Prussian Blues

The story of neo-Nazi teenyboppers Lamb and Lynx Gaede, aka "Prussian Blue", has been picked up by newspapers in Britain and Australia, most of which imply that the duo is more talented and popular than Britney Spears. (Then again, these days, they probably are.) The Sun, as usual, had the best headline: "Cute Klux Klan". As of this writing, "Prussian Blue" is the number-two query on Technorati, just behind "Rosa Parks".

Reason's Nick Gillespie, for one, thinks the entire story is another example of mass media hysteria, kind of like "Satanism" in the eighties:

This isn't to say that the 13-year-old twins aren't spectacularly retarded and offensive as a concept--and they've yet to record the inevitable album of David "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fascist" Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux and the Banshees, and Sid Vicious covers. But the whole story seems so fake, a clear and cynical attempt to titillate the press regarding the supposed lure of dangerous ideas on the rise somewhere in red America. Like the "meth epidemic," neo-Nazis--double losers who inevitably pledge allegiance to the utterly defeated Confederate States of America and the Third Reich--are a topic mainstream media turn to on slow news days.

But as in many of these sorts of stories, ABC News fails to deliver the goods on these Ilsas She Wolves of the SS in training bras. According to the story, they've got "one album out, another on the way, a music video, and lots of fans." But the story never drops even the vaguest hint of what "lots of fans" means or how much merchandise they've moved. The same utter vagueness goes for other bands signed to Resistance Records, which is apparently the label of choice for musicians channeling Henry Gibson's character in The Blues Brothers. Indeed, the story points out that the girls' attempt to send clothes and supplies to the "white victims" only of Hurricane Katrina was so unpopular that "the supplies ended...[being] dumped at a local shop that sells Confederate memorabilia."

Until Prussian Blue gets an audience that extends beyond their mother, their record label's owner, and ABC News--or form a band with Prince Harry (hmm, Tony Orlando and the New Dawn?)--I don't think the Olsen twins or Americans have too much to worry about.

Wikipedia hosts an MP3 of one of the girls (calling herself "Elly Mae") calling a talk-radio program to regurgitate the stuff her mother taught her. The host, I think you'll agree, handles the situation beautifully.

Posted by damian at October 26, 2005 07:55 AM | TrackBack