from X, who are another band I'd consider one of my all time favorites. They were one of the most influential of the early LA punk bands, and created a sound that, although influential, has been entirely their own since the late '70s. Bassist and vocalist John Doe and guitarist Billy Zoom got together in 1977 and decided to form a band. Doe's girlfriend at the time, Exene Cervenka, attended practice sessions with him, and also happened to write poetry, making her the next member of the new group. The last of the original line-up was drummer D.J. Bonebrake, who left his band The Eyes and joined X. The group developed a really interesting sound, which, like many punk bands of the time, was heavily influenced by the rock and roll of the 1950s. However, the group also has a darker, sort of LA street aesthetic, that, when mixed with that '50s rock, became the X sound that has inspired countless artists over the years.

after their first two albums, which are absolute classics. However, in recent years, I've gone back to check out their albums from the early/mid '80s, and realized that I like it a lot. They continued with their classic sort of sound, though the production improved, and the songwriting became more refined. I was going to share a song from their 1982 album, but I decided I'd just go with a classic, as I could also discuss the chord progression which is really cool. This song is from the band's 1981 album, Wild Gift, and is definitely a personal favorite. Zoom's guitar is really interesting here, in that he abandons a lot of those '50s, Chuck Berry-esque stylings, and instead creates a really awesome, dark line that I find to be quite an earworm. The song begins moving from a G, to a Gb6 (the fifth of that powerchord just slides up a fret), to an A, before repeating. We do feel like we're in Gminor, but that A is a little odd. However, pretty quickly, a Gmajor is substituted in, and the band moves from G to C, back and forth, then holding the G building into the Chorus, which moves back and forth from Bb to Amin7. The resolution back to the top still feels like we're in G, but have had all kinds of interesting stuff in between.