In the United Kingdom, rock’n’roll screamed its rejection of Margaret Thatcher. In France, musical artists have denounced the ideas of Jean-Marie Le Pen since the 1980s. While the co-founder of the National Front (FN) has died at the age of 96, we return to these songs which made the news, starting with that of Bérurier Noir, «Rubbish»which has become an anthem against the far right.
In 1984, the FN achieved its biggest score in a national election. In response, the punk group released an anti-capitalist, anti-statist, anti-fascist song. “Army cop, pigsty / Apartheid, pigsty / DST, pigsty / And Le Pen, pigsty,” repeats Fanfan, the singer.
It was only four years later, when Jean-Marie Le Pen obtained 14% of the votes in the first round of the presidential election, that the famous Bérurier Noir slogan was born: “Youth pisses off the National Front”. Loran, the guitarist, adds two riffs at the end of “Piggery”. “The idea behind it was that the public itself would start singing the slogan that everyone knows, even though it is not present in the original version,” he explained later. The version livewhich can be found on the album “Viva Bertaga”, published in 1990, has since become a classic of mobilizations against the extreme right.
With “Never again”NTM hits hard in 1995. Without ever mentioning Jean-Marie Le Pen or the National Front, Joeystarr and Kool Shen urge young people to pull themselves together and stand up. “That’s why I stand up, frowning / When the senile has fun making a score of 25% in my city / No, never again, let’s stop all this / Let’s stop the hemorrhage, cerebral is the embolism / You have understood / You understand, pull yourself together / Youth must be on time, on time / Set, in fact, to piss on the tricolor flame / The fucking standard of the party of pigs”.
“The JMLP beast” — understand by this Jean-Marie Le Pen — is a piece by Zebda unveiled the same year as “Never again” by NTM. The people of Toulouse speak of an “individual” who is “dangerous” and has “all sharp teeth”. “At the assembly we told him / get out of here / You won’t lay down the law here / your mother is nothing but wind”.
With “The Flame” (1998), Sinsemilia directly references the National Front logo and expresses her fears and anger at the rise of fascism. “The flame grew, grew, grew / In too many places the fire started / Does the whole country have to burn for us to fight the fire?”
“Let’s know how to say no” is an anti-extreme right compilation bringing together part of the rap scene at the initiative of Monsieur R. It was released in 1998. Four years later, Jean-Marie Le Pen reached the second round of the presidential election and the artists decided to mobilize again. Sniper, Abd Al Malki, Arsenik, Diam’s and even Disiz return to the studio and unleash a crazy freestyle called “The fight is on”.
It is also in reaction to the qualification of Jean-Marie Le Pen for the second round in 2002 that Damien Saez writes “Son of France”. The song was published the day after the shock. “I saw, with tears in my eyes, the news this morning / 20% for horror, 20% for fear,” he begins before calling for resistance.
In 2003, IAM revealed, on its album “Revoir un Printemps”, «21/04» in reference to the event that occurred a year earlier. “They voted for a fascist / It’s not a protest vote when you know Dachaux,” Freeman raps.
Finally, in “Everyone (he’s handsome)”released in 1998, Zazie puts forward words that invite tolerance, citing dozens of first names of diverse origins. One sentence sums up his thoughts: “Even if it means hurting Jean-Marie.”