Dec 22, 1985: Minutemen’s D Boon Dies in Van Accident

D. Boon

Minutemen were one of the leading lights of the early-to-mid-1980s Los Angeles punk rock scene. That was in large part due to the singing and songwriting talents plus the unique roots punk guitar style of frontman D. Boon (Dennes Dale Boon). From 1980 through 1985 the three-man band managed to record four albums and eight EPs for the SST label and build a rep as road dogs.

On this day, December 22, 1985, Boon’s fiancee Linda Kite was was driving a van along an Arizona highway. Her sister Jeannine was sitting beside her in the passenger seat. Boon, who had been suffering from a fever was sleeping in back, not wearing a seatbelt. The van ran off the road and Boon was thrown out the back door and died instantly from a broken neck. He was 27. Jeannine Kite was severely disabled in the accident.

Boon’s reputation has no more avid a supporter than bassist Mike Watt, who was Boon’s lifelong pal and played bass in Minutemen. He has consistently touted Boon’s talents while carrying on in the bands fIREHOSE and Dos and playing with such other distinguished acts as the Stooges.

Related: Classic punk rock songs

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Rob Patterson

Rob Patterson began writing about music in 1976. Since his first published record review in Crawdaddy he has contributed to numerous national popular music magazines such as Creem, Musician, Circus, Spin, Request, Tower Pulse!, CD Review, Acoustic Guitar, Harp and many others along with major country music, consumer audio, musical instrument and studio recording magazines plus international publications New Musical Express and Country Music People in the U.K. From 1977 to '84 he wrote a nationally syndicated music column as well as stories for Newspaper Enterprises Association/United Feature Syndicate that ran in more than 400 daily newspapers across the nation. His work has also appeared in many weekly newspapers, onlinepublications like Salon.com and The Huffington Post, such books as the Rolling Stone Record Guide & Revised Record Guide, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History and The Year In Rock, 1980-81, plus liner notes for 20 album releases.

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