Let me start off straight away by saying that I do not believe there was a direct link between punk rock and Nazi ideology or any attempt to propagate right wing views. Let me also say that I am coming at this from a London angle - the origin of UK punk - and I'm talking Punk Rock 1976-79.
I cannot confirm what political views individual members of bands held, but as a whole Punk was not Nazi. It is also worth pointing out that when the real Nazis (National Front) were perceived as a political threat in 1978 many punk bands and punks mobilised under the 'Rock Against Racism' banner and played/attended gigs and benefits.
What cannot be denied, is the use of Nazi symbols, imagery and look in the initial styles and fashion of punk rock and scattered references in a handful of songs. And while these can be explained away as designed to provoke and shock, some more intellectually challenged or impressionable punks/fans may have actually believed them.
What is also interesting is how politics in the form of the Socialist Workers Party in the guise of the Anti Nazi League became incorporated into the music press with the ability to destroy careers and be judge and jury about bands on racism and sexism. Sound familiar?
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