REVIEW
I got to watch this film a few times. The Germs was a legendary LA band, that was more like an idea, than a reality. Los Angeles doesn't really get its fair share of punk rock credit. People still think Punk was invented in London or NYC, but by 1979, LA had its own scene and a ton of bands. The Runaways was an early punk band if anyone was. Much of the LA rock scene then was still a glam retread. It took a few years for things to get really happening here. Not that any of the club owners wanted punk to take off. They thought punk was violent, and preferred cover bands. They would book a "punk" band, maybe some lightweights like The Dickies, and a few bottles would be broken. End of experiment. It's a miracle that The Germs got to play any shows at all.
So we have this movie. Shane West is great as Darby Crash. Not that I was close to the original, but I have known Don Bolles off and on since 1980. It mostly seems accurate. Darby Crash was said to be really smart. None of this is really shown in the movie. He seems more like a moron obsessed with Sid Vicious. Luckily Darby visited London and found out that people didn't listen to Sex Pistols anymore. But I remember there were a lot of kids who were obsessives and could quote Nietzsche and turn your world upside down. You know, guys who were fans of Charles Manson, and so on. So Darby seems to have a little low self-esteem issues. If this has to do with his family or closeted homosexuality, who knows?
We get to see the beginning of The Germs and The Masque. I remember the horror of hearing the Live at the Whisky album. Besides "Sugar, Sugar" that music was a chore to listen to. Eventually The Germs got better. In 1980, they could play very fast, and with Black Flag, probably inspired the whole hardcore thing. The Germs probably played 50 gigs or less in their whole early career, and never outside of LA. Most of the shows were uneven, and sometimes Darby was on drugs. Some people pretend that Darby was some incredible showman. But it was more a mystique than actual fact. That is why Shane West is such an improvement. You get a young Darby without the bad haircuts, drugs, and Bowie Fascination.
The Germs created some excitement in the LA scene which was mostly The Screamers and The Weirdos back then. There are a few scenes in the movie with The Damned. Why they got 40-year-old men to play them was odd? You have an actor playing Rodney Bingheimer, who seemed younger than the band. Back then, Rodney was like the oldest guy you ever saw at a gig. Darby gets more into drugs. Their managers suck. A bunch of vampires and leeches surround the band and feed them drugs. Sounds like these go-nowhere bands of today? Luckily they recorded an album, and better yet, were captured on film. Because it's not like The Germs was this awesome live band. The album still rocks today and they stole the show in the Decline movie. And Darby died.
Can you imagine a 50-year-old Darby Crash? Not me. We give Darby the benefit of the doubt, like we do Kurt Cobain and Elvis. People like Ian Curtis and Jeff Buckley were always considered interesting artists in their lifetimes, but once they died, the "genius" label got thrown around. I am not sure if Darby was a genius, but he created some interesting times to mull over. The records are there. In the movie, it seems sort of dark and depressing. I think of those times as being very fun and wild. Even his death didn't change anything. Life went on, and The Germs were a thing of history. They were a flash of light.
As a young teenager experiencing this, it seemed so care-free and light. Punk Rock did create a lot of false dreams and casualties. Darby was very provocative. He went to London and saw Adam and The Ants. He came back with a mohawk. It was before all the punk clones and uniforms. And I remember seeing Black Flag at the Starwood at the time. I must have seen 100 mohawks that night. That was the power of someone like Darby Crash.
The whole LA punk scene was a quick thing. By May 1980, you had thousands lining up to see PIL at the Olympic Auditorium. There were all these clubs in the sticks, like Godzillas. The Stern Brothers put on some bigger shows. The Ramones played some big shows. But in those years 1975-1980, everything was very underground, and witnessed by very few people. I, myself, only got to see the tail end of it. And by the time you are 21, do you really want to fight bouncers and police officers?
I am glad that a band like The Germs gets any attention. They, like Black Flag and Redd Kross, were more my age. Maybe a few years older. Many bands who always get mentioned, like X and Fear, were in their 30s by 1980. The Germs records stand up, and the others don't. They are playing at Sunset Junction this weekend so you should check them out.
--Alexander Laurence
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