NEWS: These Foolish Things: Bryan Ferry Praises Nazi Propaganda

CELEB: These Foolish Things: Bryan Ferry Praises Nazi Propaganda

Many musicians cite suave-as-shit Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry as a source of inspiration. However when Ferry needs to add some fuel to his creative fire he looks to sources outside of the music industry. More specifically, he looks to Nazi propaganda. Ferry recently ignited a media blitzkrieg after he told a German newspaper where his inspiration comes from:

Lord Janner from the Board of Deputies of British Jews is pissed. He said,

Ferry's manager Steven Howard responded,

This uproar comes after Ferry was chosen earlier this year to be the face of Marks & Spencer, a clothing company founded by Russian-Jewish refugees. No official word on if Ferry will lose his contract with the company.

Lots of people like the music of Michael Jackson, even though they have doubts about his past.

On the whole, I agree with the statement that "To take offence here is to confuse the aesthetic with the ideological".

Anybody can be a knee-jerk and condemn Ferry without thinking.

A little research will reveal some doubt about Riefenstahl's collaboration. Her images and the techniques she invented were ground breaking and revolutionary. And Speer's architecture? Come on now! Some of it's pretty. Some of it's beautiful.

For those of you that want to knee-jerk and paint me as a Nazi or a Nazi apologist, know that I'm a Jew, a Jew that has no illusions about the Shoah. I grew up with children who's parents had numbers tattooed to their forearms.

It's fine to untangle the aesthetic from the ideology.

Unfortunately, it's always easier to believe - and to feel - than it is to think.

Yeah, if he's doing work for a major Jewish-owned company, it's probably a fair bet that his admiration for the fascist aesthetic doesn't extend to their theories on racial hygiene. His remarks could be regarded as ill-considered, but on the other hand, those Schutzstaffel cats did have pretty some swank threads.

If enjoying the Nazi aesthetic is a crime, Paul Verhoeven is in a lot of trouble.

I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

George Lucas could probably use some punishing, too, for that matter.

Inspiration can come from anywhere. I can find beauty in things regardless of source, and even when I hear music I don't like I often pick up something from it that I assimilate (or assimilates itself) into my own music. I love Errol Flynn's acting and the music of Wagner really moves me; both were possessed of mindsets that contradict my own views. Their artistry, however, transcends all that.

Same goes for pageantry, pomp and circumstance. Somehting can be a display of beauty despite content.

His comments were a little bit simpering but the guy is all about style and his comments should be viewed in that context. Even if he had been a Nazi in the war he would have been in his bedroom posing in his outfit rather than fighting I suspect!

one hit wonder

love is the drug

thx bu by

A beautiful asshole is still an asshole, yeah?

Not that I blame the guy, but his comments weren't very well considered. Imagine an American talking about finding beauty in the slave trade or something...

Board of Deputies of British Jews? Couldn't we get a kneejerk quote from a more mainstream Jewish group P.O.ed at the move?

Normally the Simon Wiesenthal Center is the first of the Jewish spokesgroups to lose their sense of humor whenever someone does something that could possibly be read the wrong way. That they haven't considered this press release worthy says to me that people had to look pretty hard to find someone offended by this. Anyone who's studied modern media knows that Leni Reifenstal and the rest were considered masters of propaganda, and to claim that modern media's techniques aren't influenced by them is laughable. As much as we all may hate the Nazis and what they stood for, saying they were skilled at manipulating people and presenting an image doesn't make you an anti-semite.

Sure, Roxy Music has 1 hit.

And Def Leppard had 10.

Your point was?

In the back of my mind, I remembered reading about something like this recently and now I do remember.

From an article about Siouxsie & The Banshees

Ferry is from the same era, but I don't remember him dressed up like a punk!

"The Schutzstaffel Collection", by Hugo Boss...

You can take plantation tours all over the place and "beautiful" is often the word used to describe them.

News just in..

Ferry didnt stop at just a few ambigious comments. god no..he commandeered a Panzer tank with Rod Stewart and tried to invade Russia. After an intense firefight it was valiantly repelled by the Russians and we think he is on the way to South America to try and find a new identity.

If you do see the cardigan-wearing foppish maniac then beware, he might blow your face off before you can say, "media storm in a teacup".

I think he meant the art of the pageantry, the power (however evil).

It's sort of intangible to many, I suppose, but somewhat similarly, I've been on stages since I was 10 years old and STILL have stage fright at 42. I channel that energy into performance and although it starts as negative energy, ultimately, energy is energy, just as beautifully structured performance is just that, despite its purpose. Those horrid things were very well planned and laid out.

Yes, well. That's very high-minded, but some people still take the whole Nazi thing a bit personally. The best response might just be, "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that/I worded it poorly/etcetera."

Not a great PR move. And how funny that the Nazi thing came up in the context a commentary on skill at working the limelight, eh? Illogical or not, the appearance of Nazi appreciation just doesn't go over so well in the limelight these days.

probably the same group who think sacha baron cohen was anti jewish with his borat character

What's with all the Nazi-love? To embrace the symbols while denying the content and meaning of those symbols is absurd. Fascism attempts to construct a transcendent meaning to the national community. The art used to portray this meaning appeals to the emotions to demonstrate this content, thus affirming the distinction between the national (i.e. racial) community and the outgroup. Thus, the aesthetic of fascism IS fascism. Crap like this should not be tolerated.

British Jews all have their own deputies? Lucky!

I want a deputy

Haha! I had no idea they designed the uniforms! No wonder it has become an internationally renowned label.

But I have to admit that it is truly strange how fascist aesthetics are only frowned upon when they have any relevance to the Nazis. In my mind, 300 and Olympia have a lot in common, but to express an interest in the latter raises a lot of suspicion. In taking a course on Nazi film this semester, I had to take the risk of some people raising doubts as to my convictions, but I really wanted to learn more about subversive cinematography.

I shot the deputy

But I did not shoot the sheriff