Although I claim to have very diverse tastes in music, so I can be moved to tears by JS Bach or have my soul freed by Miles Davis, I still can't deny my upbringing in primarily pop and hard rock, so I dance along to Duran Duran and grunt out my aggression to Rage Against The Machine. In other words, though I like it all, I'm more familiar with the music I'm "supposed" to listen to as a white male 18-35 in the Clinton era United States.
My devotion is greater to certain rock groups. These would include The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Queen, Rush, and Van Halen, with nods to Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Styx, The Police, U2, Iron Maiden, INXS, Living Colour, Alice In Chains and many others. To some people, even this would seem quite diverse.
However, I would like to discuss here a less popular group that I feel deserves greater
attention: King's X. I find their
music to include elements from all these other groups, mixed together with the intelligence of
so-called "progressive" rock while still holding the emotional weight that genre tends to lack,
almost by definition.
Of the other bands above, I know many great background details. I could discuss personal information like Pink Floyd's tortures over the loss of Syd Barrett, the sexual exploits of Freddie Mercury, the backstage chaos if Van Halen were served M&Ms, or Lane Staley's bouts with heroine. I could discuss such musical trivia as the black dog that ran into the studio and inspired the song title, Geddy Lee playing keyboards with his toes on stage in the 70's, Gene Simmons' influence on Van Halen, Mick Jagger's influence on the Vivid album, or Butch Vig's influence on half the alt-rock music of the 90's.
But that's not what I want to discuss about King's X. Although they may have had an "image" early in their career, that was contrived by the label and producer, not the band. Critics and fans know they've always been about music and nothing else, and so are the following reviews. To quote one of their songs, "I don't need to fit in / Like I did way back then."
The King's X Discography:
- Out Of The Silent Planet - 1988 [Megaforce/Atlantic]
- Gretchen Goes To Nebraska - 1989 [Megaforce/Atlantic]
- faith hope love by king's x - 1990 [Megaforce/Atlantic]
- King's X - 1992 [Atlantic]
- Dogman - 1994 [Atlantic]
- Ear Candy - 1996 [Atlantic]
- Ty Tabor's Naomi's Solar Pumpkin - 1997 [by independent mail-order only]
- The Best Of King's X - 1997 [Atlantic]
- Ty Tabor's Moonflower Lane - 1998 [Metal Blade]
- Poundhound's Massive Grooves... - 1998 [Metal Blade]
- Tape Head - 1998 [Metal Blade]
- Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous - 2000 [Metal Blade]
- Poundhound's Pineappleskunk - 2001 [Metal Blade]
- Manic Moonlight - 2001 [Metal Blade]
- Ty Tabor's Safety - 2002 [Metal Blade]
- Black Like Sunday - 2003 [Metal Blade]
- Jerry Gaskill's Come Somewhere - 2004 [InsideOut]
- Ogre Tones - 2005 [InsideOut]
- XV - 2008 []
I've kept this simple, but they have several side projects and other bands they've worked with. For the more than comprehensive discography of everything the band has ever done, David Corr will feed your need.
The official sites out there include King's X Online, with tour info and merchandise, TyTabor.com with info on his side projects and Alien Beans studio, and the band's page at Metal Blade Records. I'm still a regular lurker and irregular contributor to rec.music.artists.kings-x, which boasts all three band members reading and making posts. Definitely the place to go for all kinds of discussions on the band and other topics, and it's also the most polite newsgroup on the net. Another site is KX mega-fan Jason Kramer, who set up the newsgroup.