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.
VANISHING LOVE
X Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
壁に飛び散る sprinter of glass
(shed blood)
顧みる過去にむしばまれ 血を流す
I come to my sense (at last)
嘲り笑う Out sider (smush up)
全て砕け散る 快感に目を醒ます
記憶に焼きつくおまえの姿
I don't want vanishing love
Break out of (my mold)
鏡に映る false face (break up)
見失いかけた欲望を 曝け出すとき
Make a past (at girl)
幻覚に視た a real knock out
(rape you)
気違いじみた 快楽に明けくれろ
絡みつくおまえの幻影
忘れられない苦しみ
血迷う心のかけらは
影も形もない夢を
今も追い続けてる
作られた狂気装い
"I can't stand"
(How I try to decive myself)
"Waiting for you"
(If the tears turn
into the blood)
"Can't get away"
How I try to decive myself
"Portrait of you"
No matter what you say
I can't lose track of you
I missed
Injury deep inside my heart
still remain
Cut up my heart (that) you live
In my illusion you go away.
I stand rooted to the spot
Injury deep inside my heart
still remain
Cut up my heart (that) you live
In my illusion you go away.
I stand rooted to the spot
絡みつくおまえの幻影
忘れられない苦しみ
血迷う心のかけらは
影も形もない夢を
今も追い続けてる
作られた狂気装い
Injury deep inside my heart
still remain
Cut up my heart (that) you live
In my illusion you go away.
I stand rooted to the spot
Injury deep inside my heart
still remain
Cut up my heart (that) you live
In my illusion you go away.
I stand rooted to the spot
(lough at me)
Being at my wit's end
(lough at me)
Even if it's a forced smile
(lough at me)
Being at my wit's end
The lyrics of X JAPAN's song "VANISHING LOVE" depict a story of heartbreak, pain, and obsession. The first stanza describes the singer's frustration and anger towards his past self, shedding blood and fighting against his own limitations. He comes to his senses and realizes that he has nothing left to lose as all his past efforts have been shattered. The second stanza talks about the singer's obsession with his lover, whom he has possibly raped, finding pleasure in madness and losing his grip on reality. He tries to forget the pain and the past, but the memories of his lover, now only a phantom, continue to haunt him.
The third and final stanza repeats the themes of obsession and pain. The singer is still stuck in the illusion of his lover and cannot move on, despite the deep injury in his heart. He stands rooted to the spot, unable to let go of his past. The repetition of the phrase "being at my wit's end, laugh at me" showcases the singer's desperation and hopelessness.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm bored to death (Go mad)
I am extremely bored and it is making me go insane.
壁に飛び散る sprinter of glass
(shed blood)
The glass shatters against the wall and cuts me, causing blood to spill.
顧みる過去にむしばまれ 血を流す
I come to my sense (at last)
As I reflect on my past, I am filled with regret and it hurts me so much that I start to bleed. Finally, I come back to reality and realize the truth.
嘲り笑う Out sider (smush up)
全て砕け散る 快感に目を醒ます
As an outsider, I am laughed at and mocked. Everything falls apart, but strangely, it makes me feel alive and awakened.
記憶に焼きつくおまえの姿
血ヘドで吐き捨てろ
You, your image, is burned into my memory. It hurts me so much that I feel like I want to vomit out of anger.
I don't want vanishing love
I do not want a love that disappears or fades away like it never existed.
Break out of (my mold)
鏡に映る false face (break up)
I want to break free from my usual self and be true to myself. My reflection shows a fake version of me that I must break apart.
見失いかけた欲望を 曝け出すとき
Make a past (at girl)
The moment I expose my lost desires, a girl appears to represent my past.
幻覚に視た a real knock out
(rape you)
I am seeing a hallucination of a girl I once found attractive, and I am so obsessed that I want to force myself onto her.
気違いじみた 快楽に明けくれろ
絡みつくおまえの幻影
I want to give into my crazy desires for pleasure and feel your phantom presence all around me.
忘れられない苦しみ
血迷う心のかけらは
影も形もない夢を
今も追い続けてる
作られた狂気装い
I am unable to forget the pain I feel, and my heart continues to wander aimlessly in a dream that has no shape or form. I have fabricated this insanity as a way to cope.
"I can't stand"
(How I try to decive myself)
"Waiting for you"
(If the tears turn
into the blood)
"Can't get away"
How I try to decive myself
"Portrait of you"
No matter what you say
I can't lose track of you
I missed
"I can't stand" waiting for you, but I try to fool myself into thinking I can. If my tears turned into blood, it would show me how much I have suffered. No matter how hard I try, I cannot stop thinking of you. I miss you so much.
Injury deep inside my heart
still remain
Cut up my heart (that) you live
In my illusion you go away.
A deep wound in my heart still persists, and I cut it even more by loving you. In my mind, you are always disappearing even though I am clinging to this illusion of you.
I stand rooted to the spot
(lough at me)
Being at my wit's end
(lough at me)
Even if it's a forced smile
(lough at me)
Being at my wit's end
I am paralyzed in place by my own despair, and it feels like everyone is laughing at me. Even if I try to put on a facade of happiness, it is clear that I am at my breaking point.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: YOSHIKI
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Schot Doe
I'm bored to death (Go mad)
壁に飛び散る sprinter of glass (shed blood)
顧みる過去にむしばまれ 血を流す
I come to my sense (at last)
嘲り笑う Out sider (smush up)
全て砕け散る 快感に目を醒ます
記憶に焼きつくおまえの姿 血ヘドで吐き捨てろ
(I don't want vanishing love)
Break out of (my mold)
鏡に映る false face (break up)
見失いかけた欲望を 曝け出すとき
Make a past (at girl)
幻覚に視た a real knock out (rape you)
気違いじみた 快楽に明けくれろ
絡みつくおまえの幻影 忘れられない苦しみ
血迷う心のかけらは 影も形もない夢を
今も追い続けてる 作られた狂気装い
"I can't stand"
(How I try to decive myself)
"Waiting for you"
(If the tears turn into the blood)
"Can't get away"
(How I try to decive myself)
"Portrait of you"
No matter what you say
I can't lose track of you I missed
Injury deep inside my heart still remain
Cut up my heart (that) you live
In my illusion you go away.
I stand rooted to the spot
(Injury deep)inside my heart still remain
Cut up my heart (that) you live
In my illusion you go away.
I stand rooted to the spot
絡みつくおまえの幻影 忘れられない苦しみ
血迷う心のかけらは 影も形もない夢を
今も追い続けてる 作られた狂気装い
Injury deep inside my heart still remain
Cut up my heart (that) you live
In my illusion you go away.
I stand rooted to the spot
(Injury deep)inside my heart still remain
Cut up my heart (that) you live
In my illusion you go away.
I stand rooted to the spot
(lough at me) Being at my wit's end
(lough at me) Even if it's a forced smile
(lough at me) Being at my wit's end
ひろ
ひょんなことからあるとき彼らの音楽を耳にして「Xってなんかちょっとカッコいいな～」と思い、その後ART OF LIFE LIVEを聴いて「Xって相当すごいバンドなんじゃ？」と思い始め、更にそのあと刺激! VISUAL SHOCK Vol.2でこの映像を見て「完全に神だわ」と確信した多感な10代の思い出。
VHSのテープが本当に擦り切れるんじゃないかってぐらい繰り返し見た。当時は高校生で、世間では175Rやモンパチが流行っていた時代に、そんな流行には一切目もくれずにひたすらこのビデオを見て、ひたすら魅了された。
ちんまん君
俺は当時ブラフマンやDragon Ashを聞いてた。
クラスの変人はxを聴いてた。
x y
凄くレベルが高いね。
似たようなバンドがたくさんあるけど、
全員が気合い入ってて、全員が主人公だと感じる。
そんなバンドはなかなか
無いと思う。
愛羅武勇阿笨
確かに
akimi yoshida
ボーカルが生き生きしてる。たのしくなる。リズムカルだ。素敵！
じゅ
鉄のヤスリで削ったような粗く荒い
トゲトゲした感じが最高すぎるw
｢俺達はXだぞ！｣っと言わんばかりの自己主張の激しさとかヤバいな
それにまた演奏技術も高いから誰からの文句も寄せつけないような自信と勢いが伝わってきました
Xは天下一のバンド
Y.ミクマヒー
じゅ
この無骨で突っ走ってる感じがたまらんよね！
よく曲がダサいとか単調とか言うてる人おるけどかっこよいいことが一番だよ！
Xという化け物と同じ時代を生きられてることに感謝しかない！
まこまこきち
Vanishing love
めっちゃ好き(*´ω`*)
この5人が最強バンド
nao R
今こんなにカッコ良くてインパクトあるアーティストいないなぁ。
X JAPANは歳を重ねてもカッコイイ。
特にこの曲は大好きだし、hideも最高にカッコイイ。
ポンチャカ
沢田泰司さんフリークなんですが、このライブはhideさんの傾きながらのコーラスが最高😃⤴️⤴️
この二人がもう、この世に居ないのが信じられないなぁー