Varg – this album sounds like it was recorded in your garage like all the others. I produced a better album on the toilet this morning with only a horn section.
Hilarious!
A true artist does not need to draw attention to their views on anything, whatever they may be, by any means other than the art. Who would Varg Vikernes be without his controversial statements? Just one more bedroom black metal project with nothing new to say. An artist expresses his innermost thoughts through art, whatever the specific channel may be, and leaves his creation to be interpreted. It sucks that people play into this man’s games and continue to give him the attention he doesn’t deserve.
So he killed a man, just like tons of people. So he’s a racist, big deal almost everyone I know has racist views in one thing or another. As I see it, Varg Vikernes is just a person who takes things too far, and happens to make music (which has nothing to do with it). He is as harmless as his attempts at shock are pathetic.
“So he killed a man, just like tons of people. So he’s a racist, big deal almost everyone I know has racist views in one thing or another. As I see it, Varg Vikernes is just a person who takes things too far, and happens to make music (which has nothing to do with it). He is as harmless as his attempts at shock are pathetic.”
While that is a bit harsh, it’s reality – we all know people who hold the same views ( dunno about the killing part). But do you want to financially support an artist with those views by purchasing their music?
Music is music, but I find that for the majority of people I know in the extreme music scene, the music serves as more than just something to pass the time by. I had some issues with Decibel’s decision to put Varg on the cover, and as a Black woman, will not purchase or listen to artists that from what I know ( though media/ substantiated by colleagues, or though personal experiences) espouse views in which can lead to physical harm to people because of their ethnicity, religion or sexual preference. That’s just me.
However, since the release of Belus I have learned to be tolerant of people I know ( and whom I respect on a personal level) who choose to listen to his music, appreciate it and can do something that I choose not to do: ignore the ‘politics’ and simply appreciate the music. I do wonder, though, if they belonged to one of the ‘groups’ he has publicly maligned in the press, would they still listen?
“I do wonder, though, if they belonged to one of the ‘groups’ he has publicly maligned in the press, would they still listen?”
I can assure you there’s plenty of people with Jewish ancestry who listen to Burzum. Just as there’s people of Jewish ancestry who listen to Wagner (and perform Wagner and who petition the state of Israel to allow Wagner to be played there).
Anyway, nothing like something on the internet getting tagged with “Burzum” for everyone to get their panties in a twist.
Christ – the amount of people that bitch about Varg is getting rather annoying. Sure, he is a polarizing figure but if you don’t like him, don’t listen to him.
Me? I think he’s amazingly talented. Insane? For sure. But insanity breeds amazing art. His music has been amazing – every release has been fantastic.
His interviews? He basically comes off as someone who simply does not give a fuck what anyone thinks. And that is pretty much what sums Varg up to me.
In my life, I like to choose, or vote if you will, of where and how I spend my money–giving someone a dollar or 20 is a choice I have, and I will support a person/place/institution/whathaveyou with my money. I don’t always have the particular choice, i.e., my gas bill/electric bill etc. but I will never give this asshole a dollar, and perhaps, just perhaps, he will fade away if everybody stops giving this fuckface press. There is no fucking separation from the artist and his work, c’mon people think a fucking bit.
Why do bands and musicians feels the need to re-re-re-records old material? Do they lack inspiration to write new music? Are they trying to kill time in between releases? I am in a band, I have a back catalogue and I do NOT understand why bands try to rework old stuff. It only kills the originals as it cannot add anything to them other than a new production (which in itself is also a bad idea if there,s a feel for ‘updating’ the sound). If Varg reads this (which I doubt): Don’t fall for it. It’s useless!
if varg really doesn’t matter to everyone who’re only now coming out of the woodwork to pounce on their shot at taking a stab at a guy a million miles away to make them feel that satisfying jolt of dopamine that comes with an acute sensation of boosted self confidence, you wouldn’t even comment in the first place. you feed off him just as much as the “kiddies who adore him”. He’s relevent as long as you clowns are still around flapping your big ass lips around (nothing like a good stir)
So, interviewers aren’t allowed to ask him questions about his politics, but in the same round of interviews he says stuff like the following (about the cover of his new album, from the interview over at metalsucks): “The image is purely poetic, but at the same time strongly suggests that our mixed neanderthal-human origin is what makes us – id est the Europeans and to a lesser degree the Asians – innovative and creative. Innovation, creativity and lunacy goes hand in hand.” No political message there.
I can’t imagine anthropologists and historians are going to be running out to buy copies of this guy’s book.
Besides my rant a few comments up, I also have to add that the biggest and greatest takeaway from this interview is that Varg uses emoticons. haha!
Quoting gjhead: “He basically comes off as someone who simply does not give a fuck what anyone thinks.”
To me, he comes across as someone who says whatever he wants without bothering to think about it very much. Basically, he’s a black metal Charlie Sheen (or black metal Glenn Beck, if you prefer). That doesn’t make _Filosofem_ any less important an album, but it does make all of the coverage he gets rather tiresome.
It’s no wonder Varg has such controversial opinions, without them, no one would want to interview him. God, that was boring! If you want controversy that comes from someone with more than a modicum of intelligence, check out Boyd Rice’s debates with Bob Larson. http://www.boydrice.com/audio.html It’s performance art worthy of Sacha Baron Cohen.
@Spinal_Tapdance – thanks, man! knew you’d have my back on that one…
@pseudonymous – you’re right re: Sheen. I actually said the SAME THING on Twitter yesterday. he’s Sheen, he’s Palin, he’s Beck. You can’t stop the fuss with those guys.
Note to new/young bands: stab someone, go to jail (authenticity), play the racist card, play the nationalist card, play the political card. Boom.
Relevance.
All kidding aside…this new Burzum stuff doesn’t hit me like the old material did, but that was a different time, a different world. I’m glad he’s still making music.
Come on, loosen up. I’m not a fan of Varg’s music nor a racist (I don’t like black metal), but I can see a lot of double-standard thinking in some comments here. He’s an easy target. So he killed a person. So what? His opinion may be offensive sometimes, but so are Disturbed’s fascist jew singer. So what? Just don’t read them and that’s it.
Left-wing people are rapidly becoming the new nazis: it’s ok for a terrible band like system of a down to openly support terrorism or a bunch of hypocrites like rage against the machine to sing about hating the system while they’re milking the cash cow, but is waaaay bad for a guy in Norway to think white people are superior. So what? It’s his opinion.
It’s ok to listen to a band like Cannibal Corpse singing about raping and disemboweling babies but it’s wrong to listen to Burzum because he killed a “friend”.
Come on…
i know why metal is liberal leaning and “demonizes” artists with a right wing viewpoint in their music- its because the appeal of metal is the whole antisocial,rebel,fuck you,dirtbag thing,and right wing idealogy is totally full of authoritarian bullshit and respect for all this boring shit like patriotism,the flag,god,being so proud of soldiers that you come off like a sappy hallmark card…shit like that is totally unappealing in the context of dirty,trashy,fucked up rock n roll and metal
and for any of you who are all “oh my,how DARE you say patriotism and soldiers are boring!! you can say that because AMERICA and soldiers give you that freedom!!”
blow me
and that doesnt mean i automatically disrespect soldiers..i had to elaborate on that..it means i disrespect that conservative worshipping of them to the point of ridiculous
I abhor his political views, but 98% of his music (“The Message” was dangerously close to making me uncomfortable haha)is free from them.
Also, I’m not a Norwegian who was born in 1973, and though I vehemently disagree with his non-musical views, it is not my place to judge another person from another culture.
So, at the end of the day, as long as he’s not infusing his lyrics and imagery with overt racism, bigotry, homophobia–I have no problem giving him my money and even wearing a Burzum shirt…Anyone who would judge you based on your musical tastes is no better than Varg’s nefarious views.
Don’t care about his politics, I just dig the tunes–no matter how boring some think they are.