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.
Joker
X Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I ain't going back and forth with 'em if he ain't really with it
Stacking all this cash runnin' through it fast cause I'm really with it
Pull up in the coupe and it's real fast, this is not a hemi
Feeling like the joker when I'm in the country cause it's my city
If you really fuck with me then you fuck with me, don't lie to me
Why would you tell me that you fuck with me, you lied to me
If you don't fuck with me don't fuck with me, don't lie to me
This is real cloth you can't stitch mine
Heard these niggas talking, heard these niggas snitching just like 6ix9ine
Gotta pick 6 on these fuck niggas I might score 9
But I'm Toon10x gotta get it, I'm in my zone now
These niggas tripping off of that midget they want a whole pound
Got this bitch going in and out the city, cause she throwed out
She don't really fuck with a young nigga cause I'm grown now
And I don't fuck with her either, she chose the pole route
Smoking on the gas got me cheifin' like the joker now
Yea you know a young nigga in the streets like the joker now
Run around through the city with the pieces like the joker now
Yea we gone take over the city, this the joker route
Oh yeah
The lyrics of X's song "Joker" touch on themes of rebellion, escapism, and the allure of wealth and power. The song describes a group of outsiders - a "sweet junkie girl" and "stealing rude boy" - who are ready to leave the city and pursue their dreams of a more glamorous life. The lyrics suggest that they are not content with the mundane existence that society has prescribed for them - they want to be jokers, swindlers, and kings. They view themselves as underdogs, but they are determined to take on the world and make their mark, even if it means resorting to deception and manipulation.
Throughout the song, there is a sense of urgency and danger. The characters know that they are taking risks and that they could easily fall from grace. The repeated use of the word "Joker" emphasizes this - it suggests that they are playing a game of chance, and that they could very well end up being the ones laughed at. However, the chorus also suggests that the temptation to pursue wealth and power is strong, and that the characters are willing to do whatever it takes - including "making love with money" - to achieve their goals.
Overall, "Joker" is a song about rebellion and escapism, about the desire to break free from society's constraints and pursue one's dreams, even if it means living dangerously.
Line by Line Meaning
Long time ago (no! no!)
Not actually that long ago
Little time ago ガレキを染める蒼い月
Recently, under a blue moonlit sky amidst garbage
Sweet junkie girl and stealing rude boy
A couple consisting of a girl addicted to drugs and a boy who steals
5枚のカード 3つの夢
With 5 cards and 3 dreams
街を出よう地下鉄の馬車に乗り
Let's leave the town and take the subway carriage
レザーのタキシード デニムのドレスで
With a leather tuxedo and denim dress
今夜ネオンまたたく 虚飾のエデン 星を買いに行こう
Tonight, let's go buy some stars in the neon-filled fake paradise
We are the joker to be swindling walkin' boys
We are the jokers who swindle walking boys
踊れギマンの blue broadway
Dance on the blue broadway of expectations
Joker, we're final lucky men
We are jokers, the ultimate lucky men
女神を bed に連れこめ
Take the goddess to bed
Take my luck!
Take my fortune with you
パパパ パッと見は dandy いかにも rich
At first glance, we look like dandies who are rich
飛んで火に入るカモ big money
We are fools who risk everything for big money
Ace of the spade, thirteenth of the king
Ace of spades and the thirteenth king
そんな手じゃ 夢は買えないぜ
You can't buy dreams with that hand
プラチナのキャビア 黄金の motor bike
Platinum caviar and golden motorbikes
手に入れるぜ カードさえあれば
We can get anything if we just have the cards
このチップの山に アダムのリンゴ ソドムの夜に酔え
On this mount of chips, you can enjoy the apple of Eden and the night of Sodom
We are the joker
We are the jokers
We are the king of swindling boys
We are the kings of swindling boys
悦楽列車で confusion
In the train of pleasure, confusion
Joker, take on, take all of money
Joker, take on and take all the money
天使の羽根を引きちぎれ
Tear off the angel's wings
Feel like takin' the world (joker)
Feel like taking over the world
Sing, song with fallin' angel (joker)
Sing a song with a falling angel
Makin' love with money tonight
Making love tonight with money
What a fuck with this?
What the hell is going on?
What? Get a fuck out of my house (my expensive phone)
What? Get the fuck out of my house (and leave my expensive phone behind)
And you still want me
And yet, you still want me
そんなはずないぜ
That's impossible
負けるはずないぜ my god!
I can't lose, my god!
夢ならもっと 見せてて keep on dreaming
If this is a dream, show me more, keep on dreaming
気がつきゃ文無し 元のドンキホーテ rude boy and junkie girl
Before we realized it, we are penniless, Don Quixote again, as a rude boy and junkie girl
Tell me, tell me, tell me why, tell me why, oh please!
Tell me, tell me, tell me why, oh please!
Joker 所詮 ノラ犬
Jokers are just stray dogs
カサノヴァやネロにはなれない
We can't be Casanova or Nero
Joker カードの中の Jokerが俺を笑ってた
The Joker inside the cards was laughing at me
Joker
Joker
Feel like takin' the world (joker)
Feel like taking over the world
Sing song with fallin' angel (joker)
Sing a song with a falling angel
Makin' love with money tonight
Making love tonight with money
Who the hell can believe you
Who the hell can believe you?
I don't take it anymore
I can't take it anymore
Joker's joker, loser's loser
The Joker's joker, the loser's loser
money
Money
Lyrics © DistroKid
Written by: Desmond Bankston
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
闇猫彡
懐かしい
この曲はたしかJealousyってアルバムの曲で
自分が１８歳で免許取った時にアルバム買って
カーステで聴いてたアルバムで
とりわけこの曲が大好きで
どこに行くにもリピート再生で
いつも聴いてたから今でも思い出の強い曲
今聴いてもいつ聴いても最高
CELEBRATIONも一つ前のアルバムの曲だけど
HIDEの楽曲で大好きだった
愛里
2:18〜HIDEちゃんかっこ良すぎる
最後に恥ずかしそうに笑うのも可愛い
桜ノ宮京橋
Jealousyに収録されたとはいえ
HIDEさんが作った曲はかっこいい
タッ坊だよ
一番好きな曲だぁ〜☺️
わいるどはーちゃん
Xだけど、hideの軽快で疾走感のある、みんなノリノリになれる曲調！
メンバーも楽しんでる感満載ですな！
Jeffery Franklin
This is what it looks like when it's done right ❣️ I love this band 😍 And to the one person who didn't like this video, you have no soul!!
中山美智子
メンバー全員凄すぎる元気が出ます。パワー送って💥
D5
この曲を聞いてるとXの中でヒデがいかに重要な存在だったか良くわかる。
Shig n
Xがよりメジャーになるために必要な要素にhideのpopなセンスがあったと感じさせてくれる名曲。そして、白い夜ここにいた。
Tim Fields
reo rio, I can't believe I didn't find your channel sooner. Thank you for the wonderful videos and music. For years I have said, If time travel was possible and I could go back to one event in history, It would be an X Japan concert. Thank you again, Tim ( from Florida)..... あなたのチャンネルをもっと早く見つけられなかったなんて信じられません。いつも素敵な動画と音楽をありがとうございます。何年も言い続けてきた「もしタイムトラベルが可能で、歴史の中で1つのイベントに戻ることができるなら、それはX JAPANのコンサートだろう.ありがとう、ティム（フロリダ出身）
Punk de Pon
個人的にこの時のJOKERが一番微笑ましいJOKER
とにかくみんな楽しそう