Editing X (American band) (section)

===1985–1987: Commercial era and departure of Zoom===
Despite the overwhelmingly positive critical reception for their first four albums, the band was frustrated by its lack of wider mainstream success. Zoom had also said that he would leave the band unless its next album was more successful. The band decided to change producers in search of a more accessible sound. Their fifth record, ''[[Ain't Love Grand!]]'', was produced by [[glam metal|pop metal]] producer [[Michael Wagener]]. It featured a drastic change in sound, especially in the polished and layered production, while the band's punk roots were little in evidence, replaced by a countrified version of [[hard rock]]. The change in production was intended to bring the band more chart success, but although it received more mainstream radio play than their earlier releases, it did not represent a commercial breakthrough. "Burning House of Love", the album's first single, was a minor hit on the [[Mainstream Rock (chart)|''Billboard'' Top Rock Tracks]] chart, where it peaked at #26 in September 1985.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=X Chart History |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/x/chart-history/rtt/ |magazine=Billboard |access-date=June 14, 2019}}</ref> Zoom left the group shortly thereafter in 1986, the same year in which the feature-length documentary film, ''[[X The Unheard Music|X: The Unheard Music]]'', was released.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

Zoom was initially replaced by Alvin, who had left the Blasters. The band then added a fifth member, guitarist Tony Gilkyson, formerly of the band [[Lone Justice]]. By the time the band released its sixth album, ''[[See How We Are]]'', Alvin had already left the band, although he played on the record along with Gilkyson and wrote "4th of July" for the band. Like ''Ain't Love Grand'', the album's sound was far removed from the band's punk origins, yet featured a punchy, energetic, hard-rocking [[roots rock]] sound that in many ways represented a more natural progression from their earlier sound than the previous album had. After touring for the album, X released a live album of the tour, titled ''[[Live at the Whisky a Go-Go (X album)|Live at the Whisky a Go-Go]]'', and then went on an extended hiatus.<ref name="RollingStone2">{{cite book |last= George-Warren |first= Holly |author2= Romanowski, Patricia |others= Pareles, Jon |title= The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Revised and Updated for the 21st century) |year= 2001 |publisher= Fireside |isbn= 978-0-7432-0120-9 |url= https://archive.org/details/rollingstoneency00holl }}</ref>

Back in 1984, X had released a cover version of "[[Wild Thing (The Troggs song)|Wild Thing]]" as a non-album single. In 1989, the song was re-released as the lead single from the soundtrack to the hit film ''[[Major League (film)|Major League]]''. It later became a staple at sporting events, particularly baseball games, and was used by Japanese professional wrestler [[Atsushi Onita]] after he founded [[Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling]] in 1989.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ybarra |first=Nicholas Paul |date=2022-04-24 |title=Jon Moxley's "Wild Thing" Entrance Is Wrestling's Best Even If It's Simple |url=https://www.thesportster.com/jon-moxley-wild-thing-entrance-wrestlings-best-even-if-simple/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=TheSportster |language=en}}</ref> The song is now used as [[Jon Moxley]]'s entrance music in [[All Elite Wrestling]].