Speaking of Cultural Imperialism & No Future For The Youth

The Guardian reports on what it claims to be Sweden's largest pop-kult phenom. (As long as it's not ABBA tribute bands we don't really care.)

For young Swedes, these giant American cars, which contrasted with the safe, boxy Volvos their parents drove, were the ultimate symbols of rebellion. And they were dirt-cheap. "They were stupid," Georg says about the Americans. "Some of the cars were limited edition. They built maybe 70 of them and they were selling them to us for a few thousand when they were collector pieces."

Georg picked up his first US muscle car, a black 1965 Pontiac, for $2,000 in Los Angeles in 1980. He found it in a lot, rusted and part-inhabited by a eucalyptus tree. By the time he'd shipped it home, sourced original parts, resprayed and kitted out the whole body, it was worth 20 times as much, with an engine that purred and a stereo that roared. The latter is the only concession to modernity acceptable in a raggare's restored car; music is a huge part of the culture. "You don't exactly want to have hip-hop playing from your car when you're cruising," says Martin, a farmer who drives a lime green Chevy. He listens mostly to Creedence Clearwater Revival. "That music came from a period when America was really great. You can hear it in the lyrics."

Uh, no comment there, we guess.

No indication that they have anything in for the Black, Death or whatever-the-hell Metallers we've heard tell of in the land where summer means something, but they seem to have known from aggro:

It wasn't always like this, according to Georg. "We used to meet up on Sundays to have fights. We were honest fighters. No weapons, no martial arts, no kicking – and if you fell on the ground it was all over and you'd buy the guy a drink."

The raggare didn't confine the fighting to themselves. They singled out punks and hippies for beatings, and did it so often that the Rude Kids, a Swedish punk band, released a single called Raggare Is a Bunch of Motherfuckers.

Yes, it said MOTHERFUCKERS, right there in the Guardian, at least on-line. A real First Amendment country.

Many will ask, "How does the fascism w/ a human face socialism of Sweden deal w/ this menace to society? Attempt to tax it to death, so all the too-depressed-to-work Swedes can sit around all day & laugh at the suckers who work?" Not quite.

It's funny how often the words respect and responsibility are used by a group who take their cues from music and films whose very purpose was to express rebellion. That's partly the result of the Swedish government realising there was more to be gained from embracing the raggare than alienating them. In the 60s, the government made the decision to consult the raggare about decisions that might affect them – so now they pay no car or import tax on their vehicles, and Sweden has the largest collection of classic cars outside the US. Another 6,000 were imported last year alone.

What a world.