Where does music stop and censorship start?
German culture has given the worldmany things, from the majesty of Beethoven to the grandeur of Goethe. But under the beauty runs a fault line of seething, ugly, malevolence. It is the music of nihilism, a skeleton strain and scream of disharmony, dressed up in coats of rage and steel-pointed boots of violence. The bile ran to the surface last week when three members of a German band were charged with inciting hatred. Court documents name the men only as Michael R, born 1965, Berlin; Andre M, born 1967, Berlin; and Christian W, born 1975, Saarow Pieskow. The men are members of the skinhead punk band Landser, which itself has been banned as a terrorist organisation. The group had formerly been known as the Final Solution. The music and activities of Landser (which is old German for foot soldier) make Eminem seem like a cream puff. The band members are suspected of inciting German youth to attack foreigners, Jews, Gypsies – in fact, anyone at all not of like Nazi mind-set. Hatred is thei
