Ace of Base Nazi: Ulf Eckberg's Skinhead, Neo-Nazi Past Revealed By Noisey

Prepare to have your childhood kicked square in the teeth. According to a report by Noisey's Ben Shapiro, Ulf Ekberg, founding member and bass player in Swedish '90s pop sensation Ace of Base, was a neo-Nazi.

According to the story, Eckberg was founded a skinhead punk group called Commit Suisude in 1983. The group's lyrics consisted of anti-immigrant, White power screeds. Here is a snippet of the band's output:

"Män i vita kåporna på vägen tågar. Vi njuter när vi huvudena av niggrerna sågar/ Svartskalle, vi hatar dig! Ut, ut, ut, ut! Nordens folk, vakna nu! Skjut, skjut, skjut, skjut!"

Truly shocking stuff. But if you need it in English, here's your translation:

"Men in white hoods march down the road, we enjoy ourselves when we're sawing off niggers' heads/ Immigrant, we hate you! Out, out, out, out! Nordic people, wake up now! Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot!"

The band wrote songs with titles like "Don't Touch Our Country" and "White Power, Black Skull Slaughter."

Here is a clip of a Commit Suiside song called "Smash the VPK" (the VPK is a leftist party that supports tenants of socialism and feminism):

Commit Suiside disbanded in 1986. However, Ulf continued hanging around Neo-Nazi types. He was a member of the Sweden Democrats, a political party that denies any ties to Neo-Nazis but has noted Nazis among its ranks, was founded by a Waffen-SS Veteran, and has a very strong anti-immigrant ideology.

Eckberg appeared repentant in a 1997 documentary called Our Story. Eckberg spoke on his neo-Nazi roots saying "I told everyone I really regret what I did. I've closed that book.I don't want to even talk about it, that time does not exist in me any more. I closed it and I threw the book away 1987. I took the experience from it, I learned from it. But that life is not me. It's somebody else. "

What makes this news particularly strange (beyond the fact that songs like "The Sign", "All That She Wants" and "Don't Turn Around" were performed by a neo-Nazi), is that the information wasn't exactly secret. Swedish imprint Flashback Records released a compilation of Suiside songs titled Uffe Was A Nazi! in 1998 that featured cover art of Eckberg doing a Nazi salute. (The cover is the picture featured above).

Now, what will come of this? Likely nothing but a lot of obvious jokes about how "we should have seen the sign!" (personal favorite from the comments because it's a little bit deeper: "I am glad this got dragged up, to get it into the light where it belongs.") Ace of Base's career has already run its course and they've sold millions of records. Still, something to think about next time you pop in Happy Nation.

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