Under the Big Black Sun is the third studio album by American rock band X, and their major-label debut. It was released on Elektra Records in July 1982. The cover art illustration was drawn by Alfred Harris. Lyrically, the band broadened their perspective. No longer the punk scene's Raymond Chandler, writing of the squalor and chaos of Los Angeles, where their house was often a center of activity, the band instead looked inward. The lyrics focus on break-ups, death, and the nagging truth that all of the critical fawning had yet to add up to more tangible success (the wry "The Have Nots," which incorporates a slew of bars and one night stands the band had noted on their endless criss-crossing tours of the states).