Los Angeles’ X: The Legacy, Conclusion and Final Release: “Smoke and Fiction”

Refracting Sound returns with an examination of one of SoCal’s best punk bands

X was formed in 1977 in Los Angeles around the nucleus of bassist/vocalist John Doe and guitarist Billy Zoom. Doe’s then-girlfriend, Exene Cervenka, who he met at a poetry workshop, was quickly added on vocals. Drummer DJ Bonebrake, who played with other punk luminaries The Eyes and The Germs, rounded out the quartet. The LA punk scene of the late 1970s drew upon various forms of music and art rather than the strict dedication to power chords of the later incarnations of punk and hardcore. X’s sound was rooted in punk but clearly wore other influences (rockabilly, etc.) proudly on their sleeve. Vocally, John Doe and Exene wove their voices together in a unique way, crisscrossing and, at times, wrestling at odds with each other, only to find common ground and harmonize during choruses. John Doe and Exene married in 1980.

X released back-to-back albums every year starting in 1980 with Los Angeles, Wild Gift (1981), Under the Big Black Sun (1982) and More Fun in the New World (1983). Their first album Los Angeles was and is highly regarded as a punk classic with driving, precision musicianship during songs like “Johnny Hit and Run Pauline”, “Sex and Dying in High Society” and “The World’s a Mess; It’s in My Kiss”. The band steamrolled through nine tracks in less than 30 minutes, half of them augmented by the decidedly non-punk Ray Manzarek from the Doors on organ and synthesizer. Wild Gift built upon and continued in the tradition of Los Angeles, packing thirteen songs in just over 30 minutes. With re-recordings of earlier tracks “Adult Books” and “We’re Desperate”, X quickly solidified themselves as one of the more consistent, dare I say “professional” punk bands in terms of being tight and well-practiced as opposed to sloppy and anarchistic. 

The next pairing of albums, Under the Big Black Sun and More Fun in the New World, showcased X broadly expanding their musical palette, incorporating 50s-styled ballads, country, rockabilly and more while still driving on a punk chassis. While Under the Big Black Sun featured hard-charging tracks like “Riding with Mary”, they revealed other strengths, like the swaying, somber “Come Back to Me”, a song about Exene’s sister who tragically died in a car accident on the way to one of their shows. More Fun in the New World was very much in the mold of Under the Big Black Sun, with punkier tracks like “Make the Music Go Bang” peppered with other sounds.  “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts” is a standout of the album and their career, a fast but toned-down almost bluegrass romp which paid tribute to their punk roots, referencing the Minutemen, DOA and Black Flag and more.

John Doe and Exene divorced in 1984, but decided to maintain their music partnership and keep X together. Frustrated by the lack of radio play the group was getting (outside of college radio/alternative circles), 1985 brought “Ain’t Love Grand”, recorded with a commercial hard rock producer, with disappointing results. The band did score a minor hit with “Burning House of Love”, but mostly the record was unremarkable. Defeated by the band’s inability to break into the mainstream, guitarist Billy Zoom quit soon afterwards. X added a new guitarist, Tony Gilkyson (formerly of LA band Lone Justice), and released See How We Are in 1987. The record continued in a more “roots-rock” direction. Lyrically, the band was more bitter and somber with titles like “I’m Lost” and “Anyone Can Fill your Shoes”. The title track was a standout, a folky examination of the modern world through a bleak lens with revelations like, “There’s too many rats in this cage of a world” and “This bottom rung ain’t no fun at all”. X was fairly quiet until 1993’s “Hey Zeus”, which was birthed to very little fanfare; they appeared to limp along until breaking up in 1997. They reformed in 2004 and have toured quasi-regularly ever since. A surprise great new album, Alphabetland arrived in 2020, a return-to-early-form stripped-down, mostly punk album with 11 tracks, all under the three-minute mark. Released right in the middle of COVID, Alphabetland was a welcome addition to their catalog, reminding fans just how great X was, is and could be.

In 2024, X announced their next album, “Smoke and Fiction” would be their last and the subsequent tour (extending into 2025) would be the final one as well. Smoke and Fiction continues in the tradition of Alphabetland, with a lean ten tracks, sounding one notch less punk this time, more like their earlier material, wearing the full palette of influences. The true star of the album is guitarist Billy Zoom, who consistently delivers his trademark rockabilly-tinged punk riffs on tracks like “Ruby Church”, an aggressive punk stomper augmented by country twangs. “Winding up the Time” is a high octane cut, punctuated with stabbing surf guitar. Zoom also provides an emotive, lilting, weeping solo on “The Way It Is”, a moseying, reflective track. “Big Black X” sums up the album in one song, with Exene’s impressionistic lyrics and John Doe’s spoken word passage in the second half. Lyricists and vocalists John Doe and Exene write with a longitudinal view of X, their place in the punk/music scene and life in general, without devolving into tired nostalgia.

In a recent interview, John Doe and Exene explained that the process of making albums and touring was getting daunting and they couldn’t picture themselves making another album at this point, or at least planning to do so. They did issue a caveat that they might do one-off concerts, songs for charity, etc. With John Doe and Exene both hovering around age 70 and being in X almost fifty years (!), it’s safe to say that they have gone above and beyond in terms of paying their dues. Like most of our music idols, we should be appreciating and supporting them while they’re here, rather than waiting until they pass away, then giving retroactive posthumous praise. We are only here a short time so enjoy it while you can, a sentiment X expressed in Alphabetland’s final track “All The Time in the World”:

“We are dust
It’s true
And to dust we shall return
Me and you
But it was fun while it lasted
All the time in the world
Turns out
Not to be that much”

*Most of X’s discography is available from Fat Possum Records.