1987

January 20th, Mute Records released Geburt Einer Nation. A cover version of Queen's One Vision, completely transformed into a brutal Germanic military anthem and the promotional video looks like something out of Triumph Of Will. Laibach's uniform was now looking similiar to the Third Reich style. Western opinion up until now had seen Laibach as hardline Communists if not actually Stalinists, now it looks as if they could actually be Nazis. The album Opus Dei is released the following month and brought more controversy when the inner sleeve artwork revealed a large swastika until some of the more astute observers pointed out the Laibach version, constituted from four bound, bloodied axes, was, in fact, the work of the famous German anti-nazi photomontage artist John Heartfield. Laibach's uniform turned out to be traditional Slovene hunting clothes the Germanic similarities relates back to the time when Slovenia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While the West was repolarising Laibach, back in Yugoslavia it was the opposite with some wondering if Laibach were in fact a creation of the communists regime, after all the authorities could have dealt with Laibach and destroyed them by now. However the authorities were always unsure how to react to Laibach who presented themselves as a totalitarian organism whose zeal for authority far outstripped that of the state, their work often mixed in elements of national socialisim and socialist realist. It was difficult to interpret one way or the other and Laibach were masters of paradox. Slovenia though the most liberated was the State that cracked down hardest on Laibach but the Yugoslavian decentred system allowed the option trying your luck in another State. Though in some parts of Yugoslavia such as Bosnia they were simply banned outright. Now in Slovenia Laibach's political difficulties were ending. The thaw began in 1986 when the Youth League began to support them and Laibach were allowed to perform the Bloody Ground - Fertile Soil concert at Hum, near Gorica on April 5th. This was Laibach's first official concert on Slovene territory since 1983. February 17th 1987 they performed the first authorised concert in Ljubljana at Pionirski Dom. March 16th, they began their United States of Europe Tour in Vienna, entering Britain in April for four concerts before returning to the continent to finish the tour. While in Britain they recorded another Peel Session, the three track were Leben-Tod, Trans-national and Ti Ki Izzivas. May 1st, Laibach second Yugoslavian LP Slovenska Akropola is released with the name Laibach on the sleeve, also on the sleeve an outline of the Slovenian parliament that had been designed by Joze Plecnik around the nineteen twenties. Yugoslavia's Youth Day is celebrated on May 25th, the late President Tito's birthday. Earlier Novi Kolektivizem had entered a competition to design the poster advertising the event. Their entry was based on Richard Klein's work 'The Third Reich' produced for the Nazis fifty years earlier. The Nazi poster was a marching, bare-chested Aryan youth holding a torch. The Nazi flag behind him was changed to a Yugoslav flag, they changed the torch design to a blurred Slovenian parliament, the eagle was changed to a white dove of peace and changed a few other small details, but it was basically same poster. It was then submitted to the competition and awarded first prize. It was reproduced in a newspaper where an observant member of the public spotted the similarity. The embarrassed authorities immediately replaced it with the runner up. The works of the NSK often revealed fascism, communism and religion as different reflections of the same totalitarianism. The Yugoslavain authorities were attracted to the poster by its fascist elements. The Slovene authorities distanced themselves from the poster but resisted demands to jail the members of Novi Kolektivizem. May 6th Laibach returned to Britain to perform with Michael Clark and Company for 8 performances of No Fire Escape in Hell. The entire NSK was invited to the festival Amsterdam - Cultural Metropolis of Europe 1987 in July, where Laibach performed a concert at the Paradisco Hall on the 18th. Life Is Life, the second single from Opus Dei is released on 21st of July. Not as brutal as Geburt Einer Nation but more grandoise and a real favourite for neo-fascists who had thought Laibach were Nazis, for a few years this song performed at concerts would bring out synchronised Nazi salutes at certain points in the song from a small section of the audience. The promotional video also looks as if it could have been made in Germany in the thirties and along with Geburt Einer Nation both videos were banned in America. Laibach themselves were prevented from touring in America, however it was due to the authorities' concern that Laibach could be Communists. In September Laibach did enter America to perform with Michael Clark and Company at the Los Angles Festival. Laibach had split into two groups, while one half was in America the other half was in Germany performing Macbeth. They were commissioned by the Deutsches Schauspielhaus to provide musical accompaniment to their production of the Shakespeare's play. They actually joined the acting cast, they stood two each on two halves of a large cross which was divided playing their music. At the end of each act, the cross joined up at the centre and Laibach stood together. After appearing at Los Angles, Michael Clark took his production to Belgrade for a festival but had to perform without Laibach who were censored. November 12th, Opus Dei is released in Yugoslavia under licence by Ljubljana ZKP RTV, who had cancelled Laibach planned debut album in 1983. A few days later two independent record companies Walter Ulbricht Schallfolien and Sub Rosa jointly released the double LP Krst Pod Triglavom. Laibach appearred at the Trans Musicales Festival in France were they caused a bit of controversy at the pre-concert conference where they had blamed the Jewish lobby for the non showing of their videos in America. Laibach ended the year with a short German tour starting with Stuttgart at the Longhorn Hall on December 20th ending after six concerts in Bielefeld on the 27th.

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