Most Read Datacide Articles in 2017

Not entirely without hesitation we publish our “traditional” list of the most read Datacide articles of the previous year, 2017. The hesitation comes from the fact that it looks like it’s mostly the same articles that are read year in and year out. It has been suggested before that perhaps we should be making a list of the least read, or simply a list of recommendations.

Don’t get us wrong: all the articles on this list are well worth reading. However there is a wealth of material on this site which tends to be overlooked – especially newer additions.

Of course by publishing this list we somewhat contribute to the ‘problem’, but we’re not creating it. A key reason that the most read article list has become increasingly similar over the years seems to be the way that search engines and social media are now the dominant ways to find content on the internet. Articles which have already found many readers and are linked to more than others and will rank higher on search engines than new additions. In other cases an intense social media buzz or a link from a prominent web site can cause a (often short term) spike.

But what seems to be missing is much of a direct readership navigating the web site, as readers are increasingly and unwittingly turned into passive consumers.

Granted: There is much room for improvement on this site, and we will be working on it this year.

Below: The usual top 20 of 2017 + 3 recommendations + the least read article ever on this site!

1. You’re Too Young to Remember the Eighties – Dancing in a Different Time by DJ Controlled Weirdness is the most read article of the year again. This nice and now classic piece on the 80s dance underground in London is from Datacide Ten.

2. COIL – Interview from 1986 plus Introduction. Classic interview with John Balance – originally published in the Zine “turn to crime” (Vision 2). Vision was of course the predecessor of Praxis/Datacide. Reprinted in Datacide Nine (2006/2014) – Another old favourite of our readers.

3. Anti-Imperialism – Bankruptcy of the Left? (2016 Version) by Christoph Fringeli.
This important article is in the most read articles list for the first time – published in the almanac for noise & politics 2016 as an extended critique of sections of the Left, based on an earlier version from Datacide Nine.

4. Anti-Semitism from Beyond the Grave – Muslimgauze’s Jihad by CF. Getting read more and more – and predictably STILL getting the usual flak from fanboys and apologists… Originally from Datacide Nine (2006/2014)

5. François Genoud – The Life of a Swiss Banker and Fascist Anti-Imperialist by CF, originally published in Datacide Ten. Up from number 7 last year.

6. Dope Smuggling, LSD Manufacture, Organised Crime & the Law in 1960s London by Stewart Home from Datacide Eleven, based on his talk at the 2008 datacide conference in Berlin, and in each top 10 since then… Originally published in Datacide Eleven (2011). Again at number 6.

7. What the Fuck? – Operation Spanner by Jo Burzynska – always in this chart since 2011, this is the oldest Datacide article here – from Datacide Two, 1997, now reprinted in our book EVERYTHING ELSE IS EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS. Down from 4.

8. The Brain of Ulrike Meinhof by CF is another text with a a steady readership, apparently forever at number 8 (?).

9. Revolt of the Ravers – The Movement against the Criminal Justice Act in Britain 1993-95 by Neil Transponine about the struggles against the Criminal Justice Bill and subsequent 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act from Datacide Thirteen.

10. For the third time in this list is a short article by CF about the text “Der Waldgang” by the writer Ernst Jünger, originally published as an appendix to “From Subculture to Hegemony” in Datacide Eleven.

11. The most read article from Datacide Fourteen in 2015 is John Eden’s account of the Hackney police’s “community relations”: “They Hate Us, We Hate Them” – Resisting Police Corruption and Violence in Hackney in the 1980s and 1990s. Last year’s number 8 is getting a growing readership.

12. Godard – The Child of Marx & Coca-Cola Howard Slater’s excellent article on Godard’s Masculin/Feminin from Datacide Eight is finding a new readership.(10)

13. Also by John Eden is this interview: The Dog’s Bollocks – Vagina Dentata Organ and The Valls Brothers which gives great insight into some of the more interesting industrial culture. Last year: 17.

14. Wreckers of Civilisation: The Story of COUM Transmissions & Throbbing Gristle by Simon Ford (Book Review by Stewart Home from Datacide Six). (11)

15. Earth – Year 2017 – The Mover (1995) – Classic piece from Alien Underground published in 1995. ‘I’m roaming the earth and it’s nice and doomy here.’

16. From Subculture to Hegemony: Transversal Strategies of the New Right in Neofolk and Martial Industrial by Christoph Fringeli from Datacide Eleven (2011). This was the most read article in 2011, number 5 in 2012, number 3 in 2013 and 5 in 2014 as well as this year. (8)

17. Siege Mentality – Mason, Manson, Moynihan: On the Fringes of the American Nazi Movement. Strelnikov is investigating the bizarre-idiotic outgrowths of neo-nazi ideology and their over-spills into subcultures. Originally from whomakesthenazis.com and for the first time in print in datacide sixteen.

18. WE MEAN IT MAN: Punk Rock and Anti-Racism – or: Death In June not Mysterious. Stewart Home’s article on Death In June from Datacide 7, which was number 4 in 2011 and number 6 in 2012.

19. Osha Neumann Interview on Up Againt the Wall Motherfucker and the 60s counterculture by Adrian Mengay and Maike Pricelius from datacide 15.

20. Hedonism and Revolution by CF, a text from datacide eleven – recently translated into Swedish and also material for a series of talks by CF held in Prague, Warsaw and elsewhere in recent months.

Three recommendations:
1: Refugee Subjectivity – ‘Bare life’ and the Geographical Division of Labour by Matthew Hyland (Datacide 8, 2002)
‘The purpose of immigration controls is not to prevent all migration, but to ensure that people move according to capital’s needs, rather than their own desires.’

2: Communisation Theory and the Question of Fascism by Cherry Angioma (Datacide 12, 2012)
‘I doubt that many communisation theorists would deny the possibility of capital generating murderous, racist or even genocidal measures to head off the alternative of revolution. But the issue isn’t just how the state and capital might respond under threat, but how the very dynamic of social antagonism and crisis might give rise to fascism or some 21st century version from below.’

3: ‘The final insult: deportees are not allowed whiskey. I sat awake for most of the flight. Alone, returning to the wintry country I had fled from for so many years, the gates of Paradise closed hard behind me. I spoke to no-one on the plane and no-one spoke to me.’ Find out what happened in: Confessions of an Accidental Activist by David Cecil (Datacide 13)

Least read article ever (until now): The Assessor from datacide three – a polemic about people being ‘mash-up’ at parties. This was a reaction to some remarks made in an uncredited piece in datacide two titled Riot/Party. In turn this produced an angry response from a datacider at the time in issue four (posted as a comment). Granted, on its own The Assessor perhaps made little sense and indeed only got 14 hits in nearly a decade online… put into the context of a discussion about the effects of drugs on the countercultural scenes it still seems somewhat relevant…

This web site’s Alexa Ranking (whatever that actually means) at the time of compiling the above charts: 4,715,491

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