History Music / KingsX

* LongTitle: "Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous" as an album is a contender for this while "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska" contains pretty long song titles such as ''The Difference (In the Garden of St.Anne's-On-The-Hill)'', ''Everybody Knows a Little Bit of Something'' (also a case of LyricalColdOpen) or ''Don't Believe It (It's Easier Said Than Done)''. The song titles got shorter as the band's sound got more direct and less polished from "Dogman" onwards.

* OneWordTitle: Compared to some [[LongTitle pretty long titles]] on their earlier albums King's X cut the title length way down on later releases. For example, of the fourteen songs on 2005's "Ogre Tones" only two (''Open My Eyes'' and ''Sooner or Later'', both not exactly the epitome of verbal diarrhea either) have more than one word in their titles.

2018 onward has seen a resurgence of King's X activity, with Doug Pinnick having a biography written about him: Chris Smith's ''Life Is What You Make It: The Authorized Biography of Doug Pinnick'' in June. Rock critic Greg Prato released ''King's X: The Oral History'' on February 19, 2019 and the band announced the recording of their latest album.

''King's X'' are a RockTrio consisting of bassist/singer Doug "dUg" Pinnick, guitarist/singer Ty Tabor, and drummer/singer Jerry Gaskill that was founded in 1980 (as ''The Edge'', later ''Sneak Preview''). After a few changes in lineup, band name, and musical style during their early years, as well as now being managed by former Music/ZZTop video producer [[RecordProducer Sam Taylor]], King's X adopted their trademark sound around 1987 which combined elements of ProgressiveMetal, dropped D tuning, [[{{Music/The Beatles}} Beatles]]-like vocal harmonies and melodies as well as influences from funk, early HeavyMetal and acoustic. Their lyrics mostly dealt with issues of (Christian) faith, spirituality, love, and philosophy. Their early albums "Out of the Silent Planet" (1988), "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska" (1989), "Faith Hope Love" (1990), and "King's X" were initially well-received by the press and created a bit of a buzz among HardRock and metal fans, although they failed to make a larger commercial impact than inititally projected. Even though they never openly declared themselves a Christian band they were seen as an example of ChristianRock – an affiliation King's X always denied but that persisted anyway.

* ''Three Sides of One'' - 2022

* ''Three Sides of One'' (2022)

* AmbiguouslyChristian: This has been following the trio for much of their existence, ranging from the semi-frank declarations of faith on their early albums, mentioning [[SecondComing a "new Jerusalem"]] in songs like "Sometimes", quoting sayings and in once case even [[Quotes/{{TheBible}} a whole chapter]] from [[Literature/{{TheBible}} the Bible]] in the album booklets (although this was mostly the work of producer Sam Taylor who inserted them [[ExecutiveMeddling without consulting the band]]) up to naming a whole record after a quote by [[WordOfSaintPaul Saint Paul]] ("Faith Hope Love"). Still, even then they criticized hypocritical preachermen (in "Mission") or lauded Italian [[ScienceHero science genius]]-cum-papacy's favorite enemy [[{{UsefulNotes/HeresiesAndHeretics}} Galileo Galilei]] (in "Pleiades"). Their concept pretty much reverted to the opposite after Doug Pinnick openly denied being a Christian anymore and wrote songs like "Looking for Love" (with the pretty blunt statement [[ReligionRantSong "I think I lost my faith"]]) and "Run". On later releases they got a little more relaxed about the subject and kindly asked their fans to "pray for me, if you really do believe". King's X have always referred to themselves as [[NotChristianRock "not a Christian band but rather a band of Christians"]].

* GodIsLoveSongs: As explained above, the "we-[[NotChristianRock aren't-Christian-rock]]-or-[[ChristianRock are-we]]" routine kept following the band during much of the 80's and 90's, and as much as they may have denied it even back then, it's hard not to read lines such as "''See the bread, see the wine/See the graft into the vine/This is what is to be/It always made sense to me/Send us a shot of love..."'' from (''Shot of Love'' off "Out of the Silent Planet") as examples for "God Is Love" songs.

* {{Grunge}}: Even though they started out much earlier and were much more about a fusion of prog metal, Beatles pop, [[{{Music/JimiHendrix}} Hendrix]] funk, and gospel grooves than any of the actual grunge bands from Seattle, none other than [[{{Music/PearlJam}} Pearl Jam]]'s bassist Jeff Ament stated that King's X "''invented grunge''". Given the aforementioned differences to [[{{Music/KurtCobain}} Kurt Cobain]] and his army of flannel-clad followers, it does feel like kind of a stretch to see KX as an UrExample, let alone a TropeMaker.

* ScarabPower: For whatever reason, after the faux classical FantasyArt covers of their first albums and the decidedly simplistic screen printed dog image on "Dogman" (duh), the King's X artwork department decided to go full Music/{{Journey}} with the album cover for "Ear Candy", using an elaborate scarab design. Anyway, still better than the photoshop failures committed by gifted guitarist (and [[TerribleArtist decidedly non-gifted graphic artist]]) Ty Tabor – apparently [[NoBudget for budget reasons]] – for the following albums "Tape Head", "Mr. Bulbous", and "Manic Moonlight". Then they let [[FanArt their fans]] design the cover for "Black Like Sunday" in a contest and finally came to their senses with "Ogre Tones" and "XV", letting actual professional artists/photographers [[BringingInTheExpert do their work again.]]

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: The band's unique style is a fusion of HardRock, ProgressiveMetal, AlternativeMetal, gospel, soul and funk topped off with [[Music/TheBeatles Beatles-style]] harmonies.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Even though dropped D tuning was part of the band's musical identity right from their christening as King's X, they maintained a certain softness compatible with their ProgressiveMetal concepts of spirituality and faith, locating them between a 4 and a 5 on the Mohs Scale. As they changed their style with "Dogman", both their sound and their lyrics got significantly DarkerAndEdgier, effectively moving them up to a slot between 5 and 6. Since then they stepped back a bit and are at a median score of 5.
* {{Literature/Narnia}}: The whole "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska" album concept is based on a fantasy short story by drummer Jerry Gaskill (it's also printed in the album booklet) which was heavily influenced by [[Creator/CSLewis C.S. Lewis]] and his Narnia cycle of books. (Also, said Nebraska isn't ''really'' [[LocationSong Nebraska]] but some alternate plane of existence.)

** Although Jerry Gaskill takes part in the vocal harmony parts, he only takes the lead in the few songs he penned himself. Therefore it's slightly less the case of this trope but rather one of a few StepUpToTheMicrophone moments.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: ''Very narrowly'' averted by Jerry Gaskill, who suffered two heart attacks in 2012 and 2014. The first one put him in a coma for several weeks; fans rallied by buying live records to pay off his medical bills. Despite a long gap between tours, [[{{Main/Determinator}} Gaskill]] continues to perform to this day.

* VocalTagTeam: While Doug Pinnick is pretty much the band's primary lead singer, vocal harmonies are pretty much ubiquitous in their music. Furthermore, Ty Tabor has many songs where he is the lead singer instead. There's also some songs with feature both on lead vocals, namely "Not Just for the Dead" and "Dream in My Life" (both on ''King's X'' with verses sung by Ty Tabor, and bridges/choruses by Doug Pinnick) and "Life Going By" (Ty sings up to the finale where Doug joins in with lines of his own).

* CultClassic: King's X command a rabid if compact fanbase and have often been called "other musicians' favorite band" (they were voted one of the "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" by other musicians on a Creator/{{VH1}} poll in 2003). Allmusic.com says about them: "''Few hard rock bands are as widely respected yet criminally overlooked as King's X."''

* LeadBassist: Although for most of the King's X catalogue it's more a case of a VocalTagTeam since all three band members share songwriting duties, Doug Pinnick sings the lead vocal on the majority of songs, with Ty Tabor taking over for a number of his songs. Since Jerry Gaskill takes part in the vocal harmony parts but only takes the lead in the few songs he penned himself it's slightly less the case of a LeadDrummer but rather one of StepUpToTheMicrophone moments.

* VocalTagTeam: While Doug Pinnick is pretty much the band's primary lead singer, vocal harmonies are pretty much ubiquitous in their music. Furthermore, Ty Tabor has many songs where he is the lead singer instead. There's also some songs with feature both on lead vocals, namely "Not Just for the Dead" and "Dream in My Life" (both on ''King's X'' with verses sung by Ty Tabor, and bridges/choruses by Doug Pinnick) and "Life Going By" (Ty sings up to the finale where Doug joins in with lines of his own).

* TheSomethingSong: "King's X" from 1992 contains both ''Chariot Song'' and ''Ooh Song''.
* TrainSong: ''The Train'', opening the "Ear Candy" album, uses train imagery to describe the band's final chance at success with a major label (as expressed in lines like ''"Last time aboard the train that goes around the world''"). The record was indeed the last King's X album with major label {{Creator/Atlantic Records}} since both parties parted ways after the release and subsequent lack of commercial success.

* VocalTagTeam: Rarely happens outside of vocal harmonies within King's X songs. The best examples are probably ''Not Just for the Dead'' and ''Dream in My Life'' (both on "King's X" with verses sung by Ty Tabor, and bridges/choruses by Doug Pinnick) and ''Life Going By'' (Ty sings up to the finale where Doug joins in with lines of his own).

* AuthorExistenceFailure: ''Very nearly'' averted by Jerry Gaskill, who suffered two heart attacks in 2012 and 2014. The first one put him in a coma for several weeks; fans rallied by buying live records to pay off his medical bills. Despite a long gap between tours, [[{{Main/Determinator}} Gaskill]] continues to perform to this day.

* AmbiguouslyChristian: This has been following the trio for much of their existence, ranging from the semi-frank declarations of faith on their early albums, mentioning [[SecondComing a "new Jerusalem"]] in songs like ''Sometimes'', quoting sayings and in once case even [[Quotes/{{TheBible}} a whole chapter]] from [[Literature/{{TheBible}} the Bible]] in the album booklets (although this was mostly the work of producer Sam Taylor who inserted them [[ExecutiveMeddling without consulting the band]]) up to naming a whole record after a quote by [[WordOfSaintPaul Saint Paul]] ("Faith Hope Love"). Still, even then they criticized hypocritical preachermen (in ''Mission'') or lauded Italian [[ScienceHero science genius]]-cum-papacy's favorite enemy [[{{UsefulNotes/HeresiesAndHeretics}} Galileo Galilei]] (in ''Pleiades''). Their concept pretty much reverted to the opposite after Doug Pinnick openly denied being a Christian anymore and wrote songs like ''Looking for Love'' (with the pretty blunt statement [[ReligionRantSong "I think I lost my faith"]]) and ''Run''. On later releases they got a little more relaxed about the subject and kindly asked their fans to "pray for me, if you really do believe". King's X have always referred to themselves as [[NotChristianRock "not a Christian band but rather a band of Christians"]].

* ApologisesALot: They have a couple of songs where saying sorry is a major topic, most notably ''Over and Over'' and ''I Don't Know''.