History Music / XUSBand

Unrelated to the Australian band X, the Japanese band X (now known as Music/XJapan), the late rapper Music/XXXTentacion (commonly referred to as X), civil rights activist UsefulNotes/MalcolmX (also commonly referred to as X), [[VideoGame/{{X}} the video game series]], or the Creator/{{CLAMP}} manga and adaptations known in the States as ''Manga/{{X 1999}}''.

* GriefSong: Exene's sister Mirielle (aka Mary) was killed in a 1980 car accident while on her way to see the band, a tragedy that affected her so deeply that she wan't able to write about it until the band's third album, ''Under the Big Black Sun''. Three songs (the TitleTrack, "Riding With Mary" and "Come Back to Me") refer to the incident, and the band's decision to cover "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" was also influenced by Exene's mournful state of mind.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Their drummer, DJ Bonebrake. Sure, the rest of the band's classic lineup have cool-sounding stage names (Exene Cervenka, John Doe, and Billy Zoom), but DJ Bonebrake was in fact born with that name... Though technically he's Donald J. Bonebrake.

* CoverVersion: "Soul Kitchen" and "The Crystal Ship" (both Music/TheDoors), "Wild Thing" (The Troggs), "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" (a Tin Pan Alley song the band got from Music/LeadBelly), "Breathless" (Music/JerryLeeLewis), "Positively 4th Street" (Music/BobDylan), "Shoot Out The Lights" ([[Music/RichardThompson Richard and Linda Thompson]]), "All or Nothing" (Small Faces).

Unrelated to the Australian band X, the Japanese band X (now known as Music/XJapan), the late rapper Music/XXXTentacion (commonly referred to as X), civil rights activist Malcolm X (also commonly referred to as X), [[VideoGame/{{X}} the video game series]], or the Creator/{{CLAMP}} manga and adaptations known in the States as ''Manga/{{X 1999}}''.

* LongRunnerLineUp: The original and classic lineup lasted from 1977 to 1986, when Zoom left. He returned to the band in 1998 and has remained with them ever since.

* CoverVersion: "Soul Kitchen" and "The Crystal Ship" (both Music/TheDoors), "Wild Thing" (The Troggs), "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" (a Tin Pan Alley song the band got from Music/LeadBelly), "Breathless" (Music/JerryLeeLewis), "Positively 4th Street" (Music/BobDylan), "Shoot Out The Lights" ([[Music/RichardThompson Richard and Linda Thompson]]).

* RevisitingTheRoots: ''ALPHABETLAND'' sees the band drop the AlternativeCountry of the last three studio albums and go back to the PunkRock of their early work. It even features new recordings of two ''Los Angeles''-era demos ("Delta 88 Nightmare" and "Cyrano de Berger's Back").

* LeadBassist: John Doe is the band's founder, bassist, co-songwriter, and the male half of

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: "Los Angeles" has the unnamed lead character want to leave Los Angeles, and one reason is she hates "Every nigger and Jew/Every Mexican that gave her a lotta shit/Every homosexual and the idle rich". The context is that she is having a midlife crisis ("her toys wore out and her boys have too"), and is blaming others for her own problems, which has led her to believe she can escape them by moving to a rural area. This is TruthInTelevision and refers to something known as White Flight. The use of the epithets succeeded in attracting controversy for the song, though makes more sense in the context that a lot of their songs were based on overheard conversations, as opposed to being the group's opinion.