X punk band

X is the name of a noted punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles in the 1977. They're first release the appropriately titled "Los Angeles"(1980), produced by the Doors' keyboard player, Ray Manzarek, was an minor hit, and well received by the underground press. The band's name, singer Exene Cervenka's slightly off-key wail, and songs like "Nausea" and "The World's a Mess, It's In My Kiss" helped to define the L.A. fatalistic style. Even the album's cover, which featured a mysterious flaming X, aided their image by invoking of images of cross-burnings, witch-burnings, riots, etc.

The albums that followed were less dark, though they had the same hard-driving rock and roll sound. The underplayed expertise of the musicians (especially Billy Zoom on guitar and D.J. Bonebrake on drums) allowed X to play an eclectic yet cohesive mix of tunes, from thrash ("We're Desperate") to rockabilly? ("Beyond and Back") to heavy metal ("Universal Corner"), all without losing the punk urgency. After the first two albums on independent Slash Records, X signed to Elektra in 1982 to release "Under The Big Black Sun". 1983 saw the releas of the "More Fun In The New World" album and the feature-length documentary, "The Unheard Music", about the band.

Though X recorded some albums without original guitarist Zoom, the band regrouped in the early 1990s to record and are still playing shows as of 2001. Bassist/singer John Doe moved more toward country music in his solo work, and still plays with the John Doe Thing.

/Talk