X

My unconditional love for X is well documented. I've probably seem them at least a dozen times over the years.

OK, I don't really hate them, they have a couple of classic songs. It's more their attitude and their place in the Hilburnesque LA Rock Pantheon. They're my #1 "I Just Don't Get It" band.

A lot of their songs really bounce and roll along quite nicely. Great hooks for a band that fell outside the circle of commerical success.

Have to say, I agree with Arthur on that.....I hate that shit too.

Still, Billy Zoom is one damn cool motherfucker.

;^p

Ugh...I sure didn't remember Ain't Love Grand being quite this "1985," if you know what I mean. Weird that "Love Shack" is a completely different song than the one The B-52's recorded 4 years later, but still sounds like a B-52's song.

It's recorded two years later than Ain't Love Grand, but, wow, "4th of July" is such a great song (it graced a "Sopranos" episode a couple of years ago too).

The demo version of 4th Of July from the 2cd Beyond and Back comp is even better. A little less slick and eighties-afied.

Ha! I was listening to "Los Angeles" the other day and was struck by how much it reminded me of the B-52s. Not sure if that's a good thing...

Still, I enjoy X in small doses, but have never loved them. I'd like to see what they are like in concert because I've heard nothing but good things. Maybe another reunion tour will happen.

When the fuck is ATP gonna invite them to do Los Angeles in its entirety, as I've been dreaming about for some reason

the B-52s were a big obnoxious convertible jalopy tootin down a dirty back road, and x were some kind of erratic used datsun swerving dangerously, going slow in the fast lane and fast in the slow

Exene's new solo material is great!

For some reason I always assumed I wouldn't like this band. Turns out I was wrong.

what album are you listening to?

They should have had a better career than they did. But Wild Gift is an alltime great record.

I wish they stayed together and did more roots rock like 4th of July.

"More Fun in the New World" right now, also recently dl'ed "Los Angeles." I guess I had kind of mixed them up in my head with the Cramps and so thought they were kitschier/jokier and more rockabilly than they actually are.

The movie "X: The Unheard Music" is great at capturing both the band and the early-mid 80s world that produced them. I knew Zoom had played with Gene Vincent, but I didn't know Bonebreak could tap out Lionel Hampton riffs on the vibes.

I watched this recently and enjoyed it a lot, although I wish there were more extensive live clips.

I like how committed they were (are?) to their personal brands - they were truly living the rockabilly life.

One thing I was wondering about when watching this: was the character of Izzy from the Love & Rockets comics inspired by Exene? Definitely some very strong resemblances both in looks and personality.

I'm in love with Exene's new record.

:-/:

Exene Cervenka, the high priestess of the Southern California punk and alternative music scene for three decades, has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the singer for X and the Knitters revealed in a statement issued today.

Cervenka said she underwent tests “after some months of not feeling 100% healthy” and was told she had the inflammatory disease of the central nervous system.

“Although this is obviously unfortunate news,” Cervenka’s statement said, “I am choosing to see the positive in it. I, and X as a band, have supported the Sweet Relief charity since the mid-1990’s; the irony of this is not lost on any of us. Sweet Relief was started as an aide to uninsured artists by musician Victoria Williams when she herself was diagnosed with MS in 1992.”

“While this diagnosis will most certainly mean some changes for me, personally, it will not affect my commitments to the current X U.S. tour, nor will it affect my solo album that is slated for release this fall,” she said.

People with MS can lose control of functions that pass through the brain or spinal cord, but how it affects each person varies widely.

“My focus will certainly be on maintaining my health,” Cervenka, 53, said. “Many people remain strong and continue to live their lives as productively as they had before an MS diagnosis, and I plan to be one of those people.”

In April at the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, where she sang with the Knitters, Cervenka said backstage that she had been trying to reduce her travel time and time away from her home in Missouri by concentrating performances in short bursts. The Stagecoach set came on the same weekend of a duo performance she gave at the Getty Center in Malibu with her longtime partner in X and the Knitters, John Doe.

“I fly out, do a few shows, see everybody I want to see,” she said, “and then I go home again.”

goddamn I love this band. I know this isn't saying anything new but John Doe + Exene is like my favorite vocal harmony combo

I spent a whole summer listening to Wild Gift, wishing I had the sort of relationship that would have inspired these songs.

X!!!! Whatta band! One of the best live acts I ever saw, especially w/ Billy Zoom. The first three records were flawless, and they were all very good. Yeah - tons o' love.

Recently watched The Decline of Western Civilization for the first time: I had dug this band before (esp. "We're Desperate" and "Adult Books") but now I can't seem to get enough of them. Definitely one of the greatest bands of all time.

Def go an watch The Unheard Music. It's a doc on X and no one else. VERY GOOD!

Definitely one of the greatest bands of all time.

co-sign

man I was just thinkin about this band and I start seeing what they're up to an I guess Exene had to cancel a tour 'cause her MS got brutal on her. Feel so bad about the Knoxville show, what could be more terrifying than to have your body just quit on you onstage.

A Message from Exene - 4/8/11

as you probably know by now, i was diagnosed with ms. i have been doing relatively well. i thought i could handle sxsw in austin, and a short solo tour. however, i got sick in austin during sx, it is a hard event even under the best of circumstances. it didn't seem that hot to me, but heat is very bad for those of us with ms. i started feeling bad almost as soon as i started playing on wednesday and by sunday night, i had a terrible headache and couldn't get out of bed. i didn't feel any better by wednesday so i called my neurologist and got a prescription for steroids. i started to improve a little and thought i'd be okay to start my southwest southeast tour on the following friday. in retrospect, i should have called off the tour then and there. but i didn't want to cancel. kevin seconds, who was on the tour with me, met me in austin, and we played our first show. but i wasn't getting better.in knoxville tn, a week later, i was fatigued and having a hard time functioning. when i took the stage that night, i was surprised to discover that my right hand and arm were not responding to my commands, and i couldn't play guitar. i apologized to the audience, talked alot, and sang acapella. because i had driven ten hours from new orleans, i hoped it was just fatigue from gripping the steering wheel so long. but i knew the tour was over. the next morning, after i called my booking agent and gave her the news, i sat down with kevin seconds and explained to him that i was too sick to continue, and would only be going as far as memphis. i apologized. my friend flew into memphis and drove me home, where i am now. i wouldn't have made it as far as i did without the help of my friends and the kindness of fans strangers along the way. i am not an invincible road warrior anymore. the easiest part of touring is the hour on stage. the driving and staying with friends and finding hotels and advancing the shows and hauling around merch and guitars is the hard part. i've never cancelled a tour before but it is more important for me to regain my health than continue. i never know when my ms will strike, and this was certainly bad timing for an attack. my apologies to the clubs, the fans, my label, and mr. seconds for this unfortunate event. ~Exene~

I had heard about some health problems but man oh man that's awful news. Crossed fingers and best wishes.

^^^This. Been really obsessing over the X lately. Spending pretty pennies on the now OOP Elektra remasters.

Dig the dude crushing on Exene in this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwSuUV4kM8Q

Anyone else been catching them on this "play 'Los Angeles'" tour?? Saw 'em on Wednesday, and it was godlike. True childhood heroes of mine, onstage right in front of me, totally ripping it up. Exene looked and sounded great -- I know abt the health issues, and I truly hope she wasn't just hiding any pain in the interest of the performance, but she really did look ok. What a band

Wished I saw the local gig but had a conflict. Sounds great

I've seen them a couple times since their reunited in ... '96? '98? And they've always killed it. What a tight band.

"X"-tra "X"-tra: i'm listening to x for the first time right now. these guys rule.

you bet! what album?

los angeles. goin reverse chrono on the spotify

lol budo

The rockism in that song though. Even back then it made me wince.

Yep

can you explain what you mean?

"glitter disco synthesizer night school
all this noble savage drum drum drum"

would be my guess, also "b-e-e-t-s not b-e-a-t-s"

(I love this song, to be clear, Exene went on a rant about rock star "whores of Babylon" when I saw them do this live a few years back)

those are definitely lyrics from the song. to me they don't seem to be saying "rock is the best kind of music"

my take is that it's more about the simmering resentment they have re: the new Brit bands, it's low key but def there

my take is that it's more about the simmering resentment they have re: the new Brit bands, it's low key but def there

"Will the last American band to get played on the radio please bring the flag" — yeah, pretty low key, easy to overlook...

There's certainly a thread of complaint though the career of X (and to some extent the Ramones) of "why aren't we one of the biggest bands?" I do recall the press push working the "discovered by Ray Manzarek, they are the new Doors" angle hard. That message got to me, even as a kid who just listened to AOR at that point, not really interested any anything outside of Beatles/Who/AC-DC/Cars etc. But to my kid ears, they were impossibly uncanny looking on TV - not skinny tie cool, not rough and tumble hard rock, and not young for a new band! Billy Zoom shoulda hid behind sunglasses like Ocasek. And they did not sound like The Doors at all. I could sense the were talking about older person things, so wordy. "Lunatic Fringe": now there's a haircut you can set your watch to. I resented stuff like X even being pushed on me. I was still trying to distinguish Billy Squire from Led Zeppelin.

Of course, I loved 'em after I got into punk. But even that took a little while. I've long thought that in their peak era, the problem was that they read as too old for the young and too new for the old.

And too punk for the rockers and not punk enough for the punks.

And right after they gripe about synthesizers, their next album leads with a single - "Burning House of Love" - that has conspicuous synthesizer on it. (It probably would've been better without.) This move did get them on AOR radio for a minute, though still no big hit. The Ramones did the same thing just before on their Too Tough to Die album - also no hit. I was rooting for both those bands, but I agree both of them projected a certain chippiness.

where did they gripe about synthesizers??

I just quoted it! That line is absolutely intended in a disparaging way

idk i think that's a stiflingly narrow reading of that passage

literally two lines after complaining that there are no American bands on the radio, but ok

and "night school" is not a compliment

bodu jeru – how do you read it?

i wouldn't say i have a reading necessarily. i'm not really a lyrics person, but i do bristle when people make bold proclamations about what lyrics must mean. in this instance, it just seems plausible to me that they're being ironic, or that the narrator is a character or a semi-real avatar of the band and they are venting their "bad thoughts," you know? i just wouldn't take it as a given that the official band line is that synthesizer music is somehow not as important or real as punk rock

(I saw what you xxxxpost did budo, just didn't want to laugh---friends warehouse their pain.)

haha, yes. and now look what i've gotten myself into

I mean it could be “in character” (there’s a pretty famous example of the same band doing that, but the distancing is made somewhat clear in that case), but then it’s the character’s rockism making folks wince…

one of many possible readings, but yeah -- i guess at the end of the day, if that's what you and others here, i won't argue about it.

hear*

Possible hot take: I was let down when I heard the studio version of "Nausea" the first time because I was introduced to the track through Decline of Western Civilization and that live crunch - but more importantly, the lack of Ray Manzarek's insufferable key bleats - was way more potent to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2xehSjrzVs