Description

From the smoke-filled clubs of late-70s London to the sun-bleached graveyards of Los Angeles, Black Planet unearths the definitive history of Goth and Deathrock—two of the most misunderstood, mythologized, and culturally significant underground movements of the last fifty years. Drawing from decades of firsthand experience, exclusive interviews, and deep archival research, historian and scene veteran Nick Razer traces how post-punk’s ashes gave rise to a global dark culture built on art, alienation, beauty, and defiance.

Razer takes readers on a journey through the formative years of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and The Cure, revealing how their experiments in sound and style reshaped music forever. He dives into the theatrical blasphemy of Christian Death, the horror-punk energy of 45 Grave, and the chaotic creativity of LA’s Deathrock scene—mapping how both sides of the Atlantic developed parallel expressions of darkness, identity, and rebellion.

With vivid storytelling and uncompromising detail, Black Planet explores the fashion, philosophy, aesthetics, clubs, and communities that shaped the subculture, from the legendary Batcave to the underground labyrinths of Hollywood. This is not the caricature of “teenage vampires” and Halloween clichés—it is the real story of a movement forged in art, literature, trauma, glamour, grit, and the relentless search for beauty amid a collapsing world.

Whether you are a longtime fan, a newcomer, a scholar of counterculture, or someone who lived these nights firsthand, Black Planet offers the most complete, insightful, and human portrait of Goth and Deathrock ever written.

Step into the shadows. Discover the world built by outcasts. Enter the Black Planet.