The FUCKING Germs
- mvvvsic
- May 25, 2021
- 6 min read
A brief history of the legendary L.A punk rock band and how two of their member's will be inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
I believe there comes a time in one rock music lover’s life where they become fascinated by the early beginnings of various punk scenes. When discussing the history of these various scenes, there’s this age old question of which scene was more influential and revolutionary: “New York or England?” Although I do think this question is particularly silly, I do have a preference (the New York scene was obviously way cooler than the British scene in my opinion.) However, I believe this question leaves out places where the punk scene was super revolutionary; places like D.C, Los Angeles, Detroit, San Francisco, etc. After listing some of those cities, I started to realize that some of these cities had punk bands that were just as influential as the New York and British Scene. D.C had bands like Bad Brains, Fugazi, and Minor Threat. Detroit had the MC5 and the Stooges. San Francisco had the Dead Kennedys and Flipper. Los Angeles had bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Red Kross, X, and most importantly The Germs, THE FUCKING GERMS. I believe that although the Germs had a very short lived career, they were still able to be one of the most legendary and influential punk bands in the history of the subculture. The Germs would go on to influence legendary rock bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Hole, L7, etc. With that being said, let’s dive into a brief history of The Germs and how two of their members would later on be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s ℅ 2021.
It all started when Jan Paul Beahm (aka Darby Crash) and Georg Ruthenberg (aka Pat Smear) wanted to start a band after being kicked out of their alternative high school. This was around the ‘75-’76. They then recruited other members shortly after, however, this lineup never actually played in front of an audience and they used a completely different name. However, in April of ‘76 they had a more secure lineup by adding Teresa Ryan (aka Lorna Doom) on bass and Belinda Carlisle (aka Dottie Danger) on drums. Carlisle had to withdraw from the band due to health issues and was replaced by Donna Rhia (Becky Barton), and Nickey Beat would sit in on drums from time to time; they also had many different drummers after that. From then on, the rest is history. The Germs would go on to record only one studio album, “GI” which was released on Slash records in 1979. However, they put out a couple of singles on various labels, and live/compilation albums as well. The Germs had this reputation of having a chaotic stage presence. Darby Crash would walk on stage so incoherent from drugs that he would just do whatever, and the band almost followed his lead in a way. Many of their shows consisted of them just making noise. Although they had this reputation of chaos, they were able to develop a sound that was super influential. I find this really fascinating because at the time, guitarist Pat Smear, was the only one that had musical experience prior to starting the band. You also have to think back and realize that they were just teenagers/early 20s when they were playing. They were just kids having fun and being wild; they weren’t serious musicians. Pat Smear will say that people will tell him that he inspired them to play guitar and he thinks that's funny because when he was in the Germs, he didn’t even own a guitar. The Germs continued to play chaotic live shows and create music that would become influential and revolutionary in rock music. However, the band would end around ‘79-’80 because Darby Crash fired one of their drummers and replaced him with a friend of his. After this, the band would disband and Smear and Crash would form the Darby Crash band shortly after. However, the Darby Crash band was very short-lived after they played a few gigs. Darby thought about having the Germs do a reunion to “show the scene what it used to be like”; this reunion took place on December 3, 1980 to an oversold show at the Starwood in Los Angeles. Prior to this, Crash told Smear that the real reason as to why he wanted to do the show was to score cash to buy more heroin so he could overdose and kill himself. Darby Crash always talked about how he wanted to kill himself, he would say something along the lines of “this is my plan, I’m going to do this for 5 years and then kill myself.” Since Smear said Crash always said stuff like that, he never took it seriously and thought he would actually do it. During the Germs last show on December 3, Darby Crash said "We did this show so you new people could see what it was like when we were around. You're not going to see it again" And Crash was right, the kids at the show never saw the Germs again. On December 7, 1980 Darby Crash committed suicide by overdosing on heroin in a suicide pact with his friend Casey Cola. However Casey Cola would survive the attempt and told people that Darby didn’t intend for her or himself to live. While Darby Crash was dying, he attempted to write on the wall above him, “Here Lies Darby Crash,” however he was unable to finish. With that being said, Darby Crash’s death would be over-shadowed by the murder of John Lennon that was to follow the next day. However, the death of Darby Crash heavily affected members of the punk community and L.A scene.
Now, you may be wondering, how are two members of the Germs going to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ℅ 2021? Well, let's start with the history of the two members' lives after their time with the Germs. Let’s start with Belinda Carlisle aka Dottie Danger. After Carlisle was unable to continue on with the Germs due to health conditions, she was still a great friend of the band that offered backup vocals at shows and introduced them at various shows (she can also be heard on live albums doing so). However, when her band The Go-Go’s started to gain success, she left the L.A punk scene and also said that the drug culture of the scene at the time was starting to scare her and was a catalyst for her to leave the scene as well. Belinda Carlisle would go on to gain mainstream success with The Go-Go’s and later on become an inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ℅ 2021 with The Go-Go’s. The other member of the Germs who would be inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame’s ℅ 2021 would be none other than Pat Smear. After the Germs ended, Smear went on to do various music projects. However, in 1993 Kurt Cobain had asked Pat Smear to be a fourth member of Nirvana because Kurt had always wanted a second guitar player in the band. Smear’s first appearance with Nirvana would be their 1993 appearance on SNL where they played the songs “Heart-Shaped Box” and “Rape Me.” From then on Pat Smear continued to be a member of Nirvana until the band’s sudden end in 1994 after Kurt Cobain’s death. After his time in Nirvana, Smear’s next musical venture would be as a guitarist in Foo Fighters with his previous Nirvana bandmate, Dave Grohl. However Pat Smear left Foo Fighters around 1997. He would then go onto other musical ventures and later rejoin Foo Fighters in 2005 as a touring member, then as a permanent recording/touring member in 2010. Although Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, Smear was not inducted at the time of Nirvana’s induction. However, he did play guitar for Nirvana’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s performances. With that being said, the Foo Fighters first year of eligibility to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was this year, and they made it in; making the guitar player of the fucking germs a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
Although the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a bit of a scam, I think that this moment for lovers of the Germs and punk music is really special and something to be excited about. With that being said I think I’m going to finish this off with a tweet from one of my favorite musicians of all time
“Two Germs are going into the rock and roll hall of fame. THE GERMS. THE FUCKING GERMS.”- Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Attached is a playlist of some of my favorite tracks by the Germs, work that their members did with their bands that will be in the Rock and Roll Hall, and some of my favorite bands that are inspired by the Germs.
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