X - "The Have Nots" (1982)

The early 80's was a fertile time for American hardcore and while some bands rocked harder than L.A.'s X, none grooved deeper, thanks to guitarist Billy Zoom and drummer D.J. Bonebrake. Which is not to underrate bassist/singer John Doe and singer Exene Cervenka's drunken brawl of off-key harmonies nor their intelligent, catchy lyrics. But you gotta give due credit to the twin engines powering the band's funky punk.

Bonebrake is easily summed up as a Cro-Magnon powerhouse, all beat and no frills. Zoom on the other hand is a minefield waiting to be properly defused by present and future historians. At his best, he sounded like an amphetymine fed, disco era Carl Perkins. He played sleazy, electrifying licks with an ultra-cool composure and perfect timing, especially at medium-high speed and no matter how many notes he played, he managed to sound economical. His modernized rockabilly extravaganza powers this catchy punk-rocker, which is mostly a catalog of zany bar names, with one of the band's catchiest anthems of blue-collar life, "dawn comes soon enough for the working class".

The song's big drawback is that at 4 minutes and 43 seconds, it's just plain too short. I usually play it four-five times in a row, so I figure it could easily have gone on for fifteem minutes.