Music

Read about Ace Of Base's secret Nazi past

by Aaron Zorgel

Apologies in advance if you’re an ’80s baby. There’s a chance this information might ruin childhood-defining hits like “The Sign,” “All That She Wants,” and “Don’t Turn Around” for you.

Noisey just published a detailed account of the sordid Nazi past of founding member of Swedish pop group Ace Of Base Ulf Ekberg.

Ulf Ekberg is the scowling, shoulder-shrugging Swede in the center.

Before co-writing some of the most recognizable pop tunes of the ’90s, Ekberg started his musical career as a member of Commit Suicide, a neo-Nazi skinhead punk band. Let’s check out some of their lyrics, shall we?

“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!”

Which translates to:

“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!”

Whoa. That’s a bit more intense than “all that she wants is another baby,” isn’t it?

So how did Ekberg go from Commit Suicide to Ace Of Base? In 1990, a band formed by Jonas Berggren and his two sisters had a bass player cancel on a gig last minute. Jonas called up his friend Ulf Ekberg and asked him to fill in. Berggren decided to dub this new lineup Ace Of Base, and before long, “All That She Wants” was blowing up on the radio, and Happy Nation/The Sign would go on to sell 23 million copies.

Does this change how you’re going to feel the next time “The Sign” comes on during your next ’90s throwback dance party? It’s worth noting that Ekberg has since addressed the scandal in a 1997 documentary, claiming to have left that life behind: “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 in 1987. I took the experience from it, I learned from it. But that life is not me. It’s somebody else.”

Read the whole fascinating story at Noisey, and check out Ekberg’s neo-Nazi punk band below.