Dennes Dale "D." Boon, (April 1, 1958 – December 22, 1985)

Murder. Boon and Mike Watt formed Minutemen in January 1980, with the drummer George Hurley from their previous band, The Reactionaries. Their best known album was Double Nickels on the Dime.
Boon was killed in a van accident in the Arizona desert on Interstate 10. Because he had been sick with fever, Boon was lying down in the rear of the van without a seatbelt when the van ran off the road. Boon was thrown out the back door of the van and died instantly from a broken neck. Watt and Hurley formed the band fIREHOSE. The live album Ballot Result was released in 1987, two years after Boon's death.
Boon is responsible for the writing and composition of the Minutemen's most anthemic songs (in contrast to Watt's stream of consciousness lyrics), including "This Ain't No Picnic", "Corona", "The Price of Paradise," and "Courage." A lifelong artist, Boon also created drawings or paintings for the Minutemen releases Joy, The Punch Line, The Politics of Time, Project: Mersh and 3-Way Tie (For Last).
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; on the recording itself, guitarist Nels Cline plays one of Boon's last Telecaster guitars, which Watt is in possession of. 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 their 1994 album It's All True, Uncle Tupelo with a different song "D. Boon" from their 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". His story is also told in the doc "We Jam Econo". A rock death that has for wasted potential Lennon and Hendrix for company, finishing with: "After seven fairly amazing years he was just getting started."