THE LAST ROCK'N'ROLL BAND

This is one my favourite stories I wrote during the 1980s, when I wrote a thousand stories. And I'm hardly even in it! since it's an oral history - which I only hope suggests my genuine humility in the face of the larger forces! At one stage it was mooted for inclusion in an anthology of great Australian reportage, and I was doubly bummed that thet book never eventuated because I think the piece shows how you don't necessarily have to do the whole big gonzo/method thing to do great reportage. It came about because by 1989, I'd already written at least half a dozen pieces on X - because they were a great, great band; you can see one of my earlier stories for Rolling Stone here, and in between it and this one, there were a couple of features for RAM and a few reviews here and there too  - and we, by which I mean me and Rolling Stone editor Toby Creswell, were trying to come up with a new angle. And this was the result: