Nazi punks folk off: leisure, nationalism, cultural identity and the consumption of metal and folk music

‘To Holmgard … and Beyond’: Folk metal fantasies and hegemonic white masculinities

“…The sub-genres are not seen as 'cool' within the metal music scene in Europe, despite being popular. For example, folk-metal bands are ridiculed by fans of black metal for being too mainstream and crowd-pleasing (see MetalSucks, 2009), constructing fantasies of drinking and fighting that have no authentic connection to Vikings, Saxons or other (supposed) nationalist patriarchs (Gramholm, 2011;Spracklen, 2013a;Spracklen, Lucas and Deeks, 2014;Von Helden, 2010). At the same time, folk metal bands are not part of the mainstream of modern heavy metal, judged by sales of records and numbers of fans on social media.…”

“…Similarly, there are scholars in metal music studies who show just how subversive, transgressive and playful gender and sexuality can be in heavy metal (for example, see Overell, 2012;Riches, 2011). But these truths do not overturn the problematization of hegemonic (male, white) power at the heart of heavy metal: as a form of popular music it is a form of instrumental leisure, a form that normalizes neo-liberalism, hegemonic masculinity and instrumental whiteness (Spracklen, 2010(Spracklen, , 2013a(Spracklen, , 2013b(Spracklen, , 2014. This paper draws on new primary research on folk metal and its reputation within heavy metal, using a range of internet sources and semiotic analysis of folk metal bands' songs and images.…”

“…I take whiteness and blackness to refer to political forms that have no reality in biology. Spracklen (2013aSpracklen ( , 2013b argues that instrumental whiteness is produced in leisure spaces and through leisure activities whenever the instrumental rationality identified by Habermas colonizes the communicative lifeworld. Instrumental whiteness is a form of white identity that is constructed by instrumental leisure, which is made invisible and normal at the point of its production.…”

“…From a Marxist perspective, Ben Carrington (2010) has been equally influential in showing how racism and racial discourses operate in everyday leisure forms such as sport and the media. This project builds on the work of Spracklen (2013aSpracklen ( , 2013b on the construction of instrumental whiteness in leisure. I take whiteness and blackness to refer to political forms that have no reality in biology.…”

“…For white people, their particular cultural capital and tastes become universal norms in cultural products such as music, while black people are made to feel they do not fit in such a leisure spaces and roles. Popular music plays an important role in normalizing racial discourses (Bennett, 2000;Spracklen, 2013b), as does heavy metal (Hoad, 2014;Spracklen, 2013a;Walser, 1993). As we will see below, folk-metal is also a key site for the creation of Habermasian instrumental whiteness.…”