26 July 2023 marks Mick Jagger's 80th birthday.

One of The Rolling Stones' best-known songs is 'Sympathy for the Devil'. It opens the group's album 'Beggars Banquet', released in 1968. Although the song is highly acclaimed by music critics, the lyrics, which Mick Jagger wrote for it, were sometimes received differently. The objections were about the song's message. What is there to say: it is about lyrics written under the convention of a devil's confession.

The singer and frontman of The Rolling Stones takes on the role of the Evil One and talks about how he was present in various events in world history - such as the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, the Bolshevik coup and the Second World War. As a result, the Rolling Stones have had to face accusations of satanism. Was it right?

SIGN UP TO OUR PAGE Jagger's words can be seen as self-irony (and, incidentally, an allusion to the fact that The Rolling Stones are regarded as rogues). In addition, 'Sympathy for the Devil' is an unmasking of the Prince of Darkness. In the documentary 'Crossfire Hurricane', Jagger said that when writing the lyrics, he was inspired by the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and the novel 'The Master and Margarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov.

At the same time, "Sympathy for the Devil" is an energetic rock song that makes you want to dance. I was dancing to it myself when, at the age of almost 21, I attended a concert of The Rolling Stones in Prague, where the band had been invited by their great fan, the then president of Czechoslovakia, Václav Havel, shortly after the Iron Curtain opened.



However, one might think that the light, joyful musical form is not appropriate for spinning a tale of how Satan made his mark on world history. For the subject matter is serious. So how should we interpret the Rolling Stones' song? Perhaps the key to unraveling the riddle comes from another group - Laibach.

A non-trivial revolt

This Slovenian band, who are legends of industrial and new wave music, recorded the album 'Sympathy for the Devil' in 1990 for British label Mute Records, consisting of eight covers of The Rolling Stones' hits in various styles.

As a reminder, Laibach was formed in 1980, i.e. during the Cold War era. At the time, Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia, a state headed by a communist party, after all. It ruled with a firm hand, although it remained independent of its Soviet comrades.

The concerts of the band Laibach took the form of spectacles, during which a provocative, even shocking game of historical associations was played. The means of this game were multimedia collages. The canon of what Laibach did was the esthetics of Nazi art and socialist realism. Religious symbols were also in use.

The group's name was also significant. Laibach is German for Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. In this way, the artists recalled the centuries-long Habsburg rule over this country and the period when it was occupied by the Third Reich. Thus, on the one hand, they were pointing out that Slovenia had more in common with the German-speaking area than with the other Yugoslav republics, while on the other, they were mocking the topos of Germanness.

The Yugoslav authorities perceived the group's creativity as a profanation of communist sanctities (anti-fascism in the broadest sense of the term was one of the ideological pillars of communist Yugoslavia's historical policy), so they made life difficult for the band, including banning them from performing. In addition, Laibach also incorporated Christian emblems into the totalitarian context. This, in turn, may have offended the Catholics, who are - at least formally - the confessional majority in Slovenia.

Only that in the 1980s, the band's activity was not a banal rebellion of young protesters against communism, Nazism and institutional Christianity. For the band's target was the real powerhouse of our times, namely... Western (especially Anglo-Saxon) pop culture.

Laibach exposed its character by giving rock music pathetic, 'totalitarian' forms. Famous pieces by groups such as The Beatles or Queen were stylised into Austrian march melodies or compositions of German neo-Romanticism. Such artistic endeavours resulted in accusations of fascism or even Nazism. The band's response to these accusations was the declaration: 'We are as much fascists as Hitler was a painter'.

Slovenian retrograde

And back to the 'Sympathy for the Devil' album: the opening track is particularly noteworthy. It was released earlier, in 1988, as a single. This version of The Rolling Stones' hit is entitled 'Sympathy For The Devil (Time For A Change)' by the Slovenians. It is kept to a marching rhythm. This is augmented by a pompously arranged melody - also a little in the climate of soundtracks of Hollywood productions. The vocalist performs (melodeclaims rather than sings, and at times shouts) the words of the song in a low, demonic voice.



A music video was recorded for the song, featuring members of the group. Their clothing is reminiscent of the uniforms of Nazi organisations and inter-war men's suits (breeches being an indispensable element). They participate in the supper, during which a blond-haired woman is also present. Beforehand, she prays the rosary in front of a crucifix and an emblem of Neue Slowenische Kunst (what this is, I will explain in a moment). During the meal, venison and alcohol (presumably red wine) are consumed. One gets the impression, therefore, that we are dealing here with some kind of dark ritual, or even just a black mass as a pastiche of the last supper. As night falls, the men take up torches to set fire to the farm where the video is set.

Launched in 1984, Neue Slowenische Kunst was a venture involving avant-garde artists from Slovenia. They described themselves as a 'retrograde', or 'backward guard', mocking the communists who presented themselves as the 'avant-garde of the proletariat'. The NSK organised happenings and performance actions. Laibach did this too.

One of the NSK's provocative initiatives was... to establish its own state. It had no borders, but issued passports. Any person in the world could become its citizen.

The Slovenian left-leaning philosopher Slavoj Žižek believes that the NSK's strategy was to 'frustrate' the ruling system (whatever it was). It consisted not in ironically imitating it, but in over-identifying with the system. Thus, the regime is weakened because its 'super ego' is exposed.

The album cover of 'Sympathy for the Devil' features the NSK emblem in the upper left-hand corner of the album. In turn, it is decorated with an image of a happy 'truly Aryan' family, which is reminiscent of German posters from the Third Reich era.

Idols, or false gods

So is this a comparison of Western pop culture to totalitarian regimes? This, however, seems preposterous. For it would be, however unintentionally, a mockery of the memory of their victims. Such a reading of Laibach's activities would bear the hallmarks of empty intellectual philistine indignation. Meanwhile, the Slovenian group simply makes us aware that evil is dangerous, because it hides behind a façade of what is seen as harmless and innocent. After all, before the truth about totalitarian systems was exposed, the underlying ideologies seduced people with promises of revolutionary change for the good.

Of course, it is hard to imagine that Western pop culture has brought such a bloodbath as communism and Nazism. But Laibach does not put an equal sign between it and totalitarianisms. That would be embarrassing demagoguery. And the Slovenian group practises art, not journalism. Hence, there are plenty of understatements in what they do.

However, it is no coincidence that rock stars are said to be idols to their fans. The word "idol" also has a biblical meaning. In Polish, the equivalent term is "false god". It refers to a bogus divine.

Thanks to Laibach, we can therefore also realise that this is Mick Jagger's function in world show business.

– Filip Memches

TVP WEEKLY. Editorial team and jornalists

– Translated by Tomasz Krzyżanowski