2 Tone night with Pauline Black: Film, Talks. DJ sets
2026-07-18 17:00 - 23:30 (Europe/London)
2 Tone Night with Pauline Black

– Book presentation at 5:00 pm
– Film screening at 7:00 pm
– DJ set at 9:30 pm
Book Presentation: This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika and the Third Reich … Cologne on 16 July 2026, presenting her original composition
More info at
https://seethesound.de/en/details/?film=Book-Presentation–This-Ain%27t-Rock-%27n%27-Roll–Pop-Music%2c-the-Swastika-and-the-Third-Reich

Art Chat: This Ain't Rock 'n' Roll
2026-07-22 19:00 - 21:30
Art Chat
Daniel will be in-conversatio0n with Jo Cottrell discussing his current book This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika and the Third Reich

Chat’s Palace, Hackney
Wednesday 22 July 2026

Nairn Book & Arts Festival
2026-08-30 14:00 - 15:30
Nairn Book and Arts Festival
An annual celebration of literature, art, music, and drama in the Scottish Highlands
Daniel will be discussing his writing career with particular focus on Isle of Noises: Conversations with Great British Songwriters, including live performance….

Nairn Book and Arts Festival Events ›

A Conversation with Daniel Rachel

Nairn Community & Arts Centre, Nairn, IV12 4BQ

Sunday 30th August 2026

Award-winning and best-selling author Daniel Rachel will be discussing his writing career – including live guitar accompaniment – with focus on his first book Isle of Noises: Conversations with Great British Songwriters (A Guardian Book of the Year).
Featuring 27 of the UK’s finest musicians discussing the magic and secrets behind their art, Noel Gallagher said, ‘‘Without doubt the finest book I’ve ever read about songwriters and the songs they write’.
Photo credit: Bridie Main

A Conversation with Daniel Rachel
Nairn Community & Arts Centre
Nairn

Sun 30 Aug 2026,
2:30PM – 3:30PM

Book Now

Price
Ticket price incl. booking fee
£2.00 – £14.00

Heath Bookshop paperback launch
2026-10-29 19:00 - 21:30
Launch event to celebrate the paperback publication of This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll: Pop Music, the Swastika and the Third Reich.
Daniel will be in-conversation

Five Leaves Bookshop - Nottingham
2026-11-04 19:00 - 20:30
This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll: pop music, the swastika and the Third Reich, with Daniel Rachel

Wednesday, 4 November, 2026
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

*Five Leaves Bookshop
14a Long Row, Nottingham, NG12DH

Tickets: £5.00 – £12.99
Book Now

In this illustrated talk, Daniel Rachel explores one of the last taboos in pop culture and asks why the Nazis, fascism and the Third Reich feature so prominently in the iconography of the artists that defined the twentieth century.Over the last seven decades, some of rock ‘n’ roll’s most celebrated figures 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 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?
Daniel Rachel navigates these turbulent waters, 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 light on the echoes of the Third Reich in popular culture and the legacy of twentieth (and twenty-first) century history as it defines us today.
Daniel Rachel is a former musician turned author. His previous books include Too Much Too Young, the 2 Tone Records Story; Isle of Noises: Conversations with Great British Songwriters; and The Lost Album of the Beatles: What If the Beatles Hadn’t Split Up? He has also written sleeve notes for many artists including the Kinks, Madness, Ocean Colour Scene, Ray Davies, and Bryan Ferry.
Booking essential

Brighton, Sound Affects
2026-12-02 20:00 - 22:00
Discussing the paperback publication l, Sound Affects, Brighton present
THIS AIN’T ROCK ‘N’ ROLL WITH DANIEL RACHEL

8pm Intro
8.15 Speaker #1 & Q&A
8.45 Interval
9 Daniel Rachel & Q&A
9.30 Interval
9.45 – 10.15 Speaker 3 & Q&A
