I, too, cannot be objective about them. Billy Zoom and DJ Bonebrake are the shit. The fact that John and Exene wrote and sang really interesting stuff over the top is really just icing for me.
Love this band. I grant you that you may have had to be there - not that I was even remotely punk then or ever, but I saw them live over ten times in Arizona between Los Angeles and the Dave Alvin era.
Between X, Blasters, Beat Farmers, Gun Club, Cramps, Rank and File, et al - California South to North had so many great twang infused punk rock bands - what a great era.
Album - More Fun in the New World
Song - White Girl (really obvious choice, but that song is X - could've easily gone for Universal Corner, or a dozen others....)
BCB 100 - X
- automatic_drip
- Posts: 5685
- Joined: 17 Jul 2003, 07:51
-
- Posts: 63925
- Joined: 03 Jun 2004, 20:12
toomanyhatz wrote:Actually, I agree they're not one of the 100 best acts ever. But sentimentally I'm glad they're here. I'm from LA. They were the first "punk rock" act I liked (at the time- I was a teenager & didn't like punk rock- it was due to the Doors connection).
Album - Los Angeles (still the best- and Manzarek's great on it, too!)
Song - White Girl
Except for the LA part, I'm with toomany. They weren't all that accessible at first punk look and got reamed on their first tour of England. They were a combo---Billy Zoom an d Bonebrake's drumming and Doe and Exene's singing and lyrics. They brought something to punk that hadn't been there before.
In a fair world, there would be as many threads about these guys and the DKs as Stiff Little Fingers and Undertones.
Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk!
- bixhenry
- Posts: 1600
- Joined: 20 Jul 2003, 04:59
- Location: Santa Monica, CA
sloopjohnc wrote:toomanyhatz wrote:Actually, I agree they're not one of the 100 best acts ever. But sentimentally I'm glad they're here. I'm from LA. They were the first "punk rock" act I liked (at the time- I was a teenager & didn't like punk rock- it was due to the Doors connection).
Album - Los Angeles (still the best- and Manzarek's great on it, too!)
Song - White Girl
Except for the LA part, I'm with toomany. They weren't all that accessible at first punk look and got reamed on their first tour of England. They were a combo---Billy Zoom an d Bonebrake's drumming and Doe and Exene's singing and lyrics. They brought something to punk that hadn't been there before.
In a fair world, there would be as many threads about these guys and the DKs as Stiff Little Fingers and Undertones.
Like toomanyhatz and davy the fat boy (probably my two best friends in the known universe), X were absolutely ubiquitous to my musical coming-of-age in LA. I can't pretend to be objective about 'em - hatz, davy and I all count D.J. Bonebrake as a friend (and, in my case, a frequent musical colleague), and I played with John Doe in San Francisco a couple of years ago. One can't overestimate X's importance in bringing an earthy intelligence (for lack of a better term) and strongly-rooted songcraft to the often-rootless punk scene at the time.
It remains a travesty that, in terms of LA bands of the '80s, X were virtually ignored overseas while overhyped, derivative mediocrities like The Long Ryders got a Melody Maker cover story and tons of media coverage in Europe. Who did X sound like? Much harder to pin down.
A great band that UK mags like MOJO and UNCUT should reconsider.
Album - Los Angeles
Song - 'The New World'
- toomanyhatz
- Power-mad king of the WCC
- Posts: 29993
- Joined: 07 Apr 2005, 00:01
- Location: Just east of where Charlie Parker went to do some relaxin'
bixhenry wrote:Like toomanyhatz and davy the fat boy (probably my two best friends in the known universe), X were absolutely ubiquitous to my musical coming-of-age in LA. I can't pretend to be objective about 'em - hatz, davy and I all count D.J. Bonebrake as a friend (and, in my case, a frequent musical colleague), and I played with John Doe in San Francisco a couple of years ago. One can't overestimate X's importance in bringing an earthy intelligence (for lack of a better term) and strongly-rooted songcraft to the often-rootless punk scene at the time.
It remains a travesty that, in terms of LA bands of the '80s, X were virtually ignored overseas while overhyped, derivative mediocrities like The Long Ryders got a Melody Maker cover story and tons of media coverage in Europe. Who did X sound like? Much harder to pin down.
A great band that UK mags like MOJO and UNCUT should reconsider.
I don't want to turn this into too much of a mutual back-slapping party, but I just want to say this post is right on the money. I wish I'd said it. Hey, Sid Griffin of the Long Ryders was our friend too for a while, and he's a nice guy. But was his band anywhere near as inventive or interesting as X? No freaking way. How they were so huge in the UK, even for the short time that they were, is beyond me.
Footy wrote:
The Who / Jimi Hendrix Experience Saville Theatre, London Jan '67
. Got Jimi's autograph after the show and went on to see him several times that year
1959 1963 1965 1966 1974 1977 1978 1981 1988 2017* 2018 2020!! 2023?
- Sambient
- Posts: 16613
- Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 14:56
- Location: Nerdvana
Glad to see that others hold Under The Big Black Sun in high esteem.
Hard to pick a song. Maybe to grab something earlier, Beyond and Back.
And ooh ooh! John Doe was at a thing I attended last year. Cool presence, he was pretty much left alone to just hang out. I was close enough to him to see his dandruff.
Hard to pick a song. Maybe to grab something earlier, Beyond and Back.
And ooh ooh! John Doe was at a thing I attended last year. Cool presence, he was pretty much left alone to just hang out. I was close enough to him to see his dandruff.
- Matt Wilson
- Psychedelic Cowpunk
- Posts: 32527
- Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:18
- Location: Edge of a continent
- Snarfyguy
- Dominated by the Obscure
- Posts: 53502
- Joined: 21 Jul 2003, 19:04
- Location: New York
- Matt Wilson
- Psychedelic Cowpunk
- Posts: 32527
- Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:18
- Location: Edge of a continent
- Matt Wilson
- Psychedelic Cowpunk
- Posts: 32527
- Joined: 16 Jul 2003, 20:18
- Location: Edge of a continent
Kid Presentable wrote:Matt Wilson wrote:The Giraffe wrote:Matt Wilson wrote:Great thread, and very predictable as everybody says exactly what you'd think they'd say.
i.e. the americans and jumper k love them, the brits can't really comment because they just don't know them!
Jumper K's an honorary American, you know...
That's odd. He said you were a bunch of cunts
He sure likes a lot of music made by cunts then.
- Nicky Loves Fuzz
- Posts: 45
- Joined: 08 Aug 2006, 10:59