X’s John Doe on Early L.A. Punk, Why Green Day Deserve More Respect
When John Doe looks back at the early days of punk in Los Angeles, the thing that strikes him first is a sense of community. It was fun scene, and that’s an adjective he says can’t be immediately pinned to the genre’s other major punk hubs in the late Seventies. “New York wasn’t going to be fun,” he says. “It was going to be cool and edgy, diverse and filled with heroin. And England wasn’t going to be fun. But you could live here in L.A. cheap and you’d have room to breathe. … And we had cars. Cool shit happens in cars.” Doe laughs.
Four decades ago, Doe moved from the East Coast to the City of Angels and cofounded the trailblazing punk group X. In 1980, they put out their debut LP, the urgent, raucous Los Angeles, which found them fusing Ramones-style propulsion with swinging, rockabilly rhythms (“Johnny Hit and Run Paulene”), classic-rock riffing (“Soul Kitchen”) and hearty doses of sarcasm (“Los Angeles”). No other band sounded like X, especially in Los Angeles where the Germs recorded two-minute bursts of emetic vitriol, the Weirdos played explosive-yet-melodic screeds, the Go-Go’s pioneered catchy, rough-hewn punk-pop and the Screamers performed chunky, synth-studded slices of nihilism. It was a scene with no one flavor.
Doe, now age 63, has since moved to the Bay Area and continues to tour with X and release solo albums. His latest record, The Westerner, showcases rootsy tableaus of Americana, and it features appearances by Cat Power’s Chan Marshall and Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry. He has also co-authored an unusual document on his punk past.
Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk, co-written with music-industry vet Tom DeSavia, is a welcome diversion from the typical punk history books, which are often narratives or oral histories. Instead, the co-authors enlisted some of the artists who were there to pen mini-memoirs about their experiences. In addition to Doe and DeSavia, contributors include X’s Exene Cervenka, the Go-Go’s’ Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey, and the Blasters’ Dave Alvin, among others, as well as reps from neighboring locales including former Black Flag frontman Henry Rollins, onetime Minutemen bassist Mike Watt and T.S.O.L. frontman Jack Grisham. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the foreword.
“We made a list of people that are still alive and could probably put some words together and gave them topics,” Doe tells Rolling Stone. “We asked Henry Rollins to write about the impact of moving from a smaller scene, D.C., to a bigger, fully hardcore scene in L.A. We asked Mike Watt to write about his friendship with [Minutemen frontman] D. Boon, as well as being part of the first wave of Hollywood punk. Exene wrote about the cultural revolution she felt so strongly. Jane wrote about where people hung out – our version of the salon. I wrote about looking for the bohemian lifestyle. Everyone was an expert in a different area.”