This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll – Daniel Rachel – New Noise Magazine
Potentially, more people have seen photos of Sid Vicious wearing a swastika T-shirt than have heard the Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen.” While Vicious — never described as “smart” in the conventional sense — likely never knew the intense feelings this symbol of hate stirred in many whose relatives died in concentration camps, he clearly knew it was a quick way to stir up controversy. Apparently, so did everyone else from John Lennon to Siouxsie Sioux, who either wore the swastika as fashion or flirted with other Nazi imagery for attention over the years.
With the same brilliant mix of storytelling and history lesson he brought to the 2 Tone movement in his last book (Too Much, Too Young), Daniel Rachel turns his attention to the use of swastikas and other vile remnants of the Hitler’s government by pop musicians in This Ain’t Rock ’n’ Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika, and the Third Reich.
“For over seventy-five years, musicians have been drawn to the language and provocative imagery of Nazism, fascinated by its power, menace, and underlying sexuality,” Rachel writes in the book’s epilogue. With a stirring introduction from Billy Bragg, Rachel sets out to document the connection between this haunting imagery and popular music from the 1960s up to the present. He has a knack for researching like an academic but writing like a contemporary novelist, relaying this history in easy-to-consume stories.
Rachel also takes an almost agnostic approach at times, not exactly letting his subjects off the hook for their behavior but putting it into context: some musicians simply did not grasp the gravity of adopting these symbols, while others — especially British teens less than two decades removed from German bombing raids — may have been fascinated by the symbols of the enemy. Regardless, it is ultimately up to the reader to decide. However, in the case of an overtly racist and antisemitic “White Power” band like Skrewdriver, led by Ian Stuart Donaldson, the swastika and other hateful icons were worn with purpose and full knowledge of their symbolism.
Beyond just symbols, one of the most intriguing sections in the book delves into bands that intentionally — or innocently, unaware — adopted names associated with Nazi ideology, such as Joy Division (a name given to brothels staffed by Jewish women forced to service Nazis), New Order (Hitler’s vision for a German-occupied Europe), and Spandau Ballet (a gruesome German slang term for the jerking motion of those being hanged).
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.
