1: X (America)
X w… Read Full Bio ↴There are at least 8 artists called "X".
1: X (America)
X were far from the first punk rock band in Los Angeles, and they weren't the first to achieve some level of nationwide recognition, but in a very real way, they were the ones who put the L.A. punk scene on the map. X were the first L.A. punk band to be taken seriously by the rock press on both coasts, and at a time when many wondered how punk could thrive in the land of all that was mellow, X played music that was as raw, passionate, and powerful as anything coming out of New York, London, or any other major city. X's melding of punk's speed and ferocity with the sounds of rockabilly, blues, country, and other roots music styles would prove to be wildly influential in the years that followed, as were the off-kilter harmonies of John Doe and Exene Cervenka. And while they never enjoyed the commercial breakthrough that many believed was their due, X were massively popular in their home town and could successfully headline large outdoor venues like the Greek Theater, proving there was an audience for punk in the City of the Angels. Their first two independently released albums -- 1980's Los Angeles and 1981's Wild Gift -- were critical favorites and sold remarkably well by small-label standards, helping establish Slash Records as a major independent label as well as defining the group's unique approach. The band moved up to a major label, Elektra Records, with their unique sound and integrity intact on 1982's superb Under the Big Black Sun. After Zoom left the band, they soldiered on with new guitarist Tony Gilkyson on 1987's underrated See How We Are, but most of their fans remained loyal to the original lineup, and they remained a popular live attraction after reuniting with Zoom in 1998. Those fans would have to wait until 2020 for a new studio album from X, when Alphabetland was released to immediate and widespread acclaim.
X was formed by bassist, vocalist, and songwriter John Doe (born John Nommensen Duchac), who moved to Los Angeles in 1976. Born and raised in Baltimore, where he'd played in a number of forgotten bar bands, Doe had discovered punk rock after hearing Patti Smith's Horses and was eager to form a band in his new home town. Through a newspaper ad, Doe met Billy Zoom (born Ty Kindell), a gifted guitarist originally from Savannah, Illinois who had been playing rockabilly, blues, and R&B in L.A. for years, and had backed Gene Vincent during the rockabilly icon's last shows. Like Doe, Zoom had discovered the Ramones and wanted to play music that was fast, loud, and honest, and they began jamming together. Shortly before meeting Zoom, Doe had met Exene Cervenka (aka Christine Cervenkova) who, like Doe, had recently arrived in Los Angeles (in her case from Tampa, Florida) and was interested in poetry. Doe and Cervenka were attending the same poetry workshop, and bonded over their shared tastes in literature. Doe and Cervenka started dating, and when he read one of her pieces and thought it had the makings of a good song, he asked her permission to sing it in the band he was forming with Zoom. Cervenka said she'd prefer to sing it herself, and before long, she was rehearsing with Doe and Zoom, with her enthusiasm compensating for her lack of musical experience. Naming themselves X, the new band went through a handful of drummers after making their debut at a house party in 1977; their original drummer was a guy named Mick Basher, and reportedly, K.K. Barrett of the Screamers and Nicky Beat of the Weirdos sat in with them on occasion, but when Doe saw the Eyes performing at The Masque, L.A.'s first punk club, he saw their drummer was just what he and Zoom had been looking for: someone whose style was smart but simple, and who hit a big snare drum really hard. That drummer was D.J. Bonebrake, and he played his first gig with X in February 1978.
It didn't take long for X to make a name for themselves on the L.A. punk scene, and later the same year, the group recorded their first single, "Adult Books" b/w "We're Desperate," released by the seminal West Coast punk label Dangerhouse Records. The single sold well, and X's song "Los Angeles" appeared on the label's sampler LP Yes L.A., but the band was unhappy with Dangerhouse's business practices, and opted to record their first full-length album for Slash Records, an offshoot of the key L.A. punk 'zine. X had also won a valuable ally in Ray Manzarek, former keyboard player with the Doors; Manzarek was impressed with X's bold music and literate songs, as well as their open admiration of his former group (they had taken to covering "Soul Kitchen" on-stage). Manzarek played keys at a few X gigs and offered to produce their first album. Recorded on a slim budget of $10,000, Los Angeles was released in April 1980, and immediately received rave reviews from punk fanzines and the big-league music press; it was an immediate success in the band's home town, and as word spread nationwide, the album sold over 50,000 copies, an impressive sum for an independent punk album. Along with steady touring, fans outside of California were seeing X thanks to the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization, which focused on the L.A. punk community and gave the group a healthy amount of admiring screen time. 1980 also marked the year Doe and Cervenka became man and wife, with their relationship informing the lyrics to many of their songs.
X's second album, Wild Gift, appeared in May 1981, a few months after the release of their single "White Girl." Also produced by Ray Manzarek, the critical reception for Wild Gift was just as enthusiastic as it was for Los Angeles; sales also matched those of the debut, and before long, X were not just L.A.'s most popular punk band, but one of the town's biggest bands period, and became the first unsigned rock band to headline L.A.'s Greek Theater. Major labels finally came calling, and X signed a deal with Elektra Records, which released Under the Big Black Sun in July 1982. Manzarek once again produced, and while the bigger recording budget resulted in a fuller sound, the group's approach was essentially the same, and while critics and fans were once again impressed with X's passionate music and street-level lyrics, radio still wasn't ready for them, and the album failed to sell significantly better than Los Angeles or Wild Gift, despite plenty of touring and occasional television appearances. The same fate befell 1983's More Fun in the New World, as the band continued to sit at the top of the heap in L.A. without making significant headway elsewhere.
In 1984, Doe, Cervenka, and Bonebrake released an album by their acoustic side project the Knitters, while X recorded a bombastic cover of the Troggs' "Wild Thing" which appeared on the soundtrack of the film Major League. The "Wild Thing" single was produced by Michael Wagener, who had worked with heavy metal bands such as Mötley Crüe and Dokken; Wagener returned to produce X's next album, 1984's Ain't Love Grand, and while one tune from the album, "Burning House of Love," earned steady MTV airplay, the album's more polished sound didn't favor the band, and both critics and fans were disappointed while radio programmers and mainstream audiences paid little attention. Disappointed with the band's failure to break through to a mass audience, Billy Zoom left X in 1985, and the divorce of Doe and Cervenka, who had wed in 1980, didn't help relations in the group. Dave Alvin, guitarist with the Blasters and a collaborator in the Knitters, was recruited to join the band, and while he was an ideal fit for X, by the time they completed the recording of 1987's See How We Are, he was offered a record deal as a solo act and opted to leave. Tony Gilkyson, formerly with Lone Justice, took part in the recording of See How We Are and became X's lead guitarist after the album was released. While the album was a strong piece of work, sales were disappointing, and after releasing Live at the Whisky A Go-Go in 1988, X quietly broke up.
After the band's breakup, Doe launched a solo career with the album Meet John Doe in 1990, and also pursued a career as an actor, appearing in a number of notable film and television projects. Exene Cervenka released her first solo LP, Old Wives' Tales, in 1989, and recorded both acoustic and rock music as a solo artist and with the bands the Original Sinners and Auntie Christ; Cervenka also wrote and published poetry, created visual art, and acted in the film Salvation, where she met actor Viggo Mortensen, whom she married in 1987 and divorced in 1997. Billy Zoom stayed out of the public eye, primarily working in his own shop fixing and modifying guitar amplifiers, while D.J. Bonebrake stayed busy working with a wide variety of musicians and playing with a pair of jazz combos, the Bonebrake Syncopators and Orchestra Superstring. In 1993, after the success of Nirvana's Nevermind had opened up radio to more adventurous sounds, X reunited with Tony Gilkyson on guitar and recorded the album Hey Zeus! Reaction to the album was polite but not enthusiastic, and after the release of 1995's Unclogged, a live album drawn from a series of acoustic shows, the group once again retired.
In 1998, to the surprise of many, the classic X lineup of Doe, Cervenka, Zoom, and Bonebrake reunited for a handful of shows in Los Angeles. The reunion shows were rapturously received by both fans and critics, and the band has staged periodic reunion tours ever since. A late-2004 stand at the Los Angeles House of Blues resulted in the live CD and DVD Live in Los Angeles, and X continue to perform despite Cervenka's announcement in 2009 that she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
In January 2019, X announced that the original lineup had gone into the recording studio for the first time since they cut 1985's Ain't Love Grand. The band recorded five songs with producer Rob Schnapf, and the following October, the first track was released online. "Delta 88 Nightmare" was a new version of a song X had performed and demo'ed in the '80s but had never recorded in its final form. The song was also made available on a 7" vinyl single in November 2019, with "Cyrano de Berger’s Back," a tune Doe had written and recorded with the Flesh Eaters, appearing on the flipside. The group returned to the studio to cut more songs, including a handful of new compositions, and in April 2020, after X were forced to cancel touring plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they offered their fans a consolation prize in the form of Alphabetland, a ten-song album that recaptured the sound and spirit of their celebrated early recordings.
Biography by Mark Deming
There are other artists with the same name:
2: X (Australia)
The Australian band called X, formed in 1977 by Rose Tattoo bassist Ian Rilen and Steve Lucas. They initially called themselves Evil Rumours. Their debut LP Aspirations (recorded by the equally great Lobby Loyde) is a punk classic (and was later reissued in the US by the revered Amphetamine Reptile label). Search for it you will be glad you did. A couple of members passed away early in their career. Cathy Green became a permanent fixture on drums. They were being groomed for bigger things and their LP ...And More was to get a big push from the label (White) but there was "an incident" involving the label and although the album was released it was no longer a priority. Probably because of this the band has long periods of inactivity, but continue to play nearly 30 years later including May / June 2009 with legendary San Francisco punks Flipper. They have released many albums and have a great reputation for their live-shows! Sadly Ian Rilen passed away in late 2006 from cancer, but Kim Volkman has stepped up to the plate. Their 2nd LP At Home With You has been reissued on Aztec Music with a bonus live album. Their music has been covered by the New Bomb Turks and feedtime amongst others. The classic debut Aspirations has just been reissued by Aztec Music.
3: X (Japan)
Metal band from Japan, founded in 1982, X changed their name to X JAPAN in 1992-08, when HEATH joined the band. Releases until Jealousy / Say anything belong to X. Later releases belong to X JAPAN.
4. Czech punk band formed in 2003.
5. Bulgarian metal band
6. An alias of Australian DJ Deepforces
7. An alias of Terekke
8. X is Javon Johnson, an American hip-hop lyricist from Houston, TX.
I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts
X Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We'll never meet
Walking down the road
Everybody yelling, "hurry up, hurry up"
But I'm waiting for you
I must go slow
I must not think bad thoughts
What is this world coming to?
But both sides murder
I give up
Why can't they?
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
The civil wars
And the uncivilized wars
Conflagrations leap out of every poor furnace
The food cooks poorly
And everyone goes hungry
From then on, it's dog eat dog
Dog eat body and body eat dog
I can't go down there
I can't understand it
I'm a no-good coward
An American, too
(A North American, that is)
And I must not think bad thoughts (not a South or a Central)
And I must not think bad thoughts (or a Native American)
And I must not think bad thoughts
Oh, I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
I'm guilty of murder
Of innocent men
Innocent women, innocent children
Thousands of 'em
My planes, my guns
My money, my soldiers
My blood on my hands
It's all my fault
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
The facts we hate
You'll never hear us
"I hear the radio is finally gonna play new music
You know, the British invasion"
But what about the Minutemen
Flesh Eaters, DOA
Big Boys and the Black Flag?
Will the last American band to get played on the radio
Please bring the flag?
Please bring the flag
Glitter disco synthesizer night school
All this noble savage drum, drum, drum
Astronauts go back in time to hang out with the cave people
It's about time
It's about space
It's about some people in the strangest places
Woody Guthrie sang about
B-E-E-T-S, not B-E-A-T-S
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
The facts we hate
We'll never meet
Walking down the road
Everybody yelling, "hurry up, hurry up, hurry up"
But I'm waiting for you
I must go slow
I must not think bad thoughts
What is this world coming to?
Both sides are right
But both sides murder
I give up
Why can't they?
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
I must not think bad thoughts
In "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts," X's frontman John Doe addresses the conflicting emotions and thoughts he has about the state of the world. The song begins with an observation about how everyone is in a hurry, but Doe is waiting for someone he cares about. It seems like a simple statement, but it lays the foundation for what's to come. The idea of taking one's time in a fast-paced world is crucial to understanding the song's message.
Doe then dives into the ways in which the world is tearing itself apart. There are "civilized wars" and "uncivilized wars," both of which result in death and destruction. However, the most profound lyric of this section is "Both sides are right, but both sides murder." It highlights the fact that no one in these conflicts is inherently evil, and that everyone believes they are right. It's a sobering realization that underscores the song's theme of despair.
As the song progresses, Doe takes responsibility for his part in the world's problems. He recognizes that he is guilty of the murder of innocent people, and that his country's actions have only made things worse. However, he also acknowledges that he doesn't understand the complexities of the situation, and that he is powerless to change it. The song ends on a note of resignation, as Doe repeats the phrase "I must not think bad thoughts" as a way of coping with the overwhelming negativity in the world.
Overall, "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts" is a bleak commentary on the human condition that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt despair at the state of the world. It's a reminder that even when things seem hopeless, we must do our best to stay positive and strive for change.
Line by Line Meaning
The facts we hate
We may not like or agree with certain facts in this world
We'll never meet
Some things or people will always remain out of reach and unattainable in life
Walking down the road
Traveling through life
Everybody yelling, "hurry up, hurry up"
The pressures and expectations of society to conform and succeed
But I'm waiting for you
Despite the chaos and rush of life, we are waiting for someone or something that really matters to us
I must go slow
Sometimes we need to slow down and take our time in life to truly appreciate and understand what's going on around us
I must not think bad thoughts
We need to be careful and mindful of our thoughts and actions, and avoid letting negative feelings consume us
What is this world coming to?
Expressing concern and confusion about the state of the world
Both sides are right
Sometimes there are multiple perspectives to a problem and both can be valid
But both sides murder
Conflict and disagreement can escalate to violence and harm
I give up
Feeling helpless and defeated in trying to find solutions to the world's problems
Why can't they?
Questioning why people can't work together to resolve issues peacefully and respectfully
The civil wars
Reference to political and ideological conflicts that tear societies apart
And the uncivilized wars
Highlighting the brutality and horror of war
Conflagrations leap out of every poor furnace
Wars can start from the smallest sources and quickly grow out of control
The food cooks poorly
Issues such as poverty and food insecurity are persistent problems
And everyone goes hungry
Suffering and deprivation are widespread in our world
From then on, it's dog eat dog
Life becomes a brutal competition where people must fend for themselves and fight to survive
Dog eat body and body eat dog
The cycle of violence and cruelty perpetuates itself
I can't understand it
The chaos and pain in the world is hard to comprehend and accept
I'm a no-good coward
Feeling like one is unable to make a meaningful difference in the world
An American, too
Identity as an American and the associated privileges and responsibilities
And I must not think bad thoughts (not a South or a Central)
Trying not to think negatively or prejudiced about people from other regions
And I must not think bad thoughts (or a Native American)
Trying not to stereotype or discriminate against indigenous peoples
Oh, I must not think bad thoughts
Repeating the mantra of avoiding negative thoughts
I'm guilty of murder
Acknowledging the harm and violence that one's country or self has caused in the world
Of innocent men
Realizing that many of the victims of war and violence are not guilty of anything
Innocent women, innocent children
War and violence hurt the most vulnerable and innocent in society
Thousands of 'em
The scale of death and destruction is immense
My planes, my guns
Acknowledging the role of military and weaponry in causing harm
My money, my soldiers
Acknowledging one's complicity in funding and supporting destructive institutions and actions
My blood on my hands
Feeling the weight of one's actions on one's conscience
The facts we hate
Repeating the theme of acknowledging and grappling with unpleasant truths in the world
You'll never hear us
The mainstream media and entertainment industry often ignores or marginalizes important voices and artists
"I hear the radio is finally gonna play new music
The music industry is always churning and evolving in new directions
You know, the British invasion"
Referencing a seminal moment in the history of rock music
But what about the Minutemen
Questioning why other important and influential bands are not being recognized or celebrated
Flesh Eaters, DOA
Listing several other influential punk bands
Big Boys and the Black Flag?
Listing several other important punk bands
Will the last American band to get played on the radio
Bemoaning the lack of representation for American punk music
Please bring the flag?
Asking for more recognition and appreciation for a specific genre of music
Glitter disco synthesizer night school
Mocking the superficiality and commercialization of some popular music genres
All this noble savage drum, drum, drum
Referencing the fetishization and romanticization of indigenous cultures in music and popular culture
Astronauts go back in time to hang out with the cave people
Referencing sci-fi and fantasy tropes
It's about time
Pun about time travel and the need to address social and political issues
It's about space
Pun about space travel and the need to think more broadly about the world around us
It's about some people in the strangest places
Acknowledging that people from all walks of life have important stories and perspectives to share
Woody Guthrie sang about
Referencing the importance of political activism and protest music
B-E-E-T-S, not B-E-A-T-S
Playful reminder to focus on important issues and not just music trends
What is this world coming to?
Repeating the theme of confusion and concern about the state of the world
Both sides are right
Repeating the theme of conflict and disagreement with complex origins and multiple perspectives
But both sides murder
Repeating the theme of violence and harm in the midst of conflict
I give up
Repeating the theme of exhaustion and despair in trying to find solutions to the world's problems
Why can't they?
Repeating the theme of frustration and hopelessness in dealing with social and political issues
I must not think bad thoughts
Repeating the mantra of avoiding negative and harmful thoughts in the midst of a challenging world
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Peermusic Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Written by: Excene Cervenka, John Doe
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@ryanmurdock6017
North American, that is…
Not South…
Not Central…
Not Native…
Brilliant
@crankshaftstonegrin
I didn't expect this. I didn't expect x to dig the thoughts out of my head.
@janetwebster5099
So relevant - as long as America exists this song will resonate
@pauljacobson2207
Timeless.... thinking about this thought during the latest Israeli-Palestinian War
@janetwebster5099
Yeah, especially the lines : murder of innocent men, innocent women , innocent children - thousands of em - my planes,my guns, my soldiers, my money - its my blood on my hands - it's all my fault!"
@redxross
This is the most intelligent thing they released. That's not meant to be a diss... I admired this group so much, there are Xs incorporated into more than one of my tattoos. But this thinking is not typical for them. I can vibe with this track as well as admire it.
@FlyByNick
We always sang it as 'I Must not take Bad Drugs' back in the day.
@user-ho5he5kz4v
This is this is the most amazingest piece of work asylum records
@justincase4812
Seminal song, with so many relevant meanings. Thank you for keeping commenting open!
@gailolson7599
Still relevant. God bless X the band.