Los Angeles’ Wild Gift
Like its New York counterpart, the Velvet Underground, whose props as a fundamental rock and roll influence came only after years in oblivion, Los Angeles’s X has often seemed overlooked — sometimes appreciated but rarely beloved beyond its core market of L.A. punk fans.
The band’s impassioned mashup of punk, rockabilly, country and folk made a multigenerational impression both on its Los Angeles brethren (Mary’s Danish, Geraldine Fibbers, Best Coast) and on the big national stage. Everyone from Green Day to Wilco to U2 (“Desire” could be straight from the X songbook) owes a debt.
X spent much of
