<nettime> Klasse Kriminale & Luther Blissett

[Luther Blissett <luther@syntac.net>]

Klasse Kriminale, Sham 69 and Luther Blissett United in Struggle!

Klasse Kriminale & Luther Blissett
*Mind Invaders*, vynil 7'', 33 RPM
1999, Mad Butcher Records, 
Bergfeldstrasse 3, 34289 Zierenberg, Germany
http://www.pader-online.de/madbutcher

The legendary Italian Oi!/punk band Klasse Kriminale have re-recorded
their last year 7'' titled *Mind Invaders* (mind-slashing lyrics written
by Luther Blissett), and re-issued it with a new cover (a Blissett whose
face and clothes are a precarious synthesis of different youth
subcultures). An old-fashioned jewel for the many fans of vynil records. 
The song was re-recorded at the Hach Farm Studios in Hersham, London, and
produced by Jimmy Pursey, singer and leader of Sham 69 - possibly the most
important street punk band ever. Pursey wrote the notorious skinhead
anthem *If the Kids Are United* (which was later covered by thousands of
bands all around the world). Now the track has a more solid sound and, at
the end of the tune, you hear Stanley Kubrick's *Spartacus* peak scene,
with all the captured slaves yelling: "I AM SPARTACUS!". That scene was
cited numberless times in Luther Blissett's writings and video
productions. The funny thing is that Klasse Kriminale used the
Italian-dubbed edition of the movie!  The cross-fertilization between
Luther Blissett and Klasse Kriminale is yet another statement of creative
freedom, against all absurd stereotypes about skinheads being unable to
criticize identity, and the Luther Blissett Project being just an evasive
heap of technophiles and apologists of the "Immaterial". Actually, among
"historical" subcultures, nowadays skinheads are possibly the most active
scene on the Net (command a query on Altavista and you'll see with your
own eyes), while in the LBP - where a bunch of style-conscious guys has
always had connections with the Mod and Skinhead scenes - many people lay
the stress on a necessary insurrection of bodies, on being street-wise and
martial. Incidentally, I must say that Klasse Kriminale - just like the
LBP Bologna column - are committing a "Seppuku" (samurai ritual suicide).
Their *1st Class Kriminale* newsletter (whose heading is a detournement of
the Calvin Klein logo) bears this motto: "We can't fucking stand Klasse
Kriminale anymore... Klasse Kriminale are dead... Long live Klasse
Kriminale".  It is worth translating and reproducing the lyrics of the
song. We also remind that the multi-use title *Mind Invaders* derives from
an imaginary noise-rock band "founded" by Piermario Ciani and Chris Lutman
in the early Eighties. Later, *Mind Invaders* became the title of both the
first book authored by LB in Italy (1995) and an anthology of cultural
guerrilla warfare and "semiotic terrorism" edited by Stewart Home
(Serpent's Tail, London 1997).  "My name is your name / Without names
everybody is free / One name for the whole world / One name for the music
/ United, united, so much united / that we don't even have names / If they
don't recognize us they won't emprison us / If they can't distinguish us,
they won't knock us down / YOU ARE ME, I AM YOU / WITHOUT NAMES,
EVERYBODY'S FREE/ IF THEY DON'T RECOGNIZE US THEY WON'T EMPRISON US / IF
THEY CAN'T DISTINGUISH US THEY WON'T KNOCK US DOWN/ I am Nobody, you are
Nobody / like Ulysses vs. the Cyclop / if I am nothing I'll be free/ if
you are nothing you'll be free / YOU ARE ME, I AM YOU / WITHOUT NAMES,
EVERYBODY'S FREE/ IF THEY DON'T RECOGNIZE US THEY WON'T EMPRISON US / IF
THEY CAN'T DISTINGUISH US THEY WON'T KNOCK US DOWN!"  Collectors,
multi-use name bearers, fans: order the single via the mail, by sending an
international money order (7 euros) to: Klasse Kriminale, c/o Marco
Balestrino, c.p. 426 centrale, 17100 Savona, Italy For more info and
direct contacts: kkconnection@angelfire.com
<http://www.angelfire.com/ok/klassekriminale/>

http://www.syntac.net/lutherblissett


'Never been to a cinema school, never learnt the cinematographic
technique.  It's by chance that I entered this profession. Simply, I had
the urge to create something, either a text, either a film, by any means.
I wished my desires to come true, for example the desire to kill cops. I
cannot do this in real life, of course. But in a film I can exterminate a
huge number of cops all at once. There you are, I started making movies
for a very crude motive.' (Koji Wakamatsu) 


Re-thinking AIDS:
http://www.duesberg.com
http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/index.htm

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