John Doe: Ray made us believe we were the best band in the world, coming from a rock icon, if he believed in us then how could we not believe in ourselves?

Jane Wiedlin, The Go-Go's, Frosted: The Go-Go's owe a HUGE debt to X, not only for the inspiration, but in strictly practical terms--Billy helped me learn to play guitar.

Charlotte Caffey, The Go-Go's: I have to thank X for two things: Being a great band and stealing DJ from my band, The Eyes. When DJ left the band, I joined the Go-Go's.

Mike Ness, Social Distortion: X saw the link between Sid Vicious and Woody Guthrie. Exene thought me and Dennis Dannell were cute little punk rockers and she'd always let us into their shows because we'd driven so far and spent all our money on beer.

Henry Rollins: One of the greatest sounds on earth is the sound of John and Exene singing together.

Matt Freeman, Rancid, Auntie Christ: No other band has influenced or inspired me as much as X! I learned to play punk rock bass by playing along with Doe, I wanted to know where Billy Zoom came from, and that's where I discovered rockabilly.

Jakob Dylan, The Wallflowers: I considered them part of a very small scene which consisted of the last few great rock and roll bands left to discover. Groups like The Clash, The Jam, Television...

Comparisons to The Doors are inevitable and have been worked to death. Not only through the two bands' interactions via X's cover of The Doors' "Soul Kitchen," and Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzaek's both playing with X and producing four albums. The simple fact is that both bands, through their lyrics and music defined Los Angeles and everything it stood for, during their respective heydays.

You don't need to be from L.A. to be blown away by X's music, but it helps to understand what was going on in Tinseltown's vast 'cultural wasteland' during the late seventies and early eighties, when X was at their peak. You don't need to be from L.A. to be blown away by X's music.

Johnette Napolitano, of Concrete Blonde: X was everything LA was about. They clutched onto every scrap of beauty and held onto it for as long as they could, before it burned away or was ripped from their hands. It was love on the pavement, love on the bus, impossible to ignore, characters we all knew, words like knuckles in your face...

Keith Morris, Circle Jerks: They saw it like they lived it...this was an ugly stew sprinkled with glitter, sugar and wax drippings, gasoline or fire, somewhere over an underpass along the 101 freeway bouncing between skyscrapers, twenty-two hour days cooled off by Coronas, Budweisers or some such chilled piss at seven thirty in the morning in an old Fifties Ford with religious crap scattered on the dash, chipped bones, fat lips, bruises, broken glass sunshine-baked brain, dirty-sock-stuck-in-the-mouth hangover...

Matthew Sweet:I remember very well the day I bought Los Angeles by X. Growing up in Nebraska, I'd never been to LA and they presented a picture of California very different from the sunny stereotype.

Jakob Dylan: Even though I grew up there, I think most of the popular LA scenes have escaped me. I remember X being considered at the center of the late 70's and early 80's punk years, but I never thought of limiting them to that.

Johnette Napolitano: John's Joe-American white trash country crooning crashing and dancing into Exene's roaring 20's movie queen gone wrong persona; dirty poets scratching and clawing, confused and strong and protective of their soft insides.

Dix Denney, The Weirdos, Nut Stalk, Thelonius Monster: I remember their first gig--it was in some living room of a house on 6th Street--not only were they great, I met my wife of 16 years!

Those were dangerous and exciting times. Through the romantic filter of memory, I can recall days of blazing hot, white-out smog, waking up in unfamiliar places with an all-too-familiar cheap-beer hangover, skipping school, screwing the RTD in favor of hitch-hiking to Hollywood, to experience "real life." In those days, you wore a leather jacket, torn clothes and colored hair as a sign of who you were, as well as an anti-fashion statement. To do so was to take a risk, it was like a leap of faith into an unknown future, knowing you were a part of creating something new. Nights, everyone who was into the punk scene--and believe me, the numbers were few--would hit the few places new music was allowed--The Masque, The Orpheum Theatre, the Valley's Bomp Records, The Starwood. Everyone involved with the scene had a hand in it, whether it was making music, flyers or just a scene in public--creating impromptu street theatre by having blue or green hair and wild make-up (or all of the above). Gigs took place wherever they could--parking lots, record stores, backyards and garages --X's first gig took place in the living room of an old Golden Age of Hollywood mansion, quickly going to seed. Though the house was packed full of boozy revelers, it was clear to everyone that something special was taking place.

I remember the first time I really had more than passing contact with John Doe and Exene. It was at a notorious apartment on Holloway Drive in West Hollywood, the digs of hairdresser/scenester Melissa and the Germs' Lorna Doom. All the Germs crowd used to score dollar Quaaludes in the parking lot, so things would quickly get out of hand. John Doe and Exene burst in, with lots of beer. Exene was wearing a black fifties sweater with sequins and beads all over it, and I had one on that was almost identical. I just remember having a beer fight in the kitchen--Joan Jett joined in, too--the whole place was slippery with foam and spilled ale. We were both screaming about something and kind of bonded over that. It was the first of many sloppy, alcohol-spilling play fights we had. The mystique around John and Exene was really powerful, for some reason. Maybe it was because they were such a tight couple, back in those days of indiscriminate sex, they seemed made for each other. They were a couple of years older than me, and I remember always hanging out at Exene's tiny apartment behind Circus Books, on LaJolla, across the street from the Starwood. There was always a big Murphy bed pulled down and covered with clothes, a blonde Formica coffee table full of empty beers and gin bottles. Exene and her roommate, Farrah Fawcett Minor (she was the girl who "had to leave" i n X's "Los Angeles") were both totally addicted to gin.

KK Barrett from the Screamers, Farrah's boyfriend, and John Doe were always there, hanging around while the girls got dressed. I'd sit and watch like a little sister, as they picked up tattered slips, torn fishnets, white majorette boots and home-made punk T-shirts held together with safety pins. They'd festoon themselves with antique rhinestones and bracelets, and rosary beads. They both had these amazing diaries, full of ink-stamp art, Exene's crazed calligraphy, and Xeroxed photo booth pictures of themselves, with poems and X lyrics and weird stuff they'd found on the street pasted in. I felt like I was in some exotic, grown-up artists' salon, even though now, I realize what a dive that place was--full on "We're Desperate" and probably also the inspiration for "Adult Books," because that's what Circus Books used to sell in the front of the building. I think all four of them usually wound up passing out together on the Murphy Bed.

Exene: Well that's not true, but it's okay.

John: It was always gin & strawberry nehi, a "fast gin fizz."

Exene: Well, the thing is that I wasn't addicted to gin like she was because it made me really sick. So I stopped drinking it and switched to vodka at that point.

Falling James, Leaving Trains: It seems like half the songs on Wild Gift alone are directly concerned with the particulars of getting in and out of bed, maybe for sex or because of drugs or both...The fetish itself of the bed as the center of the universe gets most explicit on "I'm Coming Over." Sleep is a half-remembered alternate universe, and who's to say out of all those blackout nights at the Masque or Starwood or Club 88 what really happened or what was a dream...

Candye Kane: I remember the first time I was at John and Exene's house - it was so cool! They had, like, all these religious icons up and Day of The Dead skeletons all over. John was playing guitar and singing in that beautiful voice, Exene was all in black...they were so cool I wanted to marry both of them!

Annette Zilinkskas, Bangles, Blood on the Saddle, Ringling Sisters: I'd NEVER seen anything like Exene! She looked like a voodoo doll from outer-space! Of course, I immediately got a crush on her; she was the most. I had to go right out and get some ROTC shoes and white bobby sox.

Keith Morris: Billy Zoom was the last Gene Vincent silver-haired guitar boy, smiling, legs spread ripping and tearing up a Chuck Berry or two, being pushed by that character in the back, DJ, bashing out a syncopated coffee-drip percolator beat, crash, bang end-of-the-world tunage...

Jane Wiedlin, The Go-Go's, Frosted: John and Exene were the king and queen of the Hollywood punk scene.

Jenny Lens, Punk Scene Photographer: X shows always brought out intelligent, creative people involved in the arts. They always had the most fascinating audiences, hardcore bikers and ethereal models, and they always invited the best new bands to play with them.

Before they even played live, though, X had a mystique. Maybe it was the literary connection (John and Exene had met at a Beyond Baroque poetry workshop) maybe it was former rockabilly heartthrob Billy Zoom's silver guitar, silver leather jacket, ubiquitous smile and hoodish, sinister '49 Hudson Hornet, maybe it was DJ's guy-next-door appearance and mind-bending drumming, but more likely it was the sum of the parts. Though they were known on the scene before they became a band, once they turned into a band, it was almost as though they'd sprung forth fully realized. they went through none of the "growing up in public" phase most L.A. groups did.

Paul Reubens, A.K.A. Peewee Herman: I knew Exene when she was a waitress in St. Pete, Florida. I came out to Hollywood shortly after and then Exene moved out as well. She came over and visited me at my apartment in Echo Park while I rehearsed my newest Gong Show routine and told me she had met this neat guy at a poetry workshop.

Rob Zabrecky, Possum Dixon: I saw X and the Hell's Angels in the same kind of light, they were like some devilish kind of family, all living together under the same leaky, cracked-up falling roof.

Dave Alvin, Blasters and X Guitarist: X were a trip! They had a whole scene around them, kind of a family vibe, almost like The Grateful Dead! The backstage scenes were always interesting, there was always some counter-culture icons hanging out - old blues or rockabilly guys, Joe Dallesandro, PeeWee Herman, Joey Ramone...

Exene: Joe Dallesandro? I'm sorry I don't remember that.

John: I wish I did.

The many, many bands X has played with over the years include the Go-Go's, Replacements, Jane's Addiction, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blasters, Germs, No Doubt, Los Lobos, Concrete Blone, Soul Asylum, The Big Boys, Del Fuegos, and Mission of Burma.

Joey Ramone: X were a great band, a really cool band, John and Exene would always come to see us, we'd always go to see them, and KROQ was the only station in town that would play either X or the Ramones. Rodney Bingenhemer, was the only KROQ DJ that would play X, or the Ramones for that matter. His previous track record included being the first person to introduce both David Bowie and The Sex Pistols to his listeners, so whatever he played really mattered.

Rodney Bingenhemer, KROQ/Los Angeles DJ: X were so one-of-a-kind! Exene always stood out from other people. She was great - an artist and a really nice person. The whole band was! I still have an autographed acetate of "Adult Books." One time I had Jello Biafra on the show and all he could talk about was how cool X was.

Pat Smear, The Germs, Nirvana, Foo Fighters: X were playing at The Hong Kong Cafe-me and Darby were watching in total worship, all jealous because they were such a great band. Darby was sitting on the monitors, and I think Billy Zoom got mad-I punched him and got thrown out, but then later Exene got me back in.

Exene: Doesn't he mean "I punched him and then ran away?" That never got resolved. We think he ran away after he punched Billy.

Allison Anders, Film Director: One time at the Hong Kong I saw X play, maybe it was '78 or '79 - the stage was so short, you know, and people were crowding around so much Exene had to stand on a chair, with her hands up on the ceiling beams, she was hanging on because everything was so out-of-control. She said, "You know, we really appreciate your enthusiasm but we aren't playing that well." I thought she was crazy! I mean, they sounded find to me. They sounded amazing to anyone that was there!

John: It wasn't that we thought we weren't playing well, we just couldn't play because the audience kept knocking everything over.

Joan Jett: I saw them a million times. They used to play the Whisky and I lived right across the street. Besides having great songs, they were the first band I saw use harmony as a lead vocal, and they rocked.

Chris D, The Flesheaters, Divine Horesemen: ...I remember a wilder, angrier John Doe sending a burning dumpster rolling down San Vicente or kicking a floor-to-ceiling mirror to bits when the swanky hotel management pulled the plug on the Germs at an intensely surreal Halloween party...a time in 1980 at Club 88 X's set became so swooningly intense that the Mexican gang kids hoisted Exene up onto their shoulders and rode her around the audience while the band played furiously on.

Dave Alvin: One time we had a food fight on-stage in Santa Clara, and instead of being X the set turned into a loud, ugly version of The Knitters (X's legendary thrash-camp-country alter-ego).

Diana "Dinky" Bonebrake: We were somewhere in the Midwest on tour with the Replacement, and just for fun, DJ decided to be the opening act for both bands. He came out onto the stage and stood on his head, did cartwheels, juggled oranges. People were screaming: "GET OFF THE STAGE, ASSHOLE! WE WANT X!" They didn't even realize it was him!

Donita Sparks, L7: When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1983, I went to see X at the Palace. I didn't have many friends at the time so I went by myself. The show was sold out, I asked passer-bys if they had an extra ticket. I approached a woman with ratty hair with her back turned and asked her if she had a ticket. She turned and scowled at me and said, "No!" It was Exene Cervenka! I thought Los Angeles had to be the most glamorous place on Earth. By the way, I didn't get to see the show.

Iris Berry, The Lame Flames, The Ringling Sisters: The first time I saw X was at The Rock Corporation in the Valley. John Doe was in the parking lot right before they went on, trying to talk Snickers from the Simpletones out of committing suicide. Then they played the best set I'd ever seen.

Matt Freeman: They were the essence of survival for me, you could keep getting up no matter how hard life was. Every time I was in a bad relationship, a hungover morning, or a punk rock van tour, I had a soundtrack.

Mike Ness: John Doe was like the punk rock George Jones - his singing was so emotional.

Jennifer Jason Leigh, Actor: Whenever I go out of town - on location or on a road trip - there are three tapes I must have with me: Ain't Love Grand, See How We Are, and Under The Big Black Sun. I know all the lyrics, hopelessly imitating Exene's crazy beautiful harmonies, I sing 'til I ache. Mr. Doe has a voice that reaches deep inside, makes me cry.

Henry Rollins: There are certain X songs I can't even play unless I'm up to the feelings and memories that keep rushing in.

Live, nobody could match the power or intensity of X's shows. But back then, there was no such thing as a gig without audience participation. There were no barriers.

Basically, besides their talent and cohesion, one of the most fascinating, intriguing things about X was their sheer reality. If it happened to them, they wrote about it, then hung out their dirty laundry for all to see by playing and recording their life-changing events. I remember when the "White Girl" single first came out, and everyone had been speculating whether or not John Doe was having an affair with Lorna Doom of the Germs, who lived just up the street from Exene and John's house. I was sitting in my trashed, low-rent living room, surrounded by flyers and fanzines and empty bottles of Mickey's Big Mouth with about five other people. We were dissecting the song, line by line--as thought it was the "Paul is Dead"/"Sgt. Pepper" mystery. Everything in the song pointed to real life - "She's blonde/She comes along the sidewalk/leaves a trail of bue and black" - which were the Germs' trademark colors.

Jane Wiedlin: They were living examples of writers using their immediate life experience to create art. It was all there--drinking, death, adultery, crazy people on buses, urban despair. As things happened to them, they became songs.

Drama always seemed to run high with X, whether it was the jubilance of John and Exene getting married in Tijuana, their family/gang The Wolves celebrating madly and drunkenly, or the star-crossed, demented sadness and rage of "Burning House of Love." Even after they split up, John and Exene remained connected -- their children with respective spouses were born down the hall from each other, within minutes on the same day! One of the most poignant moments of X's on-stage career was the second set of a 1981 Whisky show. The band went on-stage just minutes after Exene's beloved sister, Mirielle, was killed on a Hollywood side street by a drunk driver. Some people in the audience were oblivious, but word spread quickly. A lot of people in the crowd were crying. It was one of the most painful moments I've witnessed ever, let alone in the realm of rock and roll.

Chris D: The band was bravely and drunkenly trying to get through their set ten minutes after they'd learned Exene's sister had been killed by a drunken, hit-and-run driver.

Rosemarie Patronette, Scenester: Me, Belinda (Carlisle), and Gina (Shock) had taken acid and gone to The Roxy to see Rachel Sweet, which we thought would be fun and stupid. We were laughing our asses off - then Gina, who'd gone outside for some reason, came running in, with a strange look on her face. She said, "You guys! You won't believe what's happened..." and told us about Exene's sister, so we went down there. Anyone else would've canceled the show, but X was always about love, death, relationship stuff.

Falling James: The night Exene's sister died on the way to the show at the Whisky A Go-Go...I think that was the first night Ray Manzarek played with them live, and it was amazing to hear how good they sounded together, but I also felt appalled and guilty and sad seeing how hysterical and drunk and mournful Exene and the band were. You didn't want to watch but no one left. People were shouting helpful things. It was bad, it was great, it was about love and death and family, getting wasted and shouting in the wind-tunnel.

Moby: I loved X because they represented such a cool confluence of elements. They were so American and so punk rock and they somehow embodied this timeless poetic archetype of American desolation and exuberance. Kind of like "I'm drunk and depressed and it's too hot outside and there are diapers on the front lawn, but life is so fucking special I'll go out and shoot out the windows in my car cos I'm full of rage and joy."

Rhett Miller, Old 97's: Their lyrics are unimpeachable. The guitars are blistering. The harmonies are perfect in the same way a broken bottle is perfect.

Frank Black, The Pixies, Solo Artist: X is in that special club of rock and roll entertainers that sounded a zillion times better than most of the bands before them, and years later is still sounding a zillion times better than most of the bands after them. They pass the test of time with flying colors.

Paul Reubens: I filmed them on Super 8 the first time they played the Whisky. I have every record they've ever done. Whatever happened to that song "Delta 88?"

Jakob Dylan: They had superior song writing skills and vocal harmonies matched only by the Everly Brothers.

Moby: For me, X represented what an unintentionally strange and fecund place America can be fore the lovely and joyful perversions of the human spirit.

Matt Freeman: I was in Europe when I got a phone call from my record company saying that Exene was having a party at The Masque and she wanted me to go. When I got to the party we met and hit it off, and in the legendary club where X had first formed we started a new band (Auntie Christ). All those years playing along to X records really paid off.

Henry Rollins: I am defenseless to the beauty of X. Hank Williams would've given them the nod. Patsy Cline would've smiled. As time goes on and contemporary music gracelessly chases it's own tail, X's records sound better and better. I can't possibly thank them enough and I bet a lot of other people can't, either.

Jane Wiedlin: X were the best band to come out of LA in the seventies.

Johnette Napolitano: Without question, they were the best band to come out of LA.

Iris Berry: X changed my life!

Chris D: I think it was because X's songs chronicled so accurately, honestly, unsparingly the fun, struggle, euphoria and tragedy that was not only indigenous to the whole scene, but to every life they touched and observed.

In addition to receiving raves in music papers, the band was also being called "Band of the Year" by Rolling Stone and being featured in magazines like People and Us. They also made quite a few television appearances, including breakthrough appearances on "American Bandstand" as well as stops on "The David Letterman Show", "Midnight Special", and "Solid Gold" (yes, Solid Gold). Because of the amount of press they were getting, many fans who otherwise never would've heard of X were exposed to them, including many of today's chart-toppers and popular alternative artists. Landmarks in the press began with the first two albums: Los Angeles was voted "Album of the Year" by the LA Times; Wild Gift received the same nod from both the LA and NY Times. X's influence continued to reach long and wide.

X ignited everything it touched or observed. They touched many people that never had the privilege of hanging out with them or seeing them play life. Their words, though intensely personal, acknowledged a new state of mind, of existence, illuminated a new human condition. X was something that so many could related to, yet they were so ahead of their time. If they'd formed ten or fifteen years later, they could've unsurped or at least ran neck and neck with Nirvana. Luckily, we have their awesome recordings, songs that can inspire in a way not too many things in life can... Well, maybe a few things....

Dave Alvin: X was like having sex with someone who was really intelligent... and a great fuck!!

Pleasant Gehman, Los Angeles