X was a great act. I swear this band whistled right over the vast majority of rock fans on this continent outside of Los Angeles in the late 70's & early 80's. X was a Punk band that played a rockabilly style countrified brand of Punk Rock. Formed in Los Angeles in 1977, X only had a handful of radio friendly songs. At least, more than any radio station in the northeast chose to play. X seeped into my consciousness very late in their existence. I left the New Jersey area just as The Ramones were exploding and never really experienced the Punk scene. To this day I'm not much for body piercings (not that there's anything wrong with that as the saying goes) and it just seemed that crowd had an affinity for spitting in public and putting safety pins through their eyebrows. Slam dancing, ripped jeans and t-shirts and the general disheveled look of the allegedly disenfranchised just wasn't my style. Unfortunately, sometimes music gets pigeon-holed and aligned with a particular crowd and alienates the rest. Today I am a great fan of a lot of Punk music, but back then...Where it all began changes as the years go on, but you can generally consider The Ramones as a top five Punk act. The Clash were punk rockers, maybe the greatest of all time, but their music really evolved as time went on. The Sex Pistols were punk personified around the globe and Never Mind The Bullocks still sounds wonderfully irreverent to this day. I guess you could say The Ramones represented New York, The Clash & Sex Pistols the UK and X Los Angeles...no offense to any giant Punk bands I foolishly left out intended...
I didn't really want to discuss Punk Rock in particular today though. I wanted to talk about X. The band was led by Billy Zoom and John Doe (and Doe's poetry writing girlfriend Exene Cervenka). I'm dead certain those are their real names (he said facetiously), but they make for a great combination either way. While serving as a glorified intern at WBCN I came across a song by X that I just loved and it turned me onto the band for good. In 1985 they released their fifth album called "Ain't Life Grand." It had a track called "Burning House of Love" that just did it for me. The station played the song for maybe three or four months as a "B" track; meaning we could hear it, at most, once every ten to twelve hours as opposed to every shift. That is probably why I still like it to be honest. I was surprised when I did some research and found they had been around for years. WBCN had a couple of X tracks in their available singles catalogue; their cover of Otis Blackwell's "Breathless" made famous by Jerry Lee Lewis from their previous record in 1983 called "More Fun in The New World" comes to mind, but by and large X were invisible to the Classic Rock crowd in 1985. Being the curious sort, I did some digging and found out that X had covered The Doors' "Soul Kitchen" earlier in their career and had it produced by none other than The Door's keyboardist Ray Manzarek. Now that's cool...
My favorite X track has been distilled down to "White Girl" from their second album called "Wild Gift," but it could be any of half a dozen others. I really like this band. X also does a wicked version of The Troggs' "Wild Thing" which you may have connected with the top five baseball movies of all time motion picture Major League. I love that version. Every time Charlie Sheen comes into the game they play it. Tremendous. If The Troggs original version wasn't so perfect this would be the definitive version I swear. I regret never having seen X live and everything you read about them says that is where they really made their collective mark. After "Ain't Love Grand" Billy Zoom left the band, but they weren't done. 1987's "See How We Are" and (after a hiatus) 1993's "Hey Zeus" are quality records as far as I'm concerned. Most folks will stomp their feet and say that early X was the best and they probably have a point, but I always admired this band. The musical experimentation, the Punk roots, and their blues, rockabilly and country mix was way off the beaten path. I liked it. I love a good female vocal in good rock band too. The obvious chemistry between lovers Cervenka and Doe still sounds great. They were a throwback act. They had roots all over the place and it made their music fun. They were very influential, but it's a shame they weren't able to reap more commerical success. It sure seems like they earned it.
The song I'm leaving you with was written by short term X member Dave Alvin who replaced Billy Zoom for the "See How We Are" sessions. His time was short lived, but the appropriately named for the occasion 4th of July was a fine contribution. I hope you like it. Happy Independence Day to everyone. This country still rocks! Please have a safe holiday.
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4 comments:
Thanks for the MP3s post -- I linked to it from twitter & my facebook acct via hypemachine.
first of all -- you can still catch X, they have done 2 tours in the past 2 years with the original lineup. I caught them both.
second, I think you are missing the beauty of the song 4th of July. It's certainly not a "this country still rocks" sentiment. It is in fact a very bittersweet commentary on uneasy alignments with ritual celebrations. about being sad in the midst of joy, about being an outsider going through motions with mixed feelings and loyalties. The line about "mexican kids are shootin' fireworks below" is just so perfect coming from this punk band from L.A. These guys were poets, never hitting you over the head with a hammer, but the blow is devastating.
Hey Gajah - Thank you so much for stopping by and making comment. I'll keep my eyes open for X the next time they come around. I just wanted to say my corny "this country still rocks!" had absolutely nothing to do with the song. I was just making a stupid comment after I was done posting. I apologize that it is probably being miscontrued. I don't want to be one of those people who thinks Bruce Springsteen's Born in The USA is a pro American power chant. I understood the meaning behind the X song though it obviously didn't come across that way...
i was looking for this track, thanks!!! (obviously i have the vynil frome these days, but no time to get the whole big thing -turntable and all that - out of the closet...) and, yes! i do agree: their best song is white girl
John Doe - John Duchac
Exene Cervenka - Christine Cervenkova
Billy Zoom - Ty Kindall
DJ Bonebrake - Donald J Bonebrake (amazingly it is the drummer's real name, which is as awesome as he is).
I got the chance to see them live about years ago and they are tremendous. I love a lot of their songs but agree that White Girl is the best one of all. Thanks for the post.
Jeff
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