X: Whatever happened to hte punk rock group founded in LA?
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I cite my sources and they may differ than other people’s accounts, so I don’t guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.
While Hair Metal is often synonymous with Los Angeles, the city also had a flourishing punk scene that was made up of groups including the Plugs, Alley Cats, the Screamers, the Germs and today’s topic X. While they were far from the first punk band in LA, X would go on to become one of the most resilient bands over the last 4 decades. Frontwomen Exene Cervenka would tell Loudersound “We didn’t disgrace Los Angeles, that’s for sure, We are a soundtrack to Los Angeles, and that is a big deal.”Today, let’s explore the history of X.”
3 of the 4 musicians from the band would hail from Illinois & It’s purely a coincidence since they didn’t know each other as young kids. Bassist and co-vocalist John Doe would find his way to LA sometime in the 70’s via Illinois, Maryland, and New York & Doe saw LA as a place to reinvent himself. He was a fan of old cinema and the novelists that emerged from the City so it only made sense to migrate there.
Meanwhile guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Billy Zoom was living in LA starting in the 60’s and served as a session musician. He would reveal to Rolling Stone he grew. Ambivalent to the music scene revealing “all the bullshit that popped into the Seventies, all those over-produced, super-processed, over-sensitive, ‘we’re so arty’ arena bands,” He also saw the LA music scene as being dead and was hungry for something new and raw.
coincidentally enough Zoom and Doe would place ads in the local paper the Recycler the same week looking for other like minded musicians. The pair would eventually meet up and form a band.
Future X vocalist Exene Cervenka would also hail from Illinois but move to florida at the age of 13. She would tell the Oklahoma Gazette “That was the early ’60s, and girls couldn’t even play baseball,” “I lived out in the middle of nowhere in the country, so there was no chance [of starting a band. Everything was in your mind, and it was all about imagining things” Cervenka would take a liking to writing and poetry. It would be that interest that caused her to hitch a ride with only $80 in her pocket across the country to LA at the age of 20 Cervenka would take up a job at Beyond Baroque Foundation in Venice, It was at an open mic night for poets at her place of work where she met future bandmate and husband John Doe.
She would recall to Rolling Stone “I was just sitting there and he came down and sat next to me, We were talking and he said, ‘You wanna go next door to the jazz place and get a drink?’ So we did that and he told me about punk.” The pair would soon started dated Doe and started attending the band’s rehearsals bringing the song “I’m Coming Over”. Cervenka would admit that she never initially dreamed of joining a band whenshe moved out to LA.
Drummer DJ bonebreak would join round out the lineup.. By 1978 the classic lineup of X was born. LA served as the perfect backdrop for the the group with Doe telling Loudersound “Hollywood was in real decline, The Tennessee Williams in me said: ‘Yes! The perfect moment!’ Be in the heart of the beast when it’s all falling to pieces.”
Fueled by alcohol, the band’s sound would rely heavily on rockabilly type guitar hooks. They would release their first single Adult Books on label Dangerouhouse & it was soon after that htey caught the attention of former Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek who read about the band in a local paper attended one of the group’s shows at the Whisky A Go Go, the old stomping ground for his band. It was during that performance the band even performed a blistering cover of the Doors song soul kitchen. Impressed, Manzarek not only wanted to produce the band, but get them signed to a major label. Ge would tell he mercury news “I saw them and I just fell in love,”They were amazing. About the fourth song into the show they’re just wailing on something.
“My wife Dorothy said to me, ‘Do you recognize that one?’ I said, ‘Honey, I don’t know any of these songs.’ She said, ‘No, no, no listen carefully.’ I said, ‘Oh my god, it’s ‘Soul Kitchen!’ They were doing ‘Soul Kitchen’ at a thousand miles per hour.”
Manzurek tried to get the band signed to the Doors old label Elektra Records, but was unsuccessful a
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Yeah, way to forget the 2 best punk bands on earth and they're from L.A. Circle Jerks and Black Flag.
They're still going, and sound badass. Definitely a one of a kind band for sure!
The song "Blue Spark " , the chorus has a great harmony with Doe and Cervenka ." Los Angeles " and "Wild Gift " were 2 good albums "I'm Coming Over" & "We're Desperate" bristle with energy … "White Girl " was a staple of L.A. radio
they are still out there! probably playing you town tonight!
Love me some X…. Or is it K ? JK
Too bad John Doe wimped out by censoring "never" from 'Los Angeles' despite insulting other bloaties. The album version has "never" spliced. When John sings it live, he would replace "never" with "Christian." The only way to hear the song uncensored would be from the Slash releases. WaveGroup at least kept the singing consistent, despite using the lyrics from the second verse as both the first and second verses.
…I saw them many times in the 80s and nineties in California…the very best live Rock-n-Roll band ever…
Billy Zoom was the most underrated guitarist of the LA scene. He would eat Slash for breakfast
They played better and longer than …… everyone. Where have you been?😅
I saw them in Philly and they were very entertaining.
Whatever happened to them? They toured recently, and their last two albums are fantastic, a return to form they lost after "More Fun."
That is not exactly how the X Files gig happened. I set it up with a friend that worked for Fox. It is a crazy story.
They are still around!
We need Punk back now!
X is more anti-hero in my book. Best anti hero band, maybe. Still, the pool is astounding. Be it 1970's-'80's punk (rock), or 1970's-'80's L.A. punk rock.
In this regard, maybe it is apples vs oranges.
Circle jerks vs x.
That's not a level playing field.
Subhumans.
X was organically generated.
The labels can be compared.
Post go-gos, richard hell it was another animal. Then, perhaps comparisons & superlatives are a thing.
I met the UK Subs. Twice, bought each member a pitcher a beer. I must've been the only American Indian in town that day…… LA (Punk) ROCKS!!!
Saw them open for Oingo Boingo at the Orange show, at the Observatory in Santa Ana with the Blasters opening for X, Again up in San Luis Obispo in a bar. And at the Pacific Amphitheater with Reverend Horton Heat. I'm thankful for their music in my life.
First saw them in 1980 with Romeo Void and The Neo Boys, a Portland OR band.
"Doing Soul Kitchen at 1000 miles an hour…" Perfect.
They played the whiskey like every week for almost a year. That's why I hung at the anticlub.
Before 'Celestial' by Ed Sheeran in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, there was this song in Grand Theft Auto V. Both of the songs are out of place in the games, but 'Los Angeles' is a much better song.
EXENE is a huge Trump supporter. I think she did a little too much dope.
x
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3words
R&R HOF!! Get them in now!!
I'm desperate, get used to it, landlord.
X. I've always liked that band.
They are hearty people with lots of talent and heart. Always liked them since I was a 13 in '83 and bought their Under The Big Black Sun album. I think I got it from the Columbia Record House, lol. I got my first big record collection from that, including music as varied as Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti to Abbas' Greatest Hits Vol 2, Christopher Cross, Supertramp's Breakfast In America, Quietest Moments and Rush. You can say I had varied tastes, and I was always fond of this band, seen them many times over the past 15 years in Los Angeles and now in Portland, OR.
KROQ would play them, but only some of their "hits"
Saw them a number of times back in the early 80s. Fantastic!! No mention of their side project The Knitters?
X are still amazing. Whilst the US punk scene certainly reveres them, it baffles me how little known they are in the UK.
Great band in their day. It's too bad Exene has gone completely off the conspiracy deep end. She's cuckoo for cocoa puffs.
X…!!!
What about "See How We Are"?
A dustbin classic.
Throw it on, on the fourth of July.
Peace on earth.
LOVE LOVE LOVE!
I love X seen them many times over the years and always a fun show last time I saw them was over 10 years ago now but tomorrow night I’ll be seeing them for the fifth time and am still as excited as I was the first time. I miss the 80s punk and new wave scenes such a great time for diverse bands
A few good songs on their first album, otherwise do not live up to their hype. Original hipster band?
They made the hall of fame and kicked back like old folks do….. hi Xene 😉
They were replaced by another band,friends don't let friends play in punk bands!
I saw X a month ago at a club that NEVER had a punk band perform there in their entire life. The audience was made up of old fans, and not too many new ones. For the club, it was history in the making. For the rest of us in the audience, it was a great show. After all these years, X still has the energy. 47 years later, and X still entertains.
Not over yet. New album set to drop.
They are on their final tour (2024). Their last album will released early Aug. 2024. Smoke and Fiction