
Here's a performance from Super Bowl XXVII which explicitly evokes military imagery. The outfit he's wearing is pretty similar to the one he - well, the statute of him - is wearing on the cover of HIStory.
I mean, it could be a totally innocuous fashion sensibility, a method of promoting an album or two. Dude isn't the first musical act to evoke military and fascism in their image, but he is the only one, to my knowledge, to achieve such massive popularity, to not reference it somewhat ironically in his music, and to use it consistently over the course of his career (and even now, with his career over). If I really wanted to go into it, I'd reference the fascist efficiency of his tunes or the subliminal appeal of fascism and how he incorporated it into pop music. Or you could just say the he's clearly afflicted with major mental illnesses and grandeur is just one symptom among many. But it's late and I'm lazy... so I'll just suggest these things for now.
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