X (USA)

According to popular myth, LA punk was the backward cousin of its Anglophile/East Coast counterparts – rich kids in plastic, strapping on some tinsel and cowboy stirrups.

Truth was, most were drop-outs, runaways and disaffected kids from the ‘burbs – most feeling revolted by the intrinsic vulgarity and stifling opulence of Hollywood.

Unlike in NYC, though, the original wave of West Coast punk groups, such as The Germs, The Weirdos and The Dils, found it almost impossible to break out commercially because FM radio out west was saturated with endless Eagles/REO Speedwagon clones.

In many cases, the ‘second wavers’ (such as X) were more successful.

Vocalist Christene ‘Exene’ Cervenka (pictured below left) – a flame-haired version of Siouxsie Sioux  – her songwriting bassist husband John Doe, and guitarist Billy Zoom, all originally hailed from Illinois.

Their debut album Los Angeles (1980) was produced by The Doors‘ keyboard player Ray Manzarek – as were three of their subsequent LPs – and contained instant classics such as Sex and Dying in High Society, The Unheard Music and the album’s title track.

The brilliance of their second album Wild Gift (1981) proved that, unlike so many others, X really could cut it.

Doe and Cervenka sang in unique, tension-filled, off-kilter harmonies that felt simultaneously sweet and biting.

Exene’s vocals and Zoom’s punkabilly fretwork were more prominent on tales of bad sex, racial alienation and the bizarre scenario of Elvis sucking doggie dicks.

This album also included the lolling White Girl alongside the almost rockabilly In This House That I Call Home and the frantic When Our Love Has Passed Out On The Couch.

The band sold 100,000 copies of their first two albums – no mean feat considering both albums were on Slash, an independent LA label spun off a punk fanzine. Elektra Records subsequently inked X to a five-album deal.

1982 saw the release of Under the Big Black Sun on Elektra, showing more of their rockabilly roots and cranking up the Bo Diddley riffs. The album was haunted by the hit-and-run death of Exene’s sister, Mary.

X became the face of the LA scene by starring in Penelope Spheeris’s iconic 1981 punk documentary, The Decline of Western Civilization. They were also the subject of their own feature-length documentary, X: The Unheard Music (1986).

Their high-speed 1984 cover of Wild Thing achieved mainstream fame years later as the unforgettable walkout anthem for Charlie Sheen’s character in the hit sports comedy movie Major League.

Doe and Cervenka’s subsequent divorce signalled a gradual slide into inevitable personnel shake-ups – briefly bringing in guitarists like Dave Alvin (of The Blasters) and Tony Gilkyson – and corresponding forays into less visceral roots-rock.

The original four members ultimately reunited and surprised fans by releasing the acclaimed Alphabetland in 2020. In 2024, they released their final studio album, Smoke & Fiction, alongside a final touring schedule.

While they have officially retired from full-scale road touring, they still step on stage for select, celebratory appearances and special events.

Exene Cervenka (Christene Lee Cervenka)
Vocals
John Doe (John Nommensen Duchac)
Vocals, bass
Billy Zoom (Tyson Kindell)
Guitar
DJ (Donald) Bonebrake
Drums

AUDIO