John Doe SIGNED Under The Big Black Sun X See How We Are 2016 1st Ed. HB w/GOA
Up for bids is this 2016 first edition hardcover version of Under The Big Black Sun, which was written AND signed by John Doe and is in VERY GOOD condition (LIKE NEW except for some dust jacket wear; NOT an ex-library book; NO reminder marks; NO punch holes).
Praise for Under the Big Black Sun
Vogue.com, 2/28/16
“A candid look at one of rock's most exciting scenes.”
Publishers Weekly, 4/4/16
“Doe, frontman for X, has gathered the testimonies of punk's progenitors in L.A., a scene only rivaled by those of New York and London for fecundity and influence.”
Q Magazine, June 2016
“An excellent dissection of the unique cultural and sexual plurality of the LA scene…Compelling reading.”
Library Journal, 4/15/16
“[A] fascinating collection of essays.”
Rolling Stone, 5/5/16
“The true story of the Los Angeles punk scene…A set of vivid personal essays…The most artist-centered look yet at a scene that helped define the future of a music whose rallying cry was ‘no future.'”
John Evans, co-owner of California's Diesel: A Bookstore, on NPR's All Things Considered, 7/22/16
“A great and generous memoir of L.A. punk.”
Booklist, 7/21/16
“An entertaining, firsthand history that should appeal to punk fans everywhere.”
Record Collector, May 2016
“A great read for anyone with even a passing interest in the U.S. underground of the time.”
Music Aficionado, 5/6/16
“Really takes the reader back to the time punk broke in the L.A.”
Lincoln Journal Star, 5/14/16
“Filled with candid, well written pieces…As valuable as a historical record as it is an innovative recounting of the scene.”
Bookforum, 5/12/16
“Shin[es] a light on a legendary but largely unexamined corner of the West Coast counterculture…Nostalgic fans of LA punk will learn amazing things.”
Chicago Tribune, 5/31/16
“A chronicle of the influential LA punk scene from 1977 to 1982, a first-hand story told by many of the musicians who lived it…The book captures a scruffy and rebellious era where a new breed of musicians flourished in cheap apartments, dive bars and music clubs. It was an underground scene that thrived on word of mouth before the advent of cellphones and the internet. Nearly 40 years on, that heady cultural time continues to influence music and fashion.”
San Francisco Chronicle, 6/1/16
“Written with immediacy and brio, the book is suffused with the heady feeling of finding your tribe.”
Philadelphia Inquirer, 6/5/16
“The music that emerged from the Los Angeles punk rock scene of the late 1970s and early '80s resisted easy categorization…It's an era skillfully recounted in Under the Big Black Sun.”
PopMatters, 4/25/16
“A series of essays in which each voice shines…These aren't Rolling Stone profiles that have been sanitized to protect us from the truth, they're the real conversations that you'd have with this gang if any of them were your friends…The memories, some of them anyway, are here too for us to sort through and feel something akin to being there. What more could we want?”
RollingStone.com, 5/10/16
“A welcome diversion from the typical punk history books, which are often narratives or oral histories.”
Punk Rock Theory, 5/20/16
“A personal history of LA punk, told by the people who were there…Together they paint a picture of a scene that was ugly, dangerous and came with sketchy clubs and lots of drugs, but where at the same time there was room for friendship, love and big dreams…Paints a surprisingly clear story of what must have been hazy days for all those involved.”
Media Mikes, 5/18/16
“Written by X vocalist/bassist John Doe along with help from Tom DeSavia and laundry list of who's who from the late '70s and early '80s L.A. punk scene. For the first time in one place the true story of a scene often overlooked is told in all of its gritty and grimy detail by none other those who experienced it and by those who helped create it. This is not your typical memoir however as this book tells not only of how the scene began and developed but also how it went on to change music forever…John Doe does a great job recounting his stories from this era with vivid detail and truthfulness that make you want to keep turning the page…[A] captivating story…Full of rare photos that by themselves are worth the price of the book…From cover to cover Doe and DeSavia and crew nail it.”
Spectrum Culture, 7/7/16
“The West Coast's answer to the seminal New York punk history, Please Kill Me…Help[s] paint a more complete picture of just what it was like to live and create in that climate…Under the Big Black Sun serves as the definitive statement on the richly diverse, unfairly overlooked Los Angeles punk scene.”
Blurt Online, 7/1/16
“Did the world really need one more book about Punk Rock?...Yes. Yes, it did...There are bookshelves crammed with tomes about Punk Rock and plenty of those deal with the L.A. punk scene of the late ‘70s. But few are as refreshingly personal as John Doe's Under the Big Black Sun.”
San Francisco Book Review, 7/17/16
“Told by those who lived it, those who sparked it, those who thrived there, and those who suffered there, Under the Big Black Sun is as personal a history as you're bound to find, exploring the evolution of punk in all its forms…This is a front row seat to the joy and mayhem…With voices like Jane Wiedlin, Henry Rollins, John Doe, and Exene Cervenka, among many others, this is punk brought to life, ugly and beautiful and vibrant and mean all at once.”
Austin American-Statesman, 7/16/16
“Does was wise to get a few different voices in here; it gives Under the Big Black Sun a pleasing emotional heft.”
Examiner.com, 5/3/16
“A fascinating, first-person account of professional gigging and groupie-dom in the late 1970s and early ‘80s…Doe's descent into the dark tumult of southern California in the post-Carter years is as seedy and unsterile as it is musically and historically significant…Doe effectively Sharpies an X on our hands for reentry into a world most of us probably never knew, into a labyrinth of alleyways and urine-besotted staircases populated by society's fringe-dwellers—the talented outcasts and intellectuals longing to carve their own niche into the urban fabric…It's all here, really, in its glorious repugnance: The intoxication, self-mutilation and promiscuity, the battered amplifiers and eyeliner, the outrageous exploits in brick-and-mortar meccas that would be shuttered after skinheads and hardcore thugs started yanking fixtures off the restroom walls…In Under the Big Black Sun, punk's unsung forefathers (and mothers) finally have their say their way…and we emerge smelling of cigarette smoke and alcohol, ears ringing.”
"While X led the way, the L.A. punk scene had a distinctive voice all its own. With contributions from those who were there, this is a time capsule of music, politics and personal freedom."―Indie 88
"A juggernaut of reminisces from an eclectic cast of Cali punk characters."―The Observer (UK), "The Best Music Books of 2016"
"John Doe anchors this collection of memories from those who survived the L.A. punk scene...It's like listening to a group of friends reminisce."―Goldmine
"A great book."―Billboard.com
"John Doe and Tom DeSavia have woven together an enthralling story of the legendary West Coast scene from 1977-1982 by enlisting the voices of people who were there." ―Business Insider Australia
"The book is an incredible read, on part with Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, or The Kid Stays In The Picture. But the audio version is sensational, because the essayists who contributed to the book read their own work. If you're a fan of the music and the musicians, I can't oversell how great it is to own both audio and print versions, because the photos in the print version are magnificent." ―WilWheaton.net
"The book does a fine job of capturing the rebellious spirit of this group of anti-Top Forty radio commandos...Although books of essays that collect the thoughts of various authors are often uneven, somehow this one retains its coherence and sense of identity. Everyone who writes here was part of the scene in one way or another, not simply observers writing from a distance...If you want to learn more about the LA punk scene of the 70s, this is a good place to turn." ―Portland Book Review
"A wonderful multi-authored book not just about what turned out to be a key time in this music scene but with much wider resonance about invention [and] community."―Manchester Review of Books