A Geek History of Time - Episode 121 - Ace of Base and Fascism

Episode Date: August 21, 2021

I'm not here to poke holes and suspended this belief. Anyway, they see some weird shit. They decide to make a baby. Now, Muckin' Merchant. Who gives a fuck? Oh, my God, which is a trick on you, baby. You know what I'm saying? Well, you know, I really like it here. It's kind of nice. And it's not as cold as Muckin' Home of the Sun as well. So, yeah, sure, I think we're gonna settle.

If I'm a peasant boy who grabs the sword out of a stone. Yeah. I'm able to open people up. You will, yeah. Anytime I hit them with it, right? Yeah. So my cleave landing will make me a cavalier. Good day, Spree.

If Sysclothon it was empty headed, plebeum trash, it was really good a groove. Because cannibalism and murder, pull back just a little bit, build walls to keep out the rat heads. And he's totally free. Round two. A thorough intent doesn't exist.

Some people stand up quite a bit, some people stay seen quite a bit. So let me just... This is a history of time. Where we connect your new to the real world. My name is Ed Layla. World History and English teacher here in Northern California. And we've had a long conversation before we started recording this evening, but one thing I have not mentioned anything to you about today, because of when it gets your reaction. Totally without any preparation is I had to spend the afternoon today getting my car

back from the body shop because week before last I was pulling out of our driveway, we live in an apartment complex, had my whole family in the car, me, the wife and our son, so like literally everybody who is most important to me in the world, in the car with me. And we live on a busy throughfare. Four lanes, two lanes go in each way, with a turn lane, suicide lane, colloquially, in the center. And there was heavy traffic in the lanes,

on the right hand lanes, closest to our driveway. And so I'm waiting and I'm waiting and I'm waiting. We're going out to meet friends of my wife for dinner. And I'm waiting and I'm waiting. And my wife says, pull out, folks are giving you room, just pull out and people will see you and I'm waiting and I'm waiting. And my wife says pull out, folks are giving you room, just pull out and people see you and I'm like, I don't really don't like, okay fine, I don't like doing this.

So I pull out into the first lane and then there's somebody in the second lane, stops, they wave me on, I pull out the second lane. And my plan was, I'm just gonna pull, I'm gonna turn into the suicide lane and then wait for traffic going the way we're going, wait for a gap there and then pull out into traffic. That's my plan.

So I'm going three or four miles an hour and I'm edging out past the second row of cars and some son of a bitch comes up the suicide lane at 25 miles an hour and I slam on my brakes and I come to a stop just as the rear corner panel of his vehicle rips my license plate off and scuffs the shit out of my front bumper. So now here's the deal. According to the law, according to the way fault gets assigned, he was already in traffic. I was coming out into traffic, so the fault lies with me, except he had a witness saying

he was in the suicide lane for over a block, which you're not supposed to do. And he was going at a rate of speed in the suicide lane. You should not be going. So I still wound up having to pay my $500 deductible. Now part of the reason I didn't mention anything about this to you before is the last time I mentioned that something had happened to my car,

you snickered and said, do you think maybe naming your car the Razor Crest was a bad idea? So I want you to know, it wasn't the first thing that crossed my mind after the son of a bitch clipped my front bumper because the first thing was, I wanna get out of my car and I wanna beat this motherfucker to death with the license plate

he just ripped off of my car. That was the first thing I wanted to do, and I'll tell you another time about how my wife reacted, which was much closer to actually doing that. and I'll tell you another time about how my wife reacted, which was much closer to actually doing that. But like the third or fourth thing I thought was, oh shit, I'm not saying anything with David. This is never gonna live it down.

So yeah, I got to spend today getting my car back. Okay. After that happened. So maybe, maybe I need to re-crisse in the vehicle. I would say, because I would say, got rear-ended, no fault of my own on the freeway. Frontend. Well, had to have my windshield replaced,

no fault of my own. And now this, so, yeah, I'm kind of. I would say with your ability to take responsibility for what has happened You might want to re-crisp in it like the lady luck something that land owned. Oh, okay. Well, there you go Okay, possibly is it's not my fault. It's not my fault. Yeah, that's true. Okay. All right. Thank you all for coming to car complaints Yeah, well there you go. Sorry about that. It was a bit long, but so who the hell are you? I'm Damien Harmony. I am a Latin and drama teacher up here in Northern California. I've had no car accidents because I don't go anywhere or do anything because the plague is ravaging our lands. I won't date this except to say that we have not attained herd immunity

and people acting as though we have is leading to yet another spike All of this was predictable predicted foretold by anybody who studied history and Or epidemiology or medical science so microbiology like like I have I have friends who are field adjacent To any number of those areas who were saying no, no, this is a bad thing. Like one of my very good Facebook friends who I unfortunately don't see nearly often enough in person even before the plague was just looking at the graphs, knowing, guys, math. I teach math. I don't think you understand how bad this is.

Let me show you how bad this is. That was like last April. Yeah, no, this was, again, again, if you just look at the influenza epidemic, then you would see that this makes sense. Where we are was totally predictable. Yeah, and Anne totally avoidable, sadly. Yeah, yeah.

But other than that, no real tales to tell, which is nice. Yeah, well, you know, the Chinese curse is, maybe you live in interesting times. And our times are interesting enough as it is. Yes, So yeah. Hey, and I got a question for you. What do you know of Swedish pop from the 90s?

I saw the sign. Oh, good. And it opened up my eyes. I saw the sign. All right. Don't want to drag you up to get into the light. We need to cut that. Because you went more than six seconds.

So now BMI is going to be after us. Okay. Or BMG. BMI is after us. BMI is for other reasons. It's a load of shit. Actually, it's why BMI is after us. I am never going to make what BMI says is not many.

Yeah. We're getting off the subject. So yeah, BMG is probably not going to be happy, but especially that was the way I murdered the two. Yeah, well, there's that. So tonight's episode is called Ace of Base in Swedish Neonazism, or why I think I understand better, adult conversion to religion.

Okay. There's a lot going on in that title. There's a lot going on in that title. Okay. So I know that this is gonna tickle your fancy quite a bit and that of several of our readers, because I'm gonna go back to June of 1940 Okay, June of 1940 Contra time for Hitler and I'm not gonna go any farther because again, yeah, you know, I would like to get through

Right, yeah, so in June of 1940, Dune Boy Contra Admiral Karl Dernitz, then the head of the German U-boat division of the German Navy, sought to establish an Atlantic U-boat base in order to hamstring lend lease and any commercial shipping from Britain. Yeah, yeah. He hoped to use one off the coast of Brittany France,

which of course tickled me me because they are known for making javelins and the Brittany spears are just amazing. Nice. Wow. And the only reason it took this long is because I spent so much time bitching about my car. But you've got hit. Yeah, okay. So adjusted for car inflation of where-

That's about three minutes in. Yeah, three minutes in. Yeah. On my own pod. Yeah. So he wanted to do it in a small town called, and I looked this up via the Google pronunciation guide, Laurent. Yeah, okay. Laurent.

Laurent. Yeah, Laurent. Laurent. This had been the seat of power for the French East Indies Company in the late 1600s, and later the French Royal Navy had also set up a base as well. The French East Indies Company got absorbed by the perpetual company of the Indies and spent much of the 1700s engaging in the Atlantic slave trade as well as trading eastward for

spices. During the War of Austrian Succession, the British rated Laurent in 1746 with a really neat amphibious operation. The British failed, by the way, we're going to be talking about Swedish pop in the 1990s. Yeah, well, you want you to see that we come back to 1700s. Yeah. So the context is everything. It absolutely is. So you can't get there unless you go through it. Unless you go, yes. So I told you that story and tell you this one. So in 1746, the British failed in their raid.

They were driven back and they weren't very successful in drawing French troops from flanders where they were whooping ass on fontanois and Brussels. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Now that's back when the French were the major military power on the continent. Yes. Prior to Napoleon. Yeah.

It's their, like, their first, their original series, the series, being amazing. Yeah, as opposed to the weird sequel that you're either even more amazing. That was deeply, that was deeply polarizing. I think, either you really loved it or you hate it immensely. But you can't argue it. Like it's... Oh yeah, no, it's a work of staggering genius.

But you either love it to pieces or you absolutely despise it. Yes. What I find interesting is that is 1745 is still the reign of the Sun King, if I'm remembering correctly. Really? 17, well no, no, I'm sorry, no, no, it's too late to have never mind. So that's Louis V. 15th?

Yeah, I think it would be around the 15th. Yeah, it would have been the 15th. So anyway, but it was under, it was under the Sun King that that reputation was established. And by the 1740s, the generals still knew what they were doing. And they had not squandered their military prowess quite yet. Yeah, well, and not only that, you were right.

It is King Louis the 15th. But not only that, but like new weapons and new tactics had come onto the fore. It wasn't pikemen anymore. It was, oh yeah, no it was, it was, and it was well muskets. Yeah, so it was muskets square as opposed

to bike square formation. So yeah. So yeah, now interestingly, there'd been some disagreement amongst the British admiralty as to whether or not Normandy would be a preferable place to attack. I'm just tickled by that happening in 1746 when, well, because, you know, almost 200 years later.

So geography doesn't fucking change, is the thing, like speaking as the military science, semi-minor, I had to take a few courses in it. Like, no, it's like, okay, no, look, the technology we're using to get to this, we don't have transporters yet. We have to get in a fucking boat. We have to float while, and in 1745, they had cannon. Now the accuracy was not anywhere near the same, but it was still like, we're gonna have

to advance onto a fucking beach at, yeah at the bottom of fucking cliff With fucking cannons on the top of it. Yeah, so Like the difference is in in you know 44 it was no no now the cannons can shoot farther Faster and blow up more shit more accurately. Well, yeah, we have we have a better you know I mean but but still yes for the guys in the thin hold steel boats right now Fuck this man. I don't know but the thin hold steel boats were also powered Whereas so so yes so in the 1700s. It's okay. We got to do all this Mm-hmm when the wind favors it. Yeah, right or or get everybody rowing exactly hard get everybody row

And then and then get on shore exhausted. Yes. Yeah. Well everybody rowing. And then get onshore exhausted. Yes. Yeah. Well, that's why you have Marines though. Yeah. Well, yeah. The sailors do the rowing and the Marines get off. Right. Hopefully they can get some bark as well. Yeah. So the British failed to secure through surrender negotiations. What they then failed to secure through warfare. Yeah. Enough of Laurel was and and please forgive my mispronunciation. The Latin in me just wants to say Laureant every time was made of stone that the British artillery did not have enough power to penetrate. Yeah.

And a lot of this failure also had to do with a lack of be sub burden. You can't bring in your biggest stuff and your men are exhausted. Well, and I mean the rolling stones weren't going to come around for another, you know, over 200 years. They're busy gathering us. Yeah. Exactly. Now, maybe this is why the French were so arrogant about DnBnFu, 200 plus years later. Come on, you can't get here. Yeah. No, they just underestimated the willingness of the native people they were subjugating to go, no, no, no.

Fuck you. You're leaving. You are. You already got evicted. And then we evicted them. You don't get to come back. You don't, no, no. Fuck you.

You're gone. Yeah. Now what I found fun about this was that David Hume had a lot to say about this. And he'll tear it out and rejoin. And it's just so wonderful when like great thinkers have a 17 year conference. Yeah, have an have an have an 18 in an 18th century Twitter, Twitter. Yeah.

So David Hume said of all of it, quote, the men seem to fall prey to doubt. The site of a dozen French's struck terror into our lines. Braggs and frampons troops even exchanged several bursts of fire with them. Everyone was discouraged, seek, and the rain which fell for three days was largely responsible. The route from the camp to the rest

of the fleet was rendered impassable. OK, now was Hume saying this as somebody who was there? I didn't know. I couldn't or was this, I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't.

I couldn't. Or was this, I couldn't. Or was this, I couldn't. Or was this, I couldn't. Or was this,

I couldn't. Or was this, I couldn't. Or was this, I couldn't. Or was this, I couldn't. Or was this, I couldn't. Or was this, I couldn't. Or was this, I couldn't. Or was this, did much in the way of fighting there because Voltaire also had some shit to say, which I'll quote in a second. Okay. None of which indicates that, and nothing that I know of either man indicates that they were there for this battle.

Okay. So the British were camped in the Carillman, Moorland, which added disease to their exhaustion, which is great. French prostitutes, and at least one of the thousands of black slaves who were there to be deported elsewhere for profit also helped bluff the British into thinking that over 20,000 French troops were staging a counter attack. Now, Laurent's militia, some 15,000 were as numerous as they were as as they were in experience, but the French had better weaponry, good defenses, and morale. And they had prostitutes running counterintelligence for them. Yeah, well, and that always...

Like anybody who's spent any time around infantrymen knows, you know, better weaponry and what immediately strikes me is it's the 1700s. And if they're behind any kind of defensive enfilod, that's already going to give them, like, no, you can be a green inexperienced, like, I barely know which end of my musket is which troops. If you're behind cover in the 1700s, it's hard to fuck up. It's really hard to fuck that up.

The balance of power in 1700s, and for centuries before that, and for another century or more afterward, very, very heavily favored the defense over the offense. If you were talking about prepared positions, like anybody who's read killer angels, by Michael Shera, talking about Gettysburg. There's a great passage in the killer angels from, not Jackson Long Street. From Long Street's point of view,

and like, yeah, I'm amazed. The closest thing you can get to an actual good Confederate quote. But anyway, Long Street literally has this monologue with himself about how I need to figure out how to convince Lee this is a bad idea. Because here's the math about the range of a rifle, musket and all of this kind of stuff.

And that's a prepared position there at, we're going to die. And that carries over back to time period. We're talking about it. Anyway, sorry. No, it's fine. The result was that the British surrendered, and the town of Laurent became an important place of fortification for France from then on.

Voltaire said of the whole affair, quote, all this grandfather's produced nothing but mistakes and ridicule in a war in which everything else remained too serious and too terrible. This upset David Hume, quite a bit, who responded with quote, a certain foreign writer more anxious to tell his stories in an entertaining manner than to assure himself of their reality, has endeavored to put this expedition in a ridiculous light.

But as there is not one circumstance, and I love it because circum-hyphen stance of his narration, which has truth in it, or even the least appearance of truth, it would be needless to lose time in refuting it. I love that they had a war of letters over this raid. Yeah, yeah. It's in the 1800s, Twitter feud. Yeah.

So, because that's, I mean, like tell me, that's not any number of political posts to take on that. Oh, yeah. That's any number of... That's Ben Shapiro versus anybody. Right, we fund this smart trying to go after Cardi B. Yeah. You know what that is? That's Tommy Lauren picking a fight with Cardi B

and then being told, I will drag you. Yeah, or AOC. Yeah. Like, yeah. I don't, I'm sorry. Yeah. Who? Yeah. Oh, wait, you're shit or pants girl. Right. Yeah, okay yeah, I don't I'm sorry. Yeah, who? Yeah, you're oh wait, you're shit or pants girl right right? Yeah, okay

Got it. So in 1769 a permanent naval base was established there a lot of the French privateers during the American Revolution We're based out of La Ronde. Okay, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars stopped most trade from there But after all of that it turned into a more modern port town complete with its own dry dock. The redoubtable was built there in 1876, which is the first ship in the world with a steel structure. So it's no surprise that Dernitz wanted to build sub-pens there, which by the way, my auto-correct kept wanting me to correct it to sub penis. I'm like no we're not talking about the balls. No, but he wanted to make sub pens there and make a forward base. He needed somewhere that would keep the U-boats close enough to the Atlantic to make a difference with

enough supply routes coming in to it from inland via railroads and where he could build bomb-proof sub-pens to keep them safe from British and later American bombings. Also, he looked at it and he was like, there's already a bunch of cafes, bars, and brothels. This is perfect for sailors. And at its height, Laurent was able to shelter 30 subs from Allied bombings. The pens worked so well that the Allies shifted their efforts to the town of Laurent itself. And from mid-January to mid-February of I believe 1945, they flattened nearly 90% of Laurent, making resupplied much, much tougher.

But the bunkers, the sub-pens, they never surrendered until the war was over. Oh, wow. Now, in 1941, subs that were coming out of Laurent, the carom on submarine base, specifically, sunk over 500 allied ships in 1941. Oh, yeah. Now, that's Len Lee's. Oh, the wolf packs, yeah. The wolf packs were Oh yeah. Now that's Len Lee's packs. Yeah. The wolf packs were. Yeah. It was it was it was one of the most

dramatically successful Strategies that the the Germans pursued and when he was put on trial for his submarine warfare because I mean He's attacking civilian shipping. Yeah He was defended by the American sub High commander of submarines saying, no, that's what we did to Japan. It's okay to do that. I would do like, like, sorry.

Uh, no, we can't. Dernitz didn't get busted for that specific war. Yeah, there were plenty of other things. Yes, because now, uh, 500 allied ships, that's American and British ships almost exclusively. Two million, 900,000 tons of shipping. Oh yeah, and that's vehicles, aircraft, fuel, ammunition, food supplies, industrial parts, raw materials, you name it. Now more on this later, but right now I'm trying I'm trying to talk to you about Ace of Base, the really fun Swedish pop band right? Yeah, no

I know and I I we've been doing this long enough. I know eventually we're gonna get there I will come back around yeah, so and I'm especially to be talking about their debut album, The Sign, and there's some hinkiness there. So let's talk about their members before we get into the debut album. Okay. The iteration that I'm talking about. So we're putting a pin in submarine base. Yep. Hold on. France. Yes. Okay. Yes. Just making sure. Oh, bye. Hell by the Nazis. Yeah. Yeah. No, I know that. But geographically, that's France. It's in France. Yeah. OK. Yeah.

And now we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about North Sea a little bit. OK. Or not the North Sea. What is that called? The Baltic. Yeah. OK. I think the Saga rack comes to mind for some reason.

But I'd have to look it up. Anyway, but we're going to cross over to Sweden. OK. And we're going to talk about the members. Now, this band had many iterations. The iteration I'm talking about has the three siblings, Jonas Bergen, Jenny Bergen, or Bergen, and Malene, also known as Lynn,

or so it may be Malen Bergen, and then it's fellow named Ulf Eckberg, the friend of Jonas. Okay. These are the form talking about. Now, there are other members before and since, but since I'm doing a very specific dive into this band, these are the ones I'm going to focus on. Okay. He's so Jonas, who is also called Joker, is kind of the heart and soul of the music in

this band. He's a producer, he's a singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboard. I'm saying this in the present tense because he still does all these things. Okay. He still does most of the writing for the band presently. Okay. He, uh, Lynn is the most reclusive of the bunch. She mostly shows up to perform, uh, and then she disappears. In fact, she quit because she didn't want the fame and the attention. Okay. Um, she lives a quiet life now. She seems pretty happy according to her brother who otherwise respects

her privacy vis-a-vis the public Like she doesn't give interviews and they'll ask her like woovers or sister. He's like She's happy. Let's leave her alone and that's the end of the story. It will bully for him Yeah, and for her it's wonderful that they have like he's still in the thing that she Helps make famous and she's happy to step away. There's something thoroughly un-American about people being able to say, well, yeah, I'm done with that now. Instead of like, you need to milk that because I don't have healthcare otherwise.

Yeah, there's no. I do wonder about that. Well, like, if you look at British sitcoms, they end. Oh, yeah. You don't just end because people stopped caring. Yeah. They tell story and they're done. And they're done.

Yeah. I think it has more to do with our national appetite. And I think it has to do with our, and, and, and, and, and relatedly. We are a nation that still ideates as a frontier. So the work is never done. And so the work is never done. Yeah, and I do think that I'm going to loop on to that. I think our national identity has to do with nothing is ever enough like you said, our appetite, but also that inability to extract yourself from your work life and have a home life. And,

Puritans, yeah. I'll lovely. Yeah. So something that I as a teacher have struggled for 20 years to do, and I think I found the key. I, yeah. So,

I'll let you go. Working on it. Yeah. So, she also There was also the sister Jenny who was the code lead singer with her sister Lynn. Yeah Jenny kept going after Lynn left She wrote more songs for the band after her sister left She's more public with her life. She's been mostly a solo act, actually, since the early 2000s. She seems to have been pushed out for younger women to come into the band, actually.

And has had some legal and ethical struggles with her brother and a Eckberg. Okay. And that brings me to Elf Eckberg. He also called himself Buddha. So you're Joker, Buddha, Lin, and Jenny. Okay. Okay. Now, prior to founding Ace of Base, Ekberg was a member of a synth band called Commit Suicide until it disbanded in 1986.

Until it committed suicide. As it were, yeah. As it were. I mean, he was a teenager. By the time of their dissolution, he was 16. Okay. So I think he joined them in 83, and they disbanded in 86, and he was 16. Okay, so I think he joined them in 83 and they disbanded in 86 and he was 16. Now his connection to them is pretty clear, but his youth makes it a bit of a fuzzy thing. In 1997,

Ulf Eckberg gave probably his most thorough response to his connection to the band commit suicide that he had up to that point. And you might be wondering, why is this such an important connection? Well, in 1993, one of the national newspapers of Sweden made public that one of the founders of the hit Swedish pop band Ace of Base had neo-Nazi ties. Okay. Eckberg was somewhat less thorough in 93 when he responded to it. But in 1997, he responded on a documentary that pointed it out called Ulf was a Nazi. Oh wow. And there's not putting too fine a point on it at all.

Because he was part of commit suicide, which was a neo-Nazi synth band. Okay, stop. You sure? Stop. Stop, stop. Okay. So you say neo-Nazi band. And the first thing, well don't stop. Okay. So you say neo-nazi band.

And the first thing, well don't stop. Okay. No, no, no. See, because the point I'm trying to make is I don't think of 80s synth music as being a vehicle for Nazi ideology. Like I picture a bunch of guys who look like Judas Priest with lightning strike tattoos.

Sure, sure. You know, because I mean, Judas Priest doesn't have a, but you expect like all the rage, storm and drong, heavy crunchy bass lines, scream vocals, heavy black, heavy, heavy black, not just eyeliner, but like, you know, paint makeup. Yeah, you know, I don't think of Vangelis as the genre for that.

So like, you don't think that end of the movie scene where there's different fraternities competing with each other and revenge of the nerds, and they bust out with point dexter on the violin, and then a few people, you know, worms are on the keyboards, and you don't think that when you think Nazi music? No, not as much as you might think. Now that you bring it up, I'm like, well, shit, not not not you know not as much as you might think now you bring it up I'm like well shit. Why don't I? No, I'm really not thinking that like so so a Nazi synth band. Yeah Okay, neo-nazi. Yeah, let's let's be fair. Okay. Okay. Neon Nazi Well, it doesn't matter because since it didn't it didn't, also that. In the 40s. But Nazis are specifically German fascism, and neo-Nazis can be exported to other places, which is kind of an interesting thing.

Fair. Here's his quote in 97. He says, I told everyone, I really regret what I've done. I closed that book. I don't want to even talk about it. That time does not exist to me anymore. I closed it and I threw the book away in 1987. I took the experience from it. I learned from it, but that life is not me. It's somebody else. Now here's where I get a bit suspicious. Because you've got some disassociation

there, which typically means that you would just rather ignore what had happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not really taking responsibility, but you're not taking ownership. Yeah. Okay, cool. I get, you know, trauma's the thing.

But also, Eckberg was a party, was a member of the Sweden Democrats, which was founded in 1988. Now in 1988, he's 18 years old. Okay. And he's part of this group called the Sweden Democrats. Now the Sweden Democrats, while not a Nazi party explicitly, they were in fact a fascist party explicitly.

One of their founders was a fellow named Gustav Ekstrom, a fervent Nazi. Titles are different. Yeah, okay. Yeah. But, but, okay, but, but okay. So when we say that they were an explicitly fascist party, are we saying that they literally self-identified directly as fascists, or was it that, okay.

And so predictably they wanted, you know, hyper nationalism, state overall, nationalism. Okay. Yeah, subjugation of women, make sure you keep the blacks out, all that stuff. Wow. Yeah.

Okay, so the whole nasty popery. Yes. Okay. Yes. All right. So that was 88 he joins. And one of the founders, like I said, was Gustav Ekstrom. Okay. He was himself a Fervent Nazi.

Now, what I mean by Fervent Nazi is that he had joined the Nordic youth in 1936. No, earlier than that, actually, which was the Swedish version of the Hitler youth. Yeah. And not only did he join it, again, you could argue... Different era. Yeah, and you could argue there was a pope who was in the

H.J. And he could have been pressed into service. Yeah, this was not pressing into service this early in the 30s. And he rose through the ranks to become a national officer in the organization in 1936. Oh, shit. And you could, oh, you know, the indiscretion of youth by, you know, Gustav Erkstrom, accept that in 1941, X-Trump volunteered for the Waffen SS, the military branch of the SS. Okay, wait. Yeah. So in 1941, so he rose to leadership role

in the Swedish Hitler youth in 36. Yeah, the Nordic youth. Nordic youth. Nordic youth. Yeah. Five years later, when the war is going, when the war is on and everybody knows, okay, he volunteered for the war. For the war.

So by 80 something he would have been in his 70s, 60s. Yeah, at the earliest he would have been, I think, well let's see, if he joins the youth brigade basically in the early 30s, conservatively he's maybe 13 at the youngest, so it would have made him born in 20 or so. Okay. And so 20 or so, he's in his 80 or so. So by the 80s he's in his 70s.

All right, okay. I'm just trying to get a feel on, okay. Yeah. So from there, he rose to the rake of Rottenführer, which I just, I love Rottenführer. Yeah. And he was a translator in Berlin through 1945. So in 1988, at 81 years old,

he founded the Sweden Democrats. He was a lifer. So yeah. What I don't get, I mean, there's many things I don't get, but so you you witnessed just exactly what happened during the war. Yeah. Yeah, and you witnessed just exactly how that all fell apart in spectacular fashion. And everybody who was at a certain level or above in all of those organizations, wound up at Norenberg, wound up either committing suicide or hanging or in prison, or in prison for but working for NASA. I mean, there's a lot of ways. Okay. You're right. You know,

but but assuming you were into physics genius and you were and you were part of that cadre, how do you get to be 88 years old? 81. 81. Sorry. How do you get to be 88 years old. 81. 81. Sorry, how do you get to be 81 years old? Having witnessed all of that and not recognize that it failed. Like, like. Like, and come up with reasons why it was still right.

Okay. I mean, I'm pretty sure Captain Mal said something. Yeah, I know. I know. Yeah, great. Bring that up in this context. I don't you. I mean, I recognize that logically that's the answer,

but you understand on an emotional level what I'm saying is like, how do you, like he joined when he was... That's puberty. Yeah. So that programming, it's a really important question like how do you like he joined when he was yeah so so that that programing it's a really important question that you're asking and my answer I think is equally important because I think this will come back round to help explain wolf okay um uh expert uh so now the first chairman of the Sweden Democrats was a fellow named Anders Klarstrom who as a young man had been a part of the Nordic Reich party.

Okay. You may know that name because they're the assholes who were on parade when the old woman, denuded Danielson, hit one in the head with a purse. Smack one with a purse and there's a statue of her there now. Yes. And the prick that she hit would then go on later to torture and murder a gay Jewish man. Oh, yeah, I wish she'd hit him harder with a brick. I, I, yeah, kind of wish it hadn't just been a purse. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, Andrew's Clarkstrom, uh, was a part of this party. Uh, and he, uh, as a young man, was part of Nordic Reich party, and he had made anti-Semitic phone calls

to Sweden's version of Ed McMahon or Johnny Carson. Oh, now how classy. Right. You know, I love how far-right figures all want to cloak themselves and, you know, we're the real intellectuals and we're smart and rational and all these, all these lefties are all just bleeding hearts and they don't actually have facts. And then you like find out that no, no, this is your idea of political discourse. Well, and then it gets worse because he was born in 1965. He's a Nazi come lately. Like I get I get it with

with with X-Tram. Yeah, okay. Gustav X-Tram because he with, with, uh, X-Tram. Yeah. Okay. Um, who's off X-Tram? Cause he, he was whirlwinded up in a, in a nationalist movement in his teens. Yeah. During the first, uh, iteration of this. But this dude was born in 65. That's 20 years after it failed.

And 20 years after like the, the roaches have been forced to hide. Yeah. And yet. Yeah. Now, uh, he was born in 65. Did I mention what band that Anders Clarsam was a part of until it disbanded in 1986? It was commit suicide, wasn't it? Hell, boy. All right, okay.

So, and so that's how you can have a neo-nazzi synth band. Yes. It's a synth band full a neo-nazzi synth band. Yes. It's a synth band full of neo-nazzi. Yes. As it were. You know, now I'm starting to think of the haircuts on flock of seagulls and I'm like, you know, should we have been looking harder? Yeah, probably.

Okay. So in the 1990s, this group attracted a lot of skinheads, especially for public gatherings. For sense music. No, no, I didn't mean commit suicide. Oh, okay. I mean, the party. Yes, I mean the political party, the Sweden Democrats. Okay, pronouns, that's my problem.

Okay. So especially for public gatherings, there were a lot of skinheads and their platform in 1990 was pretty straightforward as a political party. Repatriate most immigrants who came to Sweden from 1970 forward banned the adoption of foreign-born children and reinstate the death penalty. What kind of crazy-ass motherfuckers? Okay, let's start with the third one because remarkably enoughably enough that's the least batch shit of the three Like reinstate the death penalty. Do you understand once you eliminate the death penalty? Like that's one of those things that's like that's like when you reinstate it. You're making a real You're making yeah, that's that's like well when you eliminate the death penalty. That's like building Medicare

Right, like you don't you don't go backwards from that people look at that and no no you've now set a standard Yeah, and when you move away from that and the big deal and the same yeah, just a matter of pacing. Yeah Yeah, we don't kill people right you, the state does not kill people. Right. And like, you want to re- You look at that and go, no, no, no, let's try it again. Yeah. Let's try it again. No, no, no, let's try killing them.

Yeah. Like, okay. I grew up, as we've talked about before, I get up in a, in a, in a, Reaganite conservative household, which ideologically should have meant that you were against the state killing people should have should have should have you think so what did you yeah well there's that but but you know the the idea was that uh you know there are some there are some crimes or some criminals that you're not going to be able to rehabilitate and, you know, the only way to, you know, eliminate

the risk to society, whatever, whatever. Right. And of course, then, then growing up looking at the statistics and looking at the facts of all of it, I've, I've, of course, you know, come out of that, that viewpoint. But like, even as somebody who grew up and did not wholly give up my support of the death penalty until I was fully an adult. Sure. Like, even when I was a supporter, looking at countries that eliminated the death penalty,

hearing that, no, no, we wanna bring it back, would be enough for me to be like whoa wait whoa Like I mean we still haven't we never got rid of it. Yeah, and like I mean it's right up there with like removing solar panels from the roof of the White House like like like why why yeah what the fuck right so then so then okay We're gonna start by reinstituting the death penalty because we want the government to be hardcore Yeah, like how 90s is that shit like okay one two I'm gonna go straight to the first one

Repatriation of everybody since 1974 no 70 okay, all right, so it's a nice round number sure still okay, but but Anybody who patriated mm-hmm over the course of 20 years mm-hmm you're just gonna say no fuck off get out by now Like because it works so well in Uganda Let's let's not even yeah, yeah, let's let's not even talk about the humanitarian aspects of this because No, I think I think I think you don't that's not is the reason is well as the point. Yes But but if if we're just gonna get if we're gonna be very very centrist liberal About this whole thing. Okay, let's forget about the moral ethical and humanitarian issues Let's just interest limit.

Yeah, let's just look at the economic impact. Sure. And like, okay, 70 to 90, this was 90 what? Uh, this was the platform in 90, yeah. Okay, so 20... 20... 20 years. Yes.

So number one, there's been, there's been umpteen thousands of them born in the country since then. So, so the ones who were patriated, you're going to kick out what about the kids? Number one. Yeah. I mean, obviously, I want to kick them out too, but whatever, but, but like legally, we're going to make that happen.

But, but then let's look at the economic impact of that. Immigrants, we, we know statistically it's been shown by the Trump fucking White House. Immigrants generate more economic activity, more economic growth, more, more money. Yeah. For the economy of the country, they move, they move into, then native born citizens do. Yes. Like they are a net gain economically. Yep, so you're just gonna say, no, no, fuck that. Yep. We're gonna kick all of them out.

Yeah, and while we're at it, you can adopt babies that were born somewhere else. Okay, so, so wait. Okay. Wait, okay. This could have been a one episode thing. This could have been, this could have been, but this. Okay. Wait. Okay. Um, do we know? This could have been a one episode thing. This could have been, this could have been, this could have been, but this is fucking with me.

I have to, like, like, cause this is, I mean, like, come on. I got it. I tried. This is my bad shit crazy. I tried. This is just so fucking stupid. This is the one and only. Yeah.

Like, listen to how much I'm swearing in the middle of talking about this. It's just so bloody stupid. Yep. So you're not and you can't adopt any babies from outside the country. Right. What does that have to do with fucking anything? Well, I mean other than you're bullshit witchcraft racist dipshittery.

That's not what you get to it. It's a color thing. Yeah. Sweetened. Okay, but like, okay. So you said earlier, you mentioned something about the older guy, the Hitler user leader, X-Trim. Yeah, X-Trim. X-Trim, X-Trim, you know, getting caught up in a nationalist movement.

Yes. Here's the deal. I'm going to quibble on that. Okay about getting caught up in a nationalist movement. Right? Here's the deal. I'm gonna quibble on that. Okay. It's not a fucking nationalist movement. A nationalist movement would have been we are Swedes. We speak Swedish. We have the Swedish culture, etc, etc.

No, no, no, he worked for the fucking Germans. It's not a nationalist. He went to work for the Germans. Eventually, he started by joining a nationalist youth brigade which he rose up in the ranks for and then he decided to go through the roots of that nationalist thing where the international tendrils of Nazism which which I would say that it's intense. No nationalism. So it's intense. It's no nationalism, so it's okay.

R. I mean, that's exactly what they were doing. They're creating an ethos state. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, okay, but what I'm getting, I mean, like it's just everything about the idea of that brand, like if you're gonna have an ethno state, like it's gotta be built around something

other than just we're all blonde and fair, we're all blonde and fair skinned. Like Swedish and German are different fucking languages. They have different cultural backgrounds. The gods they worshiped were different pre-Christianity. The brands. The brands of Christianity they adopted were notably different. Those don't matter.

Jermity didn't even, Jermity didn't even have one unified kind of Christianity in their fucking country. Sorry, I don't see why those things. I, if you're creating, if you're creating an ethno state, you define an ethno state You define no it's a ratio nationalist state your ideas of race or bullshit. Yes. All right fine. Yes I just had to get that off my anyway. It's all just such witchcraft. Oh, you're gonna be so mad at the next

god damn it so They are ready Are you though? They as a group, this is the Swedish Democrats. Yeah. They courted such connections as the National Democratic Party of Germany. Natch. Natch.

Which existed in 1990. Yeah. Of course. Well, because you do still have writers, but Nazi shit, like if a party turns Nazi, it's immediately banned in Germany. It's kind of cool. Yeah, where is, do we know where the where the dividing line is in German, like in in their law? There is a is an issue of like a tree with my follow and she she actually she breaks it down pretty well. I can point you to it.

But anyway, so they courted them. They courted the... You think a party with national Democrat anywhere in their name in Germany would be throwing up like all of the red flags with little white circles. Was swastikas. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, sorry.

So they courted them. They courted a group called the National Association for the Advancement of White People. And they courted them they courted a group called the National Association for the Advancement of White People They courted yeah, that's just so goddamn po-dunk like well that's David Duke's group. Oh All right, yeah, okay The advancement of that's called the US Congress since 17. I don't know Oh, that's good. I like that. It's true. The Senate motherfucker like come on. And also a group called combat 18 in Britain. Oh yeah.

I've heard I remember now. I think the research I did for this has put me on a number of lists. Because I do not. So they've also since the Swedish Democrats have also since linked up with the national front of France, including John Marie Le Pen. Yeah. And since the late 1990s, realizing that the center was easier to jump rightward from, they began to soften their image to become more mainstream. So they've stopped doing the, let's ban all the browns and stuff like that. No, no, no, we're doing these things, which are pro labor, we're doing these things,

which are, and you can be pro labor and a racist. I mean, America approved that for a long time. Yeah. You can, you can do stuff like that. And so they've gone center, which, again, it's kind of like hydra going dormant and shield. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah It's a lot of work. It's a lot of power. Yeah, it seems to work too because they have become the third largest party in the Swedish parliament Fuck me really yeah, and for the longest time All the other parties straight up refused to work with them, which is great

Yeah, until recently the Christian Democrat party and the moderate straight up refused to work with them, which is great. Yeah. Until recently, the Christian Democrat Party and the moderate party are starting to work with them. They've still retained much of their nationalist exenophobic and racist ideology. They just make it seem softer and they play the civility politics game.

Oh, well. So they've been Shapiro. Yeah. Now, the Sweden Democrats were founded by right wing fascist nationalist Swedish politicians who had direct lineage to the Bavaris Vergi Svenske or the BSS Bavaris Vergi Svenske The BSS in English we call that keep Sweden Swedish. That was the movement in English we call that keep Sweden Swedish. That was the movement. Now these assholes got started in 1979 and they used to hand out stickers to Swedish girls specifically warning them to not shame the Swedish race by having sex with black men. Okay. Yep. How many? How? Yep. How much of an issue even is this or was this in the 70s in Sweden?

How much of an issue was lipstick parties in the early 2000s really? But yet people in Ape shit about it. Well, but I just mean I just mean how many black men were there in Sweden in 1970 for this to even be a threat. Well, I would say that given the liberation of a lot of former colonies in Africa and South Asia. Okay, and then moving you to Europe. And by that time, the Nordic countries all being, you know, democratic socialist havens where like, no, no, you can go here and get work.

Yeah, you know, okay. All right. Okay. So there might have been a demographic presence to be perceived as a threat. Enough that people who wanted to see it as a threat saw it as a threat and could call it as a threat and it would take a lot. And it would take a lot. And it would take a lot.

And it would take all that. And make political hate. Amygdala, yeah. All right. So it wasn't the word that they used, of course. But that's what they would give out these stickers. And I found a picture of the stickers. Oh, it's got. So, yeah. Like, everything I, when I was a young man, uh-huh.

Like to one extent or another, everything I did in life had at its end goal, getting late. I'm just gonna be blunt about this. Other considerations were there and often were more immediate concerns. But ultimately, I want to get to a place where yeah, yeah, I'm, you know, getting laid. I'm getting laid. So like I have to wonder at the logic of like

I'm going to be the guy standing on a street corner handing girls these stickers. Okay. Cause like what convoluted delusional mindset makes you think you're going to be seen as anything other than the grossest kind of creep? I, well, you say that and yet how many of our friends grew up upset that being the nice guy didn't get them late. Very good point. So. Alright. So all right now their main focus was to stop immigration to Sweden, but they also claim that was not racist

Which you can make a grammatical argument as such, but it's inherently it's inherently of course They're bumper stickers seem pretty racist because their bumper stickers said things like quote don't let your daughter become a Negro toy or Quote Negro threaten their victims Yeah, fuck now daughter become a Negro toy or quote Negro threaten their victims. What the fuck? Yeah. Now, I imagine that loses something in translation, but that seems to be what it translates into. Now this group, what? Okay. The Sweden Democrats in turn, was inspired by a group called the new Swedish movement, which

was started by a guy named Pierre Engdal, who was... His name, I've heard. He was a Nazi loving politician who started that party in 1941, because of course he did. After the war, he ran something called the Malmo movement, which helped Nazis hide from justice and get out of Europe. Oh, moved him down to South America.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. I wonder, and this is just me wondering and never having done the research, I wonder if there's a connection of the, the, because Malmo is a town. Yeah. I wonder if the Malm Luggaged Company is related to that town. And it just kind of, kind of, yeah, you kind of wonder. Yeah, done it.

But anyway, he was a world leader in the European neo-Nazi movement of the 1950s. Yes, there was in fact a neo-Nazi movement starting in the 50s. Yeah. Now, that's, yeah, now we're going to go back to Eckberg. Okay. Buddha. Yeah, yeah. In 2013, he said, quote,

commit suicide was a new wave music band creating and performing electronic music on synthesizers without any political touch or agenda, which is weird. In 2013, for him to have said something that so thoroughly contradicted his distaste for it in 1997. He also claimed that his band was it was grouped in with other groups who sang racist lyrics and espoused white supremacy. Incidentally, there's a photo of him from his time

in commit suicide giving a Nazi salute. Now, he was somewhere between the ages of 13 to 16. Yeah. But he's married by older people. He's also said though like I am ashamed of that era, but in 2013 He says has this weird kind of So our reversal kind of thing. Yeah several reporters attribute the following lyrics to commit suicide quote So assume a a synth beat yeah the the 80s version of Yeah, the 80s version of yeah. So men and white hoods march down the road. We enjoy ourselves when we're sawing off the N words heads. Immigrant, we hate you out, out, out, out. Nordic people wake up now. Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. I assume out, out, out, out,

and shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. Our call and response, but I don't know. But that, that was part of the band. With sense music, it could, our calling response, but I don't know. But that, that was part of the band. With sense music, it could, in new wave, it could just be repetition. Yeah. New wave was not calling response. Okay. Much. But racism tends to be. Yeah, well, granted. But wow. But yeah, so those were the lyrics of the band that did not have much political touch or agenda. Yeah. Eckberg is also denied membership with the Sweden Democrats, stating that it's a, quote, factual error,

which is a weird way of saying I was never in them. Yeah. Like, you know, go ahead ask me, ask me Damien if I've ever been a member of the Nazi party. Have you, Damien, ever been a member of the Nazi party? Well, that's a factual error, Ed. Like, doesn't that seem really? It seems, but, but, but, but, ask me again. Damien, are you now or have you ever been a member of the Nazi party? Fuck no. Okay. See, that's different. Yeah, there's much, much, much more. Yeah. But how much of,

when you say he says it was a factual error How much of that is a translation thing? I'm pretty sure the Swedes are not as bad as the Romans about being able to say yes or no Okay, so I think there's a no more the Japanese yeah, but yeah Okay, all right understood so most of his denials and apologies are flexed verbal gymnastics, I think okay But translation may be a thing. I'm still holding out like I'm gonna be as gracious as I can, but still, it's weak tea. Yeah, yeah.

Now, Eckberg because of his previous denials, he strikes me as someone who'd rather not think of himself in that way, and therefore not give full countenance to the past. And if you're not gonna give full countenance, I get to doubt your sincerity, especially, especially if we start to dig at the name Ace of Base. Remember that base in Laurel?

Yeah. The German Navy plan so many successful submarine attacks from that site that it was known colloquially as the base of aces. What? Okay. Swedish pop band, Ace of Base, not Ace of Base with an S, but Ace of Base with an E. Yeah. As one would imagine with Euro dance music has claimed various origins of their name. Fair.

For instance, the studio was considered a base and they're the aces and they're the aces of the base. Okay, yeah. And generally in their early years, the story centered around the studio, studio being the base and their aces experts, masters of the crowd of that base. So, ace of base in 2018, Wolf Eckberg said, quote, The name came out of a hangover I had on New Year's Day. So, I was hungover watching MTV, and I saw Motorhead's video for their song, Ace of Spades. Okay. I liked the name and thought I'd play around with those words.

Were four members of the span, so I thought, good, four aces, I'll keep the ace. Then I thought of our studio and how it's our base. Okay. It seems innocent enough. Accidentally, an inversion of some obscure bit of Nazi trivia, like a kekistan flag or something. Yeah.

Weird that both are pretty quite closely tied and clearly tied to Nazi Germany's navy, but okay. And it's weird that they'd be named by Ulf Eckberg, who has several ancillary, not entirely, deniableiable, not entirely denied connections to the group that dig obscured Nazi shit. Yeah. So, that's the name. Now let's talk about that debut album, huh? Yeah.

Kick ass. It was called Happy Nation and it was released to the world in November 1992. But it wouldn't reach the United States market until November of 93. And by then, the title Happy Nation, everywhere else was called The Sign. It's catchy, it's got a fun dance beat, varied vocals, that whistling, that they're known for from this album.

Yeah. Several songs had whistled in it. Had that same kind of note to them. And now I'm going to avoid most references to the music videos because the relationship between an artist's song and the people who make the videos is not always in perfect sync with each other. Yeah. And so again, I'm trying to extend as much grace as I can. It as possible. It definitely pulls as a band from a bit of the old influence of reggae and West Indies music that you can find in Rude Boy Scar from the late 70s. Interestingly, so did Neo Nazi punk, owing to the co-opting of skinhead fashion and culture

by Neo Nazis and ruining really cool looks. But drawing from the same well is not enough to convict someone of neo-nazzi pop music. Okay. The lyrics are a bit odd. They feel very Filipino-marinetti, very futurism. Okay. The precursor to fascism. Yeah. The pre-World War One. Yeah. Here is happy nation. Happy nation living in a happy nation. And I can hear the song on it. Oh, yeah. Where the people understand and dream of the perfect man, a situation leading to sweet salvation, for the people, for the good, for mankind, brotherhood, were traveling in time, ideas by man, and only that will last. time, ideas by man, and only that will last. Here's something from the 1909 Futurist Manifesto. Come on my lads, let's get out of here at long last, all the myths and mystical ideals

are behind us. Nothing at all worth dying for, other than the desire to divest ourselves, finally of the courage that weighed us down. For those who are dying anyway for the invalids for the prisoners who cares, the admirable past may be a balm to their worries. Since for them, the future is a closed book, but we, the powerful young fat futurists, don't want to have anything to do with it the past. Totally. Totally, totally very similar. It's a happy nation. It kind of sounds like the Futurist Manifesto.

The, it's a small world version of the Futurist Manifesto. I love it. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna polish all the rough edges off of it. Yeah. We're gonna have a bunch of little bobble head dolls. Yeah. It's kind of bouncing back and forth singing. It's all gonna be a very happy, happy joy joy. Exactly. And it sounds utopian. And it's not until you go, wait a minute, can you give me that line about the

perfect man? You know, one of the fun times. Yeah, cuz it seems to see a perfect man as a perfect solution For everyone in one single happy nation not happy world. No, no happy nation. Well, yeah Now I don't think this is a love song to Hitler. I Do think that it's still drawing from the same water that Eckberg was swimming in as a youth though. Oh, yeah Well the whole idea of, you know, unity within the nation, everybody, you know, working together, there is a way to yearn for unity that is normal, that is healthy, like, you know, we want everybody

to be on the same side. Right. I'd do all we would like to be working together toward a common goal. It's, it's, you know, it's an attractive idea, whether you're a righty or a lefty, like you like that. Yeah. No, Steve Rogers, the socialist Steve Rogers would be like, well, no, yeah, we all got to pull together.

Yeah. You know, the difference is, okay, how do we emphasize that, you know, in the one case, it's, no, no, we are all out, looking out for one another would be the lefty version. Right. Whereas, no, no, we're all working together for the greatness of the nation. And one righty version.

And one perfect man, one perfect man. One perfect man is gonna make the decisions for us. We all have to follow them. Very. Because, yeah, you know, he's out of line, but he's right Or no, no, he's not he is out of line, but he's also wrong in this case, but you know, yeah Yeah, so Yeah, anyway, yeah, and again, wow I must point out that when it was released in the US the album was not called Happy Nation

point out that when it was released in the US the album was not called Happy Nation. The playlist was specifically rejiggered so that Happy Nation remained buried at the bottom of the heap. Oh, I, yeah. I couldn't find anything beyond aristorecords arguing marketability for renaming it, by the way. Oh, wow. Here's some more lyrics. And over time we've learned from the past that no man's fit to rule the world alone Have a man will die, but not his ideas Happy nation Just really uncomfortable Now that that again again again, yep, you could be talking about Gandhi. We don't know right right? You know you could be talking about Martin Luther King Jr.

You could do Dr. King you could be talking about him. There's a lot of K. Yes, like there's any number of people You could be talking about and then you realize wait you were a number of what party again. Yeah Or you well you won't truly deny Have you been a member of what party again? Yeah now by Four pair Ingaal had died and he was one of the founding fathers of Swedish fascism. Yeah. He died, but his ideas as I showed above with the various right wing political parties, lived on.

Yeah. Sorry, but Swedish fascism. For some reason, it's like, I know. I know. It's like, it's so fluffy. It sounds., like like you know Do do you have to you have to build like like do they do they give you You pegs to you know, right? said it said it said it wouldn't pegs to put together the concentration camp there Yeah, yeah, yeah, like like fascism by IKEA like how wait

But yeah, so pair eng doll died, but his ideas lived on and Given the focus on Sweden for the Swedes happy nation remains a bit suspect to me I don't think it's a love song to pair a pair Eng doll I don't think so I do think though that the water that we the programming that we receive Yeah, yeah, the water that we swim in and the cultural milieu does influence it now the band itself has said that the song was quote an Anti-fascist song and a hymn to life Cool, Eckberg claimed that it was the other all of the other members of the band probably looked at it and went okay cool

Right the guy who wrote it, my devs. Anyway. Eckberg himself claimed that it was a response to quote, everybody talking about how bad everything is. I think the best thing is to see the positive. Again, pretty vanilla, non-remarkable. Artists don't have to be deep philosophers about their art. No.

And not to throw shade, but 1990's Swedish pop is not known for its depth in either language. No. I reiterate here, I don't think they're doing any of it on purpose. I don't think that Ulf Eckberg is deliberately trying to spread Nazi propaganda. But I do think that some of his firmware was set.

And he keeps bringing him back to certain themes when it comes to music. It's like a less benign version of how I can't seem to help but turn everything into pro wrestling. Yeah. You know, now or yeah, let's look at the sign. Okay. There we go. Everybody knows it.

Okay. And I got it. I got to share this story. Okay. So in college, junior and senior, I got to share this story. Okay. So in college, Jr. and Senior Year, one of my best friends is one of those guys who he can put background music on and have the same song playing for 12 hours.

While he's doing something else. And for him, all it is is background noise. Like he's one of those people who either doesn't hear lyrics or like it just, it doesn't, there's a different level of his brain on which it operates than say me. Okay. And my other roommates.

We had four bedroom apartment. He was in one of the downstairs bedrooms and he got the sign and he put it on repeat while he was working on rebuilding, literally rebuilding his computer. And it took about six hours before I don't remember which one of the others of us in the apartment finally stuck our heads in his door and went, are you okay? Can we please turn this off? Because, you know, for the first hour, like, it's a really

catchy tune. It is catchy. Yeah. And then after hour three, you're like, okay, that's enough. And yeah, so that's one of my most visceral memories of Ace of Base right there. What's interesting with that is that it's not even, it was not even originally on the debut album. Really? The debut album for America, it was on. Okay. But not in the debut album.

The US release had it because they couldn't call it Happy Nation. Okay. So we wrote another song and put that on there and this was the second single to come out of that album if my Togo's memory serves me. And I say that specifically because, while you're in college listening to your friend Fix's computer, I was working at Togo's in Walnut Creek. And VH1 was on TV because VH1 is safe for the white people of Walnut Creek. was on TV because VH1 is safe for the white people of Walnut Creek MTV is not and

and The sign would come on It's funny no fewer than six times in a shift and so every single time that I hear the sign I smell pickles Such a weird statistician. They're like, so the lyrics of the sign are pretty benign in the book. Here they are. Okay. I got a new life. You would hardly recognize me.

I'm so glad. How can a person like me care for you? Why do I bother when you're not the one for me is enough enough, I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes. I saw the sign. Life is demanding without understanding. I saw the sign and opened up my eyes. I saw the sign.

No one's gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong, but where do you belong? It could absolutely be a song about the reawakening of someone. I mean, this is only a couple years after Wilson Phillips with some day, somebody's gonna make you want to turn around and say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, like, like affirmation, you deserve better. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, um, it could absolutely be that.

And as you were reading those lyrics, I heard the song. Yes, because it was just that ubiquitous. Yeah. And it's catchy as hell. It's a Swedish pop. I also, with that song, I loved, so I was dating a gal that she showed me pitch perfect. I'm never going to watch pitch for her.

I love pitch perfect. It is such a great set up of so many great things. It's an amazing film. But the the Barton Bellas, the widest girl group there is, the widest college there is, what's the song they open with? Yeah. The sign. And I showed that that that opening because where the gal just barfs ever.

Oh just vomit. Yeah. I showed that to my daughter. Hensh. She thought it was hilarious. So this song could absolutely be somebody realizing I deserve better and their friend telling them. Then again, Pairing Doll did see the rise of fascism as a reason to react and create a new Swedishness as early as 1932. And in 1944, he would say, quote,

today, which was April 23rd, 1944, we can only salute Adolf Hitler as God's chosen savior of Europe. But again, it feels like I'm grasping its straws here. So it's clearly someone who's come out of darkness, unconsciousness, and some sort of complacency. A cataclysmic event of some sort, as a wake in him or her. And now the author wants to encourage others to bring themselves out of this sleepy place too.

It's just, yeah. But I'm also tripping over the quote, how can a person like me care for you? Why do I bother when you're not the one for me? Obviously, he or she has just moved on beyond the person that they're leaving behind. You know, is enough enough? I guess, yeah, I mean, you've done your best and you're done. You know, I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign life is demanding without understanding. I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes

I saw the sign no one's gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong, but where do you belong? Yeah Could it be newfound faith in one's identity because you've seen the light the sign of a chasmic Chalice McPicataclism political enlightenment, and you feel your Viking bloodstaring. Okay. Jonas Bergerin, who Joker, who wrote it, he said it was more about looking back at old relationships, whereas his sister Jenny saw it more as your journey on the road of life. Wolf Eckberg is conspicuous in his absence from this song's credits. From commentary. Yeah. Well also from this song's credits. Okay, also from this song's credits. Oh, okay.

But he was credited with almost all the other songs. In fact, this is one of the only two that he's not credited on, which kind of makes sense, since this was added to the album for the American release and not part of the original. But what I get a kick out of is its feature in pitch perfect. Very white, very conservative, coded, dressed there. They're dressed by like 1960s housewives.

I was gonna say stewardesses. Oh yeah okay. Same uniform. Lead singer is Anna Camp, who had previously played the sex pot wife of a hypocritical televangelist and true blood. She vomits copious. Oh yes don't I don't really dig blondes very often. There's something about her that I just find and they're attractive But she vomits a lot in her solo. Maybe that's what it is the inclusion of that specific song with its pop roots with its super catchy hook and its soccer vanness Yeah, um such a beautiful up inversion of the expectation. I just, I love it. Now, the final song of that album I want to look at is a bit more in line with my theory that Ace of Base

is very much influenced by the childhood exposure of Ulf Elkberg or Eckberg to ultra-right wing for rhetorics and politics. And that is all that she wants. It was the first American single. Yeah. It is a song that is somewhat scornful of female sexual freedom and agency.

Because the word baby means boyfriend colloquially in Sweden at that time. And if you look at the Britney Spears song, hit me baby one more time. She's not saying infant slap me. She's saying boyfriend. Yeah. And hit me is to call me. Yeah. So baby is cloak will for boyfriend. Okay. Um, and it's in a mournful minor key,

conveying regretfulness, tragedy, sadness, potentially menace, but for the quick beat of the song. The lyrics themselves focus on what Ekberg says is a typical Swedish nor Weagen or German girl who quote meets lots of boys. Now Nordic ideas on a woman's sexuality are a lot likely, or they're likely a lot less judgy than our own puritanical self-contradictory. I ideas in America. Okay. But there's something pulling judgment into the song there. And both Jonas and Jenny Bergerin have gone on record as stating that it's about a woman who's not healthily making these choices. Jenny said it's because the girl isn't whole, and Jonas says that it was subconsciously about a girl he knew a long time ago, but he doesn't appear to remember her fondly.

Now, three of the four members have remarked on somewhat negative connotations toward a woman being sexually libertine. It might also be the minor key that it's in. It might also be the lyrics themselves. It's not the anti-Semitic anthem about welfare state that some people have claimed because that is what people have claimed. Yeah, the argument. Yeah. And that rests a lot on circumstantial evidence that includes the video, a misunderstanding of the word baby and the implications of that misunderstanding. Yeah. And there's tons of evidence to show that baby means sexual or romantic partner and not

external parasite. Yeah. Especially in Sweden, because first the song is very much inspired by Swedish pop artist Kio. Kio or Kio. K. A. A woman of Nigerian descent who sang a song called Another Mother, which

is a woman saying that she's not there to take care of her baby. Read Boyfriend. But to be an equal partner, and he's not measuring up, so it's over. She's telling him that the woman he's running to is also not another mother. And it's kind of got a nice reggae house sound to it, which is pretty common for Sweden at that time, and it's kind of got a nice reggae house sound to it which is pretty common for Sweden at that time and it easily echoes into all that she wants. Also the amount of songs written in Sweden that end up using baby as a boyfriend or romantic partner or pretty voluminous. Like I said hit me baby one more time. But what this song is though is a more conservative song about a woman's sex.

And I think that ties back to what moved Ulf Eckberg in terms of a musical folk-eye. Remember the taxonomy from the new Swedish movement, Post World War II, all the way through to the Sweden Democrats? On the way to that, Swedish far-right politics delved into specifically focusing on women's sex, and what they chose to do with it, recall the BSS, the Keep Sweden Swedishor and thus a significant part of its political identity partly focused on telling Swedish girls not to shame themselves sexually by intermixing and telling parents to guard their daughter's sex to discouraging allowing black men to have sex with their daughters. Okay.

I think that conservatism, that racism, uh, absolutely, it was in his firmware, Okay. I think that conservatism, that racism, absolutely, it was in his firmware, as you know. And I think that absolutely led into these lyrics to the point where it gets somewhat misogynistic. And the song will mean different things to different people. I don't think the Bergerins grew up in the same way that Eckberg did. But it starts by saying that she leads a lonely life.

And in the first verse, it just seems like a gal who had a good night and is enjoying her freed time. It kind of reminds me of Norwegian wood quite honestly. I once had a girl or should I say she wants to have me. It's just one country over. There's no real bitterness directed her way for it, either. But the second verse, I guess, once she's done with the beach and the first chorus kicks in with this. All that she wants is another baby. She's gone tomorrow boy and all that she wants is another baby, yeah. So if you are in sight and the day is right, she's the hunter, you're the fox. The gentle voice that talks to you won't talk forever. It is a night for passion, but the morning means a goodbye. Beware of what is flashing in her eyes. She's going to get you

They've turned her into a predator. Yeah, and she's seeking fuck trophies Okay, otherwise why are you talking about Fox hunting? Yeah, you know, it doesn't actually the Fox doesn't rhyme with anything Yeah, she's the hunter you're the Fox. I mean they actually carry this syllable. I was yeah, you know, I thought it was fun No, okay. Yeah, she's the hunter. You're the fox. I mean, they actually carry this syllable. I was yeah, you know, I thought it was fun No, okay. Yeah, so you could have used other words. Yeah Effectively, but also this song is warning you. It's about her, but it's warning you and This could tie back to the girl that Joker knew sure it could also tie back to the empty compulsion You might talk about thematically. It's mannier. Yeah to the girl that Joker knew, sure, it could also tie back to the empty compulsions he talked about. The maddickly it's mannier.

Yeah, yeah, and it could be both of those things, but also it could be a series of cultural assumptions and expectations that Buddha, Eckberg, is making about a woman whose sexuality he scorns partly due to how liberty she is. And all of that comes across as an appeal to traditional values, which is the bellywick of the far right, no matter the country. What's funny is the first time somebody told me, oh yeah, he's a bass. No, they're Nazis. I thought of this song. And what I immediately went straight to was the Nuremberg rallies. Oh, any idea that, you know, during the Rarberg

rallies, young German girls were encouraged. Yes. To to get it on with Aryan young men, they have little blonde babies. That's that's who. Yeah. You know, like when when people told me, well, you know, I mean, they're not sees, right? Right. It's like what? And then I thought about the lyrics of that song. I'm like, oh, well, Nuremberg, Rally, well. Yeah. You know, I mean, it was a weird, it was a weird, kind of convoluted thing, but yeah.

Well, and the Nuremberg rallies were Nazi propaganda of the 30s, which pair Inndal, the cornerstone of the Swedish far right thing in politics, most certainly found common cause with. Oh, you know, he was a Lenny Reef install fan. Oh, Jesus, yeah. The stereotypical Jewish woman was portrayed as a younger Jewish woman who are over-sexed and indulgent. Jewish women were also portrayed as...

I don't feel like they've met very many. Anyway, sorry. But anyway, yeah. Jewish women were also portrayed as being more sexually promiscuous at the time and as the carriers of STDs and seducers of good Aryan men. Again, you also portray the men as being like rats.

So. You're okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You get a full court press. I just find it interesting to think the stereotypes that, you know, people throw up against them in the, yeah, yeah. Well, that's kind of what I'm getting at.

It's weird to me how the negative stereotypes are so dramatically different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, okay. So the image of Jewish women helps to effectively set up an Aryan woman as virtually virtuous and idealized, which thereby others non-Aryans. Okay. And also, there's a sense of predation carried through from that propaganda to 1993 in Swedish

pop written part by a man who had far right leanings Okay, so ultimately was Ulf Eckberg a Nazi? No Was he a teenager who fell in love with some Nazi and fascist shit most definitely? Okay, was the rest of ace of base? They don't seem to be at all and he's gone to great lengths to exonerate them and distance them from his own past Which he still doesn't deny all. And he's gone to great lengths to exonerate them and distance them from his own past, which he still doesn't deny emphatically. I can neither confirm nor deny. Yeah. And they did the fact of whether or not I was ever an Nazi. And they didn't seem to know any of his

childhood daliens with Nazi emphatiuship before he joined them either. Well, you know, it's not exactly anything. You'd spend a lot of time advertising for one thing, and like, you know. And given his non-apologies and his seeming desire to leave it all behind, that seems pretty in line with what he'd do, and many of us would too, we would just want to forget our shittiness. But his compass does seem to keep pointing back

to the ideals and underpinnings of far-right ideology and that seems to have a knock-on effect on the music that Ace of Base put out that was popularized in America in the early 1900s and it's that connection Yes, sorry, and I think that connection is most fascinating. Here's why in 1993 and 1994 black artists and hip-hop were crossing over into pop a lot. Oh, yeah, boys to men, heavy D, digible planets, two-pock, onyx, naughty by nature, Cypress Hill, salt and pepper, DJ Jazeef and the Fresh Prince, Wu Teng Clan, E-40, Snoop Dogg, MacDray were all heavily successful in those years, and they were finding crossover success

in the pop world. Not only that, but many of these had a second album that were coming out in 93, following through on the breakthrough success from prior year. And they were plenty of debut albums too. And for many white suburban parents in 1993, when the culture wars were happening, as I've discussed at Nazim in a few different episodes. Yeah. Ace of Base was far safer,

and the lyrics harkened to something that felt safer as well. As you said, VH1 was safe for the white people of Walnut Creek during this dangerous time. Yes. And it was music that parents could also get into because it's poppy. It's not the...

It doesn't really... The heavy pulsing kind of kind of right of West Coast What West Coast or or or you know the the high-end stuff of the East Coast and I might have mixed those up No, I think you and it doesn't talk about things that are so alien to suburban parents And the kids who prefer But the stuff that was alien to suburban parents was exactly what made suburban white kids eat it the fuck up. Well, also I think it was new. Like some new rebellion.

New, yeah. There was a layer of authenticity. But also kids who didn't really like hip hop, who liked modern rock, this also blended with that too. That's true. Ace of Base is not. So they had white people cross over. Yes, Yeah. Uh, and it was

something safe for parents to buy buy for their kids. Hey, like, you know, for your Christmas stocking stuff or one of your Christmas gifts, you get an ace of base CD. And you're like, Oh, not bad. You know, um, but it would get a little bit, you know, it would take up some time. Yeah. from Cypress Hill. Great a break in the in the in the house playlist. Yeah, you know, now Ace of Base so that they could get away from insane and the membrane. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Ace of Base is not a secret Nazi music.

Any more than Judas Priest is telling kids to kill themselves. But it definitely has a specific historical resonance to Swedish ultra right wing politics that is made more acceptable by its use of reggae and house fusion. So do I feel guilty listening to Ace of Base a little bit? And I know it's driving it, or at least what water it was boiled in. And that shit's poison. But it also gets my toe tap and it

puts a little honey in my hips and I enjoy it. And this is why I think I understand better adult conversion to religions that have institutional histories of massive abuse and atrocities for which they've given bland blanket apologies and made little if any effort toward restoring justice toward those who were victimized. Your spiritual toe gets to tap to the beat that they're playing no matter what they did in the past and you're picking what you're resonating with out of it. And I can't really fault that. Okay.

Yeah. I feel a little come for. I was in the title. I'm just, I know. I know, I know. I know. I know, I know. I know. I know. Check of his gun. Yeah, no, I didn't forget I've been waiting for it

But but I'm gonna say that last little bit was gonna like and now the thrust home. Yeah, like oh Oh, I never expected a blow from the left As principal said prove me wrong. Children prove me wrong So no, I'm right. It is the children prove me wrong so no i'm right it is the children who are wrong yes um wow okay yeah

so what have you cleaned i'm gonna have to spend some time digesting the last stinger there at the end that you know i don't flesh well no the whole episode is a flesh to the thrust helmet at the very end. But I think what I am left with most, most pointedly is the sudden recollection. And I robbed you of the chance to expand on it anymore with my, you know, oh my God, no wait, moments earlier in the episode. But remembering what the popular culture landscape and the pop, specifically landscape, looked like literally half our lives ago, You know, senior year of high school going into college and how much,

if I were to go back in time right now, how much I would look at myself at that time and go, yeah, you don't realize that you're kind of perpetuating and collcated patterns of kind of racist bias, but you really are like. Hell, those first 10 years of teaching for me was that. Okay. I'm sorry to say. Yeah. Yeah, but, yeah.

Yeah. And thinking about the kind of visceral way that I responded to rap negatively, visceral way that I responded to wrap. Yeah. negatively visceral. And now, like with, I don't know, life experience, what the secret to it is, but now looking back at the stuff that was being made during that time period,

I can listen to Snoop Dogg and go, no, this guy's a fucking genius. Oh yeah, yeah. Like I didn't, I didn't, what kind of idiot was I, I mean the answer is I was 18, 19, you know, and we're all fucking dumb when we're 18, 19 with a few notable exceptions in human history, but like, you know.

Alfred Jerry, that's about it. Okay. But, but you know, like, and the ways in which the world was more racist than it is now. Yes. And the way that we, young white people who wanted to be better but didn't understand how we needed to be better. Or what that makes sense. Or what better meant. Like, you know, the fact that I was basically one of the people in that time period who was convinced that, well, you know, we don't live in a racist country anymore. Right. While I was saying shit about NWA and Snoop Dogg

and while you were delegitimizing. While I was delegitimizing an entire branch of, yeah, like a whole musical genre, one of the few that is uniquely American. Yes. Like, quite so. You know, and so yeah, that's kind's kind of like just wanted you go back and grab 19-year-old me by the little bells and like in no look. Yeah look just sit down and

Just listen to it. Yeah for God's eggs. I'm not saying you have to become a fan right fucking now Right just sit down and listen and recognize It's a thing. Yeah, that's all. Just. Yeah. It's fair. Yeah. Yeah. Well, what do you want people to read? I what I want people to do is I want everybody to think of a genre of music that you look down on because we all have one. We all have one. I want you to think of a genre of music that you look down on, because we all have one. We all have one. I want you to think of a genre of music that you look down on, and I want you to go on

Spotify or Pandora or whatever, and I want you to find a playlist of it. Okay. And I want you to do what you can to listen to it with a mind like a blank slate. Try to try to get into Zen beginner's mind and listen to it for an hour. And if you still think it's shit at the end of that. Sure. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. But consider how much of your opinion is based on some level of bias of some kind. Whatever it might kind. Mm-hmm.

Whatever it might be. Oh, yeah. And by the way, if the genre of music that you have this attitude toward is country music, message me on Twitter, and I will point you in the direction of some artists who are not pieces of shit. Yeah. Because the genre doesn't deserve to be tarred and feathered with some of those individuals. Sure.

Toby key. Yeah. So, just, you know. Yeah, no, fully great. You know, fully great. Sure. Toby key. Yeah. So just, you know, Yeah, no, fully great. Yeah, you know, fully great. So, so please, for the sake of your own artistic integrity, everybody, do that. And you, sir, what do you recommend?

I may have recommended this one recently, but I'm going to re-recommend it. They thought they were free by Milton Mayer, which is essentially a study of, I think he started by interviewing 12 different people who lived in Germany at the time and asked him, why'd you go Nazi? And the interviews with them, it is fascinating.

It's a very straightforward question with so much loading. I think I gave him a phrase, it was. Yeah, but yeah. For those like your bre it, but yeah, yeah, yeah, for this sake of brevity, but yeah, it's Germans from 33 to 45 and they thought that they were free and what they voted for and what they thought of Hitler and what they thought of what he was doing and what they allowed themselves to think of and so like that. I think you know, we So often put the blame on the party in charge,

which is fair, but that also took the complicity of a nation, a happy nation. Oh, nice touch. Yeah, so I'm gonna say that. Yeah, so let's see, you can find me on social media at duh harmony. Two Hs in the middle of that. Yes, on Twitter and Instagram.

And every Tuesday night, Twitch.tv-4-CapitalPuns. By the time this airs the next capital punishment pun show will be in the beginning of September. There we go. We just, probably by the time this airs, we just had one this last Tuesday. But every Tuesday at 8.30 you can come check us out there. And of course, this podcast, make sure you rate, subscribe, review. Give us the five stars that you know we've had.

Hell yeah. Apple Spotify Stitcher. So we're gonna find you. I can be found at EH Blalock on the Twitter machine. I can also be found at EHhblalock on Instagram and Mr. Blalock on TikTok, even though you're not going to find very much there. But that's where I can be found. And if you want to get a hold of us collectively to tell us how we're wrong, to vindicate my initial interpretation of all that she wants as another baby as being about Nuremberg, whatever.

You can find us together at Geek History Time on Twitter and our website, of course, is www.GeekHistoryTime.com. There you go. All right, well, let's see. For Geek History of Time, I'm Damien Harmony. And I'm Ed Blalock, and until next time, get up into the light where you belong.