X’s John Doe and friends pay tribute to L.A.’s punk past
The Ramones blazing through their storied CBGB sets in New York, the Sex Pistols creating general mayhem in London: [...] Los Angeles had its own thriving punk scene, even if its significance tends to be overlooked, and John Doe of X (along with collaborator Tom DeSavia) pays tribute to that city’s punk past in “Under the Big Black Sun: A Personal History of L.A. Punk” (Da Capo; $26.99). “Under the Big Black Sun” covers events from 1977 to 1982, featuring essays by Doe and a dozen other contributors, including his X bandmate (and ex-wife) Exene Cervenka, Black Flag’s Henry Rollins, Minutemen’s Mike Watt, and Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey of the Go-Go’s. [...] many of the essays take a dark turn, with the initial feelings of endless possibility receding as punk shows turned violent and as heroin use became widespread. The 1980 suicide of the front man of the Germs marked an ending of sorts. “After Darby Crash killed himself, people started feeling that things were changing,” Doe said. Doe also wanted the book to recognize the contributions of Chicano musicians to the L.A. sound; if the city’s slice of punk history as a whole is underappreciated, its Chicano influences are often completely disregarded. In the book, Cervenka recalls the band’s early years with particular insight, writing that she and her cohorts were “all the same freedom-loving rebels, doing our job as young people do — changing and destroying, creating and rebuilding culture.”