King’s X are the perfect example of the unstoppable force of musical brilliance meeting the immovable object that is public apathy. As unique as they are celebrated, neither the critical acclaim that greeted them when they emerged with their glorious debut album, Out Of The Silent Planet, in 1988 nor the small but devoted following they’ve amassed has ever translated into anything remotely approaching mainstream success.
The Missouri-by-way-of-Houston trio of bassist/vocalist dUg (formerly plain old Doug) Pinnick, guitarist/vocalist Ty Tabor and drummer/vocalist Jerry Gaskill had been playing together for a decade when they released that debut (Pinnick was already approaching 40). They wedded the amped-up dynamics of a classic power trio to Beatles harmonies, while Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament once declared that they invented grunge on account of Ty Tabor adopting a throaty, drop-D tuning long before anyone else (PJ weren’t the only Seattle band to acknowledge their greatness – Alice In Chains’ Layne Staley and Jerry
