This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika and the Third Reich

A ROUGH TRADE, LOUDER THAN WAR, AND RESIDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR

'A deeply thought-provoking work, and long overdue' MOJO
'Astutely traces the global rise of fascism and its reverberations in pop culture . . . compelling' IRISH TIMES
'Important and timely' JON SAVAGE
'Timely, wide ranging and eye-opening' JOHN HIGGS

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 the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to Siouxsie Sioux and Sid Vicious to Lady Gaga and Kanye West, generations of performers have associated themselves in troubling ways with the aesthetics, mass hysteria and even ideology of Nazism.

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.

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.

• Publication date: 29 October 2026
• Page count: 368
• Dimensions: Height 197 mm; Width 130 mm; Thickness 26 mm
• Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN-13: 9781399635745