xXx Fanzine (1983-1988): Hardcore & Punk In The Eighties

A collection of articles, reviews, and photographs from one of Hardcore America’s best-known fanzines—and a chronicle of punk’s evolution in the 1980’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 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, spearheaded by bands like SS Decontrol and D.Y.S. but looked to other states and countries for xXx’s reportage.

This book documents a time when hardcore and punk were not mutually exclusive; a time when bands and cities had a chance to develop their own diverse and strident sounds.

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 is a unique look at how punk’s music and message shook the mainstream itself.

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.

By Mike Gitter

Designed and edited by Chris Wrenn

Published by Bridge Nine, 2017

Hardcover, 288 pages, 11 × 11 inches

ISBN: 978-0-97-659666-0