Not much has been written about German pop music in English, with existing publications predominantly focusing on individual bands or artists. This Companion claims to provide an overview of German popular music, when it does, in fact, exclusively discuss genres and artists that are part of the West German canon of popular music. Those genres include Schlager, Krautrock, punk and Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW). In the Introduction, Uwe Schütte develops a framework that aims to help the reader understand ‘how the [German] nation is imagined and constructed both in and through pop music’ (p. 4). Herein lies the problem. If this volume is to question how notions of German-ness are constructed and perceived in the 21st century, we cannot ignore the period in history in which two German states existed – one being occupied by the Western Allies the other by the USSR. Those two opposing ideologies had a huge impact on the construction and understanding of two different national identities that still exist today.

In this Companion, the construction of a national identity for the Federal Republic of Germany through popular music is excellently documented in well-chosen case studies. Schütte proposes an Adornian reading of popular music. Therefore, it is perhaps unsurprising that almost all of the chapters refer to the German Nazi legacy. Throughout the book, the authors show how artists addressed their country's past directly through lyrics, fashion or imagery (protest songs, Neue Deutsche Welle, punk) as well as indirectly by breaking with musical traditions (Krautrock, techno).

Many artists used irony and satire as strategy to convey their oppositional stance towards the FRG. However, it is argued in several chapters that the wider German public misunderstood the true meaning of many songs that employed humour. Christian Jäger, for example, discusses how a misreading of the performances of early NDW artists who opposed their political system of the time led to the development of NDW being interpreted as most people know it today– promoting a superficial and affirmative fun culture.

In the case of Krautrock (John Littlejohn) and techno (Alexei Monroe), artists were eager to break away from musical traditions so that a new national identity could be established. Littlejohn argues that the ethos of experimentation would allow Krautrock artists to create an identity that is neither related to Germany's fascist past nor dictated by the popular music of the Western Allies who occupied parts of Germany. Techno has become intrinsically linked to German reunification, but has not automatically led to the development of a German national identity. Monroe argues that, although debates on German-ness have surfaced in techno, it is the cosmopolitan and liberal attitude that defines this genre. Perhaps this move away from the debate on a German identity is exactly the reason why both East Germans and West Germans are able to unite when listening to techno.

At the same time, Germany has witnessed a revival of German Schlager. Evidence is the prime time TV Christmas show of Helene Fischer, one of the most popular German Schlager artists in 2016, which was viewed by almost 20% of the population! In his chapter on Schlager, Julio Mendívil contends that it is a niche in popular music where fans and artists can celebrate their traditional values – a reaction to a perceived loss of personal (family), local (community) and national (Germany) identity. Applying Mendívil's argument to the political and social situation of 2017, it is no surprise that Schlager is booming.

Patchwork is identified by a number of authors as another strategy to negotiate an identity that locates Germany in Europe and the world. By playing with signs, symbols and methods from various eras of German history (including German fascism), bands such as Kraftwerk and Rammstein have become internationally recognised as being German. Alexander Carpenter's chapter on industrial music juxtaposes representative positions in the current debate on the German-ness of German popular music; a debate that was sparked by the band Mia and their ode to Germany (‘Was es ist’). The band Einstürzenden Neubauten continues to deconstruct German identity in the tradition of the Frankfurt School and a Marxist dialectic, whereas Rammstein's postmodern take on German identity is defined by the refusal to accept any further moral responsibility for the German atrocities that were committed in World War II.

Together with Monroe's discussion on techno, the final two chapters of the book finally discuss popular music since the fall of the Berlin Wall. It is unfortunate to see that, in a series that claims to focus on the period since 1989, so few chapters address the issues that Germany faces in the 21st century. Marissa Kristina Munderloh's discussion on rap in Germany gives the reader an idea about the country's current social, cultural and political situation. Rap has served many ethnic groups to communicate their thoughts and feelings about their lives in Germany. Munderloh establishes that one cannot define German rap but perhaps begin to outline the different perspectives from which German-ness is viewed and understood.

Christoph Jürgensen and Antonius Weixler discuss the genre Hamburger Schule in their chapter. The intellectual discourse that the authors see artists of this genre engage in can be attributed to all performers that are discussed in this volume. If one was to define a German approach to popular music, it would be the ‘engagement with theories and traditions of historical avant-gardes’ (p. 115).

The Companion ends with a conversation with Diedrich Diederichsen that draws on some of the aspects that are discussed in his recent book Über Popmusik (Reference Diederichsen2014). In it, Diederichsen proposes a reading of pop music as a social, political and cultural construct that is as much shaped by the producer and performer as it is by the music's recipient. Pop music then, becomes a fluid subject that is permanently altered by its consumers. Diederichsen's understanding advances Adorno's reading of the music industry and its consumers in that it allows for, in fact encourages, active participation in the process of defining pop music and attaching meaning to it.

Overall, this book is an enjoyable read, with some of the chapters developing interesting and surprising arguments with regard to German pop music. Few of the chapters make for a heavy read, as the amount of detail can distract from the arguments being made. However, the more engaging chapters, such as Mendívil's analysis of Schlager and Munderloh's interesting remarks on rap in Germany, are both entertaining and convincing in their arguments.