View source for D. Boon

{{Short description|American guitarist and singer (1958–1985)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name              = D. Boon
| image             = D. Boon 1982 (cropped).jpg
| caption           = Boon in 1982
| alt               = D. Boon smiling
| birth_name        = Dennes Dale Boon
| alias             = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1958|4|1}}
| birth_place       = [[San Pedro, California]], U.S.
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1985|12|22|1958|4|1}}
| death_place       = Centennial, [[Arizona]], U.S.
| instruments       = Guitar, vocals
| genre             = [[Punk rock]], [[alternative rock]]
| occupations       = Musician
| years_active      = 1978–1985
| label             = [[SST Records|SST]], [[New Alliance Records|New Alliance]]
| past_member_of   = [[Minutemen (band)|Minutemen]], [[The Reactionaries]], [[The Nig-Heist]]
| website           = 
}}
'''Dennes Dale Boon''' (April 1, 1958 – December 22, 1985), also known as '''D. Boon''', was an American musician, best known as the [[guitarist]], [[vocalist|singer]] and [[songwriter]] of the [[punk rock]] trio [[Minutemen (band)|Minutemen]] (formed by previous members of [[the Reactionaries]]).

He was born on April 1, 1958, in San Pedro, California, and formed Minutemen in 1980 with bassist [[Mike Watt]] and drummer [[George Hurley]]. Minutemen were known for their politically-charged lyrics and energetic, fast-paced music, and they released several influential records during their career.

Boon died in an automobile accident on December 22, 1985, at the [[27 Club|age of 27]]. Despite his early death, Boon's contributions to [[punk rock]] and [[independent music]] have been widely recognized. He is remembered as an important figure in the history of these genres.

==Biography==

===Early years===
Dennes Dale Boon was born in [[San Pedro, California]], on April 1, 1958.<ref name="Strong">Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, {{ISBN|1-84195-335-0}}, p. 419-420</ref> His father, a navy veteran, worked installing radios in [[Buick]] cars, and the Boons lived in former [[World War II]] barracks that had been converted into public housing.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Michael|last1=Azerrad|title=[[Our Band Could Be Your Life|Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981–1991]]|location=USA|publisher=[[Little Brown]]|year=2001|page=63|isbn=0-316-78753-1}}</ref>

According to childhood friend and future bandmate [[Mike Watt]], Boon was unfamiliar with popular music and had grown up listening to [[Buck Owens]] and [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]].<ref name="Gluckin">{{cite web|last=Gluckin|first=Tzvi|title=Forgotten Heroes: D. Boon|url=https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/25046-forgotten-heroes-d-boon|website=[[Premier Guitar]]|date=January 10, 2017|access-date=October 4, 2019}}</ref> Watt introduced Boon to [[Blue Öyster Cult]] and [[the Who]].<ref name="Gluckin"/> Urged by Boon's mother, Boon and Watt began to learn to play instruments.

{{blockquote|"Our first guitars were pawnshop", Watt says. "I think D. Boon had a Melody Plus. His cost $15 and mine was $13. Mine was a [[Teisco]]."<ref name="Gluckin"/>}}

Boon's mother taught D. to play the guitar and suggested Watt learn to play bass.<ref>{{Cite web |title=mike watt's bio(s) |url=http://www.hootpage.com/hoot_wattbio.html |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=www.hootpage.com}}</ref> They learned to play by copying songs from their favorite bands' records.<ref name="Gluckin"/> Boon took a few lessons from local teacher Roy Mendez Lopez who taught him rock as well as flamenco and classical.<ref name="Gluckin"/>

As a teenager, Boon began painting and signed his works "D. Boon", partly because "D" was his slang for [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]], partly after [[Daniel Boone]], but mostly because it was similar to [[Eric Bloom|E. Bloom]], Blue Öyster Cult's vocalist and guitarist.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Michael|last1=Azerrad|title=[[Our Band Could Be Your Life|Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981–1991]]|location=USA|publisher=[[Little Brown]]|year=2001|page=64|isbn=0-316-78753-1}}</ref>

===The Reactionaries===
{{main|The Reactionaries}}

Boon formed his first band, [[the Reactionaries]], with Watt in 1978.<ref name="ibarra">{{cite book|last=Ibarra|first=Craig|author-link=Craig Ibarra|title=[[A Wailing of a Town|A Wailing Of A Town: An Oral History of Early San Pedro Punk And More 1977-1985]]|publisher=END FWY|year=2015|pages=32–38|isbn=978-0-9860971-0-2}}</ref> The band's members were lead vocalist [[Martin Tamburovich]], Boon on guitar, bassist Watt, and drummer [[George Hurley]]. The Reactionaries existed for most of 1978 and 1979, practicing regularly but rarely if ever performing live.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gnerre|first=Same|title=30 years later, D. Boon of the Minutemen remains a San Pedro legend|url=http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2015/12/19/30-years-later-d-boon-of-the-minutemen-remains-a-san-pedro-legend/|publisher=[[Daily Breeze]]|date=December 19, 2015|access-date=March 30, 2019}}</ref>

After only seven months, Boon and Watt broke the band up feeling that the traditional [[frontman]]-style band was "[[bourgeois]]".<ref>{{cite book|last=Azerrad|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Azerrad|title=[[Our Band Could Be Your Life|Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991]]|publisher=[[Little Brown and Company|Back Bay Books]]|year=2001|pages=66–67|isbn=978-0-316-78753-6}}</ref>

===Minutemen===
{{main|Minutemen (band)}}
[[File:Minutemen, 1982.jpg|thumb|[[Minutemen (band)|Minutemen]] in 1982 (D. Boon in the middle)]]
Boon formed Minutemen in January 1980 with former Reactionaries Mike Watt on bass and Frank Tonche on drums.<ref name="azerrad68">{{cite book|last=Azerrad|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Azerrad|title=[[Our Band Could Be Your Life|Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991]]|publisher=[[Little Brown and Company|Back Bay Books]]|year=2001|pages=68|isbn=978-0-316-78753-6}}</ref> Tonche was soon replaced by former Reactionaries drummer [[George Hurley]].<ref name="azerrad68" /> Their best-known album is ''[[Double Nickels on the Dime]],'' an album that in 2012 was listed at number 77 by [[Slant Magazine]] on their list of "Best Albums of the 1980s".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/van-halen-van-halen-70636/|title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=May 31, 2012|access-date=September 4, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Best Albums of the 1980s |url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/feature/best-albums-of-the-1980s/308/page_3 |date= March 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314063404/http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/feature/best-albums-of-the-1980s/308/page_3|archive-date=March 14, 2012|magazine=[[Slant Magazine]]|access-date=June 7, 2019}}</ref> Their first live gig was as an opening band for [[Black Flag (band)|Black Flag]], and released records for labels such as [[SST Records]], [[New Alliance Records]], and [[Enigma Records]].

The band would come to an abrupt end with Boon's death, but have left a lasting impact on the punk scene. They were described by [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard magazine]] as "provocative art-punk minimalists",<ref>{{Citation |last=Doyle |first=Barbara Freedman |title=Will Anybody Ever See My Movie? |date=2012 |work=Make Your Movie |pages=243–259 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-240-82155-9.00034-5 |access-date=2024-02-09 |publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/b978-0-240-82155-9.00034-5 |isbn=978-0-240-82155-9 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> having been inspired by punk and rock bands such as [[Wire (band)|Wire]], [[Gang of Four (band)|Gang of Four]], [[the Pop Group]], [[Richard Hell and the Voidoids]], and [[Urinals (band)|Urinals]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Manchester |first=Guy |date=2014-04-22 |title=Mike Watt On... Brother Mike Shares Words of Wisdom About Punk, The Minutemen, The Stooges and much more... |url=https://louderthanwar.com/mike-watt-on-brother-mike-shares-words-of-wisdom-about-punk-the-minutemen-the-stooges-and-much-more/ |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=Louder Than War |language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Death===
Minutemen continued until December 22, 1985, when Boon was killed in a van accident in the Arizona desert on a desolate stretch of [[Interstate 10]], just west of the small town of Centennial.<ref name="Strong" /><ref name="Rees">Rees, David (2005) "[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-rees/what-would-d-boon-do_b_12785.html What Would D. Boon Do?]", ''[[Huffington Post]]'', December 23, 2005, retrieved December 29, 2010</ref> Because he had been sick with fever, Boon was lying down in the rear of the van without a seatbelt, while his longtime girlfriend Linda Kite drove. The van's rear axle broke<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xdLsQBjl0-IC&q=d+boon+mike+watt+broken+axle&pg=PA43|title=SPIN|first=SPIN Media|last=LLC|date=April 1, 1986|publisher=SPIN Media LLC|access-date=November 26, 2018|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Kite|first=Linda|title=D. Boon The Day the Music Died: Linda Kite in her Own Words|url=http://thelosangelesbeat.com/2014/12/d-boon-the-day-the-music-died/|publisher=LA Beat|date=December 23, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Gnerre|first=Same|title=30 years later, D. Boon of the Minutemen remains a San Pedro legend|url=http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2015/12/19/30-years-later-d-boon-of-the-minutemen-remains-a-san-pedro-legend/|publisher=[[Daily Breeze]]|date=December 19, 2015}}</ref> and the van ran off the road. Boon was thrown out the back door of the van and died instantly from a broken neck.<ref name="Segalstad">Segalstad, Eric & Hunter, Josh (2009) ''The 27s: The Greatest Myth of Rock and Roll'', North Atlantic Books, {{ISBN|978-0-615-18964-2}}, p. 214, 217</ref> He [[27 club|was 27 years old]].

Boon's death caused the band to immediately dissolve, though Watt and Hurley would form the band [[Firehose (band)|Firehose]] soon after. The live album ''[[Ballot Result]]'' was released in 1987, two years after Boon's death.

==Musical style==
Boon's guitar sound is very distinctive: he rarely used distortion and frequently set the [[equalization (audio)|equalization]] on his amplifier so that only the [[treble (sound)|treble]] frequencies were heard – the bass and mid range frequencies would be turned off completely.<ref name="Segalstad" /> His favorite electric guitar was the [[Fender Telecaster]] (he owned at least three), though he also used a [[Stratocaster]] or [[Gibson ES-125]] or [[Gibson Melody Maker]] at various points, and his preferred amplifier was a [[Fender Twin Reverb]].<ref name=Gluckin2017>{{cite web |last1=Gluckin |first1=Tzvi |title=Forgotten Heroes: D. Boon |url=https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/25046-forgotten-heroes-d-boon |website=Premier Guitar |date=10 January 2017 |access-date=7 June 2020}}</ref>

His style had a heavy influence from [[funk music|funk]] and [[blues music|blues]], which was very different from other [[hardcore punk]] bands in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Michael|last1=Azerrad|title=[[Our Band Could Be Your Life|Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes From the American Indie Underground 1981–1991]]|location=USA|publisher=[[Little Brown]]|year=2001|isbn=0-316-78753-1}}</ref> Boon's solos were often idiosyncratic and used odd rhythms or scales that were influenced by [[jazz]] or his early study of [[classical guitar]].<ref name="Gluckin2017" />

==Artwork==
Boon is responsible for the writing and composition of Minutemen's most anthemic songs, in contrast to Watt's more abstract or [[stream of consciousness]] lyrics. Songs composed by Boon include "[[This Ain't No Picnic]]", "[[Corona (song)|Corona]]", "The Price of Paradise", and "Courage". A lifelong visual artist, Boon also created drawings or paintings for the Minutemen releases ''[[Joy (EP)|Joy]]'', ''[[The Punch Line]]'', ''[[The Politics of Time]]'', ''[[Project Mersh|Project: Mersh]]'' and ''[[3-Way Tie (For Last)]]''.

==Legacy==
Since the first Firehose album, Mike Watt has dedicated every record he has worked on – be it Firehose, solo, or otherwise – to D. Boon's memory. A song on Watt's semi-autobiographical 1997 album ''[[Contemplating the Engine Room]],'' "The Boilerman", is about D. Boon;<ref>{{cite web|last=Chonin|first=Neva|title=Q&A: Mike Watt |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/qa-mike-watt-101362/|publisher=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=November 27, 1997|access-date=March 28, 2019}}</ref> on the recording itself, guitarist [[Nels Cline]] plays one of Boon's last Telecaster guitars, which Watt is in possession of.<ref>We Jam Econo – full-length Minutemen documentary (2005)</ref> Watt also mentions his fallen friend in Firehose's "Disciples of the 3-Way" (''[[Mr. Machinery Operator]]'') and his own "Burstedman" (''[[The Secondman's Middle Stand]]'').

Boon has been paid tribute by American alternative band Stigmata-A-Go-Go with the song "D. Boon", from its 1994 album ''It's All True,'' [[Uncle Tupelo]] with a different song "D. Boon" from its 1991 album ''[[Still Feel Gone]],'' and [[Centro-matic]]'s song "D.Boon-Free (A Ninth Grade Crime)" off ''The Static vs. The Strings Vol. 1''.{{citation needed|date=February 2011}} His story is also told in the documentary ''[[We Jam Econo]]''.

In 2003, former D. Boon roommate Richard Derrick released the CD ''[[D. Boon and Friends]],'' a collection of jam session tapes he recorded with D. Boon, and rare Boon solo performances, as the first release on his Box-O-Plenty Records label. Mike Watt authorized the release and provided technical assistance and liner notes.

He is #89 on ''[[Rolling Stone]]''{{'}}s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time: David Fricke's Picks.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-of-all-time-19691231/d-boon-20101202|title=100 Greatest Guitarists: David Fricke's Picks|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=December 3, 2010}}</ref>

In his review of the band's last album, music critic [[Robert Christgau]] described the death of Boon as "a rock death that for wasted potential has Lennon and Hendrix for company", adding that "after seven fairly amazing years he was just getting started. Shit, shit, shit."<ref>{{cite web|title=3-Way Tie (for Last) [SST, 1985]|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=5481|publisher=[[Robert Christgau]]|access-date=May 29, 2013}}</ref>

==Discography==
{{see also|Minutemen discography}}
*''[[D. Boon and Friends]]''

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|1267817}}
* {{discogs artist|D. Boon}}
* {{Find a Grave|1224}}

{{Minutemen}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boon, D.}}
[[Category:Minutemen (band) members]]
[[Category:American punk rock singers]]
[[Category:American punk rock guitarists]]
[[Category:Songwriters from California]]
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:American lead guitarists]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Arizona]]
[[Category:The Reactionaries members]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:People from San Pedro, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Guitarists from California]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]
[[Category:American male songwriters]]
[[Category:20th-century American songwriters]]
[[Category:San Pedro High School alumni]]