Pantheon four - the final Titan

Titans so far: Peter Gabriel, Pete Townshend and Neil Young. Who will be the last to join this ultra-exclusive, best-of-the-best, greater-even-than-the-gods list? Brace yourself, 'cause you're not gonna believe it.

X

The biggest problem with X is that not enough people have seen them play - not heard, seen. Not that they aren't a Titan only on hearing, they most certainly are, but it is hard to fully grasp the greatness that is X without seeing them perform. But more on that later. What they almost certainly are for many of you is the greatest band you've never even heard of, much less listened to. So.

The band was formed in L.A. by bassist John Doe and guitarist Billy Zoom in 1977, with drummer DJ Bonebrake and vocalist Exene Cervanka. They signed, and became the standard bearer for the L.A.-based indy label Slash Records, with whom they recorded their first two albums, "Los Angeles" and "Wild Gift". They eventually moved to Elektra where they recorded five more studio albums through 1993. They have had various side projects and minor personnel changes over time, occasional hiatuses, and are currently back together in the original line-up and touring. Those are the nuts and bolts. But that has little or nothing to do with what makes X, well, X.

Some "how cool are they" nuggets: 

- Ray Manzarek, keyboard player for The Doors, produced their first four albums.

- Exene's lyrics, which are not necessarily written as songs, but straight poetry set to music, have been compared to Charles Bukowski and Raymond Chandler. Oh, and she was married to Viggo Mortensen, and if Aragorn ain't cool I don't know who is.

- In the movie School of Rock, the diagram Jack Black uses to detail the history of rock has X on it's very own bridge (it is in the shadow of the pointer in this picture).

- this so-called "punk" band has covered songs by Joe Burke, Merle Haggard and Richard Thompson.

- the version of "Wild Thing" that was featured in the great baseball film Major League is by X.

- they opened for Pearl Jam on their 2011 South and Central American and European tours, a very weird circle of life kind of thing as Gossard and Vedder cite X as a major influence.

- when they needed a guitarist they attracted people like Tony Gilkyson of Lone Justice and Dave Alvin of The Blasters.

- John Doe has a small acting career that includes appearances in Salvador, Boogie Nights and on "Law and Order".

But I am not getting my point across here. Let's go to a small sampling of critical acclaim and general praise: 

- "Wild Gift", their second album, was named Album of the Year by not just Rolling Stone, which you would expect and who put it, along with "Los Angeles", on their list of top 500 albums of all time, but by The NY Times, The LA Times and The Village Voice, which is not your usual collection of critics in agreement. 

- "They had superior song writing skills and vocal harmonies matched only by the Everly Brothers." - Jakob Dylan

- X was "Rolling Stone"'s Band of The Year in 1981.

- "I am defenseless to the beauty of X. Hank Williams would have given them the nod. Patsy Cline would've smiled. As time goes on and contemporary music gracelessly chases its own tail, X's records sound better and better." - Henry Rollins

- Bands that pay homage to X: Los Lobos, No Doubt, The Go-Gos, Soul Asylum, Replacements and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

- The band received an Official Certificate of Recognition from the City of Los Angeles in acknowledgment of its contribution to Los Angeles music and culture.

Okay, so they're very cool, they represented both the heart of the L.A. music scene and new American punk in the late seventies and early eighties, they were critically and popularly successful and they have had a nice long run. But is that really Titan worthy? Maybe not but I have not yet even mentioned their music, and therein lies the true greatness of X.

First of all there is the depth and breadth of their canon. Often called punk, they actually defy genre. To be sure, they very frequently play loud and fast but you can also easily find rockabilly, folk, hard rock, blues and even bluegrass in their songs. From the hard rock stomp of "The Hungry Wolf" to the poignant "Come Back to Me" - on the same album side! - to the folksy "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts" on to the actual punker "The Once Over Twice" they play it all, and they play the hell out of it.

John Doe plays his bass with power and precision, and often like he is playing a six string acoustic guitar, strumming and picking. Zoom prides himself on his speed and clarity, and he can shred with the best of them, or bang out power chords like a heavy metal monster. Exene is the worst singer ever to thank her vocal coach on every album liner, but her passion for her words shines through her voice and, like Dylan or Cohen, transcends whatever pitch or tone it lacks. DJ can hit the skins like very few drummers I've ever encountered. A manic metronome, his drive is matched only by his creativity and his sense of rhythm borders on the savant. No hackers here, they use actual prowess on their instruments to bring powerful structure and great lyrics to life. 

Both John and Exene are gifted poets and while you couldn't always pick out the words they were there to look for and love. "Sex and Dying in High Society", "Riding with Mary", "The New World", "Devil Doll" -  they wrote about anything and everything, but what they wrote about best was the actual lives they encountered and the society in which they lived. I have always thought the best lyricists tell tiny stories, and most X songs are just that, complete with compelling characters and powerful imagery. 

But as I said to start this attempt to explain my love of X, you just have to see them play. I have been lucky enough to see them more times than I can count and can probably not ever adequately describe what they do, but I can at least try to describe the scene. There is Billy standing there in his comic book guitar hero stance - feet firmly planted four feet apart - never even glancing at his guitar no matter how fast his fingers are flying, turning his psycho-charm smile off and on like a light. There is DJ, the "noble savage" of the boy next door looks, banging, no pounding, away on his kit with some fantastic combination of desperate anger and joyful abandon. Picture a little kid hitting his drums harder and faster than seems possible, but with a silly smile on his face. There is Exene, seldom moving but somehow taking up space, leaning into her mike, her voodoo doll looks and passionate wails somehow making her both bad-ass and vulnerable. And there is John, hurtling and howling, thrashing his bass and his band mates, pushing, driving, insisting, and pouring every ounce of himself into every set, every song, every fucking note. Put it all together and you get some kind of electrified physical manifestation of passion hurled on to the stage, barely hanging together in its drive to the edge, but in the end somehow forging a primal connection with the audience, insisting that you abandon yourself to its power and urgency. To be in the audience at an X show is to connect, to surge, to feel. I have seen better concerts - Queen, U2, Peter Gabriel - but I have never liked being in a crowd watching a band more than with X.

So there it is. X is a Titan. Did I really put this relatively obscure L.A. band on a list above such rock gods as The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, etc, etc. Yes, I did.

Next up in the pantheon, the deities and demi-gods.