He was born on April 1, 1958, in San Pedro, California, and formed Minutemen in 1980 with bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley.

[1] 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.

[2] 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.

[3] Boon took a few lessons from local teacher Roy Mendez Lopez who taught him rock as well as flamenco and classical.

[6] The band's members were lead vocalist Martin Tamburovich, Boon on guitar, bassist Watt, and drummer George Hurley.

They were described by Billboard magazine as "provocative art-punk minimalists",[12] and have also inspired punk and rock bands such as Wire, Gang of Four, the Pop Group, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, and Urinals.

[1][14] 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.

[20] Boon's solos were often idiosyncratic and used odd rhythms or scales that were influenced by jazz or his early study of classical guitar.

[19] 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.

A lifelong visual 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).

[22] 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).