xXx Fanzine (1983-1988) Hardcore & Punk In The Eighties by Mike Gitter

MIKE GITTER (Author) / CHRIS WRENN (Edited By)
HARDCOVER / 288 PAGES / 11" x 1" x 11"
NOV 2017 - BRIDGE NINE RECORDS

"Gitter was our ambassador to Boston when we first played there in 1985. His fanzine was groundbreaking for its championing of punk rock, both in Boston and elsewhere, during a time when it was still quite underground. The Descendents are honored to be documented in Mike's new xXx book." – Milo Aukerman (The Descendents)

xXx Fanzine (1983-1988) Hardcore & Punk in the Eighties isn’t a mere collection of articles, reviews and photographs from one of Hardcore America’s best-known fanzines - it’s a chronicle of punk’s evolution in the 80’s; a story of music and ideologies in motion. xXX’s story picks up while the first wave of hardcore was in full swing. Major players including Minor Threat had already released landmark records and bands were loading up station wagons to play now infamous venues like The Channel, A7 or D.C. Space.

While based in Boston, xXx’s main writer and editor, Mike Gitter, not only concentrated on his own city’s burgeoning scene, spear-headed by bands like SS Decontrol and D.Y.S., but looked to other states and countries for xXx’s reportage. This hardcover, 11""x11"", 288-page book documents a time when hardcore and punk were not mutually exclusive and bands and cities had a chance to develop their own diverse and strident sounds.

Now, in addition to reproducing (and restoring) countless interviews and pages from the ‘zine itself, xXx Fanzine re-interviews countless bands and musical prime-movers including Ian MacKaye, Keith Morris and members of Agnostic Front, Bad Brains and Cro-Mags to give the book a rare ‘then and now’ perspective. xXx Fanzine (1983-1988), Hardcore & Punk in the Eighties isn’t merely a look back at hardcore’s salad days, but a unique look at how punk’s music and message shook the mainstream itself.

"Fanzines were our internet... Of those, a few were indispensable. Flipside, Thrasher Magazine, and in Boston, Forced Exposure and xXx. Hardcore was about an energy, a spirit of independence. xXx loved it and captured it. Mike Gitter did most of this by himself. The interviews, the shots, the layout, the distro, everything. Talk about DIY." – Dave Smalley (D.Y.S., Dag Nasty, All, Down by Law)

FEATURING: Minor Threat, Misfits, Necros, Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies, Husker Du, Jerry’s Kids, Black Flag, D.O.A., G.B.H, Void, Negative Approach, 7 Seconds, D.Y.S., Scream, Metallica, Corrosion of Conformity, Minutemen, The Exploited, Anthrax, Subhumans, Dead Kennedys, SSD, Henry Rollins, Descendents, Bad Brains, Youth of Today, Motorhead, Dag Nasty, Snapshot, Samhain, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Bad Religion, Fugazi, and more…