NCJ Number
199858
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 10 Issue: 2 Dated: Winter 2003 Pages: 25-31
Date Published
2003
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article documents the prevalence and impact of "hate music" among today's youth and discusses how white supremacist groups have used hate music to promote their cause and recruit new members for their groups/organizations.
Abstract
Web sites where persons can order hate music on the Internet abound. The author of this article ordered five CDs of five different groups from some of these Web sites. Many of the CDs predict and advocate a race war and encourage White youth to prepare for it by obtaining weapons. Hate music can be broken down into several categories that include White Power Rock, National Socialist Black Metal, Fascist Experimental, and Racist Country. In message and terminology, hate music promotes the causes of white supremacist groups. This is evident even in the titles of the CDs, which include the following: "Land of the Whites," "Brown Town Burning Down," "Gays Gotta Go," "Black Plague Terror," and "Get Out of My Land." Apparently there are no statistics kept on how many hate-music CDs have been sold worldwide; however, Interpol (International Police Organization) estimated that during 1999 the European neo-Nazi music industry was worth $3.4 million a year. When Resistance Records was raided in 1997-98, some 200,000 tapes and CDs worth $3 million were confiscated. Record labels that produce hate music are not mainstream, and in some cases they have changed their names several times to add to the confusion about how widespread this music has become. The availability and accessibility of this music should be of concern to parents whose children may be exposed to hate music. In many cases, the Web sites that market this music contain spoken hate messages designed to recruit people for the white supremacist cause. 9 references