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This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll
- Author
- Daniel Rachel
- Narrator
- Billy Bragg, Daniel Rachel
- Publisher
- Orion
- Publish Date
- 6 November 2025
- Run Time
- 14 hours 58 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- History of music
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What to expect
Over the last seven decades, some of rock 'n' roll's most celebrated figureheads have flirted with the imagery and theatre of the Third Reich. From Keith Moon and Vivian Stanshall kitting themselves out in Nazi uniforms to Siouxsie Sioux and Sid Vicious brandishing swastikas in the pomp of punk, generations of performers have associated themselves in troubling ways with the aesthetics, mass hysteria and even ideology of Nazism. Whether shock factor, stupidity, or crass attempt at subversion, rock 'n' roll has indulged these associations in a way not accepted by any other artform. But how accountable should fans, the media, and the music industry be for what has often seemed a sleazy fascination with the eroticised perversions of a fascist regime?
In This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll, award-winning music historian Daniel Rachel navigates these turbulent waters with extraordinary delicacy and care, asking us to look anew at the artists that have defined us, inspired us and given us joy - and consider why so many have been drawn to the imagery of a movement responsible for the twentieth century's worst atrocities. Alongside a sensitive history of the Holocaust and an examination of the place it holds in our cultural consciousness, Rachel asks essential questions of actions often overlooked or underplayed, whilst neither casting sweeping judgement nor offering easy answers. In doing so, he asks us to reassess the history of rock 'n' roll and sheds new light on the grim echoes of the Third Reich in popular culture and the legacy of twentieth (and twenty-first) century history as it defines us today.
Critics Review
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Daniel Rachel has dug deep into rock and pop's enduring obsession with Nazism. Why is this still going on?
THE TIMES
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A timely book exposing the complicated history of the use of Nazi symbols in popular music culture since the last world war. As the powers-that-be lurch towards a far-right future, there is no longer any hiding place for those pretending to be ignorant about the true meaning of Nazism, or using its emblems for their supposed subversive 'cool' factor. They have a choice, own their perverse fascination when exposed or apologise
PAULINE BLACK
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While it's slightly incredible nobody has before published a book on rock's periodic spasms of flirtation with Nazism, one could picture it as a dry, academic thesis rather than the absolute banger Daniel Rachel has written. It's hard to imagine there will be a more original book of non-fiction this year
EMMA FORREST
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In this important exploration of the relationship between pop music and the Third Reich, Daniel Rachel challenges the motivations of those artists who sought glamour and notoriety in exploiting Nazi imagery
BILLY BRAGG
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A deeply thought-provoking work, and long overdue
MOJO
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A timely, wide ranging and eye-opening overview of music's fascination with the Third Reich, from moronic edgelord stupidity to studied, cold hearted hate. Thorough, calm and at times heart-breaking, This Aint Rock 'n' Roll is surely the most necessary music book of the year
JOHN HIGGS
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Highlights both the stupidity and subversion of musicians' flirting with Nazism ... the book astutely traces the global rise of fascism and its reverberations in pop culture
Irish Times
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A shocking and highly necessary book
YORKSHIRE POST
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The cognitive dissonance between rock's rebellious use of Nazi imagery and the actual horror of the Nazi regime. There are surprising details everywhere in this book
JEWISH TELEGRAPH
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A catalogue of Rock's flirtation with fascist symbolism that builds into a relentless polemic. Important and timely
JON SAVAGE
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From Bowie and punk to contemporary provocation. Daniel Rachel examines the uneasy intersection between pop culture and fascist imagery. Deeply research and provocative, it asks why artists flirt with dangerous symbols and what that says about society's memory. This is history, ethics, and pop theory colliding in one compelling study. A must-read for anyone who believes music can challenge as well as charm
ROUGH TRADE
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Rachel's book is compelling - not an easy read, but as essential now as at any point in our history
LOUDER THAN WAR
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A brilliant book
ROBIN INCE
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An important book about an uncomfortable history . . . Rachel is a gifted writer of evocative prose and a diligent historian, and here he assembles a responsible, questioning and thought-provoking examination of wider social and cultural consciousnesses. It's a fascinating chronicle of both human atrocities and the often dubious psyche of rock's legacy that ought to be taught in colleges
RECORD COLLECTOR
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Brilliant . . . Daniel writes with such energy and thoughtfulness
SAMIRA AHMED
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A thorough and fascinating examination of the flirtations pop musicians have made with the aesthetics, language, and occasionally, the ideology of Nazism
MALCOLM RUSSELL
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I hadn't considered before the relentless frequency with which rock musicians have been bewitched by the surface glamour of fascism and its hideous ideology. The author is to be congratulated for compiling this dismal and sometimes bizarre history!
Neil Tennant
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A sadly rather timely book . . . deeply researched and provocative. A must-read for anyone who believes music can challenge as well as charm.
Wallpaper
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Educational . . . This Ain't Rock 'N' Roll points up extraordinary examples - "from Tommy Steele to Kanye West" - and how our reaction intensified over the years
Word In Your Ear
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An incredibly sobering, fascinating, serious, but uplifting book
We Have Notes Podcast
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A brilliant text and substantive exemplar of historical inquiry
Winnipeg Free Press
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Remarkable. An urgent, intense examination of how one malevolent movement in the course of world history has remained relevant and powerful
Sampan Newspaper
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Timely and relevant
Booklist
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Far-reaching and meticulous
Moment Magazine
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Rarely has a book felt so timely . . . a brilliant book!
Music Connection
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Equal parts enlightening, troubling, and wildly compelling, with This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll Rachel tackles one of the more taboo aspects in the history of pop music with grace, nuance and narrative flair
New Noise
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Vital
Toronto Sun
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The book presents a multigenerational supergroup of stupidity, opportunism and, occasionally, earnest morbidity
Wall Street Journal
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Daniel Rachel
- Narrator
- Billy Bragg, Daniel Rachel
- Duration
- 14 hours 58 minutes
- Release Date
- 6 November 2025
- ISBN
- 9781399635769
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Orion
- Genre
- History of music
Synopsis
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY BILLY BRAGGOver the last seven decades, some of rock 'n' roll's most celebrated figureheads have flirted with the imagery and theatre of the Third Reich. From Keith Moon and Vivian Stanshall kitting themselves out in Nazi uniforms to Siouxsie Sioux and Sid Vicious brandishing swastikas in the pomp of punk, generations of performers have associated themselves in troubling ways with the aesthetics, mass hysteria and even ideology of Nazism. Whether shock factor, stupidity, or crass attempt at subversion, rock 'n' roll has indulged these associations in a way not accepted by any other artform. But how accountable should fans, the media, and the music industry be for what has often seemed a sleazy fascination with the eroticised perversions of a fascist regime?In This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll, award-winning music historian Daniel Rachel navigates these turbulent waters with extraordinary delicacy and care, asking us to look anew at the artists that have defined us, inspired us and given us joy - and consider why so many have been drawn to the imagery of a movement responsible for the twentieth century's worst atrocities. Alongside a sensitive history of the Holocaust and an examination of the place it holds in our cultural consciousness, Rachel asks essential questions of actions often overlooked or underplayed, whilst neither casting sweeping judgement nor offering easy answers. In doing so, he asks us to reassess the history of rock 'n' roll and sheds new light on the grim echoes of the Third Reich in popular culture and the legacy of twentieth (and twenty-first) century history as it defines us today.
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